51st of Spring, 522 AV
By far, Matthias had one of the most beautiful houses in all of Syka. Built right up onto the gorgeous turquoise water, it commanded an excellent view of where the sea funneled into the bay. Cleon remembered coming by here at the first day of the season, but regretfully he hadn’t the chance to come back until now.
As so often happens, life gets interrupted, priorities change, and on top of all of that the world got turned upside down by these curses. Even now, he wasn’t strictly here to try his hand leisurely fishing off the deck as had once been offered to him. Instead, he had come here seeking answers for yesterday, a way to help that might be buried in one of Matthias’ books. That was his hope anyways given that Matthias was a priest and known to him as somewhat of a scholar.
He had a pretty good idea of where he wanted to start too, and carried that idea on the tip of his tongue as he knocked on Matthias’ door. The man opened it, and didn’t even look surprised as he gestured for Cleon to come in.
“Lo there Cleon. Can I fix you anything to drink?” Matthias asked as he gestured for Cleon to come inside. Shaking his head, Cleon obliged by following him in, closing the door behind him before walking over to stand by the door as he suddenly felt a lot less confident about coming here. Perhaps noticing his unease, Matthias smiled, and cleared his throat. “So, what brings you here?”
Cleon chewed his lip, nodding to himself as he worked up the courage to say what he was going to say. “Well I was remembering you were- err are a priest right? An so I kinda hoped you might have a book on gods and goddesses, anything that mentions them really, and if you do I was wondering if I could borrow it for a bit. With all that transpired yesterday, I realized I know a lot less than I thought, and I think I could have avoided a lot of trouble if I had just been a little more knowledgeable. So I’d like to start by learning about what gods and goddesses are known and go from there. Hopefully it will go a ways towards solving these curses for us, but I can’t really be too sure of that yet.” Cleon admitted with a slight shrug.
“Hmmm..” Matthias hummed as he scratched at his chin, before turning slightly. “I might have just a book. A compendium I made during my travels of different texts I have come across throughout the years. It might still be here if someone hasn’t borrowed it already, yes! Here I’ve got it.” Matthias said as he walked just out of sight but speaking loudly enough that his voice still carried throughout the house till he returned back downstairs with a book in hand. “It is not particularly deep on any of the gods or goddesses, but it broadly touches on many accounts I’ve come across throughout the years. Of course I only left the information I could verify while I keep the more fictional accounts together in another book.” Matthias explained as he handed across the thick leather tome that Cleon took gratefully.
“Would you mind if I read it here by the hearth, just for a little while. I’ll stay out of your way.” Cleon said, and Matthias smiled.
“Of course, take your time. An if you change your mind about that drink, you can find me out on the deck.” Matthias said with a genial smile before walking out of the room, and onto the deck. Turning about towards the hearth, Cleon pulled a chair up and began to read.
Flipping past the parts where Matthias was listing his sources, and giving himself small inside notes about the text, Cleon didn’t stop flipping until he came across an unfamiliar name written in large letters, centered at the top of the page. It all began with Rak’Keli, a goddess who treasures the honest and caring above all others. Her domain apparently is linked to healing and health, an suddenly Cleon couldn’t help but remember a remark that he’d overheard his first day in Syka. Something Kamila had said about not being able to use her mark on Faye. Could the two be related? It seemed so, but he couldn’t be too sure that the woman was marked by the gnosis of whoever this goddess was until he asked her about it because there was no information about a gnosis listed on this page. It simply went on to explain that Rak’Keli’s followers are many, and they are primarily kind individuals who will heal anyone, regardless of circumstance. That sounded a lot to him like Kamilia in retrospect, and he made a mental note to ask her about that later if he got the chance.
Cleon moved on to the next page, which was a brief paragraph about Syna, goddess of the sun. Not much here is listed about her beyond that her followers tended to be very passionate, extroverted individuals and that Syna’s love was something of a double edged sword. This related to an anecdote about a generally agreed upon idea about how deserts are formed that Cleon didn’t find particularly thrilling.
Neither did he find the next passage particularly illuminating, this one concerning Leth, god of the moon, who conversely is described as a much more introspective individual with followers that tend to be on the loner side of things. As such, Cleon supposed that might be why there was even less information on this page, while he guess that the former page on Syna might have been bloated with too many anecdotes before Matthias trimmed it down. Whatever the case, Cleon flipped the page.
Tavasi, god of spring, fertility, and new beginnings the page said which piqued Cleon’s interest more than a little bit. It did after all seem like the sort of god that he should be making offerings to after all, this being his season, and a fresh start for his little family. So Cleon paid very close attention to this page although there wasn’t much about the god on it. Apparently, he is one of the four that walk across Mizahar to bring about the change in seasons. He also apparently had a city that he called home named Karjin, although this was the first he had heard of such a place. Aside from that, he was noted to be an invigorating presence and one who was supposed to aid in bringing about new ideas which also seemed fairly applicable to the situation. Cleon started immediately to think about just how he might make his offerings to this Tavasi as he turned onto the next page.
Next there was Sivah, god of summer, celebrations, vacation and excess which while not applicable to their situation seemed a fine enough god to know. He remembered vaguely that Stu was supposed to be a priest of this god and found himself wondering how exactly that all worked out, what he did for the god and what not as he continued to read on. There wasn’t much there aside from a note from Matthias that there wasn’t a known home to this god unlike the other one, although Sivah was widely regarded to show up at many parties throughout Mizahar, and Cleon couldn’t help but to think if there was a chance he had run into the god already. There certainly were a lot of parties in Syka, and perhaps that was a form of worship for him.
Perhaps it was something he could ask Stu about later, but for now, his concentration was starting to flag as he turned onto the next page. There were only a few short lines here, with plenty of room to be added to. On the few there were, first was the title, Bala, goddess of autumn and the harvest. While there was no particular city this one called home either, she is generally said to reside somewhere in Sylira, and travels much like the other two when it comes time to bring her season’s change across the world. Apparently she is also fairly popular with farmers which made sense given that Matthias had included the harvest in her domain. He suspected that laying out crops or something of the sort might go a ways towards appeasing her when the time came for that.
Taking in a deep breath, Cleon decided one more page before he would take a break and join Matthias out on the deck for a little while. Turning it, he read Morwen, goddess of winter, ice and snow. Here worryingly so, some parts had been crossed out, specifically about the city she was said to reside in and in its place Matthias made a notation about her disappearing and throwing the rest of the seasons out of order. Cleon clutched his jaw, working it slightly as he considered that putting it together with his own experiences back in Sunberth when a lot of people suddenly got interested in a particular kind of outsider. He couldn’t think of the word until he saw the name Matthias had down for her followers. Vantha. That was the word for it, and Cleon felt his blood go cold at the thought as he promptly shut the book. He didn’t want to think about another mystery just now, not with his thoughts so disjointed and out of order.
Rising up slowly out of the chair, Cleon got up to go over to join Matthias out on the deck with the book tucked underneath his arm.
WC - 1,620
As so often happens, life gets interrupted, priorities change, and on top of all of that the world got turned upside down by these curses. Even now, he wasn’t strictly here to try his hand leisurely fishing off the deck as had once been offered to him. Instead, he had come here seeking answers for yesterday, a way to help that might be buried in one of Matthias’ books. That was his hope anyways given that Matthias was a priest and known to him as somewhat of a scholar.
He had a pretty good idea of where he wanted to start too, and carried that idea on the tip of his tongue as he knocked on Matthias’ door. The man opened it, and didn’t even look surprised as he gestured for Cleon to come in.
“Lo there Cleon. Can I fix you anything to drink?” Matthias asked as he gestured for Cleon to come inside. Shaking his head, Cleon obliged by following him in, closing the door behind him before walking over to stand by the door as he suddenly felt a lot less confident about coming here. Perhaps noticing his unease, Matthias smiled, and cleared his throat. “So, what brings you here?”
Cleon chewed his lip, nodding to himself as he worked up the courage to say what he was going to say. “Well I was remembering you were- err are a priest right? An so I kinda hoped you might have a book on gods and goddesses, anything that mentions them really, and if you do I was wondering if I could borrow it for a bit. With all that transpired yesterday, I realized I know a lot less than I thought, and I think I could have avoided a lot of trouble if I had just been a little more knowledgeable. So I’d like to start by learning about what gods and goddesses are known and go from there. Hopefully it will go a ways towards solving these curses for us, but I can’t really be too sure of that yet.” Cleon admitted with a slight shrug.
“Hmmm..” Matthias hummed as he scratched at his chin, before turning slightly. “I might have just a book. A compendium I made during my travels of different texts I have come across throughout the years. It might still be here if someone hasn’t borrowed it already, yes! Here I’ve got it.” Matthias said as he walked just out of sight but speaking loudly enough that his voice still carried throughout the house till he returned back downstairs with a book in hand. “It is not particularly deep on any of the gods or goddesses, but it broadly touches on many accounts I’ve come across throughout the years. Of course I only left the information I could verify while I keep the more fictional accounts together in another book.” Matthias explained as he handed across the thick leather tome that Cleon took gratefully.
“Would you mind if I read it here by the hearth, just for a little while. I’ll stay out of your way.” Cleon said, and Matthias smiled.
“Of course, take your time. An if you change your mind about that drink, you can find me out on the deck.” Matthias said with a genial smile before walking out of the room, and onto the deck. Turning about towards the hearth, Cleon pulled a chair up and began to read.
Flipping past the parts where Matthias was listing his sources, and giving himself small inside notes about the text, Cleon didn’t stop flipping until he came across an unfamiliar name written in large letters, centered at the top of the page. It all began with Rak’Keli, a goddess who treasures the honest and caring above all others. Her domain apparently is linked to healing and health, an suddenly Cleon couldn’t help but remember a remark that he’d overheard his first day in Syka. Something Kamila had said about not being able to use her mark on Faye. Could the two be related? It seemed so, but he couldn’t be too sure that the woman was marked by the gnosis of whoever this goddess was until he asked her about it because there was no information about a gnosis listed on this page. It simply went on to explain that Rak’Keli’s followers are many, and they are primarily kind individuals who will heal anyone, regardless of circumstance. That sounded a lot to him like Kamilia in retrospect, and he made a mental note to ask her about that later if he got the chance.
Cleon moved on to the next page, which was a brief paragraph about Syna, goddess of the sun. Not much here is listed about her beyond that her followers tended to be very passionate, extroverted individuals and that Syna’s love was something of a double edged sword. This related to an anecdote about a generally agreed upon idea about how deserts are formed that Cleon didn’t find particularly thrilling.
Neither did he find the next passage particularly illuminating, this one concerning Leth, god of the moon, who conversely is described as a much more introspective individual with followers that tend to be on the loner side of things. As such, Cleon supposed that might be why there was even less information on this page, while he guess that the former page on Syna might have been bloated with too many anecdotes before Matthias trimmed it down. Whatever the case, Cleon flipped the page.
Tavasi, god of spring, fertility, and new beginnings the page said which piqued Cleon’s interest more than a little bit. It did after all seem like the sort of god that he should be making offerings to after all, this being his season, and a fresh start for his little family. So Cleon paid very close attention to this page although there wasn’t much about the god on it. Apparently, he is one of the four that walk across Mizahar to bring about the change in seasons. He also apparently had a city that he called home named Karjin, although this was the first he had heard of such a place. Aside from that, he was noted to be an invigorating presence and one who was supposed to aid in bringing about new ideas which also seemed fairly applicable to the situation. Cleon started immediately to think about just how he might make his offerings to this Tavasi as he turned onto the next page.
Next there was Sivah, god of summer, celebrations, vacation and excess which while not applicable to their situation seemed a fine enough god to know. He remembered vaguely that Stu was supposed to be a priest of this god and found himself wondering how exactly that all worked out, what he did for the god and what not as he continued to read on. There wasn’t much there aside from a note from Matthias that there wasn’t a known home to this god unlike the other one, although Sivah was widely regarded to show up at many parties throughout Mizahar, and Cleon couldn’t help but to think if there was a chance he had run into the god already. There certainly were a lot of parties in Syka, and perhaps that was a form of worship for him.
Perhaps it was something he could ask Stu about later, but for now, his concentration was starting to flag as he turned onto the next page. There were only a few short lines here, with plenty of room to be added to. On the few there were, first was the title, Bala, goddess of autumn and the harvest. While there was no particular city this one called home either, she is generally said to reside somewhere in Sylira, and travels much like the other two when it comes time to bring her season’s change across the world. Apparently she is also fairly popular with farmers which made sense given that Matthias had included the harvest in her domain. He suspected that laying out crops or something of the sort might go a ways towards appeasing her when the time came for that.
Taking in a deep breath, Cleon decided one more page before he would take a break and join Matthias out on the deck for a little while. Turning it, he read Morwen, goddess of winter, ice and snow. Here worryingly so, some parts had been crossed out, specifically about the city she was said to reside in and in its place Matthias made a notation about her disappearing and throwing the rest of the seasons out of order. Cleon clutched his jaw, working it slightly as he considered that putting it together with his own experiences back in Sunberth when a lot of people suddenly got interested in a particular kind of outsider. He couldn’t think of the word until he saw the name Matthias had down for her followers. Vantha. That was the word for it, and Cleon felt his blood go cold at the thought as he promptly shut the book. He didn’t want to think about another mystery just now, not with his thoughts so disjointed and out of order.
Rising up slowly out of the chair, Cleon got up to go over to join Matthias out on the deck with the book tucked underneath his arm.
WC - 1,620
