Stef actually doesn't see why that's supposed to be embarrassing? He would probably take the deal if an evil god offered him free magic even if Vanyel would be really irritating about it. 

:Oh. Right. Does seem better if you can get magic from a non-evil god. Especially if it's better magic. Was the magic worse because it was only useful for doing evil things or something? I could see that being pretty inconvenient.: 

All right, this has maaaaaybe gone far enough? 

:Blai, you don't have to talk about this if you don't want to: she sends privately to him, trying to make her mindvoice soothing. :Stef is just being a nosy Bard about it, but I think he's actually being very rude.: 

:- if it might be material to any decisionmaking I should probably explain,: Blai says, dragging the sentence forth like it's made of lead. :I am commanded to operate openly and it being uncomfortable is not mentioned as an exception to this rule and shouldn't be.:

:That makes sense.: She pulls Stef back into the link again. :Blai, why don't you explain what you think might be decision-relevant for us to know, in the order you want.: 

And if Stef tries to ask more questions that aren't focused on what's decision-relevant to them, well, she can just not relay them. 

Stef is definitely being chastised in Mindspeech overtones but he's immune to that. Everyone knows Bards are supposed to be nosy. He would be letting down Bardic if he didn't try to get the story. 

:I grew up in a country controlled by Hell under the command of Asmodeus, Lawful Evil god of tyranny. They flagged me as a potential cleric in school and I attended seminary and was chosen. I served Him for more than twenty years. I did not renounce Him of my own initiative even after my country was conquered by the forces of Good. I am now Iomedae's but I have done considerable Evil at His command and His hierarchy's command.:

What do they even teach you in Evil Seminary? 

theY TEACH YOU HOW TO TORTURE PEOPLE, STEF

...Yeah no Yfandes is flagging that as not currently decision-relevant and not something she wants to subject Blai to talking about, especially not to Stef of all people. 

:Growing up in a country controlled by an evil god sounds - like they might have had a lot of control over your information sources. And also just - dangerous. Did you believe you had the option of renouncing Him first, without that being a disaster for you personally?: 

:Principally the idea just never entered my head but it did happen that defection was a death sentence and I would have expected to go to Hell.:

:That seems like a very understandable reason for the idea to never enter your head!: Yfandes hesitates. :We're not - mad at you. I'm glad you told us. I think it was a good idea to tell us now, it could have - come out in a worse way at a different time.: Like if they pinned their whole strategy for ending the war on trusting Blai's magic and then Tran was the one to find out, or something. :It actually seems like - a way you could actually be particularly qualified to know why it would be so bad if Leareth made the wrong kind of god.: 

Pause. 

:I do want to know more about...evil gods in general, I think we - may not have been imagining it right, only knowing the set of gods we have here. But I don't think it's necessarily urgent, if it's unpleasant for you to talk about.: 

:It doesn't matter if it's unpleasant, it matters if it's important. There are plenty of evil gods - gods of pain, crime, destruction, disease, monsters. The evil afterlives are all characterized by torment impossible to replicate with the living. I'm not sure what else you need to know.:

:...Wow. I'm suddenly much less convinced that having afterlives is better than the alternative.

- wait, you have a god of crime?: 

That's kind of neat actually, if Stef had the option to be offered magic powers by any evil god he would pick that one actually it's probably horrible in some way he's not thinking of because he hadn't realized gods could do that. 

:Those are very - specific. Compared to our gods. I don't know if any of our gods could be said to be a god of...any particular noun...they sort of have themes but not - it's much harder to figure out what Their goals are and map them to a familiar concept like 'disease' or 'monsters'.: 

He's being exactly like Vanyel. Which doesn't mean she isn't going to pay attention to his feelings, because that's stupid, it mostly means that she has to be extra careful to also respect his - dignity, she's not sure what the thing is, but it's important to Vanyel too that nobody is looking at him and thinking his feelings need special care or else will get in the way of the real priorities. 

:Yes, it's a puzzling thing about your gods. There are some Golarion gods who are mostly gods of a race or something but mostly they have. Nouns.:

His world's thing seems more puzzling to Yfandes - it's not like people can usually be described as about a noun, even people who are unusually...about a specific thing...are still mostly just. People. Made up of their friends and hopes and dreams, and a lot of basic parts that almost everyone has in common. It's not a useful argument to debate which was is more puzzling, though. 

Aaaaand this is an uncomfortable question but he said that didn't matter and she does actually think the answer might be important? 

:Does it - say much about a person - if a particular god chose them? More than just that they didn't say no to being associated with that god, I mean. Do you have to - care about the same noun as the god does?: 

:You have to be within one alignment step of the god. I think I'm Lawful Neutral at this time. I'm not sure how strict other aspects of - resonating with them - are, on a mechanical as opposed to pragmatic level, but the pragmatic concerns are substantial, since communication is so expensive; they have every reason to, if possible, choose clerics who will perform the services the god desires to have done in the world under a very light touch. Asmodeus was able to achieve a lot of this by having a mortal hierarchy relay His will; a god with a less organized and domineering church is less able to delegate to it in that way.:

Yfandes nods. The gesture looks pretty odd on a horse.

:What were the criteria for deciding to send a particular child: she's guessing  he was a child at the time, :to seminary to become a cleric, when your country was ruled by Asmodeus?: Once he was there, it seems like threats alone could have more or less ensured he would cooperate on the pragmatic side. 

:Seriousness as a proxy for Wisdom - Intelligence can be measured almost directly, with Detect Thoughts, and that was how they flagged wizards, but there was no such thing for Wisdom - and obedience as a proxy for Law.:

Neither of which is particularly about, well, being the kind of child who would be eager rather than reluctant to do the work of an evil god. She wonders if more serious children actually tend to be...she's not sure the term in Blai's mind means the same thing as what a Valdemaran would mean by "wiser". 

:To what extent are those the same things that matter for being chosen by Iomedae?: 

:Wisdom is necessary for any cleric of any god, we cast from it. Iomedae can choose Neutral Good priests if She wants to, but Asmodeus can choose Neutral Evil ones, so Law is not formally more important for either. It's probably more important in practice for Her than Him because Her emphasis is on - Law and Good as both reflections of a single unified cooperative principle - while He has some Law-themed interests but is not obviously damaged reputationally by having Neutral Evil servants provided they are not responsible for carrying out His contractual obligations. Iomedae is theologically interested in not using people against their own interests and I expect this is somewhat limiting to her selection but she has more - active voluntarism - to work with, than Asmodeus, though I did not expect to be selected myself and was not trying for it.:

So it sounds like he was selected on the basis of generically being a good candidate to bear a god's magic (at least for a Lawful god) and - it seems like the rest doesn't say as much about him.

It says something about him, Yfandes can't imagine, say, Jisa going along with it, but - they selected him for obedience on purpose, and in most circumstances that wouldn't be an evil trait to have. 

Jisa growing up in a place like that would probably just have gotten herself killed. 

:I'm glad you had a way out: she sends. :Even if you didn't find it on your own. ...I imagine you wouldn't go back, even if Iomedae dropped you and Asmodeus offered you spells again?: 

:Well, She wouldn't mean for me to do that. It's not at all out of character for Asmodeus to abandon a tool that is no longer worthwhile to Him but if I ever come by the opinion that She has no further use for me rather than having some kind of budgetary problem I am more likely to be enchanted than correct.:

He thinks about gods in such a bizarre way. Yfandes still doesn't think she's quite pinned it down. 

:I think that's all that seems important to know now? Obviously we would want to know a lot more - and probably ask people other than you - if we ever were in a position to do anything in your world, but we're not. I don't think this is reason to - trust you less, when you're offering to help us and we need that help desperately.: 

Another pause. 

:...What noun is Iomedae the god of?: 

:Triage. And victory against evil.: