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Death of a Zionite.
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cov


Femme Fatale

Joined: Aug 15, 2005
Messages: 232
Location: Mega City, CA
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So here's a sort of a macabre question about the culture of Zion, for all you armchair cultural anthropologists out there.  I was thinking about the death of a character in MxO, and what our faction might do to honor him in the Real - and I realized that I don't really know how people in Zion memorialize the dead. 

For example, where do Zionites physically go to pay respects to their fallen comrades?   I don't know if corpses in Zion are buried in some big graveyard somewhere, or warehoused in a mausoleum, or cremated.  Are photographs readily available to make little memorials in people's homes or in public spaces?  Is there a wall of remembrance somewhere in the temple?  For that matter, what do people in Zion do to pay respects?  For instance, I'm imagining a scene where a hovercraft crew returns to a site in the tunnels where there was a battle and another hovercraft was destroyed, killing everyone on board.  What would the returning hovercraft crew do when they returned?  Laying flowers is out of the question because there's no plant life.  Can you think of an alternative gesture of respect and remembrance?  A 21 EMP salute?

Do you suppose there are prayers and religious rituals for the dead?  If so, would they reference Neo?

I realize that there have been a few memorial services in the Matrix lately (sadly), but those involve symbols and rituals of a human culture that don't really translate into Zion - plus those are just inaccessible to all the free-born Zionites.  I'm more curious about what folks imagine the culture of Zion does to commemorate and pay respects to the dead in the Real, given Zion's constrained resources in terms of space and material goods, as well as the practical and psychological limitations of living in essentially a gigantic refugee camp. 

I don't think there's any right or wrong answer, I'm basically just looking for help with some brainstorming to help flesh out the culture of Zion - although if anyone knows of any guidance in the Matrix universe, that'd be helpful too.


Message edited by cov on 02/07/2007 22:02:23.



Jacked Out

Joined: Aug 17, 2005
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Location: The Arbiter Faction:Network Imperium Designation: Intelligence Officer/2nd in Command
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In Enter the Matrix,Sparks (The Logos' operator), criticizing the decisions of his crew asks them if they'd prefer cremation or "The Gardens"

 

We do not know what "The Gardens" are but I think for space reasons it is consider better to cremate the dead.

SFK


Jacked Out

Joined: Dec 22, 2005
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I would imagine that due to space limitations underground people would have to be cremated.  As for the gardens,  If my memory serves me correct I remember seeing a tall grass filled fields with the bodies of dead human soldiers everywhere.  I believe it was show in one of the matrix comix online. 


Jacked Out

Joined: Aug 15, 2005
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Ive never considered any comic that has grass or other life on the surface to be cannon. Sorry but no light = no plants.

It is my belief though that the gardens could be an underground section of Zion that uses UV lighting, which would explain the foods those who though Neo as a god came from. In which case, the thought of that one part in waterworld (You see a dead body being put in what looks like surferic paste to be turned into furtilizer for the plants) might explain where they get the needed nutrients for the plants all the way down there.

 
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