hugtopia | Video: There's an old voice in my head

So it seems the coeurl is out of the bag.

[For those of you that haven't seen Cor since he escaped the Temple Priests care he's looking... well... quite a bit less haggard. As a matter of fact he looks better than he has in months. No less worried or stern but the harsh weathering has faded from his skin making the light smattering of freckles clearer, his hair is a little darker, the lines in his face a little lighter.

As a matter of fact he looks more like a man in his early 40s, not one teetering ever closer to 50.]

There's likely a whole mess of time paradox concerns but as we have more and more people from Eos arriving it is becoming harder and harder to keep track of who knows what. Anyone that has any input on how to handle these potential paradoxes I'd appreciate it.

[He sighs, lifting a mug of coffee to his lips, and offering the tablet a resigned shrug.]

Of those here... I believe I have the most complete picture of the future. It was August ME 758 last I knew. If you'd like to know what your future holds rather than tripping into it. Come see me.

[He reaches out to kill the feed, hesitating for just a moment.]

Mmm, Ardyn, I've a favor to ask when you have a moment, as well.

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I cannot but I can ensure the millions of lives lost are lost for a purpose, not merely the heartless machinations of beings that have no understanding of the value of human lives.

[ "I can ensure the millions of lives lost are lost for a purpose." ]

How can you ensure it? What purpose?

The world is falling to ruin, all for the sake of a prophecy the gods passed on millennia ago to cover their own mistakes.

There is no worse outcome. Even the same tragic outcome for different reasons, for a purpose, would be preferably to all this senseless loss.

Will you be the one to determine that purpose?

Gods no.

But right now all our suffering is for a petty dispute between beings that see us as little more than insects. Surely anything is better than that.

I apologize for all of these questions, I'm only seeking to understand.

What is their dispute about?

It's alright. It's a complicated matter that has only fully come to light very recently. Millennia of lies.

The Astral War, in ages past, occurred when Ifrit, god of fire, turned against humanity and the other gods. Some say he was spurned by the denizens of Solheim, others that he was jealous of Shiva's compassion towards man. They ripped the whole of Eos apart in their war, wanted to destroy everything. But life continued on, now plagued by a disease that twisted everything it touched into daemons.

Thousands of years ago the Astrals bickered about whether we deserved to exist and they set a plan in motion to exterminate us. All the rest is trappings.

[ It all sounds so... fantastical. No such gods like that exist in her world, that is for certain.

What he reveals next is even more troubling. Assuming these gods also created their world and the people within it... it sounds even more tragic, that they would want to destroy it. ] Exterminate you all, after all of that? Did these Astrals cause this disease, too?

They did. Whether intentionally or not I cannot say but it came about because of the excessive magic used to damage the planet during the Astral War.

How awful, and it seems equally as dangerous to attempt to combat their will, if they wish to destroy all. If you had the power to change the future for others, how would you know exactly what to change, to ensure that your world survive?

I don't. I don't know that anyone could. But what could be done is ensure the people know precisely who and what they're worshiping. Lay out all the Astral's dirty secrets and ensure they can not hide in altered history any longer.

Let the people chose HOW they meet their end, if not avoid it completely. Action, over reaction, if you will.

[ Their dirty secrets... ]

For what else do you blame your gods?

It all stems from the same source but the measures they
took over the centuries to ensure their plans went on with the entire human race unawares is disgusting.

Is that not what all gods do, in any world? How they do not tell their designs, I mean.

Edited 2019-11-28 05:30 (UTC)

Perhaps it is, but that hardly makes it right. Not with so much life wasted.

How will you try to change fate, while not compromising that of others?

That's just one more thing to research while we're here. Not only what we need to change and how but how to do it while affecting as few as possible.

It's impossible. :( You will effect someone, no matter how many or how few. But the people you wish to change the future for, if not yourself, are they agreeing to this? Do they want this?

Of course there will be some effects, their machinations go back millennia.

They would not want their People to suffer as they have, I know that. They would also insist their lives are not worth trying to save and I will not accept that.

Are you playing Infernian's advocate or are you trying to discourage us from even trying?

[There's asking practical questions and there's crushing someone's only hope and she's really starting to toe that line a little too close for comfort.]

The power to change the future exists. The power to change fate exists. This is true.

Whoever you use it for, they will forever live with the burden of knowing that they have altered millennia's worth of others' lives and potential lives. Maybe there will be other lives born, but they will not be the same. I suppose if they or you do not mind what futures are lost, then you must adhere to your beliefs. But it is sad to hear all around.

Who is Infernian?

Edited 2019-12-05 02:05 (UTC)

It is not an easy decision.

The lives and potential lives being altered would be lives born into a world torn apart by war and tragedy and, inevitably, suffering the long slow decline of humanity as a whole. Can any individual life be more important than changing the fate of a planet that is dying?

Ifrit, the Infernian, fickle as fire. He's one of our gods, one of The Six.

Can any individual life make the decision to sacrifice so many others, even if they might exist in doomed world?

Who among those gods controls fate?

I don't believe the answer you want is if it can be done... but if it should be.

Bahamut is the leader of the Hexatheon and the most powerful among them. None rule over fate exactly but it is His plans that we are subject to.

[ Should be, he says... ] That decision of changing fate, to save themselves from it while dooming others, will you leave it to those few who you wish to save?

No. If it can be done it will be my burden to bear.

(no subject)

iustaegis - 2019-12-08 23:32 (UTC) - Expand