"You may also think of your own ideas that will work even better for your people, once you understand more about gods. What do you think Amentans will be interested in trading with Arcadians?"

"Amentans will want to sell you pocket everythings like this, and other technology like them. And technology not like them, like airplanes and stuff. And they'll want to buy magic and magic lessons."

"-that's gratifying to hear. Have you thought about which types of magic will be most in demand?"

"Portals! And healing magic, probably. And magic to make things clean."

"Which of these do you think there would be an interest in learning, and which would Amentans rather pay for as a service? Would you need to know more about the process of learning magic before answering that question?"

"I think Amentans will want to learn all of them but will import them as services before that. The process would give me an idea how long they'd do importing. I mean they'll still trade after but it'll be like - smaller scale?"

Nod.

"We will want laws governing the trade and teaching of magic, as well as of pocket everythings and similar technology, but during the early stages we can manage using individual contracts. Airplanes- could you explain those in more detail?"

"Airplanes are flying vehicles! There are also trains, which roll on rails and are good for getting around shorter distances than airplanes suit. And trucks which are good for hauling cargo places that aren't trafficked enough for trains."

"What benefit does a truck offer over a carriage? And an airplane over Ethereal-plane-travel?"

"They're fast and can carry a lot and don't need magic or animals to pull them. Magic travel might be better for a lot of applications though."

"Not tiring will be a major advantage. Carrying capacity is less of a concern- that may be something we can help Amentans with. Not needing magic is an advantage on the Prime Material, but less so here. I'm sure this will be a matter for people other than us to discuss in more depth. Is there anything you think priests of Marduk are uniquely suited to helping you with?"

"Maybe you could help me with writing up a basic introduction to gods in general and Marduk specifically to send to Amenta."

"That sounds quite worthwhile. Why don't you tell me what about my attempts at explaining gods so far was most disappointing- if you tried to explain gods in general now, what you would you say?"

She can dig up her current draft of a gods-explanation, which reads Gods are a species of person that is very magical and especially powerful. Gods tend to have a handful of special interests and people who share those special interests and get along particularly well with the god are called priests. It might be necessary to have a god protecting an Arcadian colony such as the one who is already protecting a self-governed polity of people, Marduk.

"One important feature of gods is that their knowledge often surpasses their power unless they have followers to work through. However, they are one of the few things that can exert their power to perform magic on a large scale. If we didn't have gods, so much of what we need for our societies to function would rely instead on only our own abilities."

"Like what?"

"For one, the Outer Planes would be much less consistent. Gods keep our afterlives stable, rather than completely subject to the whims of the most creative or cruel among us. For another, we would not be able to communicate with people on the Prime at the rate that we do now. Angels are maintained by the gods of the good-aligned planes, and you can see how important they are for communication. Gods also advise us- they know more than any individual could, because they perceive so much at once."

"Angels need maintenance?"

"They don't reproduce the way most living things do, they need to be created. When they're injured, they don't heal naturally, and magical healing of the kinds we know of cannot be applied to them. Even their minds are- they wear down, which we don't quite understand, if away from the good-aligned planes for too long, but the gods can help them recuperate."

"Poor angels!"

"Indeed. Unfortunately, there's not much most of us can do about it without the gods. Besides that- they help do things that spellcasters would require much more of their power to do, and of course, they help primes with even more."

"What do they do for primes?"

"Most diseases and injuries on the Prime that are healed rather than killing the person are healed via gods, or by their priests. Gods perform miracles, in general, that contribute to infrastructure, peace, innovation, and stability. Not all gods, but the ones allied with Marduk, and those who are not against him."

"There aren't any gods who are helpful to primes but don't specifically get along with Marduk?"

"That is somewhat complicated as a question. Perhaps I will find a summary of Marduk's alliances, later, if that would be an area of interest. I can say that- for a broad definition of alliances, Marduk is allied with most lawful good gods, and those are the gods most likely to help primes in the systematic way that I just outlined. Other gods can help individuals, but hardly more than you or I could in scope, even if the extent to which they help is greater."