Gentry/The Noemata

The Noemata

A being of thought, as much one gender as another, the Noemata is a member of the local Gentry played by Rainier.

Description

The Fool walks the same path in endless repetition, deepening his understanding of the world and himself as he goes. He takes that first blind step into self-awareness dozens, hundreds of times in a lifetime. Each new epiphany begins a new journey.

We are all the Fool. The Noemata sees the Fool in each of us, sees the potential to be precisely what we need to be in a moment, to embody an idea, an archetype, a lesson. We all have lessons to learn. We all have lessons to teach.

The Noemata sees the big picture and understands the journey. The Noemata understands how all the pieces fit together to tell a story, to offer insight, to provide a warning. The Noemata is the hand which deals the Tarot. The Noemata is the all-seeing eye at the top of the pyramid. The Noemata knows we all have purpose. The Noemata knows we all have meaning. The Noemata shows us how to know ourselves.

Realm

The Seventy-Eight Steps
See the above link for detailed information on the Steps and their Exemplars.

An impossibly massive step pyramid, the Seventy-Eight Steps lead each Fool through a sequential journey to self-knowledge. The lessons repeat. The cycle does not end. Details will vary, always, always, but the lessons are always the same. The symbols might be different, but the meanings are consistent. Though many of the Noemata's captives walk the path of the Fool and can travel the Seventy-Eight Steps, most inhabit only one step for the entirety of their durance, coming to embody a particular archetype, learning the same lesson over and over again, teaching it to every Fool who passes through.

Water runs through the Steps of Cups, fountains and chalices overflowing, floors flooded, lakes reflecting the world with crystal clarity or strange metaphor. Emotions run high. People fall in and out of love every night. The heart rules, for better or for worse.

Earth rules the Steps of Coins, ground always solid beneath feet, walls sturdy and decadence evident. Coin and sex flow freely. Material and carnal concerns are second only to a desire for stability, to build something which will last, to make a home, to have a family.

Fire fills the Steps of Wands, torches and candles burning bright, hearths warm and welcoming, embers never snuffed. Visions dance within those flames, challenging ideas and inspiring change. People push for a purpose beyond the material and mundane, searching for something more than themselves.

Air stirs the Steps of Swords, wind cutting through every corridor, rustling leaves and hair and papers, bearing whispered ideas, bringing smoke and fog. Thoughts are sharp, often cruelly so, cutting and rational. The mind rules, for weal or for woe.

The Steps of the Major Arcana are each different, fitting the lesson they need to give, suiting the current inhabitant's understanding of that archetype.

During the day, while the sun shines, the pyramid is surrounded by a vast desert. At night, beneath the moon, the pyramid stands amid a lush rain forest. Day and night, the hiss, rattle, rustle and buzz of the realms beetles is ever-present, sometimes just a distant hum, sometimes a clear and obvious reminder of the Noemata's ubiquitous presence. The beetles are always there, near or far, tiny little fluttering things and great hulking beasts, almost always jewel-toned, most commonly blue-green iridescence.

Methodology

Journeys and repetition. Embodiment of archetypes. Lessons to learn. Lessons to teach.

Some are the Fool. Some walk the path and learn of themselves and the endless cycle they walk, attaining an existence nearer to perfection with every step. The Fool learns through the Journey, through walking the Seventy-Eight Steps and learning every lesson. The Fool is on a quest for enlightenment and understanding. Such knowledge never comes easily. The Fool will stumble and fall. The Fool will be isolated and ostracized. The Fool will be beaten and broken and lied to and lead on and forced to lead and create and suffer criticism and disillusionment. Everything the Fool understood will be stripped away and rebuilt so that true understanding can dawn. Only for the process to begin again once the apex is reached, every ending a beginning, every mastery a reminder that we are all yet Fools.

Some are the Querent. Some see the archetypes and how they connect, left to puzzle out their meaning, to apply those lessons or ignore them, the insects wishing to be more in their next incarnation. The Querent learns through observation. The Noemata deals the cards, guides the journey, but the Querent is left to find meaning therein. The Querent's life is one of an insect, an interloper, guided by a desire to learn and a fear of that understanding. They can only watch, but cannot interact, their fretting and commentary always, always an unintelligible buzz understood by others only as the constant eyes upon them or, among other Querents, dissent or reassurance, depending on the resonance. The Querent is alone, isolated, even in the company of others.

Most are the Exemplars. Most embody an individual idea, a lesson which they live every day, which they learn over and over again, which they teach to others. Each Exemplar is different, each lesson unique, but there is commonality in every experience: each Exemplar learns through repetition, their existence within the Seventy-Eight Steps spent pursuing perfection, the ultimate exemplification of a specific archetype which they must represent to others, to the Fools and the Querents who look to them to learn. They do not travel the steps. They know only their own step, their own shifting world which grows as their understanding grows, which forces them to ever deeper understanding, which enables them to teach.

Suggested Themes for Escapees

Most who are taken by the Noemata had lived ordinary lives. Why the Noemata selects someone is often difficult to discern, but it's likely that they embodied some idea perfectly for a moment or that they sought to understand themselves or their place in the world. Normal people who either exemplify or seek to understand the struggles everyone faces day-to-day are the most common folks stolen by the Noemata.

Those who escape vary greatly, but there are some commonalities. All are left looking for lessons in the world, frequently reading more into others' actions or pure coincidence than they likely should.

• Fools rarely experience drastic physical changes. The Fool represents all of us, and so must look like all of us. They may become more ordinary or more mutable, but they rarely become anything especially alien.

Fools who escape may find it difficult to shake the need to quest. They will likely see the cyclical nature of experience in everything they encounter. Some might try to break those patterns, while others might lean into that momentum. Many Fools will seem very solipsistic given that what they were the star of their journey through the Seventy-Eight Steps, everything in that world existing to teach them lessons. They might, instead, fear interaction with others given how harsh some of those lessons were.

• Querents are inhuman. They are almost always insects, most of which are beetles, most of which are jewel-toned, most of which are an iridescent blue-green. There are variations, but they grow increasingly rare the farther away they get from glittering blue-green beetle. For example, glinting garnet beetles are more common than black scarabs which are more common than butterflies which are more common than newts which are more common than chipmunks which are more common than plants. All are possibilities, but the Noemata have a particular fondness for iridescent blue-green beetles.

Querents who escape may be socially stunted. They lived isolated, voyeuristic lives where they could not communicate with others in any meaningful way, where they stumbled through life trying to find meaning through the observation of others who barely acknowledged them. Some may be desperate for affection while others might emerge with a fear of intimacy. Some may not speak. Others might stare inappropriately.

• Exemplars are the most diverse of the Noemata's escapees, coming in every seeming, any kith. Everything is metaphor, symbolism found in every shape.

Exemplars who escape are often obsessed with the particular theme or idea they embodied, with the lesson they had to learn and teach over and over and over and over. See the Seventy-Eight Steps for a deeper exploration of possible themes.

By Seeming

• Beast - Common, especially among Querents, who are primarily insectoid. Other Querent-Beasts are often small, focused on perception, mobility, unobtrusiveness. Exemplar-Beasts can be anything, so long as there is fitting story and symbolism.
• Darkling - Mirrorskin Fools are common, the ability to be anyone represented so well in that kith. Common among Exemplars, steeped in symbolism.
• Elemental - Common, especially among minor arcana Exemplars. Watery cups, fiery wands, earthen coins, airy swords.
• Fairest - Romancer Fools are common, the everyman found in those shifting features. Treasured Querents, the jeweled beetles glinting so prettily. Exemplars are always possible.
• Ogre - Less common, but certainly found within the Exemplars.
• Wizened - Common among Fools and Exemplars, worn by the journey, by the repetition.