#geasa

[albumarchives]

Geasa | Angel's Cry (1999)

🖌️ Luis Royo

[fremedon]

Brickclub I.5.13, “Resolving Some Questions of Municipal Policing”

“Curiosity is a form of gluttony," Hugo says, of the onlookers trying to peer through the station house door. "To see is to devour."

This is the most direct statement of a theme Hugo comes back to over and over--the destructive power of gossip and idle curiosity. It's a theme that pulls a lot of weight, but starting on this reread so soon after my last one, one thing I'm wondering is how much that theme is supposed to be setting us up to excuse Marius's lack of inquiry into the version of his history Valjean shares.

Observations on Fantine:

--Fantine, a panther during the fight, now cowers "like a frightened dog" in the station. I think the panther line might be the only feline metaphor Fantine gets. 

--"She would have softened a heart of granite, but you cannot soften a heart of wood." Fantine has been turning herself to stone for the last few chapters, but there are worse things to be.

--And one of those is to become even stonier. In her last monologue, right before she attempts to leave: "Oh! I won't do it again, Monsieur Javert! Whatever anyone does to me now, I won't react in any way." 

--Fantine's two long monologues keep coming back to two points: The injustice of prison wages, both to the prisoners and their competitors, and her ability to be respectable when given the means to support herself. She used to have so many changes of underwear, and now she just has one silk dress for the evenings. She still owes 100 francs to the Thenardiers, but she's up to date on her rent now, just ask her landlord. And at the end, Madeleine agrees with this: "I will give you all the money you need. You shall again become honest in again becoming happy." 

We've seen, and will continue to see, how the lack of means bars access to 'honesty'/respectability, but the reverse of that statement is surprisingly hopeful: only provide the means to live honestly, and a person will be honest. 

--Madeleine and Javert's battle for Fantine's liberty is framed almost exactly like the battle for Valjean's soul between his convict self and the bishop in "Petit-Gervais," and Fantine's heart softening back to trust is a much more direct parallel of Valjean's change of heart than I had realized. Valjean never manages to reach Javert this way, but he does pull Fantine back to humanity for her final weeks.

There is one major difference, though, and it’s not actually in the level of their transgressions. Fantine has spit in the face of the mayor in the place of his power; Valjean has stolen a sentimental treasure from his host, in the home where he was given shelter. Both insults are a thing that can be absorbed or shrugged off, practically, but with immense symbolic weight behind them. 

But Valjean’s reverie ends with him obliterating the convict within him and letting the bishop take full possession of his soul. Fantine keeps hers. She doesn’t have to go through any of Valjean’s extreme self-abnegation to get her humanity back. 

And speaking of extreme self-abnegation, there’s Javert. This got long. 

Javert, despite being wood and not stone, is the one who gets the statue imagery in this scene. From the moment right before he stops Fantine from leaving, after Madeleine instructs that she be freed: "Up to that moment Javert had stood stock still, staring at the ground, out of place in the midst of this scene like some statue left in the way, waiting to be put somewhere." I am reminded of the cart in Montfermeil--the broken cart that is a metaphor for outmoded institutions, left in the way to finish decaying. Javert, the automaton of the law, is left in the way, waiting for a purpose.  

Twice in this scene, we see him imagine himself an empty vessel for the law. It’s the only kind of grandiosity he ever has--humbleness to the point of self-obliteration, so he can embody The Law. 

The first is while he is first handing down Fantine’s sentence, and I’m going to quote at length: 

"It was one of those moments in which he exercised without restraint, but with all the scruples of a strict conscience, his formidable discretionary power. At this moment he felt that his policeman's stool was a bench of justice. He was conducting a trial. He was trying and condemning. He called all the ideas of which his mind was capable around the grand thing that he was doing. The more he examined the conduct of this girl, the more he revolted at it. It was clear that he had seen a crime committed. He had seen, there in the street, society, represented by a property holder and an elector, insulted and attacked by a creature who was an outlaw and an outcast. A prostitute had assaulted a citizen. He, Javert, had seen that himself. He wrote in silence." (Wilbour)

And the second is after Madeleine intervenes to demand Fantine’s liberty a second time: 

"It was obvious that Javert must have been 'thrown out of kilter,' as they say, to allow himself to address the sergeant the way he did after the mayor's request that Fantine should be set free. Could he have forgotten monsieur le maire's presence? Had he in the end convinced himself it was impossible that any authority could have given such an order, and that surely monsieur le maire must have said one thing instead of another without meaning to? Or in view of the outrages he had witnessed over the past two hours, did he tell himself it was necessary to act with the utmost resolve, that the humble must assume greatness, the sleuth must turn himself into a judge, the police agent must become an agent of justice, and that in this exceptional extremity he, Javert, was the personification of law, order, morality, government, the whole of society?" (Donougher)

Hoooo boy. There is just so much to unpack here, and I’m glad we have another year and change of brickclub to keep unpacking it. 

Just on the surface: Law, order, morality, government, and society are all the same thing to Javert. The purpose of law is to uphold the social order. It is a contradiction in terms that authority should seek to undermine itself: 

"Javert felt he was about to go mad. At that moment he underwent in rapid succession and almost all at once the most violent emotions he had ever experienced in his life. To see a common prostitute spit in the face of a mayor--this was something so monstrous that in his most dreadful imaginings he would have regarded it as sacrilege to believe it were possible. On the other hand, obscurely, at the back of his mind, he made a hideous comparison between what this woman was and what this mayor might be, and then he had an inkling of something very simple about this extraordinary attack that appalled him. But when he saw this mayor, this magistrate, calmly wipe his face and say, 'Set this woman free,' he was stunned, thoughts and words failed him equally. His capacity for astonishment was exceeded. He remained speechless." (Donougher)

Refusing to punish this transgression against established hierarchies undercuts Madeleine’s legitimacy in his head so much that he takes it upon himself to contradict the mayor, to argue with him, to put forward his abstract embodied Authority as more valid than the mayor’s actual authority. Madeleine only wins by literally citing the legal code, in a scene that reads almost like a battle between wizards. 

Going back to Fantine’s attempted departure--"The sound of the latch roused him. He raised his head with an expression of supreme authority, an expression that is always the more frightening the lower the level at which power is invested, ferocious in the wild beast, atrocious in the man of no account." Wilbour says "in the undeveloped man"; I prefer Donougher here, because it gets the ambiguity in "the lower the level at which power is invested"--both that power is frightening in the hands of beings who cannot, personally, wield it well,  but also that small concentrations of unaccountable power create petty tyrannies. 

Javert knows he is a small man who, on his own merits, neither possesses nor deserves power over others. But he is a small man channeling the whole of social authority, and that makes him terrifying. 

If what he were channeling was actually Justice, it would also make him--well, it would make him Enjolras. But it’s not. I talked a couple of chapters ago about the themes I’m starting to think of as Hugo’s major arcana, and one of the big ones is Fatalite. He brings it up in the very first sentence of the prologue: 

“So long as there shall exists, by reason of law and custom, a social condemnation which, in the face of civilization, artificially creates hells on earth, and complicates with human fatalite a destiny that is divine...”  

The divine destiny--the intention of Providence--seems to be whatever humanity is capable of achieving. Fatalite is whatever human-made factors interfere with that achievement: Social condemnation. Custom. And Law. It’s all fatalite.  

The more Javert imagines himself an empty vessel for the law, the more self-abnegating he is in his duty, the worse he is, because what he is channeling is the force that creates hells on earth. 

He has lost this purity in Paris, and to some extent that accompanies real tolerance of corruption--this Javert would have resigned rather than serve with men he knows are taking bribes and enabling double agents like Le Cabuc. But this Javert would also never have casually granted Bigrenaille's request for tobacco in solitary. And I’m not sure this Javert would have noticed the grievances in his suicide memo--certainly, he doesn’t respond at all to Fantine’s repeated refrain about the prison wages. 

I really like @everyonewasabird's idea that Javert, in frightening Fantine to death--in taking an innocent life, one he has no claim over--Javert will break a geas. He loses the ability to be this empty vessel, and is muddling through on his own instincts and prejudices after that--and his own instincts and prejudices are terrible, make no mistake. But they’re malleable, in a way that the whole force of abstract social condemnation isn’t.

And also, god, now I’m thinking about Valjean standing there listening to Fantine talk about the unfairness of prison wages. What must be going through his head.  

[roibindallbhride]

Current Divination and Spirituality Update

Alright, just in case anyone is paying attention and wondering what’s going on with the readings I’m currently working on, I haven’t forgotten about anyone, I’m still working through them one at a time, I’m just busy on the weekends. 

That and my favorite Aunt and Uncle came to visit from Ohio for the first time in over a year and a half, and while I think they are kind of insane for risking catching Corona just to see us, I’m still going to spend time with them while they’re here. 

Also, Shufflemancy readings, by their very nature, tend to take longer for me to process and read properly than most other forms of divination. I have one mostly finished, I just need to tie up loose strings on that one before I publish it here, which I will probably get around to doing tomorrow at the earliest.

In other news, my recent explorations into Hellenismos has come to a sudden halt. Without going into too much detail with things at the moment, some of the gods I was getting to know and working on starting to worship tried to violate one of my geasa, came super close to pulling some really terrible shit, and so Brighid once again put her foot down, nice and firm like, and has barred me from having any kind of personal relationship with any of the Greek gods. It happens sometimes, though, and I can’t really do anything about it except  understand the situation in all of it’s gory details and move on. 

[aashish]

Cairo, Egypt the gift of the Nile . . . . . . . . . #cairo #egypt #geasa #pyrimid @prilaga #wanderlust #mustsee #nationalgeographic #instatravel #funtime #thebestshooter #photograph #worlderlust #wonderfulplaces #wishlist #fantastic #travellife #exploringtheglobe #amazingtrips #yestc #nomad #natgeoru #beautifuldestinations #world #bestvacations #holiday #photos #worldplaces #fantasticview #worldwide (at Cairo, Egypt) https://www.instagram.com/p/CAPV85xFCXG/?igshid=o5goseiractg

[krinsbez]

My Superheroverse: GEASA

As the DNApes was one of the more popular of my self-reblogs, I’m gonna start posting, for the first time tumblr, and sometimes, perhaps, anywhere, stuff from my personal superheroverse.

If I’m gonna go more into my superheroverse, there are some basics I gotta lay down first.

To begin with, the 'Verse is centered around the Global Extranormal Affairs and Services Agency, GEASA for short. It's the international organization in charge of interacting with superpowered types, aliens, magic-users, dudes in costumes, and all the other such people, collectively referred to as "extranormals". Founded in the period after WWII when the US and Soviets had realized they were going to be enemies but hadn't gotten around to admitting it yet, GEASA is organized like a deck of cards. It has four main branches, named after the four suits in cards: -Hearts: In charge of PR, interacting with governments and other agencies, etc. as well as handling bureaucratic and administrative stuff. -Diamonds: In charge of R&D, not only into superhuman powers themselves, but into the various exotic technologies and magic that crop up in such a setting. -Spades: In charge of dealing with the capture, confinement, and if necessary elimination of hostile extranormals -Clubs: In charge of dealing with friendly extranormals; includes registration, training, and providing various services. Following the card theme, personnel are ranked "Two of X" to "Ten of X". Each branch is run by an Ace, supported by a King, Queen, and Jack. The organization as a whole is run by the Black Joker and Red Joker. GEASA's remit is fairly extensive, having grown from "deal with superpowered types" to "deal with anything related to extranormals" over the decades. In order to become a superhero, one must have a license. To obtain this license, one must first fill out an application, which can be acquired at any GEASA office. The application requires one to list one's code name, powers, extant enemies, and contact info. The form also has spaces for power origin, real identity, place of residence, etc. but this is optional. The data thus submitted is 100% confidential, and is kept in secure facilities (they've had a grand total of 3 breaches in the over half a century that they've been collectign this data) After submitting the form, one waits for them to contact you, and establish dates and times to submit to a series of examinations, testing your physical abilties and psychological state, in order to determine if you've got the right stuff for the job. If you pass these tests, the next step is training. All prospective superheroes are trained in controlling and optimizing their powers, hand-to-hand combat, detective skills, their legal rights and responsibilities, ethics, how to preserve one's secret identity, and first aid. One may apply for more advanced training in these, and many other subjects, ranging from swordplay and marksmanship to xenobiology and time travel physics, to magery and exorcism. As a final exercise, the trainee is given the name of a civilian who died due to extranormal activity, and told to research that person's life, death, and loved ones; the idea of course, being to impress upon the trainee the importance of avoiding collateral casualties. (side note: this was inspired by the bit in 52 when Black Adam reminds Power Girl how many people died during Infinite Crisis) Upon completing training, one receives a license that permits one to engage in superheroing activity, testify in court while masked, and be immune to lawsuits for collateral damage and suchlike. One is also assigned a case-worker and a therapist, regular visits to both being mandatory. In addition to this, GEASA offers superheroes an array of services, including medical treatment, financial add, tutoring (for those superheroes who have not completed their educations), access to social events, etc. One of GEASA's most important tools is the Aigle family. In the early Renaissance (in my superheroverse, the age of heroes didn't start before WWII; there have ALWAYS been superheroes and villains; the numbers increased dramatically in the 1900s, and they haven't gone down since), a peasant named Aigle was found to have the ability to negate superpowers (modern science has discovered that the Aigles do what they do by generating reality-warping "exotic energies"). So did his seven children (four girls, three boys). Subsequently, said children became effectively the property of the Crown. Over the next several centuries, the Aigle family was treated not only as chattel, but as cattle, bred for their gifts cousin to cousin, sibling to sibling, parent to child. This breeding reached its pinnacle in the early 1800s, with a generation able to permanently remove powers from people they'd never met. This same generation was the first of their family in centuries to be liberated, given the same rights and privileges as any French citizen. By this time of course, the Aigles had become a rather odd and clannish bunch, with their own customs and dialect, often quite alien to that of their countrymen. Still, they took to exogamy with a vengeance, finding love not only with people outside their family, but outside their race; Jews and Gypsies, Arabs and Africans, even Indians of both types. By the 1930s, the Aigles could no longer be called Caucasian. Needless to say, the Nazi occupation was not pleasant for them. Faced with the prospect of returning to enslavement or worse, the Aigle's made the difficult decision to scatter. Some managed to smuggle themselves to other nations. Some hid amongst the people of France. More than a few simply committed suicide. And, sadly, some were captured by the Nazis, and either pressed into service against Allied superhumans or experimented on. WWII was thus a horribly traumatic experience for the Aigle family, and they resolved to never again to be so powerless. With this in mind, they joined GEASA en masse. The fledgling agency welcomed them, not only because of their gift, but because their lack of national or ideological loyalties made them ideal agents for an organization trying desperately not to be a pawn in the Cold War. Today, Aigles can be found in every branch of GEASA at every level, including the Black Joker herself, Dorothee Adelaide Aigle. Since WWII, they've become less exogamous, but the outbreeding has had the effect of weakening their gift; the most any of them can do is temporarily turn-off powers of someone they're looking at, and many cannot even do that, merely being able to weaken powers. Also, periodically someone will appear who is so strong that they are immune. In addition to the Aigles, GEASA employs other "unconventional" personnel. For example, the Diamonds branch is positively infested with variably reformed Mad Scientists; also Mad Psychics, Mad Alchemists, Mad Sorcerers…you get the idea. Speaking of personnel, each branch is further divided into general personnel and special taskforces. A small sampling: Hearts: -The Red Knights are GEASA’s Internal Affairs division. The name comes from the fact that the unit is led by Kai Ectorsson, the time-lost seneschal of Camelot. -The Enforcers, despite the rather aggressive name, are in fact a team of lawyers and diplomats, tasked with making sure the nations of the world abide by the various Extranormal-related treaties that have sprung up over the years, and taking appropriate measures when those treaties are violated.

Spades: -Special Protocol Armed Response Operations, or SPARO, units are the GEASA equivalent of SWAT teams, tasked with providing paramilitary backup to both regular agents and superheroes. SPARO troopers are highly trained, well-equipped, and can go head to head with just about any special forces unit in the world (barring the Gurkhas, of course) and come out on top. The SPARO’s finest hour was undoubtedly Operation: GEMINI, when seven SPARO teams invaded Hell. I’ll be talking more about Operation: GEMINI later, as well as about a particular team. -The Curse-Breakers, sometimes also called the Witch-Finders (a term they hate, BTW), are tasked with hunting down minor Black magic practitioners (the big stuff tends to get handled by mystic super-heroes) and cleaning up their mess. The Curse-Breakers are known for being very leery of the word “witch”, preferring the term “maleficars”. They also tend to get apoplectic when people mention old-school witch trials and the Malleus Maleficarum.

Diamonds: -The Forecasters are a team of psychics, oracles, mystics, and computer programmers who use a combination of ESP, prophecy, divination, and computer modeling to predict the future. Their record is spotty (they have a tendency to be either kind of vague or so specific that nothing can be done), but they have managed to provide warning of several major crises and many more minor ones, so they’re kept around. The head of the unit is a firm believer in Cartomancy via regular playing cards, and all members of the unit have at least some skill in the art. They unsurprisingly also have a reputation as card sharks. -The Brave Little Tailors are a team of scientists and sorcerers tasked with finding ways of working with people with “lesser” powers, and enhancing them into “big league” status. Their work is somewhat controversial, and due to unfortunate incidents in the past, they are very carefully monitored.

Clubs: -Team Hollywood is made up of publicists and copyright attorneys, tasked with helping superheroes license their names and images for various products, and making sure that they get the most bucks for their bang, if you catch my meaning. It is rumored that certain elements within the Hearts branch feel that Team Hollywood’s responsibilities fall under their bailiwick, and so a certain amount of rivalry exists. -The Cleaners are the unit sent in when a superhero’s identity is compromised. It is their task to evaluate the damage, determine what steps need to be taken to fix the situation, and then take those steps. This can range from coming up with cover stories, to bribes, to memory wipes, to making like Witsec. Over the years, GEASA has developed its own unique culture. Part of this is a collection of slang and terminology of their own creation. A small sampling:

-VILL: Used the way ordinary cops use “perp”; as in “The vill calls himself Krimson Komet.” Is simply a shortened form of the word “villain”. -BOKE: An attack by a giant-sized animal; as in “We’ve got a spider boke in Cleveland.” Some years ago, the there was a bit of a craze amongst Aigile children for The Hoboken Chicken Emergency, a book by Daniel Pinkwater, in which Hoboken, New Jersey is “terrorized” by a giant chicken. This led to attacks by giant monsters being referred to as “hoboken chicken emergencies”, which was subsequently shortened to “hoboken chickens”, then “hobokens”, then just “bokes”.

-DEAD FISH: A situation that is spiraling out of control; as in “I’ve got a real dead fish on my hands here.” In the 1970s, GEASA’s Ankara office received a package containing a dead fish. A comedy of errors subsequently ensued, in which a series of mistakes, misunderstandings, and misguided attempts at revenge and/or humor resulted in various GEASA offices sending each other increasingly large packages of dead fish, culminating six years later in the Pentagon Liason Office receiving a package containing two and half dead hammerhead sharks and seven seahorses. At this point, an embarrassed Red Joker stepped in and put an end to the practice.

-KOSCH: The act of a government, police force, corporation, or other non-GEASA organization being uncooperative; as in “The local cops are kosching me.” In the mid-1980s, the Soviet government came into possession of several artifact that had belonged to the undead sorcerer Koschei the Deathless. Rather than handing said artifacts to GEASA as obligated by treaty, they decided to experiment with them. Subsequently, the CIA tumbled to the project; rather than calling in GEASA as was their treaty obligation, they decided to sabotage the project. Due to not really grasping the forces being dealt with, said sabotage resulted in Koschei being restored to (un)life, and subsequently going on a conquering spree. Rather than do the sensible thing and call on GEASA’s expertise, the Soviet government tried to deal with the situation themselves. Two months later, they realized they were out of their depth and made the call. At this point, the situation was beyond the ability of the normal protocols to contain, and specialized plans had to be enacted. However, since the Soviets did not know what precisely went wrong, they were unable to provide the data for said plans. It took another three months for the CIA to admit what THEY had done, finally giving GEASA the full story and thus the ability to produce appropriate countermeasures. By this point, thousands of people had been killed or traumatized, and millions of rubles worth of damages had been produced. While GEASA maintains bases all over the world, and offices in most major cities, their two primary bases, where the Jokers hang out, are REBEL YELL and the Shark Islands. REBEL YELL is a space station with a somewhat complicated history. See, back in the ‘50s, there was a wave of bokes (although, the name wasn’t coined until decades later). Given that the nations of the world had other priorities (like pointing nukes at each other), it fell to GEASA to deal with this sort of thing. One attempted measure was the creation of the Iolaus Missile, which upon detonation releases a sonic wave set at a frequency designed to mess with the inner ear of giant-sized critters. It doesn’t work on all kaiju (many of them aren’t quite big enough and some of ‘em don’t have ears), and it usually isn’t lethal, but it helps to soften up about 80% of the oversized beasties. The problem was that frequent as they were, bokes weren’t common enough to make producing enough Iolaus’ for global coverage cost effective. In the ‘70s, after a particularly unpleasant event, in which the time spent setting up an Iolaus strike cost way too much in both lives and money, the superhero Johnny Reb suggested to his GEASA handler that the Iolaus’ be deployed from space. GEASA took this and ran with it, resulting in a network of Iolaus-armed satellites being put in orbit; a network codenamed REBEL YELL in honor of the idea’s originator. In the ‘80s, an alien force took over one of the RY satellites, and began modifying it into a massive fortress, a beachhead for an invasion. The invasion was thwarted, but the satellite-turned-station survived, and GEASA took possession of it. The rest of the original RY network was eventually decommissioned, but the station remained, and is the primary HQ of the Red Joker. The Shark Islands are a group of three islands (referred to as Big Shark Island, Little Shark Island, and Castle Island, respectively), that are right smack in the middle of the waters held by the Republic of the Shark People (which is exactly what it sounds like), and thus, are the only land the Shark People claim. As gesture of good faith with us humans, the Shark People generously loaned them to GEASA on a permanent basis. Big Shark is not only the primary location for trade and diplomacy with the Shark People, it is also home to the HQ of the Black Joker. Little Shark is kept aside as a training area for GEASA agents and rookie superheroes. Castle Island is not, in fact an island, but an Island Beast (a sea monster so huge that plants grow on it’s back and it is easily mistaken for an island when it isn’t moving) made undead and obedient by a magician who built a castle on its back. The magician died centuries ago, and GEASA took possession of the “island”, the castle, and the vast assortment of magical goodies inside the castle during the ‘60s. Today, the castle is a storage vault for confiscated magic stuff, as well as a laboratory for research into said magic stuff.

[iansoakparanormalelimination]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfGEgGote6g)

[downtoagincourt]

about the geas

Hello all, I was hoping you could help me? Recently I’ve been looking into (basic google search) geasa (geas/geis), and everywhere I look seems to say that if one disobeys/breaks a geas, it kills them. So I was wondering if anyone happened to know if our Author-Goddess was putting her own spin on the mythology? or if she had other sources, that mere mortals, such as I, am unable to find? — loseimpossiblyinfinite

•

Dear Infinite, no idea! But we are summoning the Author-Goddess @seperis so maybe she has an idea about this—or anyone else for that matter?

[seanfhocail]