I wanted to share a concept that just came to me: Ritualistic sun blinding.

Examples-

  • A sun worship cult that maintains an order of blind prophets. Whose ordination involves self-blinding using the sun. burning away the false eyes

  • Sun blinding as a form of martial punishment used on deserters or captured enemy soldiers.

Ngl, this came to me when I remembered how Trump stared at the sun during the solar eclipse.

:Trump

  • Dingus_Khan [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I've said it before: all of human civilization has been downhill since widespread worship of the sun was abandoned.

  • Des [she/her, they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    since being blinded by the sun is considered a blessing and path to enlightenment for the privilaged few you would have to have an explanation for why a concurrent trend of using it as a punishment in the military clique came about. something like a fanatical cleric of the sun, maybe a washed out but blinded wanna-be prophet, attached to military internal police force thought he could redeem deserters and POWs by converting them into clerics and eventually this evolved into using it as pure military punishment. perhaps it has devolved in most miliary units into simple blinding with hot irons when mass punishment was required. bonus that you can now mercifully "release" enemy POWs but be assured they will never rejoin the enemy army in a useful capacity. the negative is the enemy armies/nations will do equally horrible shit to their POWs as retaliation.

    • dom [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      To add to the blessing vs punishment distinction-

      Being blinded the right way (in observance of the proper rites) grants the blindee a new vision. While the blinded-as-punishment folks are just visionless.

      One of the rites could be viewing a relic, before blinding, which is hidden from everyone except the would-be prophets.

      • Des [she/her, they/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        going along the same line maybe those being punished en masse both do not receive the viewing of the relics and are cut off from the purity of the sun itself. maybe they use a lens or shaped crystal to quickly burn the eyes of the prisoners as well.

  • RNAi [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I REALLY like it. Reminds me of Lightbringer. Someday I'll finish the last book.