1 00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:08,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. Hi, 2 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:12,400 Speaker 1: my name is Robert Lamb and this is The Monster Fact, 3 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:15,080 Speaker 1: a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind 4 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:23,880 Speaker 1: focusing on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters in time. In 5 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:27,440 Speaker 1: the last episode of The Monster Fact, we discussed the 6 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:32,159 Speaker 1: basics of chaos demonology within the fictional far future universe 7 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:36,919 Speaker 1: of games Workshops Warhammer forty thousand. We began with the 8 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:41,159 Speaker 1: oldest chaos god, Corn, borne out of the accreted energy 9 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:45,879 Speaker 1: of mortal violence. Today, it's time to turn our attention 10 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:50,519 Speaker 1: to the next chaos god, Zench. Now that's traditionally spelled 11 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:53,600 Speaker 1: with a silent tea, but you can really spell the 12 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:56,640 Speaker 1: entity's name anyway you want to. I think Zench would 13 00:00:56,680 --> 00:00:59,600 Speaker 1: appreciate that, especially if you put a great deal of 14 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:03,720 Speaker 1: thought into the exercise and mix things up alight. After all, 15 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:07,319 Speaker 1: he is the changer of ways and the demonic master 16 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:13,360 Speaker 1: of mutation, trickery and prophecy. Zinch's focus on change is 17 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:17,280 Speaker 1: sometimes perplexing because, of course, change is not inherently evil 18 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:21,240 Speaker 1: or ruinous. As described in the ninth edition Chaos demon 19 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: Codex from Game's Workshop, change is largely the bait by 20 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 1: which the dark god draws in his followers. He promises change, 21 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 1: He promises wisdom or insight into the future. But what 22 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:39,080 Speaker 1: he actually delivers his manipulation, confusion, plots within plots, and 23 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:43,640 Speaker 1: ultimately more out of control transformation than anyone's sane or 24 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: mortal can comprehend. The vice he feeds upon is unchecked 25 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 1: mortal ambition and deception. As such, Zinch is one of 26 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:59,360 Speaker 1: two chaos gods, along with Slinesh, who exhibits strong Fostian elements. 27 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:03,720 Speaker 1: He offers tempting immediate rewards in exchange for a great 28 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:08,680 Speaker 1: cost of unimaginable nature. The battle forces of Zinch are, 29 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:13,640 Speaker 1: of course, bonkers, imp like pink horrors, swarm across an 30 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: ever changing, ever recreated battlefield, splitting into blue horrors upon defeat, 31 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:23,639 Speaker 1: which in turn fall to become flaming brimstone horrors. Now, 32 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:26,639 Speaker 1: these are the lowest of Zinch's forces, but his generals 33 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:31,280 Speaker 1: are the great blue Avian monstrosities known as the Lords 34 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:34,720 Speaker 1: of Change, and the most dangerous of these is an 35 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:38,880 Speaker 1: individual Lord of Change known as Carrios Fate Weaver, the 36 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:43,639 Speaker 1: oracle of Zinch, Kryos Manifests is a great two headed 37 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:49,040 Speaker 1: lord of change, resplendent in blue feathers, kaleidoscopic wings, and 38 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:54,080 Speaker 1: countless gleaming eyes. Fittingly, there are some enthralling elements to 39 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:57,800 Speaker 1: unwrap in this entity. Beginning with its name, Fate Weaver 40 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 1: speaks for itself, but the demon's first name is the 41 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:04,720 Speaker 1: ancient Greek for the right, critical or opportune moment, and 42 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 1: in modern Greek time and weather, it is written that 43 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:11,280 Speaker 1: the two heads of carry Us Fate Weaver are all seen. 44 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:15,079 Speaker 1: One looks backwards into the past and the other forward 45 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 1: into the future. The symbolism brings to mind various concepts 46 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,399 Speaker 1: from real world religion and iconography, such as the two 47 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:26,119 Speaker 1: faced Janus of Roman tradition, who is god of beginnings 48 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:30,440 Speaker 1: and endings, of transitions and doorways. The image also brings 49 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:34,240 Speaker 1: to mind hecade the Greek goddess who is often presented 50 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:37,760 Speaker 1: as triple faced or triple bodied. She is a goddess 51 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:41,400 Speaker 1: of crossroads who presents a different form to each direction, 52 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:45,360 Speaker 1: So we might easily think of both Janus and Hecadae 53 00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:50,120 Speaker 1: as gods of change, as well, as Robert Mills points 54 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:53,440 Speaker 1: out in Jesus as Monster, published in the two thousand 55 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:56,520 Speaker 1: and three book the Monstrous Middle Ages. From the twelfth 56 00:03:56,520 --> 00:03:59,800 Speaker 1: century onward. There is also a tradition in Christian iconography 57 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:04,840 Speaker 1: of depicting Christ with three human faces or three human heads, 58 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:08,160 Speaker 1: as a way of visually depicting the Holy Trinity or 59 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:13,680 Speaker 1: three in one God, Christ and Holy Spirit. Mills points 60 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 1: out that this is fairly remarkable because these divine images 61 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:23,600 Speaker 1: coexisted with monstrous depictions of three faced creatures in medieval bestiaries, 62 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:27,080 Speaker 1: and of course we also have the three faced Satan 63 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 1: in Dante's Inferno. The bird heads of carry Us, Fate, Weaver, 64 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:35,760 Speaker 1: and the other lords of Change are also quite interesting. Certainly, 65 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:38,240 Speaker 1: there are plenty of examples of real world gods and 66 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:42,120 Speaker 1: goddesses with Avian features like this, But I also can't 67 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 1: help but think of a specific medieval depiction of Jesus 68 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:48,719 Speaker 1: Christ with the head and long neck of a bird. 69 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:53,359 Speaker 1: Mills discusses this as well. The example he points to 70 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:57,479 Speaker 1: in the English Book of Hours and Salter circa thirteen hundred, 71 00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:00,960 Speaker 1: depicts a strange human bird high with a long neck 72 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:06,560 Speaker 1: and long vulture like beak. The creatures loincloth, philosophic air, 73 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 1: and body positioning strongly reflect depictions of Christ Mills wonders 74 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:14,960 Speaker 1: if this perplexing creature is a reference to the burden 75 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:18,440 Speaker 1: end described in the Guest of Roman Arum or Deeds 76 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:22,320 Speaker 1: of the Romans from roughly the same time period. In 77 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:26,200 Speaker 1: this book, birdmen with long necks and beaks are described 78 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:29,800 Speaker 1: as fitting judges because of the distance between their heart 79 00:05:30,279 --> 00:05:34,560 Speaker 1: and their voice. By virtue of their long beaks and necks, 80 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:38,840 Speaker 1: see words rise up from the heart through the neck 81 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:41,839 Speaker 1: to the lips, and the longer they have to travel, 82 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:45,120 Speaker 1: the more time we have to consider them and craft 83 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:49,640 Speaker 1: them for public consumption. In other words, the Avian Christ 84 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:53,320 Speaker 1: might be a commentary on the holy value of contemplation 85 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:57,680 Speaker 1: and the need to balance justice and mercy. So with 86 00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:01,159 Speaker 1: the Lord of Change and other agents Zinch, perhaps we 87 00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:07,799 Speaker 1: see a similar symbolic effect, only demonically perverted. The Chaos 88 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:12,359 Speaker 1: God celebrates contemplation, but only in the form of endless 89 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:17,000 Speaker 1: scheming and deception. Words travel along between his heart and 90 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:21,719 Speaker 1: his voice because every whisper is finally tuned to ensnare, 91 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:28,120 Speaker 1: bewilder and manipulate mortals to further his own labyrinthine schemes. 92 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:32,240 Speaker 1: We'll continue through the chaos factions in this manner over 93 00:06:32,279 --> 00:06:34,719 Speaker 1: the next two weeks, so tune in for the Monster 94 00:06:34,839 --> 00:06:37,560 Speaker 1: Fact each Wednesday and the Stuff to Blow Your Mind 95 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:41,680 Speaker 1: podcast feed. As always, you can email us at contact 96 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:52,560 Speaker 1: at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff to 97 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:55,320 Speaker 1: Blow Your Mind is a production of iHeartRadio. For more 98 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:59,000 Speaker 1: podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 99 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:01,599 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.