Making shelters that don't suck is definitely on the list, though I think that'll take cultural adaptation as well as financial resources. 

As for diversifying... Probably smart. I want to act legibly though. Probably I want to establish official embassies everywhere that'll take one. 

I think we need to lay out my philosophy in more detail before I start talking to governments seriously. There are costs to codifying things, though. Often moral intuitions are messy and imprecise, more felt than known, and I worry that I'll lose important pieces if I try to codify my ethics as a set of principles or laws or positions. Moreover, setting down my positions will inevitably place me on one side or the other of many, many controversies and the more my percieved neutrality is torn at, the less I'll be able to achieve in the world at large. Fundamentally I want to be there for everyone. In practice, I expect a lot of people to reject me. I want to do my best to help, nonetheless. 

She nods, still pacing, still swishing.

"It sucks. If we come out and say that conversion therapy is wrong, we'll piss off Evangelical Christianity and Russia. If we say genital mutilation is wrong, or infant circumcision, we'll piss off other religions. I don't think that situation's acceptable."

She frowns and keeps going. "I think the problem here is that just about every group is doing at least some shitty things. We can't hold back from calling them out on it, otherwise we become what we hate. Maybe what we do is tie every objection back to the core principles? And actually update if someone ever gives us a coherent and correct argument that we're wrong about one? And state that we'll do so?

"It's not like a country can really stop you from operating there. Even if they tried to attack a Temple facility, tear it down, kill the people, you could just resort to keeping the people out of the country during daylight and rebuilding the structure at night. They can't win. And that should carry some weight in the negotiations, at least among countries whose leaders don't respond to that by doubling down out of fear and pride."

Another sharp turn, tail whipping through the air with the about-face. "But yeah, we need to get the philosophy down in detail. You're right about that."

I could prioritize and compromise. Say I'd work only on the big things, like ending war and privation and making the world economy better than it's ever been. I could do a lot of good that way. Lifetimes worth of it, even. 

But I don't think the person I am would survive that. Not in the long run. There's going to be immense pressure on me from all quarters to look away from just this one thing, just this one problem, and frankly I'm already doing more of that than I think I really should be. I set aside the situation with North Korea already — when am I going to get back to it? This week? This month? This year? This decade? This century?

It's irresponsible for me to pick and choose my causes on anything other than how much damage is being done each day. But it's impossible for me to maintain that in the long term. I am not a world-saving robot, I am a person. I have foibles and personal desires. I want things to be better rather than worse for my presence in the world, but at some point I need to listen to what my heart wants and not the brutal mathematics, because if I make myself a thing of brutal mathematics I will collapse and be no help to anyone. 

This is, ultimately, selfish of me. To care more about some people than others. To work on some problems more than others. But it's more sustainable. I didn't, ultimately, decide to be this being, this Stella, this creature that can save or doom others with a moment's thought. But if I'm to stand against the world, better for me to be myself as honestly and sharply as I can. 

And what I am is — I want everyone, every person on earth, to be safe, and happy, and free, and whole. I really mean that. How on earth I'm going to manage that is a tall fucking order but it's the goal. 

I have a weakness for the persecuted, I guess you could say. At my heart I am there to be a refuge. I want people to have somewhere to retreat to, somewhere genuinely safe. I'm prioritizing keeping people from dying because I can't fix it if someone dies but I am and have to be more than just keeping people alive.

There was a woman early in the first night. Who wanted me to repair a football trophy that she had broken, for fear of her husband. 

There was a world where you'd have had to live marked out, lost, separate from everyone else. 

That, I think, is the thing I hate most. The cutting away of people from humanity. Saying they don't count. It's why my harshest punishment is visible marking-out. If you say others don't matter, I would like you to experience that from the other direction. This is petty of me. But it's what I did, by instinct.

I want people to always have a way out.  A real way out. I think a lot of people stay trapped of their own volition, out of fear or love or hurt or hope — but for those who have the courage to go, I want their escape to be made manifest.

Sorry, I'm rambling now. 

Sable nods firmly. "I completely agree. You're not a healbot. You have to live to keep doing all the good you do. You have to thrive just as much as you're hoping to see others thrive, or it won't be sustainable." She keeps pacing.

"And beyond that, I agree with being a refuge. That's important. That's a very important kind of good. And sure, marking people out for doing horrible things is petty. It's not ideal. But even you have to triage. And some people are going to keep dragging the world down unless they get a quantity of healing we can't yet provide."

She shakes her head. "Everyone deserves love. Deserves safety and joy. But I'll forgive us for prioritizing the ones who aren't othering and hating and murdering to help first, when it's clear-cut."

She flops back into her chair and looks up at the stars. Goddess they're fucking beautiful with her new eyes.

"Being a refuge is a beautiful thing. It's part of what I love about you. And I'm glad to help you do it. We're not going to give up on our dreams of a better world. We're not going to give up on making help and safety available even to the inconvenient. And if some government wants to throw a fit about the Temple helping persecuted people rather than the powerful, too fucking bad. Yes, we'll keep working to do lots of large-scale good, but we're going to keep helping the individuals too, because those little reactions are what keep us going in this draining work."

Alright. Priorities, then.

Any minority suffering from persecution. Ethnic minorities, sexual minorities, gender minorities, religious minorities. Disabled people, whether from physical or mental disabilities. The world's poor. Those who are being exploited in serious ways. 

People at immediate risk of death first, then those in intolerable long-term situations — whether that's starvation or being in a war zone or being a slave or being a persecuted minority or being abused or what have you. Then those who need someone to help make their lives fairer — those who are poor but not in poverty, whose who are trans but on hormones already, those who are a minority but not being actively abused, etcetera. Then ordinary people. Then and lastly those in positions of power. It is easier to get leverage from helping the rich and powerful; accordingly, let them buy aid rather than recieve it for free. In short, I think we're adopting a sliding scale model of intervention, here. I don't want to Harrison, Burger's Son* the world, but I think the day will take care of that to some extent. 

How to summarize that as a statement, though, is a little more difficult.

*[sic]; she means Harrison Bergeron

She nods, smiling. "I like it, but you're right that summarizing it will be the hard part. Hmm, what about..."

Her fingers dance across the keyboard.

Stella's — and the Temple of Night's — priorities are first and foremost to provide safety and freedom to the weakest among us, especially those facing persecution: ethnic minorities, sexual minorities, gender minorities, religious minorities, people suffering physical or mental disabilities, the impoverished, the exploited. We hope to become a refuge for people in need, a haven where any can turn to seek safety and freedom to be oneself. First is immediate risk of death, then intolerable long-term situations like starvation or living in a war-zone or slavery or abuse, then those who need help to make their lives fairer or better, then comforts for the lives of ordinary people, and lastly those in positions of power and wealth. This will not, however, be adhered to perfectly. All of us here at the Temple are people, even Stella, and taking time for smaller and less-pressing joys like giving a child a toy and enjoying someone's smile are necessary forms of self-care to keep us doing this work for a long time to come. Wealthy and powerful people who wish to make use of Stella's attention out of this order will soon have the opportunity to do so monetarily, once we have bank accounts, payment processing infrastructure, and finance professionals. All money received through such means will be used to support the Temple's goals, whether through purchasing utilities and communications services for Temple facilities, or commissioning the design of objects for Stella to conjure.

"How's that look?"

Looking at it laid out like that...

Some deep part of me yells "sellout" there. "Objectively" it's correct to accept money for our work so we can do more of it, but I dislike it. It reminds me of buying indulgences in the old Catholic church. It's a dirty compromise. I particularly dislike only offering the opportunity to buy miracles to the wealthy and powerful. It should be available to everyone or no-one, no special-casing. 

We could try and work entirely off donations, but in some ways that makes us more beholden to large donors, not less. You've seen how large charities work around rich people. 

I genuinely think we need to engage with the economy, therefore, "no-one" is not an option, therefore we must make the option available to everyone. Miracles on a sliding scale basis, separate from answering prayers, Stella has the right to refuse transactions, prices not yet established but expected to be based on a combination of need and income. 

That'll be a whole-ass mess in the long run and require a bunch of staffers, but I'd rather be honestly mercenary in the hope of helping more people with the funds raised than pretend principles I don't have. This is fundamentally admitting to being bribable on goals that I find ethically neutral, and I don't want to sugarcoat that to you even if we never say it explicitly outside this room. 

Fundamentally this is a compromise with the existing economy. Do we honestly believe that it will help us help more people than the realistic alternative of never offering any miracles for hire? 

... That's not an easy call, but I do think it would genuinely help significantly. I'm just worried about the long-term ethical hazard of becoming the church-in-splendor rather than the church-in-service. 

What do you think?

She hums for a moment and nods. "I think you're right. I don't think I like making miracles available for money much more than you do, but sliding scale miracles are an efficient way to acquire currency, and we do need to interact with the economy. Fundamentally we'll need things you can't just conjure: comms, commissioned designs, real estate, and utilities, to name a few examples. We'll be much more efficient with those at our disposal than without, and we can't get those without money."

She updates the draft.

Stella's — and the Temple of Night's — priorities are first and foremost to provide safety and freedom to the weakest among us, especially those facing persecution: ethnic minorities, sexual minorities, gender minorities, religious minorities, people suffering physical or mental disabilities, the impoverished, the exploited. We hope to become a refuge for people in need, a haven where any can turn to seek safety and freedom to be oneself. First is immediate risk of death, then intolerable long-term situations like starvation or living in a war-zone or slavery or abuse, then those who need help to make their lives fairer or better, then comforts for the lives of ordinary people, and lastly those in positions of power and wealth. This will not, however, be adhered to perfectly. All of us here at the Temple are people, even Stella, and taking time for smaller and less-pressing joys like giving a child a toy and enjoying someone's smile are necessary forms of self-care to keep us doing this work for a long time to come. Miracles outside of the normal prayer process will be available once we have bank accounts, payment processing infrastructure, and finance professionals, priced on a sliding scale based on need and income. Stella reserves the right to refuse any request. All money received through such means will be used to support the Temple's goals, whether through purchasing utilities and communications services for Temple facilities, commissioning the design of objects for Stella to conjure, or other things as needed.

"Better?"

Yeah, I think so.

Thank you. You steady me.

You would object if I did something obviously bad, right? I want you to be honest with me, not just rubber-stamp whatever I say.

"Um, of course?" She looks a bit surprised for a moment. "I trust you not to smite me for talking back, so of course I'm gonna speak up if you have a bad idea. Also just... part of loving people is wanting them to be the best them they can be, and that means calling them out — gently, ideally — if they make a mistake."

Just checking.

And thank you.

"Gladly, Goddess."

She posts the prioritization statement on the website, and then sends quiet-wings a quick check-in.

Hey there. How's the afternoon going so far?

Better than it could be. 

Selling miracles, huh? Guess there goes Stella's claim to the moral high ground. Invest in goddess stocks today. Preparing for the Divine IPO, valued at $AllTheMoney. Seriously, what are you people thinking? 

We're thinking that we have to engage with the existing economy, because we don't have enough social infrastructure that we can afford to break it, and we need services we can purchase through it. Selling a few miracles that Stella rates morally neutral — due note that we retained her right to refuse any miracle request for any reason, and thus she won't grant anything that goes against her principles and values — pays for utilities at Temple facilities, buys land to build free or cheap housing for people, commissions the design of new material objects for Stella to conjure without copyright worries, pays the authors of media Stella's already conjuring, buys land to build soup kitchens or safe injection sites, and more. Money hires accountants to keep the government from finding ways to declare our donations illegal. If you have a feasible idea for how to pay for all those needs without selling miracles, we would sincerely love to hear it. We don't want to do it this way, but the world runs on incentives, and this is the best idea we have.

Sorry if I got a bit sharp, there. Honestly not a fan of the plan, but I can't think of a better way of engaging with the existing economy.

If you're not a fan, why are you going ahead with this one?

Because we need to be prepared with a plan, and don't expect the world to give us time to think on this subject. People will just keep dying while we waffle about the ideal plan. There's a saying about "letting the perfect be the enemy of the good" that I think applies here. If someone comes up with a sufficiently better plan, we'll pivot on a dime to that, but we don't want to lose time to analysis paralysis, y'know?

Just... try not to compromise off a cliff, would you?

This is going to be really, really messy. I can already hear the prayers going up. 

People are offering me money now. They already were before but now they're doing it more. I'm having to refuse a lot of people who are trying to bribe me into things I'd do for free. Naturally now the more unsavory characters are trying to bribe me even harder. It's a really good thing I can filter based on the intent of the prayer, it cuts out a lot of people who are... praying disingenuously, let's put it that way. 

Patricia's not wrong. And we're moving awful fast. 

Still. All we can do is our best. 

I'm scared, though. Already we're compromising with the existing power structures. I don't want to become just another queen with bad advisors. The prayers help; it's easy to see what people really want, this way. But how to fix it is much more complex than just handing out material goods.

I think it's time we slowed down and tried to negotiate a little. I may yet reverse my decision to do commercial miracles, but for now let's try it and see how the incentives work out. 

Any thoughts on how to approach the EU? They've got people praying to me already, and even in a sincere way, wanting to shelter their people from my 'wrath' such as it is. 

I'm doing the obvious things I can in Africa right now - healing people, preventing violence, making sure there's enough food and infrastructure for food, eradicating some of the endemic parasites, dealing with some of the brush wars - you know the drill, pretty much. I don't know the culture well enough to intervene in less obvious ways but I'm doing what I can.