Attack on Sylica

[Anastasia]

"I have confidence in you," Mystra smiles slightly, "Waukeen and I both agree, it's time to talk to both yourself and Seira about another aspect of divinity."

[Ebiris]

"In that case, please do teach me," Alicia invites. She's been on the stage what feels like long enough from her perspective after all.

Marie just keeps quiet and attentive. It's interesting for her to get to listen in on this stuff!

[Anastasia]

"It is how deities rise in strength, from slight increases to becoming a demigod, lesser god up to a greater power." Mystra explains, finishing her water before continuing. Her expression is solemn and her voice is clear. "A deity rises in divine power as they both grow in personal strength and more strongly represent what they are. It is a battle of ideals and accomplishments. The Competition provides all deities many chances to do so, though the nature of divine conflict and the fact that deities generally lose as many as they win, does not guarantee advancement. Nor is the Competition the only way to do so - Seira's elemental advancements aid her cause."

[Ebiris]

"Hmm," Alicia hums. "I'd always thought it was more based on the number and fervour of worshippers, with another bump for representing something more primal - like magic in your case. So Auril's hoping to grow at my expense with that challenge?"

"What about things like attacking Hell the other day, or fending off this attack?" Marie chimes in. "You're a goddess of righteous magical battle, and that's leading by example pretty well!"

[Anastasia]

"Worshipers are the point, but not how we grow stronger directly. We are shepherds of souls, as Sulia put it to you once before." Mystra notes, pursing her lips. "Marielle, Alicia. What I say next may not be spread to save those who you trust the most, for it is part of why we are and why the Incarnations created deities. It is not for public consumption."

[Ebiris]

"I understand," Alicia says. "In time Latha, Antenora, and Jessica may ascend, but I'll use my judgement on whether to tell them. If Sharess doesn't tell Syala I'll tell her, though."

"I'll be the soul of discretion!" Marie is quick to swear.

[Anastasia]

"If that is your goal for them, so be it," Mystra agrees. "You know the risks. I pray you will be successful."

After a moment to let that settle in, "In the beginning, three came from the emptiness Beyond. The Incarnation of Law, the Incarnation of Balance and the Incarnation of Chaos. The Three Incarnations sought to answer if law or chaos was correct, or if they must forever exist together and entwined in war. To this end, they made Creation. They made countless souls to inhabit it, to all work towards the Answer to this question."

You can just hear the capital A there, something in the way the word is spoken resonating within you.

"The Answer is the ultimate goal of Creation, to determine the fates of law and chaos. However, mortal kind muddied the waters. The concept of good and evil rose in Creation almost immediately, something the Incarnations did not understand. Something as native to us as law and chaos is native to them. Thus did good and evil become part of the quest for the Answer, and requiring an Answer of their own. Thus was all created, thus the planes were, thus all was set on finding what the Incarnations desired.  For all the Incarnations are powerful beyond our reckoning, even they cannot discern the absolute primacy of beliefs."

A moment's pause for that before Mystra continues. "To these ends the Incarnations saw all that was and would be, all that would come from their choices, now bound in. They saw that shepherds of ideas and souls were needed, those to stand as paragons and direct the endless battling for the Answer. From them came many of us - myself included, as one who was never anything but divine. But knowing that mortals may yet contribute far more than good and evil, they left open the possibility of others joining us to further seek the Answer. Thus you stand now, as one who has risen. Who, away from the sterile terms of the Incarnations, has chosen to fight for your own Answer, for a better tomorrow for Creation."

[Ebiris]

Alicia listens as Mystra explains things, though her mind is drawn back to when Eladi spoke to her of the Arbiter's will upon the Opal Mountain years ago. "I was told by the Arbiter's herald that the war of the God-King was the result of the Gods growing so consumed in their Competition that they sinned against the edicts of the Arbiter. What Lathander did to create the Fairest Star and begin that whole sequence of events... it was a contest, wasn't it? Rather than allow it to grow into a prime and shepherd the souls and ideas it would generate, you instead crystallised it into a static source of power to compete over."

But there's also an inconsistency isn't there?

Mystra says that the Competition is the means to find the Answer.

Eladi told her at that time that she'd seen past the lies and distractions and Competition, suggesting the Competition is a distraction. Something spurred by Ao simply to waste time as the Endless Chaos grows tired of Creation.

FIND THE THIRD

That's it, isn't it? Even if the Competition, her own shepherding of souls and fighting against evil all matters in the short term, and using the Competition to grow stronger helps in the mid-term... ultimately none of it matters in the face of that commandment from the Arbiter. All of reality from the shining centre of Chronias to the squalid pits of the Abyss lies on the line.

And of course she can't tell Mystra a word of it because then Ao would know and an 'endless catastrophe' would come.

[Anastasia]

Most of this story comes from the stat block of the Hecatoncheires. The flavor block in particular, though Mystra adds a bit more commentary. I only wrote the first paragraph and a few bits of commentary right now, the rest of it's previously written.

Mystra sighs. It is a soft sound, a weary sound. "You've seen it all too well, but let me restate a truism to our nature, Alicia. Our mistakes are as grand as our victories, and when we all err, the mistakes are catastrophic. In our desires to continue the Competition, we lost sight of the essence of it. Most of our greatest mistakes come down to that, to losing sight of why we were created by the Incarnations. Have you ever been told the story of the Hecatoncheires?"

After a moment Mystra continues.

"The Hecatoncheires is a divine creation and more than that, it is a mistake. You know that for all our power that we are not infallible, and there is no better lesson than the history of the Hecatoncheires.

There are times when civilizations go so far wrong that they must be stricken from the Prime Material. Nations that seek the forbidden might of the Realms Below, the Beyond or other things that mortals should never dally in must sometimes be wiped away as a last resort. For when prophecy, omens and wrath all fail, it is in our hands to bring apocalyptic endings. This is a duty that none of us wish to have, save for those below that must not be entrusted alone with it. It was a problem that vexed us in the days before the Angel of Last Resort, Salandariel or Zaphkiel's Blessing. Those measures all came as a result of this failure.

Regardless, we all met together to discuss this problem. We quarreled over this until wise Oghma suggested that we needed a weapon. A combined weapon, Lathander shouted as the idea spread. "

A pause here again, Mystra smiling. A sad smile, "You will find many of our greatest triumphs and mistakes come down to Lathander having an idea. He is the wellspring of ideas and vitality, after all. But still..."

"Helm then proposed it could be a combined avatar of our unity and to spread the pain of what we must do. Talos found the idea amusing and offered to grant the weapon his totem of storms. The idea went amid us as wildfire, a perfect solution that left us free of this miserable duty."

"Together we created the Hecatoncheires. A titanic man of one hundred arms, each carrying a blade of absolute destruction. I imbued my magic into him, so that any weapon he held would be equal to the greatest enchantments. Mask hid its one weakness in secrecy, while all of the House of Knowledge made that secrecy into a riddle that none yet have deciphered. Brave Torm and just Tyr offered their convictions to it, so that it would never waver in doing its duty. Corellon Larethian granted the essence of elven archery to it, letting it fire barrages of weapons like arrows. We all contributed, save for a few who were morally opposed and Shar, who none of us wished to involve."

Taking a moment there and having more water, "None of us have ever cared for Shar, disdain for her is not new nor as recent as the Prophecy of Primus. Many times I wonder why the Incarnations included her, but they seldom deign to explain themselves, even to us. But to continue..."

"We were satisfied with our creation and soon a chance to call on it came. A kingdom known as Rokasai sought the secrets of the Far Realm and the Hecatoncheires was sent. It did all we hoped it did, but therein lay the seeds of doom. It was too good at its task and took joy in destruction. It struck with the savage ferocity of Talos' storms, fought with the magical blessings I gave it and the secrecy of its one weakness left measures to defeat it doomed. It did not waver in its convictions to destroy and slaughtered with sublime skill reminiscent of elven excellence. All we gave it was subverted by the simple fact that it was too good at what it did."

"We then looked into the future. Such was its devotion that it resisted cessation after Rokasai and went onto sunder Prime Material after Prime Material. It would not stop at kingdoms, but shred entire worlds as a blade to parchment. We met as Rokasai fell, to decide the fate of our creation. It is here our differing natures lead us to disagree on how to deal with it. Some of us sought to destroy it, in spite of the visions that we would fail. Others advocated diplomacy and softer approaches. In the end, we decided we must try and destroy it. We created it, we would not fail. The future is merely a suggestion and fate is not ironclad, as Selune said."

A sigh here, weary again. "We failed. The Hecatoncheires endured our strikes and weathered the assault of our avatars. We sought the secret to wound and destroy it, but the House of Knowledge would not and could not reveal the answer to the riddle, for it was also tied to Mask. His nature would not allow him to reveal such a powerful secret from the darkness. It endured and forced our avatars back, weathered our spells and ultimately escaped. It ended up in the Abyss, one more nightmare amid nightmares. One that remembered our betrayal and nursed a grudge, one that sought and still seeks revenge on us."

"If we had mastered our pride, we would not have created it and given it such powers. If we had mastered our wisdom, we would not have sought to force our burdens on another. If we had mastered our temperance, we may have yet found a way to defuse the situation rather than driving it away. If, if, if. For all our power, for all the blessings we are given and the destines we control, we are not perfect. Never forget this, for our mistakes are writ large in Creation. Master your divine majesty with the same wisdom as you mastered the Weave, Alicia."

Here Mystra stops to meet Alicia's gaze, then speaks, "The results of failing to do so are unthinkable."

[Ebiris]

Alicia and Marie both listen silently to Mystra's tale  until the end before the former speaks. "Well... I'll put this one on Oghma rather than poison my opinion of Lathander any further," she says at last. "I'm sure I'll make my own mistakes, but still I hope they'll come from not knowing the full picture of events. From when I heard the full story of the Fairest Star my gut rebelled that all the Gods could be party to such an act of greed and depravity. Even had a shining champion claimed the Fairest Star for righteousness rather than Daa-vid, such power would still have come from snuffing out an entire world in the cradle."

She lets that sit for a moment, a rebuke against her own goddess while Marie fidgets a little awkwardly before she says, "Back to the Incarnations, though. They created All to find their Answer, including deities - including yourself. What of the story we were told, of Selune and Shar being the first, of Selune creating the first light to warm the world at Chauntea's beseeching, causing Shar to lash out and you yourself being born from their essences merged in bloodshed?"

[Anastasia]

"We gambled on what the world could be if allowed to be born versus what it could be otherwise," Mystra admits, "You are right to call us on it - it was a mistake, one we lament. The Arbiter took us to task for it, and you must always remember one thing. We are Good, but we are not perfect. None of us are above sins or mistakes, Alicia. I tell you to teach you, so that you understand and that one day this warning will save you from your own laments."

After that Mystra nods, "It is not wholly wrong. We were created and came to our conflicts. At the same time, the Incarnations decreed that the beginnings shall be hidden, mythologized. That no matter how truly we speak of them, mortals shall hear different and from there, time and distance will further muddy the stories of the beginning. It is true Shar and Selune fought long and bitterly, the first battle creating the craters in the moon, yet ensuring that Creation did not immediately return to nothingness. Also, the Incarnations have never been bound by time. We are, even loosely, and we cannot fully perceive parts of the beginning."

Here there is a pause, Mystra having more water before giving you another look. "Understand for that all our power, the Incarnations have their own agenda and own aims. We serve and do as well as we can to those we are to shepherd, but sometimes the Incarnations chose limitations to us. They bound us to time, so we cannot live retroactively and out of linear time. Indeed, even the Incarnations seem somewhat incapable of moving beyond the present, or perhaps unwilling. Who can say? What few limits they have they do not deign to inform us of."

[Ebiris]

Alicia finally avails herself of a drink as well, Marie pouring her out some icewater which she spends a moment drinking. And wondering if Auril approves of the chilly beverage. "How much contact do you even have with the Incarnations?" she asks. "Ilmater mentioned that in times past those seeking to ascend to divinity could appeal to the other if one first denied them. How long ago was it that the Incarnation of Law last made its presence known?"

[Anastasia]

"Little. When it first began, we were in constant contact with them. They hoped for an Answer soon and were watching all of us," Mystra begins, her voice narrating. "Most of all with the mortals we shepherded, as after they introduced good and evil, they had great hopes they would find yet more things of value. In time they saw no Answer was immediately forthcoming, so they became distant, studying good and evil themselves."

A short pause again, Mystra closing her eyes. She seems to ruminate several seconds and then speaks, posture straightening. "I believe 21 -" Here you feel an instinctive chill in your bones at the mention of it - "Was created during that phase. It was in that phase we last saw the Incarnation of Law. Perhaps he grew tired of Creation and left it to its own devices, I know not. Perhaps he sleeps in Mechanus. Since then they have become more and more distant, with only Ao known to any but the wisest and well read mortals."

"But," Mystra continues, "What do you know of the Arbiter, Alicia?"

[Ebiris]

"Very little," she confesses. "I know it was his judgement that holds Daa-vid in state waiting for mortals to decide his fate, his will that kept my world isolated until the Neverborn broke the seals. I know that his word is absolute," she smiles wryly as she repeats what she was told by Eladi for that last part.

"It's my own supposition that he is the Incarnation of Neutrality, for there must always be Three."

[Anastasia]

"It may well be so, we do not know, but that is one common theory," Mystra concurs, smiling, "I'm glad you realized that yourself. The Incarnations have many faces and names, that may merely be another of the Incarnation of Balance's. Well reasoned, Alicia. He arose recently, after not seeing the Incarnation of Balance for a long time. Most of us accept it is the Incarnation, simply choosing to be active in another way and form for reasons known only to him. But..."

Mystra looks to you, "This is uncertain because of one bit of evidence. When we were created, the Incarnations informed us of our need to protect Creation from what lies Beyond. However, we were given special instructions if something from Beyond came and did not immediately damage Creation. We are to ask them if they have the Answer. If they do, we are to hear it and this shall summon the Incarnations. If they do not, we are to leave them be unless they are hostile to us or begin to damage Creation."

Here Mystra admits, "It may well be that the Arbiter is a fourth, or simply something from beyond Creation of vast power. We know little of Beyond ourselves, for we are tightly bound in Creation and not in what lies beyond it, nor have the Incarnations spoken much of it. All we know is that there are others out there beyond the Three, perhaps equal or even greater to them."