A Deeper Study

[Hadrian]

76th Summer, 512 A.V.Permission from Paragon was given to post retroactively. "It can be easy to forget that both Syliras and Ravok were founded after the Valterrian because the rivalry they represent existed before. On some level Ravok acts as the body of Rhysol, or on another, as the heart of the body of Rhysol, if you consider the constituent parts that make up His influence throughout the continent. Whereas the god of Syliras' idolatry is dead. But they have made up for it with centuries of sheer will power, and by adopting a more pantheistic religious practice. Knights are marked by Tyveth or Priskil, or any deity deemed 'good' by their standards, which generally entails anyone who is against Ravok and Rhysol." At least he didn't make quotation fingers; that would have been gauche. But their 'classes' were generally like this. They would discuss anthropological topics, which could branch out beyond the field itself, and Hadrian would suggest reading for Vhast to help him more clearly understand his own forming opinions, giving them a firm basis in scholarly rigor. But he had already shied away from the physical anthropology if this discussion; they had spoken some about Syliras' walls versus Lake Ravok, and how those defenses kept the dangers of the world out, but also kept the populace within. Hadrian had felt the uncharacteristic urge to share his terrorist activity, using the very structure of Ravok as a cage for the glassbeaks he called in from Shoyden. He was probably overworking himself between his commitments at the University, at the Farson Home, and with his own magical studies. Weariness often led to such odd thoughts. This didn't stop him from his little practices, though. Some probably thought him a show-off, how he often visibly played with a bit of djed, but it was how he grew so facile with its manipulation, practicing minute control rather than massive eruptions of energy. But he was drawing glyphs into the palm of his hand with his index finger, leaving invisible marks in the djed. Over and over he did it as they spoke, a part of his mind chanting a spell in the old tongue. This eccentricity oughtn't faze Vhast now that he had been studying with Hadrian for a time, though he might get twitchy as some onlookers did until he knew just what might appear.

[Vhast]

Creaking wood and scribbling quill filled the silence of the breath between Hadrian’s lecture, Vhast leaning back in his chair as he propped a booted foot against the edge of the desk before him. The journal he possessed detailing key notes from his mentor’s lectures was rife with black ink, arrows leading across the page to connect ideas with one another, a chaos of letters jumbled together that perhaps only the student himself could make sense of. It was a piece of art he took a small pride in, and it was perhaps the most valued possession he owned. Since coming to Zeltiva there had been no one to address his deteriorating posture or criticize his penmanship, a relief he had embraced along with his independence. To most it may have come as a mere trifling matter, but for Vhast, it was a representation of freedom. Without having to worry whether or not his spine was properly fixed or that his letters were immaculately drawn, all his attention could at long last be driven towards his interests. The collar of etiquette Ravok had imposed had finally been cleaved from his conscience, and he had fallen into his own stride designed by his own predilections. As he came to the last letter of his notes however, the quill hovered hesitantly over the page, and a look of perplexity shadowed his features. “Professor,” he began, hesitating for a moment as he became aware of what it was Hadrian was doing before he decided to press on with waning discomfort. “Ravok and Sylira have been, for lack of a better term, at war with one another for centuries. Why is that? If they promote isolation by the design of their cities, what is the point of killing one another? Why not keep to themselves? What is the point of shedding the other’s blood if no true progress has ever been made? Surely both sides must see the futility of their efforts. I imagine even gods conduct themselves with some form of reason.” Setting the quill down for a moment against the page he’d nearly filled, Vhast stretched his fingers and allowed his muscles to relax, his mind churning despite the vacant expression of his eyes. Rhysol may have been one evil bastard, but for as long as Vhast had known, he had never brought harm to his family until he’d attempted to escape. And while he may have wished against living in blissful ignorance of the god’s true power and felt it better where he was now, it did not take from the fact that Rhysol did care, in his own way, for the welfare of his city’s people.

[Hadrian]

After he broke off to allow Vhast to organize his notes, he began to pull with his mind, pulling everything away from the center of his palm and into the invisible glyphs he had drawn around his hand. It took almost a minute, but he soon emptied that center of enough matter that he managed to create a small portal to the Void. He couldn't move it, or do much with it, but it was there, and it was apropos to Vhast's question. "The war is as much ideological as anything else," he said. "The detente exists precisely because both cities sit too far from each other to make a direct and decisive conflict likely or supportable. Instead they sortie into each other's supposed territory, even though Sylira remains too dangerous to properly administrate beyond Syliras' city walls or the edge of Lake Ravok. "But some pre-Valterrian philosophers argued that Sylir and Rhysol might have been abstractions for a higher truth, that our conception of good and evil are based on logical fallacies. And if you look beyond the ideologies, beyond the supposed agendas of Rhysol and the Knights, you see evidence that things are not as clear as they seem upon initial observation. While Ravok certainly has it's problems, its citizens are not living some constant hell of pain and degradation. And while the Knights do protect those within their walls, they also enforce their own vision of what is right. "Perhaps good and evil are more philosophies than enduring truths." He pointed to the palm-sized portal hanging in the air over his desk. "The Void is empty and cold. Sylir does not live there. The gods are not there, nor any love or virtue. Does that make it evil? Or does it merely exist?" He grew quiet then. This was what he loved about anthropology: it was a jumping off point into philosophy and any number of other disciplines. But if they followed this line of thought, he was fairly sure they would run into certain epistemological walls that would frustrate them both, so he prepared to change tacks once Vhast had some time to ruminate.

[Vhast]

The scratching of Vhast’s quill was interrupted only by the moments where he chanced an inquisitive sidelong glance to the void his mentor had created. This was not the first time he’d seen Hadrian conjure a pit into the unknown, but it was still worth evaluating to the student’s mind whose thirst for knowledge was nigh unquenchable. It’s purpose soon became apparent however, as a marginal look of disappointment crossed Vhast’s narrow features. The child in him had hoped for more than an accessory to their lecture, it seemed. “It only exists,” he thought aloud, his mind reasoning in a dozen different directions until choosing a path that seemed to fit their line of discussion. “Just as djed exists. It can be used for the purposes of our notions of good and evil, but it is inherently without bias. At least as far as I know.” His knowledge of magic was dismally inadequate. Though the djed storm had ravaged the lands, by itself it was no different, than say, a hurricane. Certain elements in nature had existed to cause it, and while the devastation it left behind might have been horrific, there seemed to be no intent attached to it…at least as far as he knew. “So where then, did our ideas of good and evil originate, professor? When did society take a stand and say, this is wrong and this isn’t? If we do follow the gods‘ abstractions for higher truths, then why follow the gods at all?” Vhast could draw a list of conclusions for himself. Many emotions drove people to follow anything they believed in: love, fear, ambition, greed, jealousy, curiosity…but that did not stop the gods from possibly starting another Valterrian. Perhaps not in his lifetime, but with such volatile forces like Rhysol and now presumably Ivak roaming the world again, the chances seemed high that trouble would find itself, and the people would be made to suffer for it most.

[Hadrian]

Hadrian looked into his little Void as if for answers, only his will holding entropy back from closing it in on itself. "I think you are right," he said. "There are some who have attempted to rank the gods in some celestial hierarchy, whether by power or importance, or any other cleavage that fit their hypotheses. But whether this knowledge is conjectural or supported by first-hand knowledge from the gods themselves, I cannot say. But we are told there are alvina, demi-gods, or the children of gods. Above them the seasons, and others. Then more powerful creatures still -- Life and Death, for example. But neither Life nor Death are inherently good or evil, either. They are two sides to the same coin. And the most seemingly powerful gods are those who are most remote from our knowledge and our humanity. Lhex, the Fate; greater than Kihala or Dira, who sends souls back into their new incarnations. Tanroa, Time; from what I understand, her chosen merely observe the timestream, but do not take any particular care for what happens. Perhaps they intervene, but how can we know?" He held up his left hand, exhibiting Eyris' Lormar symbol there. "My own patron goddess does not reign supreme, though perhaps She ought to. "As for the appearance of Good and Evil, they might predate humanity if the gods do. Perhaps from the gods. Perhaps from something higher still, or they might just be words, abstractions with which we attempt to explain what is ultimately ineffable. I ask these questions until I run up against the unknowable, and then I pause to see if I have faith. Sometimes I do and sometimes I do not. Ultimately the nature of Good and Evil might be subjective, as is morality."

[Vhast]

The void beseeched his contemplations to be pulled into it, Vhast's quill suspended above the parchment as the words of his mentor preoccupied an addled mind. Only the unveiling of Hadrian's gnosis could tear his gaze apart, the glowing lormar plucking against heartstrings the student did not fully comprehend. He breathed a heavy sigh. There was paradoxical hatred in that symbol, all for the goddess herself and none of what she represented. But like all in the pantheon, Vhast could only feel the collar of their power rather than the love they offered. It stemmed from having a god who was the father of lies ruling unknowingly over his childhood, an experience that had left a scar on his soul he would not soon forget. It was pity he felt for Hadrian, the seeker of knowledge, curious savant, friend, mentor, secret keeper. Could he not feel that subservience tugging him by the hand? Was it much the way the student had felt when he lived in Ravok, unwittingly obligated to follow certain designs that were not his own? He felt shamed to admit it, but at least Rhysol was one of the more definitive gods. Some others had a nebulous nature about them, and yet they amassed followers in droves. Vhast wanted desperately to speak his mind on the subject, but that was an argument for another time, and another place. Or perhaps it wasn't. "The Valterrian is responsible for what we see today, is it not? Cities isolated thousands of miles apart from one another into these microcosms that each support their own deity, or in some cases deities that represent similar ideals. Some have good reason to be separated, as we've already mentioned. But I feel as if...as if it is a form of control to keep all the pieces as neatly in check as can be managed. I do not think our cultures have been shaped of our own accord, or even given the chance to proliferate by our actions. I feel as though the gods have shaped our entire way of life, and there's just something about that that goes against this idea we have of free will. It feels wrong." There was a cheerlessness to his words, a slightly pained expression sculpting the sharp lines of his fair skin. Vhast was interested in the anthropology of man, not the gods, but from recordings that had been kept for hundreds of years, it all seemed to serve a higher power rather than humanity's own. He quietly mused on whether or not there would ever come such a time when man would lose his faith in the gods, and start believing in themselves.

[Hadrian]

"You sound like a Ruv'na," he teased gently, but paused to consider his questions, his points. He always showed that much respect for his prize student. If Hadrian knew more, it was only an accident of his age giving him more time to study ahead, but he certainly didn't attempt to speak down to him. "The Valterrian is responsible for much of the shape of our world today, yes, though over five hundred years of sentient life's work has also changed the shape of our world since then. After such a crisis, it is not surprising that there has been some polarization, some clannishness. If one reads far enough back into history, one can find the various reasons we are given for the conflict between Suva and Treval, though they are still subject to debate. "When the world without is terrifying, people huddle together. We are a social animal. It is true that the gods might be guiding or, if you prefer, controlling us. But we guide and control ourselves and each other too. It seems to me somewhat simplistic to lay the blame at the feet of the gods. Were you so powerful as Rhysol and so long-lived, would you not seek to guide lesser beings?" He raised his hands. "I do not mean to say that you are wrong or right. I do not know the answers, only the old familiar questions and certain lines of logic my mind and other minds have traveled before with regard to these questions. But you bring up free will, and that is a whole other ball of twine. I would argue that what most people call free will is not necessarily accurate. Taking into account the abilities of the Konti seers and others blessed or, if you prefer, cursed by Avalis, can one truly have what is commonly referred to as free will if prophets can predict our choices and Lhex writes the book of destiny?"