Amygdalan Sects

Robert P. Munafo, 2009 Dec 22.

Fiction by John Dewey Jones describing an anthropologist's discovery and investigation of indiginous culture ascribing spiritual value to the Mandelbrot Set. Two installments appeared in Amygdala, and later the first was reprinted.

Here is an excerpt to give a sense of its style:

... on the Festival Days, the worshippers gather in the Central Park in the evening. Each, carrying his abacus and the Seven Parasols, goes to his preassigned spot; the priests assist any who are in difficulty. At sunset, the High Priest reads out the Objective Coordinates [...] Each first computes his own Objective Coordinates, and then Iterates, intoning the mantra of the Sect — the MO mantra. [...]

Just before dawn on the following day, all cease their iterations and wait. From the Tower of Objective Vision, the High Priest announces the numbers limiting the seven ranges. Then, just as the sun rises, each worshipper erects the parasol corresponding to his calculated number. The effect is incomparably beautiful, although it can only be appreciated fully from the top of the Tower ...