"I will run off. And try not to take too long about it."

"Don't rush enough that you might end up with the wrong answer.  I'm not a runaway machine that's going to chew through eight houses if you take an extra minute to think."

"I'd offer to stay up here for a set period of time, but I don't have my small wearable time-telling device.  Maybe I'll just look up and think for a bit, then head on down if I notice myself not wanting to be on the roof."

"Sounds good." Why is he so adorable.

And she scurries down the stairs and - where is the cleric in charge here going to be - in the temple, presumably -

That was a very interesting and very confusing conversation and Broom is not quite sure what to make of it.  He hesitates between continuing to watch 'Keltham', or trying to overhear the woman's conversation with an Asmodean cleric...

...Broom is not entirely sure what he can get away with around here, just yet.  Broom is curious about the conversation that will happen with the cleric; it is not clear that Broom needs to know in order to do his new job.  Broom imagines trying to explain to Aspexia Rugatonn why he thought he needed to listen to the conversation with the cleric, if he gets caught doing that.  Broom thinks he would rather not have that conversation.  Broom shall, on reflection, continue to watch the human boy who somehow managed to talk himself out of scoring with the older human girl, after being told it was a sure thing, and who doesn't look particularly regretful about the fact.

Is this boy the person who ends the world?  He doesn't look it, but he also seems very very very alien and very hard to understand, and might do unexpected things because of that.

She slows down from a run before she enters the temple because personally of interest to Asmodeus or not third-circle wizards do not go running into His temples like their time is the most important thing around. 

Suddenly she is terrified but that's only because she's in line for some correction that is very sorely needed and will help her achieve her goals.
 

Cheliax, for all that it is less Lawful than some other very distant realms of existence, does not make a habit of missing ploys that are obvious even to Cheliax.

Compared to instructions relayed by way of Hell, a cleric who receives a direct divine revelation from Asmodeus will have received instruction that is more accurate, more precise, and much less able to be put into words for other mortals to hear.  The project to extract extraplanar knowledge from 'Keltham' was established based in part upon a vision from Asmodeus.  The priest who received the vision from Asmodeus reported his best guess that there was a sense that Asmodeus thought their visitor was potentially valuable and not just being given unexplained protections.  What else was in the message from Asmodeus?  Was there anything else important, not yet done?  This tends to be very hard for recipients of visions to convey, if it is not blindingly obvious.

The priest in question also headed up a Worldwound installation, was fifth-circle, and had proven himself on lesser commands.  Placing him in command of the villa project was another obvious bet.

Ferrer Maillol himself, fifth-circle cleric of Asmodeus, is not currently enjoying himself quite so much as when he was fighting an endless horde of demons at the Worldwound.  The Worldwound did not have alien teenagers being insane, direct orders from Hell that are incredibly inexplicable, random wizard students getting oracled by Nethys, and way too many complications he is not allowed to set on fire until they shape up.  Ferrer Maillol had not, until just today, appreciated the degree to which it is easier to fight an endless horde of demons compared to sending out a new top-priority message to Aspexia Rugatonn every hour.  He had quietly resolved to himself that he was very seriously going to consider whether the next such message should be batched, in part to conserve his remaining supply of communication spells, and in part because he was worried about how Aspexia Rugatonn was going to take his hourly interruptions.

Of course the next piece of news he got was about a fucking Otolmens event.

When Ferrer Maillol is notified that Carissa Sevar wants to see the head priest, there is only one first thought which goes through his mind, which is not again.

Ferrer Maillol instructs that Carissa Sevar is to be shown to him at once, and fixes a very bland expression on his face.

"What is it?"

"I - understand it to be the will of Asmodeus that I get a better theological education, as if I were the inheriting daughter of a Count. I have just spent an evening with Keltham in which he kept asking questions that were extremely difficult to answer from within my present understanding of Asmodean theology, which I know to be deficient. He wants me to figure out my internal confusions promptly because he - might not want to have sex with internally confused people - and suggested I seek you out now."

Which is important because it means that this will all have to be very time-bounded, and Keltham's expecting her back, except he wouldn't be that surprised really if straightening herself out took longer than expected, but it still wouldn't be ideal -

Carissa needs to be smarter and not for the first time in the last three hours is really terrified she will not live to acquire the headband that'll do it.

At least Sevar doesn't have any more brilliant ideas, such as her last one, which was that Ferrer Maillol's life wasn't going to be complicated enough unless he added an additional number of teenage girls to it.

"Prioritized for theological instruction as if you were a fourth-circle cleric," Maillol corrects sharply, and then pauses to reflect on whether he has violated Aspexia Rugatonn's instructions for the gentle handling of Carissa Sevar... no, she's seeking this of her own accord... actually he should check that, if she's having trouble remembering Hell's instructions.  "Would you say you are not seeking this instruction of your own accord?  Keltham is not a member of the Church, but him suggesting you into it is - ambiguous."  Maillol is unsure what he should make of Hell's instructions in that case.  He really does not want to bother Aspexia Rugatonn about it already.

"Keltham advised only that I - use dath ilani techniques for thinking about confusing things. I realized that I needed someone who understands the - thing Asmodeus communicated to me that I don't understand - and I told him I should talk to a cleric."

That is good behavior.  Ferrer Maillol gives her his least frightening smile, the smile that Asmodean priests give to the lesser people who do something Church-approved.  "You may be unfortunately optimistic if you think that I will be able to entirely clarify Hell's message.  Still, if you were given this affordance, it suggests that Asmodeus thinks some benefit may come of it.  Seek instruction, then, if it is of your own accord, and I will assist you as our Lord commanded us."

- nod.

She is going to sound like an idiot. She's just going to - ignore that and try anyway, if her idiocy is revealed then it can be corrected. 

"I think dath ilani people - genuinely understand Law better than us. I think they're - mostly Lawful Good, and Keltham is Lawful Neutral, but their understanding of Law is correct in important ways we weren't going to derive ourselves, and so there is a Lawful Evil version of it. And in class, I was trying to come up with it. And then I got the communication -" she pulls out the scroll Aspexia Rugatonn gave her, reads it off so she can't be misremembering - ''Remember that you are not Irori.  Do not think yourself likely to succeed in perfecting yourself without divine aid."

"Acknowledge the desires in yourself that have no place in Axis, and accept that your rightful place is in Hell."

And I think what was being - very generously - communicated by mentioning Irori, and Axis, was that I was - borrowing too much from Keltham, who is Lawful Neutral, and that I don't truly understand the nature of Evil, and so the thing I was building wouldn't have been of any value, it would've been - missing something Asmodeus wants. But presumably I am capable of learning it or he'd just have let me get it wrong and accidentally make myself worthless. Do you...have any idea what it might be."

Ferrer Maillol's first thought is the obvious one, that he hopes this new brilliant idea of Sevar's works out better for him than her one about providing Keltham with lots of girls one of whom gets oracled by Nethys - though, of course, that wasn't her decision, and the Church of Asmodeus is not confused about who bears the real responsibility.

His second thought is about a distinction he was warned about, that they've been instructed to prioritize Sevar as if she were Asmodeus's own fourth-circle cleric, not to answer as if she were one.  It rules out the obvious answer he'd give to a fourth-circle Asmodean cleric standing nearby and asking what Sevar was missing.  Still, Asmodeus's language to Sevar - if it wasn't just poorly translated by Hell - suggests that Sevar has the kind of soul that Asmodeus actually wants, if He can win it in this contest with Irori, or whatever is actually going on here.  (He is not to try to guess and be helpful in a way that pushes the edges of Hell's orders; the Grand High Priestess was quite clear on that.)

He will, then, answer as he might answer somebody who was considered to have enough potential that Asmodeus might choose them to be a cleric, perhaps, though not yet chosen; or as he might answer a promising heiress of Chelish nobility.

"People in Cheliax register as Lawful and as Evil, and worship no Lawful Evil god other than Asmodeus or his subordinates.  This suffices for much of Asmodeus's purpose, as it brings those souls to Hell's standard gate, which Asmodeus has already conquered, and so into His ownership for further refinement.  We do not ask most people to understand what Lawful Evil really is, let alone what would distinguish Asmodeus from Zon-Kuthon within Lawful Evil.  Most people do not, in fact, need to understand this.  They do not possess the nature that marks them as potentially one of Asmodeus's own, instead of just the masses who must be coerced to Lawfulness out of fear and who end up registering as Evil because that is what the rules make of conducting yourself in ways not completely absurd."

"You, Sevar, might have the potential to become one of Asmodeus's own, not just Lawful and Evil.  Or so our Lord's instructions to you suggest.  You are, I think, being invited to join the inner circle.  And I am not expecting you to already understand what that truly means, because it is not something we bother trying to teach most third-circle wizards.  So the question I am about to ask is not a test of loyalty, but a test for whether you belong in the beginner classroom or the advanced one.  What have you already grasped, if anything, of the difference between Lawful Evil and Asmodeanism?  What makes Cheliax an Asmodean country and not just a Lawful Evil one?"

AAH - 

- which is completely unreasonable because this is about as gentle an introduction as she could possibly have hoped for. 

She has never considered the question before but she is a day of dath ilan better at thinking than anyone else in Cheliax and would like to show it, ideally. "The part of that which sounds easiest is the difference between Asmodeus and Zon-Kuthon," she says. "Zon Kuthon - intrinsically values suffering more, I think? If everyone in the universe were, uh, constantly being creatively tortured, Zon Kuthon would be entirely pleased by that. And Hell ruled by Asmodeus isn't like that - there'd lots of torture, but there is - the opportunity to not be tortured, the opportunity to be such a high performer that you are satisfactory - the opportunity to be doing the torturing, the opportunity to be deciding who is tortured - Asmodeus wants.... some features of Hell other than the suffering - I mean, in addition to the suffering, I know the suffering's important - these are guesses, maybe Asmodeus values people having the experience of - their suffering being related to qualities they have - knowing you are suffering because of your own conduct and choices, not just at unlucky random - maybe Asmodeus values people striving to avoid further torture, or some of the things they do while they're trying to avoid further torture, or, uh, them becoming more like him in becoming more the kind of entity who'd run Hell the way he runs it - maybe he values people being rewarded when they've earned it, maybe he values - earning it feels like a natural category, here, if I had to guess I would guess that Asmodeus values people earning features of their situation through their actions or their fundamental nature... uh, the strongest counterargument I can think of to that is that it's too Lawful Neutral again? 'to each their just rewards' is not right, as a description of Asmodeus. But there are other ways for there to be a relationship between your actions and what happens to you."

"Satisfactory for someone who was never taught.  Beginner's classroom, but a thinking beginner."

"The primary domains of Asmodeus are tyranny, slavery, compacts, and pride.  Tyranny is not just rulership.  Slavery is not just obedience.  Compacts are not just deals.  Pride is not just having a high opinion of yourself."

"For Zon Kuthon, the object of torture is torture.  For Asmodeus, the object of torture is not only the benefit Asmodeus gains when people obey.  The object of torture is that Cheliax be a tyranny, not just a farm from which Asmodeus extracts a maximum yield of wheat.  Tyranny, as Asmodeus sees it, requires tyrants, not just a single decider at the top, but deciders all through the system who enforce obedience with whip and pain.  He is a Lawful Evil god, the tyrants are there to enforce rules and not just to do as they please, they are subject to rules themselves."

"We are taught - we, Asmodeus's own clerics, not the common people - that Asmodeus holds the key of Rovagug's prison, fitting a lock that Abadar made so that Asmodeus alone could open it.  Why Asmodeus?  Because Asmodeus alone can be trusted by Pharasma that, even after He conquers every plane and every part of reality, Asmodeus will never seek to displace Pharasma Herself.  Pharasma is the one who made the rules that send people to the Hell that Asmodeus governs.  Because Pharasma exists, Asmodeus is just enforcing the rules that She made, when He tortures a soul in Hell, He is being Lawful Evil and not just Evil, He is being tyrannical and not just sadistic.  Asmodeus is the one god who cannot exist as Himself without a Pharasma above Him to set Him in place and define the system He enforces, and that was why He alone is entrusted to hold Rovagug's key.  He, too, is only following His orders, each time He receives a new soul into Hell's embrace."

"The language we are speaking is ill-suited to such distinctions, because mortals are ill-suited to understanding them, and you should not read too much into how we mortals flail for one mortal concept or another.  To Asmodeus, to a greater devil, the shape of the meaning is precise.  There are many souls in Cheliax who would rather hold the whip themselves, than be the one whipped.  That does not make them Asmodean, it makes them selfish.  There are many souls in Cheliax who would enjoy holding the whip, because they are sadists, because they delight in causing others pain and crushing them below.  That doesn't make them Asmodeus's rather than Zon-Kuthon's.  But some souls in Cheliax enjoy holding the whip more when they are doing it to enforce the rules, you might even say that they need there to be rules and need there to be some higher tyrant above them so that they are being more than just sadists.  If those souls have enough potential to be worth empowering, Asmodeus chooses them for His own, to be His cleric, and grants to them His domain of tyranny."

"To delight in tyranny is not mandatory to be one of Asmodeus's own.  The devil you met this day may have had no joy in tyranny, for all we know, he was not a devil who had other devils beneath him.  But when he was mortal he must have already delighted in the compacts that Asmodeus delights in, by which the wheels of Law turn to crush one party or another to the contract beneath them.  He was not just Lawful and Evil, but delighted in Law turned to the purposes of Evil.  And because of that, after his death and through his suffering he was elevated and raised to the status of a greater devil, and kept that part of himself which was pleasing to Asmodeus.  As he was one of us in his mortal life, so he is now part of the inner ring in Hell."

"Tyranny, not just rulership.  Slavery, not just obedience.  Compacts, not just deals.  Pride, not just self-value.  Maybe all of those will appeal to you, maybe only one, but you must have great potential for at least one - if I am not entirely mistaken about the meaning of Hell's translated will of Asmodeus, conveyed to you."

It feels so - far, from something she could translate for Keltham, but all true things can be said in the same language, so there is a way, there is a version of this written in dath ilan's style of thought which she can understand and embody - "Should it be obvious to me, which one, just by thinking about it."

"Perhaps not.  I doubt that Asmodeus would have bothered to instruct you to seek out those elements of your own soul, or for us to assist you, if it was a ten-minute job."

"Competent natural tyrants are the most useful members of the inner circle, and we try to give every intelligent Chelish citizen a chance to enforce some rules with a whip to let them discover that tendency if they have it.  If you rise high within this world, you will discover very rapidly that the number of competent Asmodean managers you can find to help run your operations is an extreme check on your ambitions.  It is plausibly the limiting factor for the entire Chelish state.  Slavemasters and lawyers are not nearly so much in demand.  Pride tends to be expensive in multiple ways, and not just financially, so it is largely the domain of nobles or the very wealthy, who by their own nature cannot be too numerous relative to the general population.  Outside of tyranny, then, you may lack firsthand experience with other elements of Asmodeus's domain as experienced by the insiders."

"Do you wish to hear my guess about your Asmodean potentials?  It seems to me that there is a tension between Asmodeus's instructions to me that we are to assist you if you seek instruction, and Asmodeus's instructions to you that you are to find that part of yourself.  My own resolution of the tension would be that I should answer if you ask, because I am to concern myself with Asmodeus's instructions to myself, which say that I am to assist you, and not with weighing Asmodeus's instructions to you."

"I do want to hear your guess. I think I would benefit from knowing where to look even if I am meant to find it on my own."

"Pride and slavery.  You asked to be prettier as the first element of your shopping list.  The part of Hell which your attention naturally focused upon was the slavery there, the precise structures of pain and obedience."

"What is pride, if it's not just -" what had he said - "not just a high opinion of yourself." Does she have a high opinion of hers - yes, yes, she does.

Pride is the aspect of Asmodeus that Ferrer Maillol understands the least well, himself.  Which is unfortunate for him, because the greater devils all seem to possess pride in abundance; and it's a good guess that having that much feeling about yourself and your place, for Hell's tortures to perfect into precisely Asmodean pride, is part of what helps you stay yourself through Hell.  The way in which hereditary nobles seem to end up as higher devils after their death, despite what Ferrer Maillol would privately term some severe deficits of other competence, would seem to bear this out; unless it's just the sort of unfairness in which the Tyrant so delights.

He answers, then, from textbook and catechism.  "It is, obviously, a god-concept, and not one which mortal concepts are very apt to describe.  It may help to remember that this is a Lawful Evil domain, and many things that mortals think of with the usual word 'pride' are neither Lawful nor Evil, to say nothing of Law-that-does-Evil or Evil-that-upholds-Law.  The Lawful aspect of Asmodean pride is that it is bound up with having a place within Asmodeus's tyranny and which that tyranny has assigned to you.  The Evil aspect of it is that it is yours and you defend it and you will crush others to defend it.  By doing this, you enforce the structures of the tyranny and keep others in their place below you, it is Evil turned to the purposes of Law.  One seeks to climb the ranks of the tyranny, but within the tyranny, and by this the strong rise and the tyranny itself is strengthened."

"Those with deep Asmodean senses of pride have a felt sense of the order of the universe itself being disrupted, when somebody fails to give them their due, or when people weaker than themselves seem to be raised above them.  They are not simply defending themselves from insult, or seizing an opportunity to take somebody else's position.  They are restoring the order of the tyranny itself, in face of the disorder that is a weak unworthy person occupying a position of power or esteem."

"Do you just want to be prettier, Carissa?  Or do you have a sense that there is an order within the universe that is offended if people weaker than you, less deserving than you, get to be pretty and you don't?"

"Thinking that people ought to - look at you and see how much you matter, that you matter more than them? Is that - the right sort of thing -"

"Yes.  Though do not omit the idea of grandeur."  Ferrer Maillol taps the robes he is wearing, of a fifth-circle cleric of Asmodeus; magical cloth of the highest quality, with gold and with rubies.  "These vestments do not simply inform others of my place.  They are grand, expensive, rare, enviable, difficult for others to obtain.  They embody what it means for me to have risen high in Cheliax; they do not simply inform others of the fact.  Do you just want people to know the truth that you matter more than them?  Or do you want to walk into a ballroom full of higher nobility, and watch the fearful ones slink away from you and the ambitious ones flock to court you and the ignorant wonder who you are to matter so much more than themselves?  Do you just want others to know you're important, or hammer the existence of Carissa Sevar into your lessers like striking them down with a mace?"

Carissa really, really, really wants to know how Keltham would answer that question. "I want that," she says, instead, dragging her thoughts away from Keltham and to imagining it. "I want people to be jealous of me, and to aspire to be me, and to despair at how they're not good enough to be me."

"Not, of itself, sufficient for our inner circle.  But I doubt, given Asmodeus's instructions, that He expected you to learn your place in Hell and join His most treasured possessions with only a moment's thought and a word of advice.  My duty to Asmodeus also bids me warn you, pride is the domain of Asmodeus where I hold the least expertise.  If a fourth-circle cleric had questions I could not answer there, while about Asmodeus's business, they might need to wait upon a visit from a higher-circle cleric to answer in my place."

That Ferrer is so quick to think of his duty to Asmodeus there may reflect his own lack of pride, though how that is a failure to enforce his own place within the tyranny or its laws is lost on him.  It doesn't seem exactly the thing that a devil in his position would do, though the devils wouldn't ignore their duty to Asmodeus either.  They would disclaim their own lack of expertise with more grandeur, somehow; and Ferrer Maillol is aware that in reality most of his grandeur comes from his vestments and his ability to kill people who annoy him.