The City That Eris Built, Part 1

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Is that....  Is that ritual scarification on Mary's face there?

Yes, I also wondered what that signified.  According to the Wiki article:

The legend concerning the two scars on the Black Madonna's right cheek is that the Hussites stormed the Pauline monastery in 1430, plundering the sanctuary. Among the items stolen was the icon. After putting it in their wagon, the Hussites tried to get away but their horses refused to move. They threw the portrait down to the ground and one of the plunderers drew his sword upon the image and inflicted two deep strikes. When the robber tried to inflict a third strike, he fell to the ground and squirmed in agony until his death. Despite past attempts to repair these scars, they had difficulty in covering up those slashes (as they found out that the painting was painted with tempera infused with diluted wax). In commemoration of the attack, two slashes on her right cheek were made by a pen.[1]

Another legend states that, as the robber struck the painting twice, the face of the Virgin Mary started to bleed; in a panic, the scared Hussites retreated and left the painting.[citation needed

Do you think there's any chance that this might have been misinterpreted/taken too far by fever-eyed True Believers?  I only ask because I'm pretty sure I've seen that pattern of scars before.

I would say that is entirely certain, everywhere, always.

[Cain]

Not a clue.  Where do you think you've seen the pattern before?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Some years ago, there were still Forest Service structures in Oregon; small buildings that the lost or weary or snowbound traveler could take shelter in. Some of them were nothing more than yurts, fabric stretched over wood frames like my husband's Kyrg ancestors lived in. There was one yurt, though, outside of Sisters. Some enterprising soul had stretched copper wires around the interior, and connected them to the electrical wires running overhead. It kept the structure warm, but rumor has it that more than one traveler was seduced into bedding the lady who warmed it, and the unfortunate gentleman, unwary, was rolled into the wires, naked and grounded.

Maybe it was an accident.

[Doktor Howl]

The Arizona link may be through the Lady of Guadalupe.

Describe the shrines, please.

Flat, oval "altar" looking thing, made out of wood about 8" thick, resting flat on the ground.  Total size about 3'X6', IIRC, and a withered up-looking carving of a female out of either black wood, or wood stained black via stain, age, or soot/pollution.  No markings on anything, some odd stains on altar that look like acidic liquid (fruit, maybe?) was allowed to etch the wood.

Surrounding this, at an average distance of 6 feet or so, were piles of electronics of all descriptions, deliberately destroyed and arranged.

This was in a courtyard completely surrounded by buildings (no alleys) downtown, approximately halfway between the legal district and the maze.

[BabylonHoruv]

Cult of the black Madonna as connected to Arizona is hard to find online.  All I have found so far was some republican ranting about how Hispanics (which she spelled hispaniks) were natural prostitutes, and also involved in the cult of the black Madonna.  I believe it was in support of the crazy legislation Dok mentioned in Aneristic delusions.

[Doktor Howl]

Cult of the black Madonna as connected to Arizona is hard to find online.  All I have found so far was some republican ranting about how Hispanics (which she spelled hispaniks) were natural prostitutes, and also involved in the cult of the black Madonna.  I believe it was in support of the crazy legislation Dok mentioned in Aneristic delusions.

The only documentation I have found concerning the cult is some sensationalist press articles from 1898, in the stacks of the Pima County Court Library.

[Richter]

The Arizona link may be through the Lady of Guadalupe.

Describe the shrines, please.

Flat, oval "altar" looking thing, made out of wood about 8" thick, resting flat on the ground.  Total size about 3'X6', IIRC, and a withered up-looking carving of a female out of either black wood, or wood stained black via stain, age, or soot/pollution.  No markings on anything, some odd stains on altar that look like acidic liquid (fruit, maybe?) was allowed to etch the wood.

Surrounding this, at an average distance of 6 feet or so, were piles of electronics of all descriptions, deliberately destroyed and arranged.

This was in a courtyard completely surrounded by buildings (no alleys) downtown, approximately halfway between the legal district and the maze.

Was this altar a solid piece of wood, or butcher block / composite (if you could tell.)?

[East Coast Hustle]

what are the chances the shrine was a hoax designed to engender fear among the gringo population? The placement seems oddly conspicuous.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Search Black Madonna California. It's not unique to Arizona, just more limited there.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

The part that makes Arizona interesting is the destroyed electronics, which tales it from "Whatever" into "uniquecrazyland".

[Richter]

Ludite sentiment?

[Doktor Howl]

The Arizona link may be through the Lady of Guadalupe.

Describe the shrines, please.

Flat, oval "altar" looking thing, made out of wood about 8" thick, resting flat on the ground.  Total size about 3'X6', IIRC, and a withered up-looking carving of a female out of either black wood, or wood stained black via stain, age, or soot/pollution.  No markings on anything, some odd stains on altar that look like acidic liquid (fruit, maybe?) was allowed to etch the wood.

Surrounding this, at an average distance of 6 feet or so, were piles of electronics of all descriptions, deliberately destroyed and arranged.

This was in a courtyard completely surrounded by buildings (no alleys) downtown, approximately halfway between the legal district and the maze.

Was this altar a solid piece of wood, or butcher block / composite (if you could tell.)?

I don't know.

[Doktor Howl]

what are the chances the shrine was a hoax designed to engender fear among the gringo population? The placement seems oddly conspicuous.

In an area you can't see without getting on a roof, or going though a building?

[Doktor Howl]

The part that makes Arizona interesting is the destroyed electronics, which tales it from "Whatever" into "uniquecrazyland".

This is Eris' Holy City.  Everything here is bugfuck insane.

[Freeky]

As much as this city is the holy land of Fucking Nuts, I feel that has yet to really take it to the wall. Weeks can go by when I don't feel like there's something horribly strange with this town.