8FOLD/ACRA: Journey Into... Annual # 1 (a/b)

[Martin Phipps]

Tom Russell wrote:
> Martin Phipps wrote:
> > Okay.
> >
> > I'm wondering what the origin of "Santa" is in Eightfold.  Is he really
> > Saint Nicholas who has lived for many hundreds of years and has, in the
> > meantime, moved up to the North Pole and now has elves and reindeer
> > working for him?  Or in the Eightfold Universe is he a superpowered
> > individual who was able to recreate the Santa Claus mythology?
>
> Well, this Santa is certainly more akin to the secular Santa of popular
> imagination rather than the religious figure.  But, in my opinion, and
> I think this is alluded to within one of the stories, he is the real
> deal.  He's not someone who's recreating the mythology: he is the
> mythology.
>
> As for an origin story... well, I did start writing one but abandoned
> it.  The gist of it was, when people started to believe in Santa, he
> came into being.  Just, plip!, he exists.  The other side of the coin--
> which came into play in a couple of other abandoned stories for this
> annual-- is that should the world know for an absolute fact that Santa
> exists, he would either lose his powers or cease to exist altogether.

So it is not he that recereated the mythology but the mythology that
recreated him. :)

Martin