"Golarion is your world, yes? What is the Age of Glory, and do you know what went wrong?"

"Yes, Golarion is the world - a planet, which I can also explain if you like. I don't know very much about this. I did not at the time I came here have a full education in Iomedae's teachings and the education I did have was biased and specifically misleading about history. Based on what I do know my understanding is that the Age of Glory was supposed to usher in paradise like that enjoyed in Axis, an afterlife and where Aroden, the dead god, made his home, but for all the living of Golarion. His death might have been either an effect or a cause of the contemporaneous breakage of prophecy; it used to be possible to usefully foresee the future on Golarion with various magic and it no longer is, even for gods. The same event coincided with the opening of the portal to the Abyss, the Worldwound, where I spent most of my career, and also a permanent storm that sank a corner of a continent."

Xrn has heard about the afterlives third-hand and is slightly skeptical about the whole concept, but it would be a distraction from the conversation. The planet thing is probably not all that important.

"And similarly it is unclear if the Worldwound and the permanent storm are related to the cause or effect of Aroden's death? I am curious if this is a usual occurrence on Golarion."

"I would imagine it unlikely that the storm killed Him. I suppose it's not impossible that the demons from the Worldwound could have. It is not usual at all; gods have died before but usually not of trying to move in and create paradise for the living."

"How do they usually die?"

"They usually don't, it's just not unheard of. One was murdered by another god; I think another couple died trying to protect Golarion from a falling stone that could have killed everyone and instead only killed most people and led to a thousand year winter. There may be gods dying in other ways that I don't know about."

"Why are they so difficult to kill? Just because they live on a different plane? The greatest beings there are concrete records of are the Dragons, but even they die ordinary deaths, and the most legendary ones were merely very good at avoiding it."

"I have never tried to kill one and know nothing about your dragons to attempt comparison."

Not even speculation. Evasive, or simply conservative? Xrn would like to know more about the god murdered by a different god, but she will not push her luck today.

"What we know is only legends mixed with history. I have not met a Dragon myself, much less fought one." In some senses of those words. "Returning to earlier discussion: you say you ask Iomedae for spells in the morning. Are you in active communication with her?"

"She can hear me. I expect I normally receive only a tiny fragment of Her attention. She does not under normal circumstances respond except with the spells I request but I think She made Desna aware of the need for healing here based on the timing of the other cleric here."

"I did not hear of that until I arrived this morning. I am curious how you interpret it. Based on what Klbkch relayed to me of your conversation, the apparent noninterventionism of gods is a mutual deescalation mechanism for opposed gods. In this case Iomedae among 'Good' gods, against the 'Evil' gods. The gods of this world are dead. Why does Iomedae not take a more active approach? Is this already that active approach?"

"I think that the pacts among the living gods apply everywhere such that any spending here means spending less elsewhere. Recent events might even be running up against actual power limits and not just intervention budgets though I have no way to be sure. My arrival might have disturbed an equilibrium where they all ignored this place and I am hoping to limit which gods can get a foothold so that the destabilization is in Good's favor. Golarion is probably relatively high intervention."

"You believe the outcomes of the Good gods gaining influence here to be that there is less death and disease, less monsters, less—tyranny?—and more farming, art, peace, love, et cetera. And the mechanism through which comes to be is that the Good gods will select and empower clerics aligned with their goals, therefore advancing their agenda. Is that accurate?"

"Yes. - well, I don't know if the total amount of farming will go up but I expect it to be higher yield."

"Do the Good gods intend to see the Evil gods completely destroyed or neutralized, and vice versa? Or is coexistence desirable, and they only seek to gain relative influence within it?"

"I think that - redemption of the Evil gods is at least in principle desirable? I'm not sure which Evil gods would prefer corrupting versus destroying versus subjugating the Good ones. Coexistence without any of those things happening is a compromise of many of the involved parties' most deeply held values."

"By your first statement, you mean the Good gods would prefer redeeming the Evil gods over coexisting with them, and coexisting over destroying them?"

"The Good gods may differ in their preference orderings. I imagine if all options were equally achievable and the redemption were verifiable then Iomedae would prefer redemption to destruction to coexistence but in practice other considerations dominate."

"It is odd to think of powerful beings as you describe in mortal opposition of each other, and yet maintaining a stable equilibrium for... how long are you aware that this state of matters has persisted?"

"I wouldn't actually call it stable. It has a low divine mortality rate but mortal-scale stakes are won and lost in vast numbers every day."

Perhaps it is then simply a matter of scale and perspective that mortals perceive the gods as rare to die.

"I see. I suspect I will not be able to understand the dynamics to my satisfaction in a single conversation. Will you be publishing a book, or other documents, on topics of your world?"

"I'm translating the Acts of Iomedae."

That's even more ideal than something he wrote himself.

"What is it about? Is there anything that can be done to accelerate your progress?"

"It's about her adventures as a mortal. I'm excising bits of it that I can't just word carefully to put in an appendix so they don't trip people who won't be able to follow the parts about gods well. I think my current supply of language help is adequate? Though the original's in verse and I have no talents in that direction."

She would ask to create a copy of the original and read it with [Translation] in her own time, but it would almost certainly come across as too desperate.

"Is it considered an accurate historical record, or closer to a story or legend? I don't believe I have the problem about the dead gods, but it is probably wise to edit for the general audience. Unfortunately, I do not have particular advice on poetry."