Draft:Merger

Merger (novel)

Merger is a volume of the Sundial Chronicles, the central story of Stan and perhaps the first novel series to be born out of a micronation. It is a Bildungsroman that follows the The Grand Hootie beginning in early adulthood as Slim Pickens with references to his childhood as Young'n. Throughout, Slim and Young 'n reemerge and blend to typify late adolescence and the inner child, respectively.

Plot

When Merger opens, Slim is experiencing existential angst which he channels into the building of a micronation in Columbia, South Carolina. One day, after prop building the central artifact, the Prism Sundial, he experiences a vision after he lifts the sundial over his head. He sees the potential future of South Carolina after his intervention and realizes that in light of world events, Stan is more real and needful than ever.

Slim visits Riverbanks Zoo during the Total Solar Eclipse of August 21, 2017, where he encounters the Aurora in possession of sunstone, moonstone, alexandrite and tritium and crying a bile tear and has a Balaam's donkey experience.

In the most detailed account, upon asking the Aurora's name, Slim is given a series of names forming the Greek acronym ΕΞ ΑΡΧΗ(Σ), that is, exarch or from the beginning. He realizes types in these interpretations:

1) A beginning is being ordained, itself a type of the beginning of the world

2) That the covenant of the Incarnation was formed from the beginning, immediately after the Fall,

3) Christ as King of the Jews, where literal Judea was a minor Roman province (typified by an exarchate), from which, nonetheless, the Universe was renewed.

In another more succinct account, the red and blue Aurora gives the name Polyplectron misra which would correspond to the Egyptian peacock pheasant, which Slim later realizes is not a biological animal. He realizes he has seen an angel that is a type of Christ, the Theotokos and Joseph the Betrothed in Egypt, that is to say, in hiding, a foreshadowing of the Crypto-Christianity of Stan. The laughter and bile tear represent Slim's own struggle with Bipolar Disorder. Merger and Stan are also explorations of grandiose delusions and examine the tendency in American religious life to overemphasize religious experiences.

One retelling says that three birds were given refuge on Slim and the June Bug's front porch after their wedding. These three are understood to be a type of the angels in the Hospitality of Abraham and to represent a Principality, Power and Dominion assigned to Slim, The June Bug and Stan.

The legaci tribe insist that Slim was visited by the mountain chicken.

Depending on the orientation of each tribe, more or less spiritual or materialistic interpretations are applied to these events.

In the non-dynasty of reign bo', it is maintained that Stan started merely as a dictation autocorrect error.

Slim eventually becomes the Grand Hootie when he is crowned by his wife, the June Bug, herself become the Ladybug. The joining of her two names into one represents her integration as a married woman. Rich White is an old southern gentleman and Slim's supposed archnemesis as is reign bo'. The one typifies the ruling class of South Carolina, the other Gen Z and Slim, were he not to fight the passions or marry the June Bug. Reign bo' suffers from itchy ears and plays gymboy, a gym simulation on his VR headset. He holds his "friend", a pet lab rat, in one hand and a reign bo' cola in the other. He is waited upon by his father, Roy G. Bev. While elaborate showdowns were planned between the Hootie and reign bo', the writer is exploring a plot wherein the Hootie's enemies become invisible over time owing to spots in the Hootie's vision representing the plank in his own eye. Merger flashes between Rivertown and Sugar Water City--the Columbias that could be with heroic intervention or would be with businesses-as-usual, respectively. The former is symbolic of Thus Spake Zarathustra, the latter of The Gay Science. Stan aims to represent the Incarnation of God and the calling of the Gentiles, Sugar Water City, the sins of the world and the rejection of God. In the seven book series, Slim encounters his alter egos, collectively known as the pickens.

Related pages

Draft:Great Teachers of the Nation

Draft:Stani education.

References

https://orthodoxwiki.org/Principalities