Heretic,
Perhaps I read more into your referring to the Gods as 'peers' than you intended, but it was that word which goaded my reaction. To call one your peer is to call them your equal. You claim that spirit-talkers dealt with the Gods as equals. I would never claim the King, the Coryani Emperor, or anyone else above my station to be my peer - they are my betters, not my equals. Now you attempt to retract that statement and obfuscate the matter. If you believe in your heresies, then have the spine to speak as you think and not backtrack or kowtow. And do not pretend that because you use the same word that it means the same thing. I know that when you say 'god' it does not mean the same as when I say 'God.' Only the Twelve are true Gods. You and your ilk believe that any powerful spirit which can be a potential patron with whom to bargain qualifies as a 'god.' I have heard your kind's oft repeated mantra of "For the lesser gods" - referring to spirits. There are only twelve true Gods of humanity. While other races have their own gods, humanity belongs only to the Twelve, and any human whom worships any other god is damned, deviant, and blasphemous. This is not to say that you cannot deal with the gods of another species or with powerful spirits - at times I have discovered that circumstances will force even the most pious priestess of the Twelve to do so... but it is to say that you may not worship any spirit or deity aside from the Twelve. Also, and more importantly, it is to say that you must acknowledge that the Twelve are Gods, and a few rare other entities with whom the Twelve have interacted - such as Belisarda - may also be called Gods. Spirits, no matter how powerful, are not gods. That your kind refers to a powerful spirit as a lesser god is telling, so do not hide behind the argument that using the word 'god' to describe them is the same as offering proper obeisance and worship to the Twelve. If you believe that your use of the word holds that power, then I shall endeavor to assist you in breaking that delusion.
The Undir are not strictly human, but have interbred with humans enough to now be of human lineage - much like the Kio. Even if they were wholly human, their existence would not counter what I said. We ARE the children of the Gods - Neroth crafts our bodies, Beltine forges our souls, and Larissa weaves our fates, thus how can you say then that we are not each created by the Gods? And the most telling evidence that the Gods are our lovings creators? Illiir, in his wisdom, granted to Humanity the gift of free will. This is not only in the Canticle, but I heard it from the lips of Illiir's loyal valinor whom led the loyal hosts of the heavens in battle against Manetas and his traitorous ilk.
You quote Felician to me from a book, and you try to twist those words to claim that the Gods did not create humanity. I knew the man, not the legend. I worked with him, I learned from him, and ultimately I watched in horror as Holy Emperor Calcestus val'Assante, led astray by the mad Valinor Manetas, struck him down on the steps of the Temple of the Pantheon. You quote his words as if you know what he meant, but you do not understand them. The Gods are eternal - their domain extended across the world and throughout the shores and lands of Onara long before they physically entered the mortal plane to physically stand among us. Of course the Gods were known in Onara before their physical arrival - as Felician said, their deeds and works if not their names were here as surely as every strike of lightning is the flash of Hurrian's sword. They chose to walk amongst mortals and first enter the material plane amongst their chosen people - in order to lead that people, but it is foolish to think that their power was limited in scope to the land upon which they physically stood. There are dark reasons that they bodily led our forefathers to Onara, but they were here before they or we bodily strode the shores. Hurrian's sky stretched across this land, Beltine's Cauldron birthed its people, and Neroth's worms devoured its dead. All the Gods were always here in the metaphysical sense - so of course they were already known before they graced us with their physical presence and led us to this land. Spirit talkers may have known of the Gods - may have spoken to their Valinor even... but mortals were never, EVER the peers of the Gods. You do not bargain with the Twelve, you give yourself to them. You do not ask for payment from the Twelve, you receive rewards if you act as they would wish you to act. You make no demand of Gods - you either show them love and devotion or merely exist without their guiding hand. However, no matter what you do - no matter what heresies you speak, you are always their child, and they will love you and wish the best for you even if they dislike the choices you make with the Free Will Illiir gave you.
Know this, I shall give you the benefit of the doubt. You may believe that you or your ancestors dealt with the Gods in the manner you have described... but if such deals and exchanges occurred, then they were not with the Twelve. The Gods gifted not only humanity with free will, but also their Valinor. Manetas was not the only Valinor to go mad and declare himself a god - and it is possible that he was not the first. Enough mad angels followed Manetas into darkness that the loyal hosts of the Heavens had to recruit Champions of Light - including myself - to assist in their battle with their wayward kin.
If you or your ancestor spoke to a so-called god as a 'peer' and made deals for power, then you were not speaking to a real God, but most likely another powerful being or Valinor hungry for mortal affection - like Manetas - and which also like him was willing to lie to receive it.
You are foolish if you believe that you know better than I how the Gods grant their power - and I assure you as not only a knight but also an ordained priestess that the Gods' relationship to the clergy and through us Humanity is far deeper and more pure than any oath to a mortal ruler. That you do not understand this is the most eloquent evidence that you do not understand what constitutes a grand, divine being such as one of the Twelve - and therefore explains how you believe your false words. A mortal King exchanges power for fealty, yes - but a mortal King is fallible and cannot survive without his vassals - there is an exchange of power, the oaths of fealty increasing the power of all involved, King or vassal Knight. A God does not need his children or worshipers - he loves them, but he does not need them. You cannot bargain with one of the Twelve - you cannot make deals with them. You may merely please them or displease them with you actions and words. If you please them, they may choose to grant you some measure of the power of Creation, but they are not obligated to do so. I pray that you realize this before you stand before the Judgement of Nier, for he shall not make deals with you, and no bargain may save you from the Cauldron.
As I told you, I am an ordained Priestess of Hurrian. From my earliest years, I was reared in the church - I learned to officiate the ceremonies of our Lord Hurrian as well as some of the necessary rituals of the Mother Church as a whole. I separately trained under one of the Church of Hurrian's orders of knights, and there I learned to speak the Divine Cants which grant some of the power of creation to his clergy. These cants and rituals are the same as they have ever been - they were taught to us in time immemorial by the Gods. However, they do not work for everyone. If I were to betray my tenets of faith, then my cants and prayers would cease being answered. This is not due to a bargain, it is due to an offer. The Gods were not bartered with like some cheap merchant, they - in their infinite benevolence - offered guidance and assistance to us on the condition that we obey their edicts. There was no discourse, no debate, and no bargaining. There was only the choice to obey. The Gods did not make this offer because they were convinced to do so or asked to do so - they were not bartered with... they made this offer as a parent would to a child - to help us grow as a species, because they love that which they have wrought in us.
Before a divine cant ever passed my lips in success, I gave myself wholly to the Twelve - specifically to Hurrian. I am not a slave, nor have I ever been. Many would take offense that you called my ilk 'slave-priests,' but I forgive you that trespass since it was spoken in ignorance. I do not do what I do because I HAVE to or am FORCED to - I do it out of a pure love and devotion to my Heavenly Father, Hurrian. I worship him because I desire to do so, not because I must do so or because of any fear of consequences. I dispelled all doubt from my mind, all question from the soul I once had. I devoted my entire self - my every action - to the glory and teachings of Hurrian and the Twelve. I did not demand anything in return - I made no expectation of obligation on his part. There was no deal struck. There was the simple, pure dedication and love between a supplicant child and her metaphysical father. This is not the relationship of a slave to her master - it is the purest love between a child and her progenitor. I pray that you can know love such as this one day - be it for one of the Twelve or a mortal lover or child. It is a Love and Devotion so pure and powerful that even its echo in my soulless husk shall lend to me a form of passion that shall last for eternity. His Valinor CHOSE to answer my prayers and supplications by granting to me a portion of the power of Creation, but they were not obligated to do so - they do so because Hurrian returns the love of his children, because the Twelve all love their children. Yes, I said his Valinor... I shall get to that momentarily.
You are flatly wrong when you speak of the original clergy of the Twelve. They were not craven spirit-talkers bargaining with the Pantheon for power. They were wise priests whom - like me, but with far more clarity and guidance in understanding the will of the Twelve - gave themselves wholly to the Twelve. They were granted more power than present-day priests not because they made better bargains as you seem to believe, but because they better understood the will of the Twelve and therefore how to please the Pantheon. There were no contracts or bargains. There was only the purity and love of a supplicant for the divine - a love that pleased the Divine Twelve such that they generously chose to give power to their supplicants that they might make the world a better place for the children of the Gods.
As far as why they no longer speak to their clergy directly - it is not as you believe, nor is it evidence of your misguided understanding of the original ways of the clergy of the Pantheon. The truth is far harsher and far more terrifying. When I learned of it, even my unbeating heart could feel the weight of it.
Not long before the final days of the Coryani Civil war, I had the honor to speak with a valinor whom had been wounded by her treacherous kin. I spoke with the Love of Illiir. Between her words - cryptic though they may have been when I asked her of things the Twelve did not wish humanity to know - and my own experiences, I learned the truth of it. The Gods, even now, are on other worlds fighting for OUR survival. They are battling with a planar force that we can only know as Entropy - the harbinger of the coming Oblivion... a dark and sinister force bent on the destruction of all creation. I cannot give you more details in this missive, for Entropy has agents and dangerous allies already on Onara. I will tell you more if you would deign to meet me - and if you do so then you have my word that I shall conduct myself honorably and refrain from any hostility no matter what I think of you or your words... that alone should drive home to you the grave nature of the threat that faces all Arcanis - the threat that will require people of noble thought to ally themselves in solidarity across the lines empires and faiths. In the battle against Entropy and Oblivion, I would gladly call even the most base heretic my brother if he would fight at my side.
Here is the Truth of it - my hand trembles at the memory of her countenance and words, for such was their radiance and power that even the dead and soulless could feel again in her presence: The Love of Illiir, the most loyal valinor of the King of the Gods, told Prelate Leola val'Assante, the other Champions, and myself the Truth. She told us the Truth that "He (Illiir) gave humanity free will" and that we had been left our own devices in many respects because "at some point every child must walk on his own. He merely left you clues to nudge you in the right way." She also told us this, far more grave news: "Not long after the fall of the First Imperium, the Gods left to somehow defeat the coming of Oblivion. They left us, their Valinor, to look after His children until their inevitable return... The Gods bestowed upon us the ability to grant power in their absence. We merely act as a conduit through which their power flows from Them to you."
And she said these words whilst speaking of the Twelve... these words which have haunted me and shall haunt me forever more until Entropy and the coming Oblivion is stopped: "should They fall, then all of existence is in danger."
Now, I want to say one last thing with perfect clarity: You may be a heretic. I may be a Priestess motivated to save your soul. We will likely never agree on the nature of the Twelve, how to serve them, or almost anything else. However, NONE OF THAT MATTERS. I could have begun our communications with the message of the Love of Illiir, but I had to establish rapport first for fear that you would not believe the truth of my words - the Truth that she shared with me forty five years ago and that I have spoken more times than I can count but have all too often had my voice fall upon deaf or unwilling ears. The real TRUTH is: NOTHING of the things discussed in these missives matter at all unless WE ALL learn to put aside our differences - be they petty or great - in the interests of stamping out Entropy, its allies, and all else that threatens to usher in the coming of Oblivion. The Twelve need us now - though by all rights a God should never need a mortal, the threat is so grave that they NEED us now. All of creation needs every last soul to fight for all of existence. You may be a heretic - you may not be the hero Creation would want or deserve, but you may still be one of the legion of heroes it - and we all - NEED.
If you can try to be such a hero - a comrade in the battle against Entropy, then I will gladly suffer to hear whatever heresy you wish to speak - I would let you say whatever you wish of me - call me wrong, a fool, a slave-priest, an unwitting spirit-talker, or whatever else you damn well please. I would suffer any indignity and any amount of heresy so long as you never harm the innocent and stand by my side against Entropy - then I would gladly call you my brother.
I'd still pray for your soul though.
As I sign this missive, this time I list my honorifics. I do not do so for reasons of glory, fame, idolatry, or hubris. I do so in order that you know exactly who I am, what I have done, and why you should believe me when I speak to you of Entropy and the coming Oblivion.
Yours in earnest, Adelheidis "Heidi" Sigrid val'Tensen, Priestess of Hurrian, Storm-Lord, Knight. Last Scion of the line of Sigismund the Stalwart, Lady of Ritterfeld, Veteran of every Major Battle of the Coryani Civil War from the Battle of Shattered Armies to the Battle of Grand Coryan, Bearer of Elebac's Masterpiece Ewiger Sturmzorn, Champion of Light, Completer of the Sacred Tasks, Slayer of Voiceless Ones, Enemy of Entropy, Once Blessed of Neroth, Favored of Loshnek, Guardian of Seremas, Friend to the Elorii Nations, Slayer of Malfeans, Defender of Altheria, Bearer of the Armilus of the Laurel of Vigilance, and above all else: Sister-in-Arms to any who would fight the coming darkness of Oblivion, no matter their race, creed, faith, or past.
Last edited by Heidi val'Tensen on Fri Jul 14, 2017 6:47 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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