The City That Eris Built, Part 1

[Doktor Howl]

"Dok, have you noticed that the homeless people have by and large disappeared?  Where have they gone?  What the hell is going on in this town?"
- Nurse Mayhem, pointing out the obvious.

That's a good question, though one that is probably better left unanswered.  Rumors fly that they have found something sinister to worship, far to the East of the legal district, their normal haunt.  Sounds like something out of H.P. Lovecraft or Ashton Clark, right?  Well, this is Tucson, Eris' most Holy City, and anything - anything - is possible.

Our police look strained, and thank God they started cleaning up their act five years ago.  Residents are beginning to trust them, and have approached them with all manner of unreal shit.  Cults are springing up all over town, including a particularly odd one at a "club" called "Desert Dominion", purportedly an S&M club in The Maze, not far from the fuel storage farm.  The cult of the Black Madonna is supposed to be thriving again as well, though nobody can prove a damn thing (the "temple" I found 3 months ago could be in use, or it could have been abandoned years ago...except for the smashed electronics all around the wooden slab in the center of the courtyard.).

Gang violence is up, though it's almost exclusively internal to any given gang.  Power struggles and the like.  12th Street South of Ajo is littered with bodies weekly.  This, at least, is nothing new...except that the gangs usually attack each other.  Even the Dirty Boys on Grant Road aren't out.

The Tohono Odham are staying on their reservation.  There was no sirrocco this year, and that's a bad sign, apparently...Summer should be here, and it's still acting like early March.  Bear in mind that they are normally no more superstitious than you or I.  Bad times are coming, one told me in the parking lot of the casino, and it's best to stick near your tribe.

It all fills me with a sense of foreboding.  People turning to weird cults, paranoid Indians, bikers hunkering down, gang killings just for the hell of it...and no reason for any of it.

But what of it?  This is Eris' Holy City, this is the town she built, and I suppose she can do whatever she likes with it.  And what Discordian would flee from this?  Not I, and not my friends.  It still hasn't gotten weird enough for me.

Okay For Now,
Dok

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

It's interesting, how impossible it is to find pictures of it on the Internet. I know where the homeless people went; not just the tent city that we all know about (it's illegal to be homeless, you know) but the rest of it; the slums that we pretend only exist in India and Mexico, and the rest of it; the disappearing. We don't do that in America, you know. Just like we don't have slums made out of cardboard and tinned steel.

You know where the homeless people went, too, you just don't want to know. They were undocumented; they didn't have ID. Nobody was there to ask after them. They were the human refuse of a civilized society. One upon a time they would have been Calamity Jane and the Nigger General, but there's no room for that kind of people in today's modern society, so they were put out with the waste, weren't they? I think we all know what happened. It's easy to hide bodies in the desert, in the wide open. Someday there will be a future archaeologist who will wonder about the mass graves, and maybe it will all be uncovered.

[Doktor Howl]

It's interesting, how impossible it is to find pictures of it on the Internet. I know where the homeless people went; not just the tent city that we all know about (it's illegal to be homeless, you know) but the rest of it; the slums that we pretend only exist in India and Mexico, and the rest of it; the disappearing. We don't do that in America, you know. Just like we don't have slums made out of cardboard and tinned steel.

You know where the homeless people went, too, you just don't want to know. They were undocumented; they didn't have ID. Nobody was there to ask after them. They were the human refuse of a civilized society. One upon a time they would have been Calamity Jane and the Nigger General, but there's no room for that kind of people in today's modern society, so they were put out with the waste, weren't they? I think we all know what happened. It's easy to hide bodies in the desert, in the wide open. Someday there will be a future archaeologist who will wonder about the mass graves, and maybe it will all be uncovered.

I could see that happening in Maricopa County, Nigel, but not here.  At least I hope not.  Tucson is famous for their treatment of the homeless...Hell, police cruisers carry boxes of bottled water for them...and there's THOUSANDS of them, so it's probably not the work of some psycho.

But when I was on the jury, I'd walk the legal district on lunch...and I saw a few dozen, not the hordes I'm used to seeing, so I really hope you're wrong.

But the trains, Nigel, they run through town every 15 minutes, and they all stop at the Dodge Road yard.  If I were a homeless person and wanted to put some distance between myself and Tucson, why, I'd just head over to the yard and hop in a boxcar.  But why would they do that?  We don't hassle them, they do okay panhandling, the city won't let them starve or die of thirst, and it's always warm here.  Why would they leave?

[Requia ☣]

What, exactly, is the Cult of the Black Madonna?

[Doktor Howl]

What, exactly, is the Cult of the Black Madonna?

Nobody's really sure.  It goes back to the 1880s, apparently, and seems restricted to the region stretching from Metro Tucson to Tombstone.  I've found what appears to be one of their shrines (creepy as fuck, mind you), but neither I nor nobody I've ever heard of has seen anyone at them, or met anyone claiming to be a member.  Nothing is known about their beliefs, other than the Black Madonna is NOT an aspect of the Virgin Mary, and it has no connection to the Black Madonna Catholic sub-cult found throughout Central America.

There's all kinds of legends, myths, and bar tales, of course, but it's always one of those "I know a guy who knows a guy" things.  I am now even more interested in tracking this down.

[Requia ☣]

Apparently some of the gnostic groups from way back were referred to as cults of the Black Madonna or Black Virgin, because of the association with Mary Magdeline.  I have *no* idea how a gnostic cult could have sprung up in 1880s Tuscon though.

[Doktor Howl]

Apparently some of the gnostic groups from way back were referred to as cults of the Black Madonna or Black Virgin, because of the association with Mary Magdeline.  I have *no* idea how a gnostic cult could have sprung up in 1880s Tuscon though.

You have to remember that this was the crossroads of the continent for a short period of time, at about that point.

That's why we have such a weird cultural mix here.

But here's the thing, Requia...What I found at that shrine was carefully arranged electronics, each piece deliberately rendered inoperable in some fashion or another.  The shrine itself was a wooden slab, and a madonna carved out of wood, and stained black (or perhaps just aged and covered with soot).

[Richter]

After Manzanar, I wouldn't put anything past the Feds.  Maybe it's a lime pit, maybe a slave farm, if Nigel's right.  A few thousand acres in all directions, shoot the unlikely hikers, clean up nice and no one would know.

Cults are a scary option too.  The rats always leave the sinking ship first.  No need to stoically, horribly die like a stoic horrible english.  They've got their ear to the hull, the bilge and the fittings too, which are usually where the sinking starts.

Come to think of it, cane/neckbrace guy, the 7-11 jingler, and "SPAAAARE chaaaange" haven't been around in boston...

[Doktor Howl]

After Manzanar, I wouldn't put anything past the Feds.  Maybe it's a lime pit, maybe a slave farm, if Nigel's right.  A few thousand acres in all directions, shoot the unlikely hikers, clean up nice and no one would know.

Cults are a scary option too.  The rats always leave the sinking ship first.  No need to stoically, horribly die like a stoic horrible english.  They've got their ear to the hull, the bilge and the fittings too, which are usually where the sinking starts.

Come to think of it, cane/neckbrace guy, the 7-11 jingler, and "SPAAAARE chaaaange" haven't been around in boston...

Heh.  Try actively looking for them.

Amazing...the invisible people really ARE invisible.  You can only notice their absence.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

It's interesting, how impossible it is to find pictures of it on the Internet. I know where the homeless people went; not just the tent city that we all know about (it's illegal to be homeless, you know) but the rest of it; the slums that we pretend only exist in India and Mexico, and the rest of it; the disappearing. We don't do that in America, you know. Just like we don't have slums made out of cardboard and tinned steel.

You know where the homeless people went, too, you just don't want to know. They were undocumented; they didn't have ID. Nobody was there to ask after them. They were the human refuse of a civilized society. One upon a time they would have been Calamity Jane and the Nigger General, but there's no room for that kind of people in today's modern society, so they were put out with the waste, weren't they? I think we all know what happened. It's easy to hide bodies in the desert, in the wide open. Someday there will be a future archaeologist who will wonder about the mass graves, and maybe it will all be uncovered.

I could see that happening in Maricopa County, Nigel, but not here.  At least I hope not.  Tucson is famous for their treatment of the homeless...Hell, police cruisers carry boxes of bottled water for them...and there's THOUSANDS of them, so it's probably not the work of some psycho.

But when I was on the jury, I'd walk the legal district on lunch...and I saw a few dozen, not the hordes I'm used to seeing, so I really hope you're wrong.

But the trains, Nigel, they run through town every 15 minutes, and they all stop at the Dodge Road yard.  If I were a homeless person and wanted to put some distance between myself and Tucson, why, I'd just head over to the yard and hop in a boxcar.  But why would they do that?  We don't hassle them, they do okay panhandling, the city won't let them starve or die of thirst, and it's always warm here.  Why would they leave?

They wouldn't leave, Roger. Would you?

They're not going anywhere else. And maybe it's not the cops. Maybe they're joining cults, maybe the Black Madonna is drawing them in and they're living in one of the undocumented, impossible-to-find shanty towns we've all seen but can't find pictures of. Maybe they're building a new one, out in the desert, maybe the birth of a city is happening Old West style and nobody, not even the government, knows enough about it to shut it down. Because they will, if they know. Can't have those who got nothing building something, or pretty soon everyone will start to think they can do it. Just like Dignity Village here, they'll come in and tear it down. Isn't to code, you see.

Find pictures. See if you can. You know what I mean, you've seen it. There are two places they could be, Roger; they found a new place to build, or they're in a big, big ditch in the desert. Got any satellite blackout areas out there? That's where I'd look.

[Requia ☣]

Almost all the gnostic books were destroyed by either the Catholics or the Muslims in a a millennium long purge of the faith.  It wasn't until a secret cache of the things was uncovered in the 20th century that more than a few scraps and the propaganda of the Orthodoxy were available to work off of.  In particular, not much was known about Magdeline's role, which is key to the 'black madonna' groups.  Of course, they could be going off the propaganda, or just heard the name and thought it was a good thing to base a cult off of.

I have even less idea why a gnostic group, or any group from the 19th century, would destroy electronics in a ritual.  Possible matrix link?

Shit, let me know what you find.  My curiosity is well and truly peaked now.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Isn't to fucking code, you know. Can't have people living in it. No, that's like raising your kid in Forest Park; has to be stopped. http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/06/289883.shtml

[Doktor Howl]

Find pictures. See if you can. You know what I mean, you've seen it. There are two places they could be, Roger; they found a new place to build, or they're in a big, big ditch in the desert. Got any satellite blackout areas out there? That's where I'd look.

Good thinking.  I think I'll hit Google Earth, and see which areas are either blacked out or longest-running (ie, haven't been updated in a while).  Can't do it from here, though.

[Doktor Howl]

Almost all the gnostic books were destroyed by either the Catholics or the Muslims in a a millennium long purge of the faith.  It wasn't until a secret cache of the things was uncovered in the 20th century that more than a few scraps and the propaganda of the Orthodoxy were available to work off of.  In particular, not much was known about Magdeline's role, which is key to the 'black madonna' groups.  Of course, they could be going off the propaganda, or just heard the name and thought it was a good thing to base a cult off of.

I have even less idea why a gnostic group, or any group from the 19th century, would destroy electronics in a ritual.  Possible matrix link?

Shit, let me know what you find.  My curiosity is well and truly peaked now.

Or it's something else entirely.  This isn't a wholesome city.

I'll let you know if I find anything.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I don't know shit about the Arizona Black Madonna, but St. Luke painted a black Madonna which was revived sometime in the medieval period I think. I will look it up and provide more info.