Communion of Gurhal

[DurakkenX]

It's said that there are 4 top ranking people in the CoG. Most people read this wrong and assume that we've only heard 1 or 2. In truth we know of 3...well I do at least... my question is does anyone know if the 4th position is ever mentioned?

The current ones I know of are...
Chief Photon Master: Izuma Rutsu
Light Master: Dohgi Mikuna (new 1 unknown)
Divine Maiden: Mirei Mikuna (Karen Erra)

[A2K]

I believe the Maiden is separate from the top four light masters, being a "symbol" of the Communion, although it's possible that a maiden could be or has been a light master as well in the past.

Each of the four Photon Masters preside over: Festas, Governmental Affairs, Culture (History?), and Guard. It's never explicitly stated who presides over what, unfortunately:

Festas: Administration of various festivals and celebrations throughout the year.
Culture: Not sure on this one. Perhaps the preservation of COG history, texts and artifacts? Maybe some R&D as well.
Guard: The "military" arm of the COG, the section of the COG that Armed Servants are part of. May also serve as a sort of "self-policing" organization, conducting investigations into internal affairs, corruption, etc.
Governmental Affairs: Deals with the actual day-to-day ruling of Neudaiz, establishment and enforcement of laws, that sort of thing.

[DurakkenX]

On 2007-04-14 05:01, A2K wrote:
Each of the four Photon Masters preside over: Festas, Governmental Affairs, Culture (History?), and Guard. It's never explicitly stated who presides over what, unfortunately:

Festas: Administration of various festivals and celebrations throughout the year.
Culture: Not sure on this one. Perhaps the preservation of COG history, texts and artifacts? Maybe some R&D as well.
Guard: The "military" arm of the COG, the section of the COG that Armed Servants are part of. May also serve as a sort of "self-policing" organization, conducting investigations into internal affairs, corruption, etc.
Governmental Affairs: Deals with the actual day-to-day ruling of Neudaiz, establishment and enforcement of laws, that sort of thing.



It's clearly stated that there are 4 top ranking people of CoG..not that they are all "light masters." in fact if you look at the PSU official site they very clearly and distinctly call rutsu and dohgi by 2 different titles and given that they are always displayed as pretty equal.

Dohgi was most likely the one for the guard or culture.
rutsu is prolly the government affairs or guard.
and divine maiden is most likely the festas one.

[Mewn]

Dohgi is/was the Light Master responsible for the Festas.
Rutsu is the Chief Photon Master who presides over the 4 Light Masters. The other 3 Light Masters are never even mentioned, really.

Rutsu is Dohgi's superior.

[DurakkenX]

On 2007-04-14 05:56, Mewn wrote:
Dohgi is/was the Light Master responsible for the Festas.
Rutsu is the Chief Photon Master who presides over the 4 Light Masters.

Rutsu is Dohgi's superior.


support this with facts... there is nowhere that i know of that states any of this.

[Mewn]

http://phantasystaruniverse.com/charworld_factions_characters.php#21 - for Dohgi being the Light Master of Festas.
http://www.psupedia.info/index.php?title=Story_Characters#Izuma_Rutsu - for Rutsu governing the 4 Light Masters, Tycho's translation from the Japanese website. The US site isn't very explicit on the matter.

[DurakkenX]

On 2007-04-14 06:07, Mewn wrote:
http://phantasystaruniverse.com/charworld_factions_characters.php#21 - for Dohgi being the Light Master of Festas.
http://www.psupedia.info/index.php?title=Story_Characters#Izuma_Rutsu - for Rutsu governing the 4 Light Masters, Tycho's translation from the Japanese website. The US site isn't very explicit on the matter.



The second doesn't prove anything. The way that it is stated and exactly how the CoG works can easily be seen as Rutsu is the leader of the four and is part of them. I mean seriously you don't consider the president of the US separate and OVER the US. He is both a a part of and governs over.

There is also a mistake in there as well with Lou. She is in several divisions of GUARDIANS and as such should not be listed as being in any or all of them.

[Mewn]

As you wish.

http://phantasystaruniverse.com/charworld_factions.php


Four high-ranking members of the Communion, known as Light Masters, rule over "Festas," "Governmental Affairs," "Culture," and "Guard." These four are presided over by the Photon Master.
Badly worded, maybe, but I'm somehow inclined to believe that Photon Master Rutsu doesn't preside over himself. The semantics suggest there are 4 Light Masters, who are in turn presided over by a different individual.

Not sure where you're taking your US analogy either. If I had to say, I'd say that Rutsu is the 'President' and the 4 Light Masters make up his 'Cabinet'. Both Rutsu and the Light Masters are part of the executive branch of the COG, but Rutsu is still top dog, presiding over the other 4, who are the Light Masters.

I consider it like this though, Rutsu is the 'Pope' of the COG and the Light Masters are his 'Cardinals'.

Until I see it definitively stated that Rutsu is in fact one of the 4 Light Masters I will consider him merely to be seperate and above. The site clearly states the domain Dohgi is reponsible for, if Rutsu is a Light Master, why doesn't it state which area he controls?

[DurakkenX]

hrmmm must have skipped my brain on that one lol.

That wording seems to be right with what you're saying...

So that means that

Chief Photon Master is like the Pope, the Light Masters are like Cardinals, and Divine Maiden is like a weird representation of Mary...

I find that somewhat odd though as Greek mythology seems to fit more with the Photons/Light thing...

However the overall belief seems to be somewhat like the Jedi's Force and Greek Religion...

the Light Masters = Jedi Council
Divine Maiden = Oracle of Delphi
Photons/Light = Eather

The Chief Photon Master however doesn't seem to have any other correlation of than the Pope with any religion i know of ^.^

[A2K]

"Photon" and "Light" are used so interchangeably when it comes to the Communion, so I simply assumed that Light Master = Photon Master, as far as semantics are concerned. The key word, though, I suppose, is "chief".

I, personally, assumed that Light Master Rutsu (as he's referred to in-game, I believe) simply held the greater power over the other three, for one unstated reason or another. Seniority... is probably unlikely. Although he's younger than Dohgi, Dohgi might have been granted the position later on, but that doesn't account for the other two--and somehow I doubt they're both younger than Rutsu.

Perhaps being head of either Governmental Affairs or the Guard gives that master the authority of "impeaching" others when the damning evidence is there.

On a side note, it was actually remarked on in PSO's various materials that the people of Coral held some belief of an "aether"--before photons were discovered, anyway.