#like the lore is that the titans and the betrayer gods sided with each other to destroy mortal life and the prime deities protected us

[anakinh]

I think my problem with the moral greyification of the prime deities is that, for the last two campaigns, the two exandria unlimited campaigns, and tlovm, critical role portrayed the prime deities as benevolent and actively helpful, at the very least willing to fight for and protect mortal beings. Every time someone in C3 asks “what have the gods done for us?” we, the fans, are going to remember stuff like Melora shielding Fjord from Uk’otoa under the Arbor Exemplar, or Pike and her relationship to Sarenrae, or Vex shooting an arrow created by a cleric while radiating sunlight from her blessing from Pelor. We, the fans, have pretty good reason to like the gods. Hell, the last time we had a “the prime deities are bad actually” argument it was from Asmodeus, lord of the hells, prince of lies, and he later subverted his sympathy for the devil shtick in a scene that would go down in history as one of the best in Critical Role. I think now we’re looking at people complaining about the gods and it’s jarring because to us it seems like it came out of nowhere with a lot of evidence against it. “What have the gods done for us?” Fucking a lot.

(Also, it’s true that the C3 characters haven’t seen what we have, but Laudna was brought back by a cleric of Sarenrae and Orym has a literal sword blessed by the Wildmother. The gods actually have done things for them)

Another, smaller thing is that the Prime Deities in Critical Role aren’t associated with the hate and oppression and violence that is tied to modern religious institutions (which was something I thought was to CR’s detriment given the existence of Vasselheim, and I actually do like them showing the dark side of Vasselheim now). We haven’t been given a reason to hate religion beforehand, and even now that we do, we can argue that the actions taken by mortals in the name of their god does not justify the eradication of said god. Anyway, I think this just goes back into the “it’s jarring, it seemed to have come out of left field” concept. 

The last thing is I’m honestly sick of hearing the players and NPCs debating why we should help the Prime Deities since they’re #problematic. Who gives a fuck. Imagine if an old man was sick of the king so he decided to release a rabid bear in the king’s castle, and you’re like “okay but I live in the castle too though?” and he’s like “Don’t worry, it won’t harm you.” Would you follow this man? No! Imagine knowing this old man who was involved in the murders of so many people, including your friends and family, in cold blood to achieve his godless world, and someone says “actually I don’t like the gods” and you’re like “oh damn, maybe this old man has a point.” Who cares if he has a point! He’s murdering entire villages of innocents! The ends don’t actually justify the means! I’m glad Orym and Ashton and Laudna are at least on board with that part, but I’m worried their resolve is weakening. Also I wish the god debate would just shut down when one of them points that out instead of continuing on.

#me.txt #cr spoilers #i'm literally just rambling #oh home of the vassals i get it now #there's also the colonialism thing which i really don't want to touch with a 10 ft pole #i will say that I don't think critical role will do it well if they decide to actually address it #I think they made sure it wouldn't be done well the moment they said that the titans want to kill all mortals. WE'RE mortals. #like the lore is that the titans and the betrayer gods sided with each other to destroy mortal life and the prime deities protected us #the mortals #and then the canonically evil betrayer gods worked again with the titans during the calamity to again try to destroy all mortals (us) #which was hindered because we (the mortals) killed two of the titans and weakened the betrayer gods' forces #that's the lore you want to slap onto a colonialism narrative? are you sure? #also side side note i'm sick of the sun gods always being jerks :( #i like the sun! it's very helpful! why do they have to be jerks?

[hamelin-born]

Throw Me To The Wolves Inspired

@secret-engima I blame you for this ficbit/worldbuild lore. I kept wondering about stories, and a comment that I tossed out in a world build about how Galahd’s motto might as well be ‘We Remember’ in this ‘verse and I - I wondered about the stories that are told. 

tagging @sparklecryptid @ertrunkenerwassergeist @starsilvereld @theotherguysride and @charlottedabookworm @aniseandspearmint

Harken and attend, children of Galahd, blood of the Storm. Listen, for I tell you a tale that my parent told me, and their parent told them in turn, all the way back to the beginning of the story. I tell you the tale as it was told to me, and as you will tell it in turn. 

I tell you this tale, for it is true. 

Remember. 

Once, many years ago, after shining Solheim had fallen and before the rise of steel-bright Lucis, there were two brothers. There was an elder, gentle as the dusk, and there was a younger, fierce as the dawn. They were the descendants of a mother who had taken the scattered tribes of a nameless land and the remnants of dwindling Solheim and united them under a single banner, and the mother had named the banner Lucis. Lucis, for light, Lucis, for the rise of a new dawn, and Lucis for her name - which was Lucis Caelum, the House of Heavenly Light, and so had their family been called ever since. 

Yet into this land had come a shadow, and the shadow was the Scourge of the Stars, for none could stand before it. Men, women, the young, the old - all fell before its touch, and deamons sprang from its shadows to search out those who had never felt the touch of the disease. Walls could not keep it out, nor could swords defeat it, and the people suffered and wept and died. 

And called to the gods to save them. 

The people called upon the Infernian, lost Ifrit, who had been patron of hearth and home. They cried for the Archaean, steadfast Titan. They begged a boon of the Hydrean, fierce Leviathan. They sang to the Fulgarian, swift Ramuh.  They wept for the Glacian, cold Shiva. 

And the people were desperate, and in their desperation, and they called upon the patron of the House of Heavenly Light. They called to the War-God, the Draconian, whose name I will not utter here. And the Lord of War, the Three-Sided Blade, heard them. 

Children, it is a terrible, terrible thing for the gods to turn their eyes upon you. But the people were desperate. 

And the gods, led by He Whose Name Is Unspoken, came to a woman. Came to a mortal, whose family were drawn from the Land of the Shadows, balanced between the light and dark. And the gods made of this woman their messenger, who would carry their words to the ends of Eos - and this woman was the first Oracle. 

Her name was Aera. Remember. 

Now. Of the two brothers of the House of Heavenly Light, the eldest’s name was Ardyn, and the younger was Somnus. The eldest, as I have said, was gentle as the dusk, which wipes mortal cares away and brings with it the promise of rest. The youngest, as I have also said, was fierce as the dawn, which strikes away the night and forces the eye to attend. 

And to these brothers Aera-the-Oracle brought the words of the gods. 

And the gods had decreed this: that of these two brothers one would be known as the King of Light, and the ending of the Scourge would come from their house. 

Ardyn heard the words of the gods and was glad, for he loved his people as the shadows love the sun, and his heart was heavy for their suffering. And in his blood flowed the magic of the Crystal Kings, the magic that was a gift in the long-since-lost from the War God himself, and from lost Solheim. And Ardyn was a healer, and he took a healer’s staff in hand and donned the white robes of a physical to scour the land and draw forth the Scourge from each and every victim. And with him walked Aera-the-Oracle, who guided his hands and spoke to him of secret confidences which are not for us to know, but are of the tender secrets that pass between lovers. 

Somnus heard the words of the gods and was glad, for he loved his land as the sword loves the light of the sun at noon, as the hammer loves the nail. And in his blood flowed the magic of the Crystal Kings, the magic that was a gift in the long-since-lost from the War God himself, and from lost Solheim. And Somnus was a warrior, and took a sunbright sword in hand and donned the armor of battle to scour the land and them clean of the Scourge. And his hands were guided by the draconian, and by the voices of those who did not rise in dissent as he quarantined the infected and put them to the torch. 

And the two brothers were as the moon in its pattern of light and shadow. For Ardyn waned as his task continued with every strand of Scourge he drew from another’s flesh, caging the disease in a prison of his own skin and bone. And he waned, waned as the sickness of a hundred, of a thousand, of ten thousand sank into him, until the sun hurt his eyes and his blood ran black - but he bore it cheerfully, smiling through the pain, for he loved his people and he loved his gods. And Somnus waxed, waxed as he put men to the torch and led the bright armies of the land of Lucis into battle against the sickness that had threatened to devour him, and he smiled as the infected screamed for mercy and his men cheered his ruthlessness. 

And ten years after the gods had set before them this task, Somnus came to Aera-the-Oracle, and asked of her: Whom shall the gods choose, to be King of Light? And Aera-the-Oracle answered him, that it should be Ardyn the Healer, whom the people loved. 

And Somnus Lucis Caelum was wroth, and in his heart dwelled thoughts of deep, deep shadow. 

And a certain day came, when the brothers were to be presented before the Crystal that was the Heirloom of their House. And on that day, the King of Light was to be announced, and Lucis would bow before him and rejoice in the choice of the Gods. 

And on that day, fierce Somnus cried out to one and all that he was the King of Light, beloved of the Gods, the chosen King - that from him would come the ending of the scourge - through fire and blood and steel. And warlike Somnus cried further that the gathering of the brothers was a trap laid for his footsteps. 

And Somnus took his spear in hand, and impaled his brother so that the blood rushed through him. And Ardyn fell to his knees as the dark blood rushed from him, as the brother of his blood raised his sword for the killing blow. 

Listen, child, and remember. 

Aera-the-Oracle gave way to Aera-the-Woman, and Aera-the-Woman threw herself between Somnus the Untrue and the man she loved. And he did not stay his hand, but the bright blade fell and drank deep of her blood. 

And Ardyn, Ardyn the Gentle, Ardyn the Healer, watched as the woman he was to marry fell before him. And in him the voices of a thousand screaming deamons rose, and he wept tears of dark scourge as wrath rose in him like a hungry tide and he threw himself at his brother, screaming. 

And brother fought brother that day. The younger with bright steel and the blood of his kin upon his blade, the eldest with rage and grief and the Scourge of the Stars that lurked in his blood. And when Ardyn, Ardyn who loved the gods turned to the Crystal for its Judgement, the War-God who lurks in its shadow turned upon him - for his blood was rife with the Scourge, and the War-God would have no truck in one such as he. 

No matter that Ardyn had set forth at his bidding to cleanse the land of the Scourge. No matter that he had, personally, saved thousands through sacrifice upon sacrifice, by drawing the Scourge from their own veins and trapping it in his own. No, the war-god rejected him, and Somnus cried in victory - And Somnus cried out further that his brother, his eldest brother, was his brother no more but a deamon in truth - for did not his blood burn black as night? Did not weakness dodge his steps? 

And Somnus struck down his brother there, before the Crystal that was the heirloom of their house. And Somnus, Somnus Kinslayer, Somnus Kingkiller, felt no regret as he claimed the crown of swordbright Lucis. 

Yet, as the gods told him, and as Somnus learned, to his shock and wrath and disgust, his brother would rise again each time he was struck down. For such was the power of the Scourge within him that it would not allow him passage to the Beyond. Child, it would not let him die. And so the King of the Gods declared Gentle Ardyn, Ardyn the Healer, outcast and accursed, to be imprisoned for all time on barren Angelgard - until the Chosen King should slay him, and in so doing slay the Scourge. 

And Somnus the Betrayer, Somnus the Deceiver, Somnus Kinslayer and Kingkiller, joyfully did as the gods bade him. 

But the story does not end here.

Because before Ardyn the Healer joined his heart to that of his beloved, Aera-the-woman, in promises of love and of a marriage that would never be, he was a man. With a man’s hungers and a man’s follies, and a man’s simple desires. And of those desires came Vitae, the child of his blood - the child of whom Ardyn had no knowledge. 

Vitae was a child of the House of Lucis Caelum, and by all rights such a child should have been presented before the House to receive training in the magic that flowed through the blood, the magic that can kill the unwary wielder. Yet the affection of Vitae’s mother had kept them close and kept them secret, for even in those days Kings were not kindly disposed to bastards. And when Somnus the murderer, Somnus the Kinslayer, struck down Ardyn the Healer, they were glad of their silence. 

Because the Somnus, and through him, the War-God, declared that the gifts of his brother, the gifts of magic other then that of swords and the terrible power of the battlefield, was anathema. He would not allow it to persist, save in the line of the Oracle, and all others who could heal with a touch and ease the bright bloom of pain in another were to be put to the sword. To his own children, his own descendants, did he bind this, calling it a duty to rid the line of accursed children. 

And Vitae, the child of Ardyn’s blood, knew what fate would await them should their Uncle-by-blood learn of their existence. 

Yet Aera-the-woman had some kin remaining in this world, and for the love their had borne her and the love she had borne Ardyn did they seek out the child of Ardyn’s blood and bid them to flee. Flee, to the end of the world and beyond, flee as the hounds and the hunters dodged their steps - run, they bade Vitae, run and fight another day if you must, but run and LIVE, child. And Vitae, Vitae who was no older then you, children - Vitae ran, even as the blood of the Oracle did all in their power to obscure their track. 

Vitae ran, as the House of Heavenly Light proclaimed them abomination. Vitae ran, as the solders of Lucis closed in on the trail. Vitae ran, with the echoing words ringing in their head - run, and remember, and live. Vitae ran, ran through mountains and across plains, ran from the living and from the dead, from the sun and from the shadow. 

And always, Vitae remembered. 

Until at last, one day, Vitae came to the sea-shore. And there was a boat, and there was a storm rising upon the waters. 

And Vitae heard the hunters behind them.

And so Vitae threw themself into the boat, and cast themself upon the waters. And laughed, even in their fear, to see the sea unshackled before them, to feel the Storm close down about them - laughed for the glory of it, for the thrill, for the beauty in sea and storm. 

And the waves unspooled before them, and the storm-winds drove them forward, until they landed on an island. An Island for which Lucis had no name as of yet - but an Island that was one of three, and island named by those who lived there and loved fiercely. 

And the island’s name was Galahd, and the tribes opened their arms and their hearts to Vitae. And Vitae walked the Storm, and wove beads into their hair, and  in time grew to become a mighty chief. 

And the Storm and the Sea named Vitae Ulric, the Wolf-Lord, for many deeds great and small alike. And that is the beginning of Clan Ulric. 

And to their children, Vitae told the story of Ardyn and Somnus Kingkiller, and asked of them this: that they remember.

And over time, as the members of Clan Ulric married and intermingled with other clans, so too has the blood of Ardyn, Ardyn the Gentle, Ardyn the Healer mixed and mingled until it is the blood of Galahd. Until magic is our inheritance - one we keep hidden from the rest of the world. For we still remember Vitae, and the Hunters who dodged their heels, and the great oath of Somnus Kinslayer. 

Somnus Childkiller. 

For once in a handful of generations will a child be born to the house of Heavenly Light, a child whose magic is not of war and the battlefield. An infant who, by the law, must be taken to a certain place in the wilderness and left there alone - for if the parents of the child slew it outright, they would be called minelayers. But if an infant is left tot he mercy of the wild and dies of exposure, of hunger and thirst and animals, why then, their hands are clean of such blood.

But the Clans of Galahd remember, and keep watch upon this place. And when a child is left there to suffer and die, the child is named Ulric, and their family bears them home, home to Galahd, where they are loved and taught and told this: remember.

So Galahd remembers. 

We remember Ardyn the Healer, Ardyn the Gentle, Ardyn the Betrayed. We remember Somnus Kinslayer, Somnus Childkiller, Somnus Betrayer. We remember Vitae Ulric, and we remember the hunters. 

Will you remember?

#ffxv #secret-enigma #throw me to the wolves #I should be sleeping