"There are theories on origins, but it's not known for sure."

"And I presume this hypothesis of yours about demons eating everything is not widely accepted?"

"No, that part is. Just not fast enough to be a pressing concern. I'd suggest verifying with the Lord or the inquisitors, but they'd probably ask who you were talking to."

"I could just say I was curious about it and the thing with me being framed spurred me to ask more, both things are true."

"Fair enough.

The part about human structures deteriorating, that's not universally acknowledged. But it's happening. Sometimes it's directly demons at work and more often it's just the forces they represent, but either way we could buy time by handling the demons. Carefully."

"Human structures?"

"The kind of thing the practice depends on. A family line here, an old tradition there. Every so often one of those ends, but how often do you hear about someone starting something that's going to last that long? Not never, but not enough to keep pace. Usually this isn't a demon's fault directly, but I think if we got more demons sealed away the concepts they use would do less damage."

"...hm. This doesn't really sound terrible?"

"What doesn't?"

"Traditions ending."

"Oh, consistency isn't valuable so much as necessary. Like, if I summon something big, it'll probably call me by an ancestor's name. If it didn't recognize me that way, I'd be some nobody and it wouldn't answer or I couldn't control it. Being part of a long line means I can play bigger, and while I shouldn't do that very often we're heading toward a future where no one can."

"Hmm. But on the other hand new things are very, very often improvements over old things, that's how technology works, and social progress especially tends to be in a positive direction."

"That's definitely true in a lot of cases. I'm certainly not pushing for stasis. Change just also comes at a cost of making practitioners less recognizable to spirits and Others, especially when there are a lot of changes quickly. And the changes are only accelerating."

"Do you have an idea of what to do about it?"

"Not specifically enough yet. I want to end the thing where all the families are wasting all their effort competing with each other, but that's more of a first step. Toward something."

"That currency thing might help with that, some."

"Maybe. The invention of money didn't stop ordinary people from keeping up with the Joneses, but if it helps I wouldn't complain."

"True, but it did make that desire more productive. Harnessing human biases and instincts seems to be overall better than trying to change them."

"That's true. I haven't thought through how much I want to say yet, but my strategy was more along the lines of changing circumstances than instincts."

"Fair." Pause. "I have some information which is probably highly relevant to whatever your plan is. Do you intend to start enacting it in Jacob's Bell?"

"Yes. I didn't think I was out of touch enough with Jacob's Bell to have missed anything big..."

"...I hate time travel. I'm from the future."

"That explains the hair-splitting. How far? Also how, if that isn't even more secret."

"Some sixty years, approximately, and a Charybdis ate me. I sealed it."

"I don't think I've even heard of a Charybdis. Congratulations on getting it to agree to the seal, though." She's going to assume that meant the Solomon version, naturally.

"So if it didn't look like I had succeeded in that long...that's an obstacle. I suppose everything could stay non-obvious to the casual observer."