Even that shouldn’t stop the scientists from publishing a firm, simple, and specific explanation to the average person, who is still relying on charlatans for the eclipse explanation. For the scientific mumbo-jumbo explaining an interdimensional portal, I am sure that people will disregard it as a lie. Some even will burn it to the ground just like they did to the 5G broadcasting towers. Because the rest of us are left behind in our primitive world, without clear explanations for anything.
Science needs believers, just like any religion. The scientists need to get down in the mud to convert people. They need to debate with the charlatans and the priests and every cult leader, not by shaming or ridiculing them and their followers, but by truly winning the argument in a convincing way. That is even harder than to create an interdimensional portal but necessary for science to survive. That said, and in the long run, since life itself is a cycle, we could easily see the Dark Ages of Ignorance come back again. The charlatans will win if the scientists continue to elevate themselves from the belief in their high and lonely towers. They will then continue to be isolated, then hated, then persecuted. This will undoubtedly be the case if none of them are willing to go down to the marketplace to meet people and prove that tomatoes are beneficial for the body by eating them in front of the ignorant. Convincing everyone that the fruit is good for them, as one courageous scientist did once in the Dark Ages, debating the local charlatan and priest and winning the argument, and then going back to the lab to make another discovery is admirable. My neighbors should worship that scientist by the way, as because of him, ketchup exists. If this is not done, then the Big Filter will come forcing us all through an apocalyptic war led by the charlatans and every dumb religious leader, with machetes slaughtering the scientists as witches. And when that happens, for sure, I’ll pick the charlatans side, knowing that the scientists team will be debating the best ways to organize the troops. It did happen in the past, and it can happen again. I hate myself for idolizing Konu and his depressing thoughts that I’m copying and imitating like a clown.
Back to The League…
As reported in the book, the founder was a mediocre scientist, but a simplistic and charismatic one. He was from a family of religious leaders close to the court, but opposed to the tradition of keeping up and inheriting the title of his shamanic ancestors, he decided to adopt the science path. Even if he never made even one discovery, he had the perfect combination of skills to succeed with this effort. Probably with premeditation and knowing the cruelty of the Empire towards women, he proposed a theory that historians said saved the Egap’s tribes from enslavement and genocide. In his thesis that he presented to the court with fabricated evidence, he skipped the part about the women versus men ratio and instead focused on the direct threat – the consequences of mixing with the Egap population. In fact, every male visitor to Egap must not be allowed to be around Egap women, and sex should be strictly forbidden and severely punished if it occurred because it’s has a high-risk of a spreading a deadly epidemic disease. He named that highly dangerous malady “Egafoolnesh,” a mental torment and foolishness that surely ends up in suicide. He argued his point by relating tales of the first discoverers who committed suicide on their way back home.
Of course, they did, but not because of “Egafoolnesh.” It was because the trip was very long, harsh, and uncertain, and most men did not have the guts to make it. It was especially distressing when the conditions were hopeless, and many sailors had nothing back home waiting for them.
The Rotanios emperor loved the idea, knowing that his empire was on the decline, and his army couldn’t patrol Egap regularly. Also, by adopting this idea, no settlers from another empire would risk contracting Egafoulnesh, as the rumors of suicides now became a scientific fact. The emperor declared it was a forbidden land for his and any other empire as he had the upper hand by discovering it. Still the other empires continued secretly sending scientists to Egap, and later on, more scientists started to settle there. Therefore, contrary to the other populations in the newly discovered worlds, Egap tribes weren’t slaughtered or enslaved. They benefited from the presence of the scientists, as they installed schools to interact with the population and learn and teach languages so they could better study them. Although some historians argued that the main goal was clearly a cultural influence to prepare the field later for the inevitable negotiations between the three empires to divide the continent.
After a while, and at the end of the reign of the Emperor of the Rotanios, the trusted scientists of the court convinced him that Egafoolnesh ceased to exist. They proposed that in the past, for some reason, it did, but it seems now that the pandemic is over. Based on that, the Emperor convinced
