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Synopsis The Ockress is a mythological story about a young man named Perlone who is identified by circumstance as ‘the Chosen One’ of a religion that dedicates itself to a number of Gods, Indomnias being the most influential, a religion that is named quite simply as ‘the Faith’. The Keepers of the Faith, in the beginning of the story, witness the collision and destructon of two holy stars in the sky which symbols the summoning and awakening of the Chosen One, a warrior who, through the power of the Gods, shall bring about the Absolute, a transition and a bridge between the current state of human understanding and condition and a more deeper, enhanced, holier and fruitful state of existence for all concerned. Yet for all that it is worth, these visions and hopes seem to loose their grasp upon what really matters in the Ockress right from the beginning, if indeed such things had any grasp upon the issue to start with. No, this is not what the Ockress is about, not at all. The Faith, the Chosen One, Indomnias; all these are merely historical and irrelevant points of reference. Perlone is motivated by something entirely different, something that contradicts every word that the Keepers offer, every virtue, blessing, redemption and meaningful God. Let no mistake be made, ‘the Faith’ is perhaps the most meaningful religion conceivable, not only because it places man’s struggle at the forefront of all things in the manner of a wiser Ancient Greece, but because Gods actually do govern their world. It is the ‘Traveller’s Angels’ that can vouch for this, as well as the abundant existence of scientifically-impossible magic and the fact that Gods actually do exist in this fictitious world. Perlone and his friends often chant about how the Gods do not exist and of how the world is fooling itself, even though they are wrong, yet what Perlone and probably his friends means to say is this; ‘the Gods do not exist within the realm of human struggle so long as human struggle is our own. Where man must walk into a meaningful abyss, he must walk alone, for these grounds are for man and no other. If a lowlier existence were to roam here, it would be an intrusion upon our part. Yet if the wise Gods made such a matter their business, we would intrude upon them. It is their concern to help us join them in the havens and it is our concern to ask for a God’s aid when confronted with the terror that the depths of man can bring. Regretfully, we are both on our own. If the depths of man have anything of substantial sincerity and respectability within them, this must first be known as the truth. The respect of the Gods, if indeed their respect is what man ultimately strives for, can only be earned by man if man takes it’s own cause into it’s own hands.’ Perlone knows all too well what it is that ‘the Faith’ aims for, yet in order for any sense to be brought to such a system of belief, first it was necessary to abandon it, and it is this that the human race is not prepared to accept. How could it mean anything other than their downfall? – Surely, Perlone’s very existence is the answer to that question! Right from the beginning The Ockress presents a world on the edge of its tether, one way or another, and disaster in some form is inevitable. Yet as the creature called Sundial says in Part 4, page 24; ‘the journey there is as important as reaching the actual destination’. This statement couldn’t be truer. Before too long Perlone encounters Ryan who is to be his protector, who warns him of a mysterious race of men, called The Automatons, whose identity, motivations and plans are as secretive, fathomless and exclusive as the secrets of life itself. It is their behavior that renders such a thing to be the case however. Their strange actions can never be seen as the cause of any significant activity, so why do things then go on to happen that have little to no sense of consequence, of origin? This is just one of many questions that can be proposed right from the beginning, but as the plot thickens and the mythology becomes more expansive, we begin to realize that it is not answers that we are looking for but it is meaning, a sense of meaning that can achieve far more than simple, cold-as-steel answers ever could. Ironically, far more answers are given in the process. Although there are many single events and cases that individually can be used as examples of proposed questions, many/most of which go unanswered, there is a universal and complex connection or infrastructure between all these questions which develops within itself an intensely rich world of human discovery. – The Ockress itself is only half of the story.
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