HELIOLATRY/Children of the Bright Light

The Children of the Bright Light is, unfortunately, a sect of HELIOLATRY. Why are you here? Was this knowledge worth it?

Turn back

Little is known about the Sect referred to as the "Children of the Bright Light," as most other sects are hesitant to talk about (or even acknowledge) them, and its believers (commonly referred to as the 'Pale-Eyed') are generally too busy staring into the sun and chanting ominously to themselves to be questioned. The few non-Children willing to discuss the Pale Eyed referred to them as "kinda freaky" and "a little much," and stated "I know we're a cult and everything, but like... come on, guys. You're making the rest of us look bad." Some informative booklets and half-eaten pamphlets have been recovered after gatherings of the Pale-Eyed, however, allowing for some insight into their belief system.

• The children believe the Sun is holy, all-powerful, and possibly sentient, although some materials contradict this and refer to the sun as a location, or a state of mind.
• The children believe that everything is given to us by the sun, and the sun would not let anything happen bad happen to true believers. Therefore, anything bad that happens is actually good, and planned by the sun.
• The children believe that if you stare at the sun enough, the sun will stare back, and then climb in. This is how you become one with the sun.
• The children believe incinerations to be a means for the sun to "call her chosen people into her warm embrace."
• The children believe nothing good. There is nothing valuable here. There is nothing worth saving. Please stop reading. There's still time.

Don't look

One of the few things known about the Children of the Bright Light is their "initiation process" that all new members are subject to. The initiation involves staring into the sun without looking away, sometimes even for days at a time, until the sun has "entered you," which will be represented by the new recruits eyes becoming pure white. The exact effects of this are unclear- recovered materials state that the reason for this change is a bleaching effect caused by the sun as it entered the new recruits body, and far from being stripped of sight, they are now cleansed of all sights "her holy rays did not approve." Outside of the sects, many assume the Children to be almost, if not entirely, blinded by the light, but investigation on the topic has proved inconclusive. One investigator, for the sake of research, went through the initiation process, and was last seen wandering through the Hellmouth, smiling broadly, staring at nothing. When approached by fellow investigators, who made comments such as "where have you been," "your family was so worried about you," and "please, please come home," the former investigator only replied, "I'm here. I have always been here."

Close your eyes

After the catastrophic events of Season β10 of Blaseball, during which the sun collapsed into a black hole and was replaced by Sun 2, many sects of HELIOATRY fell into internal chaos, and the Children were no exception. As a key fundament of the Children's views is a refusal to admit that the sun could ever be weak, wrong, or allow bad things to happen, a large majority of the Children employed the strategy of "outright denial." Examples of explanations from members about the collapse of the Sun include "The Sun isn't gone she's merely resting and looks darker because she put on her sleeping cap," "the sun is a huge eye that's currently blinking, but given how large she is it's happening very slowly," and "What are you talking about, the sun's right there, I'm looking at it right now, there's no such thing as a black hole and everything is perfect."

Some believers, however, took a different approach, and two notable offshoots of the Children were formed, each with their own ideas about the events that had occurred, and how to respond to them.

Turn Away

The Brigade of the Bright Light is an offshoot of the Children that formed shortly after the formation of the black hole. The Brigade is largely populated by disciples who (prior to the collapse) failed the proper initiation of the Children; some simply having been unwilling to risk damage to their eyes, and some who attempted, but reportedly do not "see" in the same way the Children are claimed to "see." The fully initiated Pale-Eyed are said to not look down on the Brigade entirely, however. Depending on who you ask, the Brigadiers either were not ready to be cleansed, and await the day they will be properly purified by the light, or they were simply unwilling to be potentially blinded, which even the Children begrudgingly admit to be completely understandable. Since their eyes were not entirely "cleansed of all unholy sights," all members of the Brigade are reported as being able to see the black hole- and, to their relief, able to see in general.

The Brigade believes that the black hole is an interloper that consumed the original sun, resulting in the need for Sun 2's appearance. The Brigade states that the black hole will someday attempt to eat Sun 2, as one sun was simply not enough to satisfy it's hunger, and combat this potential foe by sending garbage into the black hole in an attempt to fill it. A noted Brigade leader, when asked about the logic behind their method of opposition, stated, "That's what you do with holes. You FILL them with dirt until they ain't holes anymore."

Due to the constant fear that the black hole will attempt to eat Sun 2 is it is not filled in time, at least one rocket is sent into the black hole a month. The source of the funding for these rockets is still unknown, but much like their fellow HELIOLATRY worshipers in the Sols Melodious, signs point to Houston.

Please stop

During the general pandemonium following the collapse of the sun, one individual known to write pamphlets for the Children began to create some new gospel in response to the celestial events, and gained a small but passionate group of followers. This subsect, referred to only as the "Godeaters," believe that the black hole and Sun 2 are simply a test given to us by the proper, true Sun, who has come down to earth in a new, weaker form. The Godeaters believe it is their solemn duty to find the Sun on earth and devour it, taking it's power into their selves and becoming the new Sun. Exactly how the Godeaters intend to do this is unclear, as any attempt to question the Godeaters about their beliefs is met only with derision, and the few explanations given can usually be summarized as follows: "Devour. Devour the gods. Become as gods. Become the sun. Our hunger is a great pit inside us that can be filled only with light. We are the light. We devour ourselves." Meetings for the Godeaters are generally held at one of many of the Steakhouses around the Hellmouth, and conclude once the Steakhouse has either been burned to he ground, or entirely devoured. Needless to say, the Godeaters are, even among the Children, an unusually destructive and antagonistic sect, and should be avoided at all costs.

Just look away

The investigators who gathered this material would like to remind you that any further research of the Children of the Bright Light has been strictly banned, and all mistaken tourists to Hellmouth will be prevented from interacting with the Pale Eyed by any means necessary. The existence of this page exists only as a warning of danger, and any curious individuals should forget what they have read immediately, and read anything else, possibly about cats. The Children are not safe, and you are not safe here.

We wish you had turned back. We did warn you.