"'Torturing' is putting it strongly, but - no, I do not like it when all of my precautions are successfully evaded and then my magic is blocked. And, yes, they are rather a horrible concept. The gods of our world use them for various types of meddling. In Vanyel's case, I suspect this has to do with his implausible power - and They did not care if his partner died in the process of making him." 

"I hate Abadar but at least he plays it very straight."

"Why do you hate Abadar? If you do not mind saying, that is, but - it might be important context. Especially if we are considering letting him learn of my existence." 

"It probably is. I just - haven't told anyone, in a decade. And then Nefriti said something and -

- my grandfather was the pharaoh. There are a lot of people who can say that, they're supposed to have as many descendants as possible to give Abadar his pick of hosts. The palace was full of pretty slaves, and they'd have a nice life, if they had our children, and Abadar'd have so many people to choose from, save him the trouble of molding them or - whatever. You couldn't leave. I don't think it matters. Not for whether we should fight a war with Cheliax. That I didn't like it, personally."

Leareth nods, slowly. "That is - not worse, really, then the broader institutions of slavery. I do not much like it. Though I suppose I see why slaves could be - economically efficient, if set up right. Oftentimes it is not that, in my homeland, it is just - people in power like to have more of it..."

He shakes his head. "I am sorry. So, when the old woman spoke of your brother who I would supposedly love - you might have little idea which one, if you also had many siblings...?" 

"I have six brothers. But 'if not for the burdens they both have taken up and cannot set down' is pretty specific, because - only one of them is pharaoh."

"....Oh." 

Leareth looks down. It's a while before he can think of anything to say. 

"I will not tell the others if you wish that to remain secret," he says quietly. "Though it does seem, well, strategically relevant in this situation." And there are lots of strategically relevant questions he could ask, but instead his mind jumps to the irrelevant ones. "What is he like? I am very curious; I do not exactly make a habit of going around loving people." 

"I want to be the one to tell them. It'll be - it's not fair to them, right, I could've brought them a lot of attention they didn't want, we've gotten into some situations where it could've caused a war, if anyone found out and concluded we were acting as the state of Osirion instead of as some adventurers from there - they'll be angry with me, and I need to tell them. 

He's - Vanyel kept saying mysteriously that he had a friend who'd like things about the way Osirion works. The system for distributing risk with insurance. The statistics-keeping on which afterlives people go to by country, and the thing from that where they try to figure out what laws get more people into Axis. The temples offering economics lessons."

"I do like many things about your country, aside from the slavery and women having limited rights, though Vanyel said the latter makes more sense in context given the afterlife. I assumed those were all Abadar's ideas." 

He blinks. "Vanyel describes me to people as his friend?" 

"I've argued with him about the slavery. Didn't get anywhere, but maybe you could, my problem is that I'm much better at being right than at winning arguments and he's spectacularly gifted at winning arguments. He'd say that lots of things are atrocious but shouldn't be illegal, like alcohol and whorehouses and, yes, slavery. And that other countries execute people for things we enslave them for and then those people mostly get shitty afterlives. And that it's important people expect to continue having the property rights tomorrow that they have today or no one invests. And that he doesn't have absolute power - by law he does, but - and he doesn't want to spend down all his resources on the biggest problem he happens to be aware of at this moment. And that they mostly make Axis, more often than free people, and that's where almost all of a human life lies. 

There were reforms, after he'd been in power two years. They probably made things a lot better. The palace has girls apply, now, and interviews them, makes sure they're clear what they're signing up for. Of course they kept all the ones they got the old way, but -" shrug. 

"I think Vanyel cares a lot about you. He was making plans with Fazil to drop you off in the neutral good afterlife, if he determined he couldn't work with you. That's not a euphemism for any kind of murder, they were going to Plane Shift there and beg for help."

Leareth stares at him. “You can do that? What a strange concept for an afterlife.”

"It'd be very unconventional but so is this whole situation, so. - if you have questions about the thing I haven't told Fazil and Mahdi yet you should ask them here but if you have questions about other things we should Gate back so everyone is in the loop."

"I suppose I have some questions about the system in general. Particularly the part where Abadar selects the pharaoh directly, since that is not really a feature of any governments in my world. Does he talk to the pharaoh regularly, or only answer questions when consulted?" 

"Just when consulted. And not even always then. Lots of things he can't interpret, or we can't interpret his answer. The personality change associated with being pharaoh is entirely that you get access to all of the most powerful intelligence-enhancement magic known in our world, as far as I can tell, nothing Abadar does."

Leareth stares at him. "The pharaoh is given intelligence enhancement? That is - actually a good idea! Is it common for rulers to have that?" 

"I haven't heard about it but I might not have, it's not like it's widely known in Osirion either. It's, uh, officially heretical or something to claim that the pharaoh has only intermittent access to Abadar and that Abadar didn't change his personality."

"I will keep that in mind. Does the pharaoh have any divine magic from Abadar?" 

"Yes. Seventh circle. Sometimes but not always the most powerful cleric in the country."

"Useful." And then the rest catches up. "Oh. Is the - pharaoh, himself - the cleric of Abadar who the others were talking about petitioning? Or is there also another temple in Sothis?" 

"There are a bunch of temples in Sothis, the church is - the administrative arm of Osirion's government, it does criminal trials and contract enforcement and taxation and education and so on. But yes, they were discussing whether to petition Abadar by going to His domain in Axis or whether to petition Abadar by seeking an audience with Him in Sothis and if they do the second thing it'll be my brother."

Nod. 

"I think that is all of my urgent questions, then, unless there is anything else I ought to know that would help avoid cultural misunderstandings here." 

"Uh, maybe ask more questions about the women's rights thing before you go off on your own, it sounds like your world works pretty differently there."

"Yes, it does. I am not planning to go off on my own imminently, though." (Also he can probably get cues by reading people's minds, but he doesn't say that.) 

"Please don't, explaining to my brother why we brought you here and let you go and how likely we think you are to kill ten million people would be super unpleasant and if he had to raise me first he'd never let me forget about it."

Leareth isn't sure what to say to that, or how to convey that he is actually not planning at all to murder any of them. 

"I can Gate us back to the surface now if you wish," he says finally.