"I mean, I'm not mad at Leareth, but he was very lenient about it, and it kind of wasn't his call in the first place."

"How did you end up being Leareth's prisoner, anyway? I didn't hear much about that part. ...Um, you don't have to talk about it if you'd prefer not." 

"I think it was arranged in Golarion. They were going to turn me into a statue, because it was expensive to keep me alive and they didn't want to let me go to Hell and tell Asmodeus what they were planning, and then they decided to send me really far away instead, so I couldn't. They sent me, secured thoroughly, to - somewhere in Leareth's territory, one of his secret buildings. He found me right away and took me prisoner."

"So he had no idea who you were or anything?" Shavri makes a face. "How many secret buildings does he have, anywa– oh, sorry, that's probably one of the kinds of question you're not allowed to answer. Sorry." 

"I think I just haven't been told things I'm not supposed to tell you. He's got to have a lot of them but I've only been in two, not counting the place where I was found, and I was blindfolded when I was sent so I didn't see it. He didn't know anything about who I was, at first, but I tried to explain, it wouldn't've been safer to try to pretend I was less valuable and I didn't know enough to pretend I was theologically in line..."

"Theologically in line?" Shavri says blankly. "With who? I didn't think Leareth worshipped any gods, apparently he hates them or something." 

"He doesn't, but he has ideas about what the god worthy of his effort will be like. And I'd have pretended to be - that, if I'd known what to aim for, and if I could've gotten away with it."

"Could you have? If you'd know what to fake it about, I mean. I - don't think I could ever be that good at pretending." 

"I'd need some time, I think, but - I can mostly believe things if it's obviously a good idea."

"- Weird." Shavri shrugs and doesn't pursue that question further. "Er, what - would the theology be? I'm actually really curious about that! My friend Van says he doesn't think Leareth is terrible, says he's really trying to help, but - it's hard to imagine, you know." 

"It's that the existing gods want people to be poor, and their societies to be weak, and they don't get an afterlife when they die, but there could be a god who valued humans more and valued more about them, and we've got to build it."

"Oh." Frown. "I...think I don't really get it, still." 

"Huh. I don't - know what part of it would be confusing."

"I don't know why the gods now want us to be poor. I - don't know why a new one would turn out not like that, when we've already got lots. And, I don't think I see the difference between valuing humans more or valuing more of humans, those just seem the same to me." 

"Well, you could make a god who like Asmodeus can only use people once he hurts them a lot shaping them properly, but who values them very highly and will go to great lengths to preserve every soul, and I'd be pleased enough about that but Leareth wouldn't, I don't think. So he also wants the god to - Asmodeus doesn't like how humans have free will and are defiant and discontent and so on, but maybe you can make a god who doesn't mind that about us. And - every new god changes the balance of power, even if not by very much at first. 

I don't know why your gods want you to be poor. It seems weird. Leareth thinks maybe poor countries are easier for them to predict."

"Huh. Isn't having free will, just, fundamentally part of what it means to be human?" 

"I'm not sure what that would mean? There were humans before there was free will and I think it was still, you know, pretty like being human except with less contradictory and stupid goals."

"I...don't feel like 'humans except without free will' would...actually be - people? But I don't think we ever had people without free will, so." Shrug. "I don't know. Your world is really weird." 

"Your world is actually less weird than I'd expect another world to be. Your country wouldn't be a weird country to exist in Golarion some place I hadn't heard of."

"Huh, that is interesting. I guess - people are people, and farming is farming, and maybe countries end up looking sort of the same in lots of circumstances?" 

"Maybe? And there are lots of countries in Golarion that are pretty different from each other so being like one of them isn't saying anything very strong, but like... you have Queens and other nobles and churches and gods who select people to be their servants - with horses, not with spells, but it's not that different -"

"- I guess? I hadn't really thought of Heralds as being a god's servants. They serve Valdemar." 

"And Valdemar is some god's, just like Cheliax is."

"...I guess. They seem less opinionated about it, though." 

"It seems like they're at least subtler? But Leareth thinks they're very opinionated about things like whether Valdemar should be rich."