( video )

[heron]

[ when the feed turns on, there is a man with large white wings standing too close. he squints at it quizzically before moving back with a frown that barely mars his beauty. his wings flap erratically behind him. ]

My sister, Leanne, seems to be missing. I have searched everywhere but she cannot be found. I — [ reyson bites it off, frustrated before taking a deep breath. ] — I will assume she has returned home as I know there have been cases of people . . . leaving. And I have no reason to suspect foul play. The Gods have deemed it so.

[ but, oh, it is a bitter pill that for a moment his face cracks from the effort from it. but reyson has borne worse. ]

Perhaps . . . if you could, please share some words or prayer to your own Gods to watch over her. Or share me stories of your deities. Are they kind? Cruel? Are Gods strangers to you?

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video;

[unsunderworld]

[In the video, Emet-Selch is sitting wrong-way on one of the standard-issue couches, leaning back against the armrest.]

Kindness or cruelty rather depends upon the hearts of their worshippers - the gods of my world are created by prayer, rather than prayers being offered to beings that already exist.

[heron]

[ huh. ]

Created by prayer? Is that possible?

[unsunderworld]

Prayer to shape it, offerings of aether - magic and life - to give form and life.

Such is what I've come to realize is the entirely uncommon magic of our world. Everyone else seems to return naught but confusion to the idea.

[heron]

It is certainly beyond me. The Goddess is not bound by our voice or thought. She created us.

[unsunderworld]

If there is a god that predates mankind, I've yet to see any evidence of such a being.

[His tone shifts, softens.]

The first god was ours. Zodiark. For good or ill.

[heron]

Were they an unkind god?

[ ashera was the goddess of balance. not perfect, but not terrible either. ]

[unsunderworld]

That depends very much on who you ask. There were those who believed that the sacrifices Zodiark needed to restore life as we knew it were too much.

[His eyes, very obviously, fall down the 'page.']

From those dissenters was born Hydaelyn, who shattered Zodiark into many pieces. And being that Zodiark was summoned as an incarnation of our world, so did the world break with Him.

'Kindness' is not something by which one can judge a primal. They do what they are created to do, be it make peace or war. The concept of morality is not one they possess, thus it is difficult to claim that any of them are kind at all.

[heron]

They may not possess but the people who see the Gods do.

Surely you have an opinion on them?

[unsunderworld]

I've too much bias for an objective opinion.

[Objectively acknowledging that is the closest he can come.]

[heron]

[ hmm. ]

I would still like to hear it.

[unsunderworld]

...We created Zodiark to ensure that life on our star would continue. That it would not be erased by the disaster we faced.

Was He kind? Perhaps not. There is a difference between kindness and compassion, and at times, one must make an unkind decision to be compassionate - to be harsh in order to prevent further suffering.

That is what I believe Zodiark is.

[heron]

A strange god indeed.

Though perhaps not dissimilar to our Goddess Ashera.

[unsunderworld]

Oh? What nature of goddess is She, then?

[heron]

She is the Goddess of Balance. During a war, she sunk the rest of the world save for a single continent.

[unsunderworld]

Interesting. There was a goddess of balance in Meracydia, some three thousand years past, who too had a connection with destruction. If you cannot balance the scales, then return them to zero.

[There's something a little chantlike in his voice as he summarizes the Sophic dotrine.]

I cannot help but wonder if your Ashera thought the same.