One Nation, Under Jupiter

MARCH 24, 2766

The priestesses, as they prefer to be called, of the goddess Cybele are a curious bunch. As pontiffs, they are afforded privileges available to few other citizens in the Empire. The Galli serve as the earthly agents of the Great Mother. It was Cybele who birthed Jupiter, who protected Aeneas from the bloodthirsty Greeks so our great Empire would one day live. Her priestesses demand respect, and publicly, they receive it. Privately, the average Roman has different thoughts for them. Their curious customs and initiation rites into the priesthood are enough to disgust all but the most pious of Romans. The Galli exist both above and below the common man, living as neither one thing nor the other. Their paradoxical status becomes even more apparent on the Day of Blood, when new Galli perform their final task before being welcomed to the priesthood.

In front of us, Lucia Laquea smoothed a wrinkle from her dress, straightening her thick, black hair. The Gallus looked like she'd jumped out of a magazine ad. Behind her stood a statue of the mother goddess herself, looking down on her followers with a majestic stoicism. By her side stood her faithful consort Attis, almost two heads shorter than her. Though the Galli look on Attis as the lesser of the two, it's he who they strive to emulate. As the legend goes, when the poor shepherd looked upon Cybele, in all her inhuman beauty, he was driven mad, castrating himself in devotion. The Galli have shown their devotion to the goddess in the same way ever since.

"Part of me wishes we could change the name," said the priestess in her falsetto voice. "Calling it 'the Day of Blood' sort of scares most people away, you know? It's not about violence, it's about love. Without the goddess' love, Romulus would never have even been born. We all owe her. She should be up with Jupiter and Mars as the highest of the pantheon. She may never have the same devotees as them, and she may never receive as many offerings. But the ones she does get...well, they count a lot more, you know?" She smirked to herself. "Sacrifice is supposed to be about just that, sacrifice. It's about giving up something most people would call important, to show you love the gods more. All these sacrificial bulls and sacrificial lambs...it defeats the point. If you set something aside specifically to be given up, you didn't care about it in the first place. We're not like that. The Galli have sacrificed much to show our allegiance to Cybele. Most would never dare give the way we have."

"And by that you mean...castration?" I asked. I absentmindedly looked down at Lucia's name and picture in my last folder from the Tribune.

"Those were the ways of the old Galli," Lucia answered with a wave of her hand. "Surgical techniques have advanced much in recent years. The Day of Blood isn't as bloody as it once was."

"Um...excuse me, sorry," Servius whispered. "I don't mean to interrupt, but...eh...are you a boy or a girl?" Lucia slowly turned her head towards Servius, her eyes wide with shock. The priestess took a deep breath through her flaring nostrils before she spoke again.

"One day, the common man will understand what it means to be a Gallus," Lucia mumbled with a sigh. "I am a priestess of Cybele, slave. Priestess, not priest. Does this answer your question?" Servius took a few steps back, trying to avoid eye contact with the priestess.

"So...is there a chance we could see them?" I asked.

"Excuse me?"

"You know, the new recruits...what they're going through?"

"The initiations are meant for the eyes of only us and the surgeons," explained Lucia. "The recruits will need time to recover before they can fully assume the priesthood. It's a personal moment, one that must be done without intrusions from the ignorant."

"You're calling me ignorant?"

"Not you specifically, no," answered Lucia, walking towards a nearby chair. "People in general are ignorant. Most have never been touched by Agdistis, and refuse to understand those of us who were."