Envisioning Angels

From doktorsleepless

Envisioning angels

Posted by eschatonic.water on June 21, 2008 at 8:06am

Speculations:

The mysterious tech-angel that haunts Heavenside seems to be drawn to the same places Doktor Sleepless has frequented, places where Grinders and Shrieky Girls and the like congregate.

It first became visible to Celia when she began to manifest symptomes of St. Theresa's Eyes - a "designer disease, tailored ::infection... experimental vir[us]" created by some of Dok's former associates. Given that we already have nano-tech today, I'll speculate that STE is a nano-virus, or has a nano-component in its make-up. Once the "virus" enters a host-body, one of the things it does (perhaps as a secondary effect) is migrate to the host's eyes (and/or optic nerve and/or occipital lobe), and perform some structural modifications which allow the afflicted person to see wavelengths not normally visible to the human eye; this is why the angel-construct suddenly became visible to Celia.

The angel itself is obviously a mechanoid construct. The Doktor was startled to see it - apparently without having been afflicted with STE (or has he? Why does he only remove his goggles in the dark?) - but why was he startled? Because it existed? He had only just been telling Nursey about the significance of angel sightings... Because he could see it? Or was there another reason?

I suspect that, as with St. Theresa's Eyes, the angel-construct is part of Dok's plan - but it seems to have entered the picture sooner, or in a manner other, than he expected.

The presentation of Dok's sighting of the angel raises a few questions. Did Nurse Igor see it? (I'm guessing, no.) Why, when next we see them, at street level, do they both act as though nothing untoward has happened? Sure, for Nursey, Dok acting strange, staring at nothing and mumbling to himself probably isn't that unusual, but given how startled he seemed, Dok was strangely calm and unperturbed afterward.

What else happened on that rooftop that we didn't see?

Reply by Jared on June 21, 2008 at 8:26am

"What else happened on that rooftop that we didn't see?"

My guess is that he told her about the Angel Constructs off-panel. If he had just left her hanging, that might have been too wierd of him in her eyes and tried to pry it out. It's also why we haven't seen her mention it again.

My question about the Angels is less of "how are they part of the Doktor's plan?" and more "Just what the hell are they?" It looks almost too advanced to be part of this regular universe--they are at least moving AIs with advanced technology--I'm guessing it's something very advanced under the Apocolypse bunkers, or perhaps a more technological take on some of the Elder God stuff or maybe something else.

Perhaps a Rapture? A certain Nerd Rapture that Mister Ellis has wrote about recently?

Reply by Ian 'Cat' Vincent on June 23, 2008 at 4:38pm

I'm not convinced there's more than one Angel yet - once we see two of 'em in the same panel, then I'll believe it!

I also suspect that whatever they are, they're not something the Dok controls, or possibly even wants around.

Reply by Mark Crabtree on June 24, 2008 at 12:22pm

The angel itself is obviously a mechanoid construct.

Well, it appears to be mechanical, it could just be a virtual construct with mechanical styling. But I do like the idea that it isn't an intrinsic part of STE but just something the sufferers (and the Dok) have the ability to see. Plus, if it is virtual, that would mean that rather than changing their eyes to a see new wavelengths it would just be a kind of augmented reality. (and how do you make a mechanoid that's invisible at visible wavelengths?)

Reply by eschatonic.water on June 24, 2008 at 2:31pm

Mm. Good point. Maybe a hologram that's only visible to people plugged into Clatter who also have also contracted STE?

Reply by Spiraltwist on September 4, 2008 at 3:04pm

According the good Doktor, the angel constructs are the result of permanently altering the perceptions of the people infected with the virus. There is no cure. POOF: instant seers.

Which has me thinking. Were the angel constructs always there in the first place, or are they what the human mind creates to make sense of the un-sensable?

Reply by Ian 'Cat' Vincent on September 4, 2008 at 6:08pm

"Were the angel constructs always there in the first place, or are they what the human mind creates to make sense of the un-sensable?"

One from each column, I think!

As DS says, humans have seen 'angelic' creatures for an awful long time. Each culture depicts them differently - from Xtian angels to Djinn to the Faerie to aliens. The technological aspect could just be how this generation perceives them. And that could indeed be because we can't deal with them any other way.

So...

Is DS afraid he's been infected with STE against his wishes? Or are they a side-effect of the kind of neural hacking he's done to himself, and STE triggers the same response?

Was he expecting the angels to just be hallucinations rather than something that pre-existed?

Spiraltwist on September 4, 2008 at 7:46pm

I think the Doktor is so bat shit crazy that he sees them - no sleep fucks your brain up.

A possible side effect to the hacking is a good hypothesis, actually - makes sense.

Hmm....I don't think he expected them to be pre-existing. With all the things that he's seen (granted, he could be lying), he shouldn't be so surprised.

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