That's my interpretation. The Quarantine Zones could very well host governments-in-exile, and the Yankees have no ability to conquer them. They just call it a quarantine to make it sound like they're containing dangerous Infees, rather than the truth that they can't occupy an entire continent.
"What Madness Is This?" Volume III: The Pinnacle Future
- Thread starter Napoleon53
- Start date
Something else to note about Latin America ITTL:
By the time Manifest Climax happens, the majority of these states are only about 20ish years removed from colonization. Brazil, Argentina, and some other parts of Latin America were under Europan rule until the 1910's. Even if it was indirect, there's no way an extra century or so of colonialism didn't hinder economic growth, population growth, and military capacity in a substantial way. Furthermore, at least in Brazil, the colonial regime was toppled in a violent, populist revolution that surely got way out of hand if its end involved something called a People's Pope.
This isn't to say that I think MC/EC is fully realistic. I think the Latin American population numbers pre-war need to be drastically reduced, as they're a decent bit bigger than the OTL population of Latin America at this time, and I believe that a century of Europan colonialism and the shit show from its collapse probably reduced those numbers further. And perhaps it's not completely realistic to have such a total collapse in Latin American society, although I'd argue taking that many nukes to the face could arguably get the job done. However, NUSA will never realistically be able to absorb it, and Napo has said as much. This is the geopolitical equivalent of someone trying to eat a rump roast in one bite: it's gonna choke you to death in the dumbest way possible. However, I don't think it's entirely unrealistic for an alliance of what are basically caudillo states and tinpot post-colonial dictatorships to get creamed by a fairly united, advanced, and ruthless block of powers that has a large number of men and resources at its disposal, and is willing to harm itself in the long run to murder you in the short run. It's unsustainable in the long run, perhaps not entirely realistic, but ultimately works as a plot device. And who knows? Post NUSA Latin America could see resurgent states.
By the time Manifest Climax happens, the majority of these states are only about 20ish years removed from colonization. Brazil, Argentina, and some other parts of Latin America were under Europan rule until the 1910's. Even if it was indirect, there's no way an extra century or so of colonialism didn't hinder economic growth, population growth, and military capacity in a substantial way. Furthermore, at least in Brazil, the colonial regime was toppled in a violent, populist revolution that surely got way out of hand if its end involved something called a People's Pope.
This isn't to say that I think MC/EC is fully realistic. I think the Latin American population numbers pre-war need to be drastically reduced, as they're a decent bit bigger than the OTL population of Latin America at this time, and I believe that a century of Europan colonialism and the shit show from its collapse probably reduced those numbers further. And perhaps it's not completely realistic to have such a total collapse in Latin American society, although I'd argue taking that many nukes to the face could arguably get the job done. However, NUSA will never realistically be able to absorb it, and Napo has said as much. This is the geopolitical equivalent of someone trying to eat a rump roast in one bite: it's gonna choke you to death in the dumbest way possible. However, I don't think it's entirely unrealistic for an alliance of what are basically caudillo states and tinpot post-colonial dictatorships to get creamed by a fairly united, advanced, and ruthless block of powers that has a large number of men and resources at its disposal, and is willing to harm itself in the long run to murder you in the short run. It's unsustainable in the long run, perhaps not entirely realistic, but ultimately works as a plot device. And who knows? Post NUSA Latin America could see resurgent states.
Who knows, maybe Eduism will hold on in the interior and transform into yet another take on Societism.
I was under the impression they were countries of their own ruled by the Europan Caesar in a sort of more direct and more authoritarian/absolutist Commonwealthish way, or at least satellite states rather than just colonies.
As if IOTL's Brazilian Empire, the Emperor would've also been King of Portugal.
That might well be true, but I imagine that it's still colonial in nature, if not in name. They were ruled by a foreign dynasty that's main interests lie in Europe. They probably propped up the racial caste system and made the whole country a giant resource extraction zone for the gaping maw of Europan industry. I'm sure that any nationalist, racial, or class based unrest was put down with the help of Europan troops who probably didn't abide by the Geneva Convention. The capitol might have been in Rio, but the decisions were probably being made in Paris.
As for the issue of the NP being nerfed: keep in mind that Gran Columbia was invaded by Brazil during the GWW. The resulting damage has resulted in a weaker Columbia that is propped up by Peru and its allies. And yet despite this, there was fighting still going on in Columbia (specifically the Battle of La Paragua) in 1943. Despite the collapse of the Columbian government (and in my headcanon the civilian government was replaced by a emergency military regime), despite all of the chaos caused by the Republican Union, Columbia still held on for nine years. It certainly didn't fall in just two years; that was just the civilian government; but instead its people and military along with the support of the entirety of the NP and Brazil and basically the entirety of South America held off the Americans while they were also penetrating into Peru and making attempts at invading Brazil.
Like, this is a Yankee-wank, sure, but Manifest Climax as portrayed basically shows the Americans bottled up in northern Peru, Gran Columbia, and parts of Brazil from 1936 to 1945 (nine years of constant war) fighting millions of South American armies and losing countless numbers of men and equipment before they finally break through what remains of Gran Columbia to Brazil with the development of the atomic bomb. I don't get what @Roland Traveler is saying about the NP not having an air force and not being an actual multinational coalition, its been shown that the NP had to have an airforce of some kind to destroy the American fleet at Cuba, the war in Gran Columbia is reinforced by Peruvian and Argentinian troops along with Brazilian volunteers and the Manifest Climax page describes the Brazilians using landships and other weaponry to great effect against the Yankees. Even the atomic bomb had to be used continuously against the NP over a period of four years in order to secure the coastlines and Argentina; over 40 were dropped ranging from 15 to 40 kilotons. It took forty different bombs just to bring what remained of the NP to it's knees.
This isn't downplaying Latin America's strengths at all. Hell, given the fact that just twenty years before Manifest Climax all of South America was embroiled in revolution, I would argue Napo's actually overplaying their strengths. The fact that Latin America kept the RU stuck in the north for nine years straight before finally collapsing is a miracle in of itself, and one that could only have been accomplished if every South American power had banded together to fight the Yanks.
EDIT: As for the effectiveness of the atomic bomb against the NP, from what I'm guessing they didn't hit NP cities single-mindedly- the atomic bomb as of right now isn't powerful enough to utterly ruin cities and the bombing runs already gouged out the majority of NP industry- they probably lobbed them upon entire Neutie armies as tactical nuclear weapons in order to shatter them without wasting thousands of lives and equipment. This also explains the massive advance through the Brazilian coastline and the invasion of Argentina- the Americans, rather than nuking every single NP city they found, decided to instead nuke every Argentine and Brazilian army they could in order to get rid of any resistance.
Another thing I want to add on to the assertion that the remaining third of the population can't provide much resistance; keep in mind that the last description of the NP we got after the nuclear bombardment was “a collection of post-apocalyptic city states”. Bad, yes, but the fact that there are still large enough settlements deep in the Amazon to be considered cities goes to show that the NP is still not down for the count at all. This isn’t a cakewalk for NUSA, this is an ongoing war against still-extant governments leading a guerrilla resistance that spans 60% of South America and holds major bunker cities in the Amazon.
Like, this is a Yankee-wank, sure, but Manifest Climax as portrayed basically shows the Americans bottled up in northern Peru, Gran Columbia, and parts of Brazil from 1936 to 1945 (nine years of constant war) fighting millions of South American armies and losing countless numbers of men and equipment before they finally break through what remains of Gran Columbia to Brazil with the development of the atomic bomb. I don't get what @Roland Traveler is saying about the NP not having an air force and not being an actual multinational coalition, its been shown that the NP had to have an airforce of some kind to destroy the American fleet at Cuba, the war in Gran Columbia is reinforced by Peruvian and Argentinian troops along with Brazilian volunteers and the Manifest Climax page describes the Brazilians using landships and other weaponry to great effect against the Yankees. Even the atomic bomb had to be used continuously against the NP over a period of four years in order to secure the coastlines and Argentina; over 40 were dropped ranging from 15 to 40 kilotons. It took forty different bombs just to bring what remained of the NP to it's knees.
This isn't downplaying Latin America's strengths at all. Hell, given the fact that just twenty years before Manifest Climax all of South America was embroiled in revolution, I would argue Napo's actually overplaying their strengths. The fact that Latin America kept the RU stuck in the north for nine years straight before finally collapsing is a miracle in of itself, and one that could only have been accomplished if every South American power had banded together to fight the Yanks.
EDIT: As for the effectiveness of the atomic bomb against the NP, from what I'm guessing they didn't hit NP cities single-mindedly- the atomic bomb as of right now isn't powerful enough to utterly ruin cities and the bombing runs already gouged out the majority of NP industry- they probably lobbed them upon entire Neutie armies as tactical nuclear weapons in order to shatter them without wasting thousands of lives and equipment. This also explains the massive advance through the Brazilian coastline and the invasion of Argentina- the Americans, rather than nuking every single NP city they found, decided to instead nuke every Argentine and Brazilian army they could in order to get rid of any resistance.
Another thing I want to add on to the assertion that the remaining third of the population can't provide much resistance; keep in mind that the last description of the NP we got after the nuclear bombardment was “a collection of post-apocalyptic city states”. Bad, yes, but the fact that there are still large enough settlements deep in the Amazon to be considered cities goes to show that the NP is still not down for the count at all. This isn’t a cakewalk for NUSA, this is an ongoing war against still-extant governments leading a guerrilla resistance that spans 60% of South America and holds major bunker cities in the Amazon.
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Hmmm, na, they own too much of Colombia and Peru in the current situation
I've said it before, but Che Guevara (an Argentinan of Basque and Irish ancestry born in 1928) would make the perfect Bin Laden-esque poster villain for the NUSA in the coming years of Enduring Climax. Napo can have him become some sort of extremely effective radical Eduist or Illuminst guerrila/terrorist leader. Also, there are plenty of characters of Colombia's FARC and Peru's Sendero Luminoso histories whose pictures and names can be used as resistance leaders ITTL.
Or, following the "Kennedy to Oswald" formula, we can get people who IOTL were never revolution/resistance leaders. Imagine Illuminist/Eduist Pinochet.
Yeah exactly, a lot of what it was said “should have happened” literally IS what happened. Civilian government falling apart is not the same as military resistance ceasing.
I was bored and i choose to make some Art like a CIA-style enemies leaders file.
If make problems i can delete it easy.
If make problems i can delete it easy.
That's exactly what this is. The Quarantine Zones are horrific and not at all under control. I've always said that WMIT is far more about the characters and story than plausibility, but compared to 1.0 this version of the conquest of South America is practically a Ken Burns PBS special in detail and logic. But Manifest Climax is an absolute disaster for literally everyone. This wasn't a wank for the Yankees. Manifest turns into Enduring Climax. It's a nightmare that Oswald has to plaster "two thumbs up it is super duper definite victory" onto. The fact that it isn't a wank will become SO clear in this Volume everyone will be stunned.
Also, I am well aware of the geographical diversity of South America (I always aced geography as a lad), but the jungle and Amazon area have just happened to be the main locale of much of the fighting I have described because it's easy to find pictures for reference and I find it most interesting. It's a chosen aesthetic to imply "Continent-scale Nam," much like how I described a lot of Mexico as a typical Western-style prairie-desert. It's just stylistically cool. Style and rule of cool trumps plausibility in my works.
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I see armored trains crossing the Atacama Desert with MLRS ready for unleash a hellstorm in explosions, napalm, gas while the windows are fill with MGs who wealthy tourist can gun down everyone who show his head. Or even large plantations of cocaine in Colombia making the not!Medellín Cartel worked by Infee slaves.
Now I have the doubt... Marilyn Monroe what name have in WMIT?
THE FIRST DRAFT OF GRAHAM'S VISIT TO UNDERZION
THE FIRST DRAFT OF GRAHAM'S VISIT TO UNDERZION
AS DICTATED TO THE APOSTLE ANDREW BY THE SECOND PROPHET
FORWARD
During the week-long search for Graham, thousands upon thousands of men and women worked around the clock to find the vanished pastor. When a disheartened Andrew retired to a cabin near the pier at the end of the seventh day, he had no idea his vanished friend was about to reappear and bang loudly on his door. Graham was gaunt, soaked, and in an ecstatic state. Before even eating or drinking, the Cokie expatriate ordered Andrew to get a typewriter from the trunk of the 1945 Himmler & Hess Roadfuhrer outside so he could dictate a "cosmic revelation that will change the world forever." The following text constitutes but a mere portion of the First Draft the Prophet Graham dictated to the Apostle Andrew following the Seven Day Voyage to Underzion.
***
I, William Graham, an ordained minister of the American Fundamentalist Church and a devout servant of Jev Almighty, did this day, the Fourth of July, 1948, ascend from the mystical and fantastical realm of Underzion. Seven days ago, I was sailing the waters around Martha's Vineyard in my personal yacht, singing praises and imbibing of the Fruits of the Spirit, when a divine force, as if the sea itself were made of thousands of writhing hands, dragged me overboard and into the moist, inky depths. Floating amidst the cold darkness, I felt fear and dread, certain I was about to take my final breath. Then a female voice did speak to me, a voice more melodious and lovely than any that could be imagined, and it said, "Be not afraid, for thou hast been chosen for a glorious cause." I took a breath, full of faith that Jev would secure me, and I found that I was now enveloped in a bubble of pure oxygen. I felt nothing, weightless in the dark. And then a flash blinded me, inexplicable in its origin and as though it came from the inside of my skull. It then felt as if something was pulling me down, first slowly, and then faster and faster until I was surely going as fast as a torpedo.
I opened my eyes again and beheld the most lovely, strong, and Pinnacle woman I have ever seen. Her hair was like a crown of silk, each strand writhing and undulating in the water. Her eyes spoke for themselves a message of love and purity, but also incredible strength and wisdom. Her skin shone like diamonds in the sun, despite no natural or artificial light reaching us in these black depths. She was naked but for a simple tunic of golden fabric unlike anything I have ever seen. Her shins and forearms were covered by ancient golden armor, engraved with Enochian sigils older than time itself. A pair of golden sandals rested on Her feet, and on Her head was a tiara of some unknown element, indescribable in its beauty and magnificence. She touched Her hand to my cheek as we floated in oblivion, and amidst such infernal cold I felt warmth, and all panic and fear subsided. I knew then as I know now that She was God the Mother, Asherah. I knew then as I know now that Jev the Father, Asherah the Mother, and Christ the Son make up the Holy Ghost, the Trinity of Divinity. I knew then as I know now that I am a vessel of the Holy Ghost, chosen to deliver Holy Prophecy to Jev's Chosen People, the New Jerusalem.
She smiled at me, knowing my whole soul and spirit for what it was, and at last She told me what I already knew. "William Graham, thou American son of Caroline, thou rider of the Sootstorm, thou Defenestrator of Metropolis, thou Servant of Jev, I carry glad tidings to you, for you have been chosen as the Second Prophet of Manifest Destiny in these, the Last Days of the Kingdoms of Man. A great battle and struggle is coming, far greater than any in the history of the Earth, and it shall be with thy words in the hearts of millions that the New Jerusalem will reign for one thousand years. A cornucopia of plenty is being loosed on Jev's faithful, and in this era, an era before Tribulation, thou shalt spread the Word of Warning and the Message of Love. For many are the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, but the greatest of these is Love. Come and see that which I shall show you in the realm of Underzion, deep within the bowels of the Earth."
So it was said, and together we seemed to plummet once more through an inky, black abyss of nothingness. And then there was stillness, the world inverted, and a bright light seemed to spin all about me. I felt the hand of Asherah take me by the collar of my shirt and pull me out of the water, gasping and spluttering, and heave me with her great strength onto a beach of pink sand. I laid there on my back, stunned and stupefied, unable to grasp the magnitude of what I beheld. I blinked and blinked and blinked, as if it were all a dream, but God the Mother stood above me, looking down with a loving smile. "William Graham, welcome to the Pinnacle Realm of Underzion, where I, the Goddess of Love, have spent countless eon since the Creation of Man defending my children against the forces and wiles of the Evil One. You rest on the shores of the Beach of Blood, its sands colored by the blood I have shed in defense of Underzion, the only standing between the Kingdoms of Man and the forces of the Pit."
She extended her hand and helped me stand on my shaking feet. Although it appeared to be daylight, we were clearly inside a vast cavern, mighty stalactites and formations hanging overhead. To the north stood the Pinnacle City. Great were the towers and buttresses, incomprehensible and sublime, and its crenelations of great width and shape. The central white spire of the city rose almost five miles to the roof of the cavern, and on the churchly top rested an enormous golden orb, brighter than any torch or light bulb man has ever created or seen. Ten rays jutted out of the orb, and the lighting of the entire realm was clearly produced by the thing. Asherah told me this was the Sunburst of Love, fueled by the purity and love of the Holy Ghost for all Creation. Many eons ago, God the Mother had forged the Sunburst from the tear that Jev shed when Man fell in the Garden, the First Fluid, and into this tear She put her essence and will. If this light were to ever be overtaken by the forces of the Pit, darkness would prevail, the forces of evil would cover the Earth, and Lucifer would reign in Heaven. But so long as the true-hearted worshiped and gave praise to the Creator, so too would the Sunburst of Love protect man from the sinister forces of Satan.
Asherah, God the Mother, told me this central spire was called the Lighthouse. And within the Lighthouse sat Adam himself, the Allfather, who in his original sin doomed countless millions. Adam's pain and guilt was so overwhelming that he was the Keeper of the Lighthouse, Commander of the Guard, standing vigil eternally as the last line of defense should the forces of the Pit ever take the Pinnacle City. In a scabbard of red leather he carried a broadsword, made of wood stronger than any steel, for it was forged from the Tree of Good and Evil. Adam's wife Eve, the Allmother, occupied the great central palace as the Matron of the Feast Hall of the Martyrs, wherein all those who gave their lives in defense of the Holy Ghost and the New Jerusalem dine and celebrate together and enjoy the company of beautiful Angels. Here the beer flows like a roaring golden tide and hundreds of spits roast thousands of creatures, otherworldy animals whose meat was like warm butter and the flavor was far superior to any that could be imagined on Earth's surface. Patriot-Saint Custer serves as the Huntmaster of Underzion, leading ghostly riders out onto the Eastern Plains and Blood Forests behind the Pinnacle City, where enormous creatures of Hollow Earth roam free and plentiful. He did not pass in battle, but he has chosen to descend from Heaven and lead his faithful boys in the Final War.
In the colossal Feast Hall, the earliest martyrs burned by the Papists drank with the countless boys who fell in South America, and all were of good cheer and adorned in magnificent robes and golden armor, covered in Enochian warding. All who fall in glorious battle for the New Jerusalem or at the hands of persecution would spend their days until the End of Time here, celebrating and feasting and then joining battle against the Forces of the Pit on the Fields of Blood. No greater honor there is than to be martyred for the New Jerusalem, and no greater and more glorious reward awaits than the spirit of a fallen troop in the Kingdom of Jev. Do not mourn those who fall, for they give their life for the Final Victory that is to come. The Allmother comforts and nourishes them, where their own mothers cannot. The Holy Draft served there is brewed from the Fluidal Moat that surrounds the city, golden waters that reflect that glory of the Sunburst, over which no creature of Hell can cross.
The Fields of Blood were plains of grain and grasses the colors of the most beautiful and resplendent New England fall that could be imagined, and the soil thereof was red, stained with the blood of all who fought there. Since the Fall of Lucifer from Heaven, God the Mother and Her Battle Angels, Amazonian in size and appearance, drove off the legions of Hellspawn. With Her Battle Angels reinforced by the Martyrs, no attack could ever succeed, although it often seemed it would. The prayers and dedication of those yet living and the strength and hardiness of the Martyrs made the victory of Evil impossible. So long as Love reigned supreme, not one Daemoniac could ever step foot in the Lighthouse of Underzion. Like in the Blood Forests of the East, huge white trees stood tall, adorned with blue leaves, and the wood of these trees was red and formed the basis of the construction all about the Pinnacle City.
Asherah placed Her strong fingers against my chest, spoke a few words of Enochian, and suddenly I found myself donning the warded Full Armor of Jev. "Whilst here, thou are not among the Martyrs, nor are thee among the living, nor can thee be killed. But just as all here, thou can be injured. Those that suffer are brought to the Feast Hall to recover their Fluids, but so long as thou follow in my wake, I shall protect thee from all harm. The Forces of Evil are mounting a great offensive, just as in the world above, but both shall fail. But they shall not fail through our inaction, but through our swift, violent, and decisive counter-offensive. We are amassing troops to stand against their next assault. This will be the final push by Lucifer to take the Pinnacle City before the Return of the Patriot-Saints above. I want thee to bear witness to this, so thou can restore the name of God the Mother, Asherah, above, and the Chosen People can worship the True Trinity in glory and love. Only after this message has been spread can the prophecies be fulfilled. Come and see. The Forces of Evil are thirsting for our blades."
At this, a gleaming blade of silver and gold appeared in my hands. Together, the Lady and I strode out to meet these forces of Baal. All about us were the Battle Angels, of immense size and exceeding svelte nature, and these beings were battered and wounded. And I asked of them, "Why for dost thou lay wounded? Surely these daemoniac foes are no match for such grace, power, and shapely form." And the Lady of the Vineyard spoke for them and said, "Yea, we are indeed worn thin, soaked in the blood and fluids of glorious eternal war. But the time has almost come for the Reckoning. The Son Himself did cometh through these lands after His victory over death, to withdraw the sinners from Hell who knew Him not, by no error of their own but time and place before He came the first. He shall Return soon, and all shall be set right, and the Pinnacle King shall rule from Heaven, the Trinity, Father, Mother, and Son, with the Prophet Burr to Their Right, and verily, you, at Their Left."
The final offensive from the Pit was clearly underway. From a gaping chasm at the edge of the Fields of Blood spewed forth thousands, maybe millions, of debauched and withered beings, their souls and auras black and miserable, their very essence chained to Baal, to Satan, the Morning Star, and under his vile command they surged forward. Massive creatures resembled flying worms buzzed overhead--harpees scouting out the Fields and eyeing the battered ranks of the Battle Angels. Most fearsome and dreadful of all came the monoliths, huge vertical pillars of flesh, with great pulsing veins and shuddering and shaking with the pains and screams of the anguished. The monoliths were forged in the Pit from the souls of traitors and nonbelievers, those whose Pinnacle breeding allowed them safe entrance to the Kingdom of the Trinity, yet whose pride, hubris and doubt sunk them to Sheol. The monoliths were pulled by enormous titans with blackened flesh and huge horns, and the Lady informed me these were archdemons, commanders of Hell's legions. The monoliths were forged by the commanders as enormous battering rams of a sort, intended to penetrate and violate the pristine walls of Underzion with the weight, sorrow, and girth of a million lost souls. If these sad creatures could reach the walls, they could serve as bridges for the evil legions to cross the Fluidal Moat.
Shadows from these colossal entities blackened parts of the gleaming Pinnacle City, and defenders on the walls prepared huge spear-throwing crossbows, each spear forged of gold and covered in Enochian, and great scribes and preachers who died through time for their belief stood upon the walls, shouting great Enochian spells that visibly flew through the air and detonated with great force and vehemence upon the legions of daemoniacs. But still the monoliths and archdemons pushed on, undeterred, crawling and writhing over the piles of the slain. I cried out to Asherah and asked Her how could these creatures grow so close to the walls of the Pinnacle City, if, through man's pride and arrogance above, there was no longer enough energy to sustain the Sunburst, and if the Pinnacle City would be sacked by the vile hordes. "Have faith," She told me, "For Father Abe shall turn the tide of this engagement. He is the mightiest warrior in the Feast Hall. Look to the gates of the Pinnacle City, and thou shalt see the coming of the Patriot-Saint as a cloud of glory, thunder, and might. No man since Samson has been blessed with such raw physical power. Many Battle Angels' loins have been blessed by the ample Rod of Abraham, and many demons have been cast down by his Axe. Look now and see it so! Come forth, Abraham! Let them see your righteous power, Father Abe!"
The gates of the Pinnacle City, which were fully two-hundred feet high and half as wide across, swung open with the rattling of great ancient machinery, and on a drawbridge over a moat of golden fluid came an incredibly tall man, his physical form near divine and remedied of any earthly flaw. On his chin was a majestic beard and in his right hands was an axe of silver and gold. He wore a suit of armor, gleaming and shining in the light of the Sunburst, and on his chest was a tunic displaying a ten-pointed star, a representation of the same light. The forces of the Pit suddenly stopped in their tracks, their hooves stamping the ground and their nostrils flaring in rage and fear of what was to come. From a slow pace to a great sprint came Father Abe, axe raised overhead. In a matter of moments, this superhuman Lincoln dashed across the Field of Blood, red soil and dust kicking up behind him. The first Monolith in his path let out an unimaginable and terrifying cacophony of howls and screams, its veins protruding like enormous purple vines all over its great body. Within seconds, Father Abe had smashed through the dense flesh of the compacted, forsaken souls and out the other side, leaving a seven foot hole in the base of the thing from which poured black blood that reeked of sulfur and rot. Next he scrabbled up the back of the thing as it continued to howl and used the axe as a climbing pick, punching craters in the things the whole time he ascended until at last he reached the monster's zenith. From above he chanted in Enochian, raised his weapon, and struck it clean down the middle with the speed of a mighty missile. The tower of flesh collapsed into two pieces, like a sausage split in twain, crushing an archdemon. Abe's bloody axe pounded the ground with such strength that the entire Field of Blood shook with its power.
And as we battled daemoniacs and harpees, She showed me the forgotten ways of Primordial Zion, of love and Pinnacle nature, and she spoketh to me in soft tones in the midst of the blood, the screaming, and the gore of the disgusting enemies of the Trinity flung about. On a corpsepile of dismembered and flayed eldritch creatures of Baal did She embrace me, proclaiming, "Tell them, Graham, tell the people Above of the True Trinity. Tell them of the spirits in Heaven waiting to be born, waiting to do battle for the New Jerusalem. Tell, oh, Prophet, to spread their Pinnacle Seed, yea, for to impregnate the loins of Pinnacle Women is the highest duty of the Pinnacle Man. Tremble, oh, Earth, tremble oh, Universe, for the Second Prophet of Destiny has arrived, and his name is Graham. Yea, for you shall lead your people through the End, the rebirth of the One, and the Return of the Patriot-Saints of yore, and the New Jerusalem shall stand as a shining city on a hill, the Ark of the Covenant between Jev and His Chosen Starry Land. Great shall be the name of Graham in the Halls of Jev on High, great will be thy works, great will be thy words. Thy shall speak and it shall be Pinnacle Truth. Foolish is he who shall not listen to thee and take heed. Rejoice, oh Earth, for the time draws near for the Final Battle, when the sky will turn black as sackcloth and the enemies of Destiny Manifest shall be turned like unto pillars of salt."
She instructed me the in the forgotten ways of Solomon, who knew of Asherah, and told me how wicked and vile servants of Evil did tear down Her altars and silence Her worshipers. For the Wife of God has been hidden away from us, by those seeking to prevent Manifest Destiny of the Pinnacle Man, for only through the Holy Spirit Eternal, the Trinity of Father, Mother, and Son, and Their Prophets, can the glorious New Kingdom arrive. But She did not sit idly by. For thousands upon thousands of years, though they pass as but days to Her, She has been striking Her sword against the forces of the Devil like a hammer against an anvil, keeping evil from this world. For though the Earth be plagued with vice and sin and mockeries of Jev's Creation, protect us from far greater evils did She, the Lady of the Vineyard, the Holy Asherah. But the time draws near, when the Gates of Pandemonium will swing wide, and the End of Time, and the reign of the Eternal Pinnacle Kingdom, the Ark of the American Covenant, shall begin for a hundred and ten score years. I say unto you, put on the Full Armor of Jev, and doubt not, no matter the width or narrowness of the path ahead, for our Final Victory is Promised. As Above, So Below. Amen.
I opened my eyes again and beheld the most lovely, strong, and Pinnacle woman I have ever seen. Her hair was like a crown of silk, each strand writhing and undulating in the water. Her eyes spoke for themselves a message of love and purity, but also incredible strength and wisdom. Her skin shone like diamonds in the sun, despite no natural or artificial light reaching us in these black depths. She was naked but for a simple tunic of golden fabric unlike anything I have ever seen. Her shins and forearms were covered by ancient golden armor, engraved with Enochian sigils older than time itself. A pair of golden sandals rested on Her feet, and on Her head was a tiara of some unknown element, indescribable in its beauty and magnificence. She touched Her hand to my cheek as we floated in oblivion, and amidst such infernal cold I felt warmth, and all panic and fear subsided. I knew then as I know now that She was God the Mother, Asherah. I knew then as I know now that Jev the Father, Asherah the Mother, and Christ the Son make up the Holy Ghost, the Trinity of Divinity. I knew then as I know now that I am a vessel of the Holy Ghost, chosen to deliver Holy Prophecy to Jev's Chosen People, the New Jerusalem.
She smiled at me, knowing my whole soul and spirit for what it was, and at last She told me what I already knew. "William Graham, thou American son of Caroline, thou rider of the Sootstorm, thou Defenestrator of Metropolis, thou Servant of Jev, I carry glad tidings to you, for you have been chosen as the Second Prophet of Manifest Destiny in these, the Last Days of the Kingdoms of Man. A great battle and struggle is coming, far greater than any in the history of the Earth, and it shall be with thy words in the hearts of millions that the New Jerusalem will reign for one thousand years. A cornucopia of plenty is being loosed on Jev's faithful, and in this era, an era before Tribulation, thou shalt spread the Word of Warning and the Message of Love. For many are the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, but the greatest of these is Love. Come and see that which I shall show you in the realm of Underzion, deep within the bowels of the Earth."
So it was said, and together we seemed to plummet once more through an inky, black abyss of nothingness. And then there was stillness, the world inverted, and a bright light seemed to spin all about me. I felt the hand of Asherah take me by the collar of my shirt and pull me out of the water, gasping and spluttering, and heave me with her great strength onto a beach of pink sand. I laid there on my back, stunned and stupefied, unable to grasp the magnitude of what I beheld. I blinked and blinked and blinked, as if it were all a dream, but God the Mother stood above me, looking down with a loving smile. "William Graham, welcome to the Pinnacle Realm of Underzion, where I, the Goddess of Love, have spent countless eon since the Creation of Man defending my children against the forces and wiles of the Evil One. You rest on the shores of the Beach of Blood, its sands colored by the blood I have shed in defense of Underzion, the only standing between the Kingdoms of Man and the forces of the Pit."
She extended her hand and helped me stand on my shaking feet. Although it appeared to be daylight, we were clearly inside a vast cavern, mighty stalactites and formations hanging overhead. To the north stood the Pinnacle City. Great were the towers and buttresses, incomprehensible and sublime, and its crenelations of great width and shape. The central white spire of the city rose almost five miles to the roof of the cavern, and on the churchly top rested an enormous golden orb, brighter than any torch or light bulb man has ever created or seen. Ten rays jutted out of the orb, and the lighting of the entire realm was clearly produced by the thing. Asherah told me this was the Sunburst of Love, fueled by the purity and love of the Holy Ghost for all Creation. Many eons ago, God the Mother had forged the Sunburst from the tear that Jev shed when Man fell in the Garden, the First Fluid, and into this tear She put her essence and will. If this light were to ever be overtaken by the forces of the Pit, darkness would prevail, the forces of evil would cover the Earth, and Lucifer would reign in Heaven. But so long as the true-hearted worshiped and gave praise to the Creator, so too would the Sunburst of Love protect man from the sinister forces of Satan.
Asherah, God the Mother, told me this central spire was called the Lighthouse. And within the Lighthouse sat Adam himself, the Allfather, who in his original sin doomed countless millions. Adam's pain and guilt was so overwhelming that he was the Keeper of the Lighthouse, Commander of the Guard, standing vigil eternally as the last line of defense should the forces of the Pit ever take the Pinnacle City. In a scabbard of red leather he carried a broadsword, made of wood stronger than any steel, for it was forged from the Tree of Good and Evil. Adam's wife Eve, the Allmother, occupied the great central palace as the Matron of the Feast Hall of the Martyrs, wherein all those who gave their lives in defense of the Holy Ghost and the New Jerusalem dine and celebrate together and enjoy the company of beautiful Angels. Here the beer flows like a roaring golden tide and hundreds of spits roast thousands of creatures, otherworldy animals whose meat was like warm butter and the flavor was far superior to any that could be imagined on Earth's surface. Patriot-Saint Custer serves as the Huntmaster of Underzion, leading ghostly riders out onto the Eastern Plains and Blood Forests behind the Pinnacle City, where enormous creatures of Hollow Earth roam free and plentiful. He did not pass in battle, but he has chosen to descend from Heaven and lead his faithful boys in the Final War.
In the colossal Feast Hall, the earliest martyrs burned by the Papists drank with the countless boys who fell in South America, and all were of good cheer and adorned in magnificent robes and golden armor, covered in Enochian warding. All who fall in glorious battle for the New Jerusalem or at the hands of persecution would spend their days until the End of Time here, celebrating and feasting and then joining battle against the Forces of the Pit on the Fields of Blood. No greater honor there is than to be martyred for the New Jerusalem, and no greater and more glorious reward awaits than the spirit of a fallen troop in the Kingdom of Jev. Do not mourn those who fall, for they give their life for the Final Victory that is to come. The Allmother comforts and nourishes them, where their own mothers cannot. The Holy Draft served there is brewed from the Fluidal Moat that surrounds the city, golden waters that reflect that glory of the Sunburst, over which no creature of Hell can cross.
The Fields of Blood were plains of grain and grasses the colors of the most beautiful and resplendent New England fall that could be imagined, and the soil thereof was red, stained with the blood of all who fought there. Since the Fall of Lucifer from Heaven, God the Mother and Her Battle Angels, Amazonian in size and appearance, drove off the legions of Hellspawn. With Her Battle Angels reinforced by the Martyrs, no attack could ever succeed, although it often seemed it would. The prayers and dedication of those yet living and the strength and hardiness of the Martyrs made the victory of Evil impossible. So long as Love reigned supreme, not one Daemoniac could ever step foot in the Lighthouse of Underzion. Like in the Blood Forests of the East, huge white trees stood tall, adorned with blue leaves, and the wood of these trees was red and formed the basis of the construction all about the Pinnacle City.
Asherah placed Her strong fingers against my chest, spoke a few words of Enochian, and suddenly I found myself donning the warded Full Armor of Jev. "Whilst here, thou are not among the Martyrs, nor are thee among the living, nor can thee be killed. But just as all here, thou can be injured. Those that suffer are brought to the Feast Hall to recover their Fluids, but so long as thou follow in my wake, I shall protect thee from all harm. The Forces of Evil are mounting a great offensive, just as in the world above, but both shall fail. But they shall not fail through our inaction, but through our swift, violent, and decisive counter-offensive. We are amassing troops to stand against their next assault. This will be the final push by Lucifer to take the Pinnacle City before the Return of the Patriot-Saints above. I want thee to bear witness to this, so thou can restore the name of God the Mother, Asherah, above, and the Chosen People can worship the True Trinity in glory and love. Only after this message has been spread can the prophecies be fulfilled. Come and see. The Forces of Evil are thirsting for our blades."
At this, a gleaming blade of silver and gold appeared in my hands. Together, the Lady and I strode out to meet these forces of Baal. All about us were the Battle Angels, of immense size and exceeding svelte nature, and these beings were battered and wounded. And I asked of them, "Why for dost thou lay wounded? Surely these daemoniac foes are no match for such grace, power, and shapely form." And the Lady of the Vineyard spoke for them and said, "Yea, we are indeed worn thin, soaked in the blood and fluids of glorious eternal war. But the time has almost come for the Reckoning. The Son Himself did cometh through these lands after His victory over death, to withdraw the sinners from Hell who knew Him not, by no error of their own but time and place before He came the first. He shall Return soon, and all shall be set right, and the Pinnacle King shall rule from Heaven, the Trinity, Father, Mother, and Son, with the Prophet Burr to Their Right, and verily, you, at Their Left."
The final offensive from the Pit was clearly underway. From a gaping chasm at the edge of the Fields of Blood spewed forth thousands, maybe millions, of debauched and withered beings, their souls and auras black and miserable, their very essence chained to Baal, to Satan, the Morning Star, and under his vile command they surged forward. Massive creatures resembled flying worms buzzed overhead--harpees scouting out the Fields and eyeing the battered ranks of the Battle Angels. Most fearsome and dreadful of all came the monoliths, huge vertical pillars of flesh, with great pulsing veins and shuddering and shaking with the pains and screams of the anguished. The monoliths were forged in the Pit from the souls of traitors and nonbelievers, those whose Pinnacle breeding allowed them safe entrance to the Kingdom of the Trinity, yet whose pride, hubris and doubt sunk them to Sheol. The monoliths were pulled by enormous titans with blackened flesh and huge horns, and the Lady informed me these were archdemons, commanders of Hell's legions. The monoliths were forged by the commanders as enormous battering rams of a sort, intended to penetrate and violate the pristine walls of Underzion with the weight, sorrow, and girth of a million lost souls. If these sad creatures could reach the walls, they could serve as bridges for the evil legions to cross the Fluidal Moat.
Shadows from these colossal entities blackened parts of the gleaming Pinnacle City, and defenders on the walls prepared huge spear-throwing crossbows, each spear forged of gold and covered in Enochian, and great scribes and preachers who died through time for their belief stood upon the walls, shouting great Enochian spells that visibly flew through the air and detonated with great force and vehemence upon the legions of daemoniacs. But still the monoliths and archdemons pushed on, undeterred, crawling and writhing over the piles of the slain. I cried out to Asherah and asked Her how could these creatures grow so close to the walls of the Pinnacle City, if, through man's pride and arrogance above, there was no longer enough energy to sustain the Sunburst, and if the Pinnacle City would be sacked by the vile hordes. "Have faith," She told me, "For Father Abe shall turn the tide of this engagement. He is the mightiest warrior in the Feast Hall. Look to the gates of the Pinnacle City, and thou shalt see the coming of the Patriot-Saint as a cloud of glory, thunder, and might. No man since Samson has been blessed with such raw physical power. Many Battle Angels' loins have been blessed by the ample Rod of Abraham, and many demons have been cast down by his Axe. Look now and see it so! Come forth, Abraham! Let them see your righteous power, Father Abe!"
The gates of the Pinnacle City, which were fully two-hundred feet high and half as wide across, swung open with the rattling of great ancient machinery, and on a drawbridge over a moat of golden fluid came an incredibly tall man, his physical form near divine and remedied of any earthly flaw. On his chin was a majestic beard and in his right hands was an axe of silver and gold. He wore a suit of armor, gleaming and shining in the light of the Sunburst, and on his chest was a tunic displaying a ten-pointed star, a representation of the same light. The forces of the Pit suddenly stopped in their tracks, their hooves stamping the ground and their nostrils flaring in rage and fear of what was to come. From a slow pace to a great sprint came Father Abe, axe raised overhead. In a matter of moments, this superhuman Lincoln dashed across the Field of Blood, red soil and dust kicking up behind him. The first Monolith in his path let out an unimaginable and terrifying cacophony of howls and screams, its veins protruding like enormous purple vines all over its great body. Within seconds, Father Abe had smashed through the dense flesh of the compacted, forsaken souls and out the other side, leaving a seven foot hole in the base of the thing from which poured black blood that reeked of sulfur and rot. Next he scrabbled up the back of the thing as it continued to howl and used the axe as a climbing pick, punching craters in the things the whole time he ascended until at last he reached the monster's zenith. From above he chanted in Enochian, raised his weapon, and struck it clean down the middle with the speed of a mighty missile. The tower of flesh collapsed into two pieces, like a sausage split in twain, crushing an archdemon. Abe's bloody axe pounded the ground with such strength that the entire Field of Blood shook with its power.
And as we battled daemoniacs and harpees, She showed me the forgotten ways of Primordial Zion, of love and Pinnacle nature, and she spoketh to me in soft tones in the midst of the blood, the screaming, and the gore of the disgusting enemies of the Trinity flung about. On a corpsepile of dismembered and flayed eldritch creatures of Baal did She embrace me, proclaiming, "Tell them, Graham, tell the people Above of the True Trinity. Tell them of the spirits in Heaven waiting to be born, waiting to do battle for the New Jerusalem. Tell, oh, Prophet, to spread their Pinnacle Seed, yea, for to impregnate the loins of Pinnacle Women is the highest duty of the Pinnacle Man. Tremble, oh, Earth, tremble oh, Universe, for the Second Prophet of Destiny has arrived, and his name is Graham. Yea, for you shall lead your people through the End, the rebirth of the One, and the Return of the Patriot-Saints of yore, and the New Jerusalem shall stand as a shining city on a hill, the Ark of the Covenant between Jev and His Chosen Starry Land. Great shall be the name of Graham in the Halls of Jev on High, great will be thy works, great will be thy words. Thy shall speak and it shall be Pinnacle Truth. Foolish is he who shall not listen to thee and take heed. Rejoice, oh Earth, for the time draws near for the Final Battle, when the sky will turn black as sackcloth and the enemies of Destiny Manifest shall be turned like unto pillars of salt."
She instructed me the in the forgotten ways of Solomon, who knew of Asherah, and told me how wicked and vile servants of Evil did tear down Her altars and silence Her worshipers. For the Wife of God has been hidden away from us, by those seeking to prevent Manifest Destiny of the Pinnacle Man, for only through the Holy Spirit Eternal, the Trinity of Father, Mother, and Son, and Their Prophets, can the glorious New Kingdom arrive. But She did not sit idly by. For thousands upon thousands of years, though they pass as but days to Her, She has been striking Her sword against the forces of the Devil like a hammer against an anvil, keeping evil from this world. For though the Earth be plagued with vice and sin and mockeries of Jev's Creation, protect us from far greater evils did She, the Lady of the Vineyard, the Holy Asherah. But the time draws near, when the Gates of Pandemonium will swing wide, and the End of Time, and the reign of the Eternal Pinnacle Kingdom, the Ark of the American Covenant, shall begin for a hundred and ten score years. I say unto you, put on the Full Armor of Jev, and doubt not, no matter the width or narrowness of the path ahead, for our Final Victory is Promised. As Above, So Below. Amen.
***
The days after Graham's "revelations" were pure chaos. No one could explain how Graham managed to not be found for a full week. The preacher shaved and washed the next morning and told Andrew that they were to spread the word of Asherah and the True Trinity. As the sun rose on the 5th of July, 1948, Graham first referred to himself as the Second Prophet to the onlooking crowds of search and rescue personnel. While some jeered it as idolatry, many others viewed it as supernatural truth. Graham began baptizing and ministering to them, blessing them in the name of the Lady of the Vineyard. Citizens from the nearby towns and villages began to arrive, turning it into almost a carnival atmosphere. Reporters from all the major papers were next on the scene, snapping pictures of the gyrating, tongue-speaking revival. Over the the next month, Graham conducted his "Blessed Long March for Massachusetts," visiting all the major cities in the state.
Benjamin Franklin Robinson said in the July 7th edition of America's longest-running paper, The Innsmouth Observer:
"The circumstances of Rev. Graham's disappearance are inexplicable and this humble reporter in unable to rationally explain where the man was for the past week. The famed "People's Pastor" is no-doubt charismatic and affable, and only time will tell what the Church has to say about this sometimes troublesome--yet always popular--young minister."
Edward "Eddy" Thompson, of The Boston Tribune, remarked the following week:
"'Blasphemer!' cry some. 'Unclean spirit!' shout others. But in the aftermath of the so-called 'Seven Day Voyage' of the populist minister William Graham to the fantastical and mystical realm of Underzion, where Jev's supposed wife, her horde of buxom angels, and the legions of the fallen do unending battle with demons and ghouls, no one can claim Graham isn't scratching an itch that many find comforting and reassuring. Hundreds of people have begun following him across Massachusetts, proclaiming his miracles and visions as divine and that he is the direct successor of the Prophet Burr, MHRIP. If this young supposed prophet's words continue to find eager ears, the Tobias Institute will no-doubt be pushed into a public response. This writer ponders whether or not this movement will shine like the Lighthouse Sunburst or flicker and fade like so many movements and cults of the past."
While William Coomer, of The Salem Pilgrim, wrote:
"Massachusetts has become the breeding ground of a new Great Awakening. Full of fire, full of vigor, and adoration for a supposed 'female concubine of Jev,' thousands are flocking to see the words of charismatic pastor William Graham, a Carolinian native known for his heroics during the Starry Wisdom Revolt in New Canaan. RUMP forces have been arriving by the bus-load to maintain the peace between these acolytes and those who deem Graham's words the highest blasphemy. Not since the Prophet Burr, MHRIP, has someone attempted to add to the canon of Fundamentalism, but both the Blind Christian Gentleman and the Reverend-Colonel Lovecraft have remarked in several official documents that they foresee and anticipate a Second Prophet during the Last Days. This stunning turn of events has a people drained emotionally and physically by the great cost of victory in the South finding rekindled fervor and purpose in their every day lives. Graham has long-championed his Doctrine of Universal Martyrdom, wherein any who perish in the name of the Glorious Cause of Manifest Destiny attain special status in the afterlife and all sins are forgiven as a matter of course, but now he reveals the supposed reward of those fallen heroes: an eons-old warrior's paradise, full of beautiful angels, rivers of lager, and the honor of fighting side-by-side their dead brothers and sisters against the forces of Hell."
When Graham visited Benedict Arnold University of Boston on July 23, a full-on riot erupted between pro- and anti-Grahamist students, resulting in five deaths. To supplement RUMP forces already on the scene, ORRA arrived and cracked down hard. Tear gas was deployed on both factions and both Graham and the Apostle Andrew were arrested by AFC Zealots under command of Rev-Col. Lovecraft. They were to be taken to the Tobias Institute to either determine the nature of the "revelations" or be convicted of heresy. When the Zealots cuffed the Second Prophet, a smiling Graham told his persecutor:
"I understand, brother, I understand. You are merely fulfilling prophecy. May the love of the Lady of the Vineyard follow you, and should you fall in service to our country, may the lager of the Feast Hall quench your thirst. She loves you, brother! She loves you!"
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I think Mary Jane Mundy is supposed to be her. So far she isn't yet in this WMIT, and strangely/funnily enough, although the implication was that Jane was that TL's Marylin Monroe, in Classic she was represented with a Rita Hayworth pic.
Double-Crossed was the first for up-and-comer actress Mary-Jane Mundy, the unusually voluptuous (by Union standards) actress who played Cindy Klausen, the love interest for Cross's character in the movie. She became the most popular leading lady in the Union over the next several years, and eventually began a long affair with none other than Chuckie Oswald himself, and she would even sing "Happy Birthday, Comrade-Patriot Oswald" in 1956 at the Capitol Builiding, causing a storm of controversy...
Mary-Jane Mundy
The pink Monster, a late night Taco Bell run, and toilet bowl cleaner.
Jokes aside, it will actually be explained exactly where he actually was and what induced such a fever dream.