Editing Judges of Tehom: Thematic Essays (section)

==Examples from media==
The tone of this setting can be found in several media references:
*Politics is extremely centered on the personal lives of the Archons that dominate most Cosmopoli.  To think in these terms, there are several examples in TV and film we can turn to:
**The modern adaptations of Shakespeare are a good place to start.  Anthony Hopkins' "Titus," Ralph Fiennes' "Coriolanus," and Ian McKellan's "Richard III" are all about the fates modern (or relatively modern) nations resting on the relationships and whims of a small number of people.  Give Coriolanus super-powers, and you have a situation one could easily find on Tehom.
**There was a short-lived TV show on NBC in 2009 entitled "Kings," which starred Ian McShane as a modern day King Saul ruling a monarchy and dealing with David, Samuel, and divine intervention.  It is a dark and complicated show, but deserving of more praise than it received.  The world of Kings is a clean and modern world completely comfortable with absolute monarchies.  Again, this fits the world of Tehom very well.
*Regarding comic book sources, the possible sources are varied.
**Power level, we are talking about Civil War - era Marvel Universe.
**In terms of the relationship between supers & the public, the very beginning of Kingdom Come captures the sense of fascination and celebrity the Archons enjoy.
**Alan Moore's famous never done project Twilight of the Superheroes, where different heroes (the Batman-related, the Marvels, etc) controlled different polities.  This is very much the political reality of much of Tehom.
*While mostly set on a single planet, the tone of the game borrows heavily from the "Cosmic Opera" style created by people such as Jim Starlin, Kieth Giffen, and especially Jack Kirby.  Godlings controlling a wonderous world where the difference between technology and magic is razor thin, if extant at all.
*Regarding other roleplaying games, “Aberrant” by White Wolf in the 1990s is relevant in that it is about superhumans who are not defined as crimefighters, and who have immense amounts of celebrity.  However, while Aberrant is grounded on the question of how different the Novas are from humanity (or how different they should be or will be), The Judges of Tehom begins with an a priori assumption: The Few are different from the Many.  The core question is what are the consequences of this distinction.