"They mostly wouldn't even talk to me about their objections! One said 'that doesn't seem like a good idea' which is so ominous. I can take 'no' for an answer, or 'sorry I am exclusively into horses' - many humans are exclusively into humans so I figured some of the horses would be exclusively into horses -"

"Are...there some humans who are attracted to horses? Normal humans, I mean, not humans who are having their sexuality enhanced by the erogame. I - suppose I have heard of cross-species relationships with other intelligent species, but hertasi are - more superficially humanoid. They have hands and all. - I did hear a ballad once that involved a gryphon lusting after a human but I am not sure that ever happened for real." 

"I mean, most horses aren't smart. Some people are still attracted to them and I don't think it's impossible for animals to have consensual sexual interactions and also, like, I'm not a vegetarian, but it's definitely incredibly sketchy. I would expect if there were intelligent horses there would absolutely be a community for - oh, never mind, there totally is, based on a TV show, in my world, a community of people who want to fuck ponies, without the Erogame having anything to do with it."

"....Your world is very strange. Also what is a 'TV show'?" 

"A TV is a magic picture frame that can show moving pictures not just still ones. A TV show is a story produced for people to watch on their TVs."

"That is really quite incredible. I wonder if there is a way to create that here via the power of sex and the erogame, as opposed to by slowly reinventing all of the required technology." 

"It doesn't seem like - the right kind of thing. Or rather, by the time the Erogame is changing mass market consumer product availability already everyone's genderfluid and really horny. ...and maybe that's fine, I don't know!"

"I am pretty sure that the lack of availability of popular art and literature - let alone 'TV' - is almost certainly making people's sex lives worse in Velgarth! We do not even have widely available sexy books." 

"I - think you don't get it. Maybe you get it, and think it's worth it, but I think you don't get it. It'd fix that. The bookstores will all have really great porn, and inventors will have ideas for brilliant new sex toys to invent, and a hundred bizarre coincidences will hurry them along their way, and along the way everyone will rethink all their sexual conservatism and realize that monogamy wasn't so great anyway, and a thousand romances will bloom, and at some point people will stop dying of dysentery because it's really unsexy, and then they'll all realize they're a little bit a boy and a little bit a girl, and also that they're bi, and in five months none of them will recognize their planet and all of them will be kind of sort of like me.

I think. I dunno. I left my homeworld before it got quite that far.

It just - it's sure something to do to people."

"...I should almost certainly think more about it. It is just - hard to imagine that not being worth it, if it actually would just solve all of the stupid causes of death and suffering. I suppose it would be sensible to do a poll? Ask some people who are more - representative of the general population, than myself or any of my staff. I, just -" 

It's hard to even think about without pain. Hope, it turns out, apparently hurts more than - whatever he had been feeling about the future of Velgarth before this. Which wasn't despair, exactly, but it wasn't this. 

"...It is upsetting to think about delaying this any longer than we must. After two thousand years. I suppose I should really have learned to be patient, after that, but it does not make this easier." 

"The thing about asking is - it's better than not asking, but, what if they don't want it because they think God will send them to Hell, but actually He won't? Or what if they don't want it, but their dead babies would, if you asked them? Or what if you asked the farm animals they'll torture once they industrialize, or what if it means the world ended, when otherwise your gods would've - kept it going, if it's been medieval for two thousand years they've got to be doing that on purpose -"

"Surely if we are industrializing via the erogame letting us cheat then there is no reason to torture farm animals, I am not sure why there was a reason to do that in your world–"

Leareth stops himself. Sighs. "You have a point, there, about - reasons people might say no, that they would not reflectively endorse if they had all of the information. And - hmm. Actually, it seems like we might be on the route to having a very good opportunity to ask the gods what They were doing that for. I think some of it is about the Foresight noise but...that has always felt like an incomplete explanation, and They were never willing to try harder. If the erogame has not presented you with any immediate objectives then I think we should prioritize plans that get us communication with Them sooner." 

"Works for me. Shadow-Lover has the most promising name, gotta say. Do They have a church? Priests?"

"Not...per se. The Shadow-Lover is, I suspect, an avatar for a god rather than the entirety of a god, and my guess is that they represent the god that has territorial remit over Valdemar and Rethwellan and some of Hardorn. There are certain characteristics there - They do not intervene as visibly as other gods such as Vkandis, and They seem to favor setting up systems that can then exist long-term without more direct intervention. The Companions fit the style, and especially the more obviously-miraculous elements of the Web, like the Death Bell. The Sword of Rethwellan does also; it is a powerful magical artifact that chooses the ruler. I am not sure if it could in theory have been made by a human mage but it almost certainly was not, in practice." 

...Oh no and now Leareth is wondering if it would be theoretically possible for Elfyn to fuck the Sword of Rethwellan. This...seems logistically easier than fucking the Web, say. 

"- The miraculous systems might be the best avenue for contact?" 

"Yeah! Sword! Let's start there! Is it in a famous vault or something in Rethwellen, then?"

"No, I think the monarch generally wears it or carries it with them. It is not in the same league as Need - you must have encountered Need, she was in Valdemar last I was aware - but it does confer some magical powers, and nearly all monarchs are mages. The current King is very old and in poor health but he would probably accept a visiting scholar in his court? I do also have a diplomatic persona there, but as a scholar I could go in with my own face - I am known at the Academy in Petras - and I think it would be easier to explain your presence." 

"Need's cool. She only likes me when I'm a girl but that's honestly super valid. 

- let's do it. Let's go be a visiting scholar in Rethwellan and his - brother? girlfriend? boyfriend? maidservant? How do you like it?"

Leareth frowns. "...Brother or sister, probably. I think my acquaintances in Petras would find it very odd and implausible if I suddenly arrived with a boyfriend or girlfriend. If you think you might want to seduce the King of Rethwellan - well, he is very old, but I think he is attracted to women and not men." 

"Nothing wrong with being very old. Some of my favorite supervillains are very old. I'll be your sister. I do have the perk where if we have sex no one who has seen me will blame you. Even if I'm your sister."

"That is such an oddly specific form of mind control! I - suppose that goes with your earlier point around why it might have concerning implications to address all of Velgarth's problems via erogame magic cheating. ...Also, I should warn you that Rethwellan disapproves very strongly of same-sex relationships. It is quite a reasonable country in many ways - women are treated better and have more rights than in Karse or Hardorn, arguably even better than Valdemar if we are considering only the lives of un-Gifted non-Heralds, and they are even more vehemently against slavery than Valdemar - but...not that. It is not as far as I can tell even a religious precept, just a cultural thing." 

"Well. I won't try to mind control them all about it. I only did that in Valdemar because I was mad about Vanyel."

"Which I have a hard time criticizing given how long I have spent being frustrated on Vanyel's behalf and unable to affect the situation in any way! ...I would have offered him a job at my organization if that were even slightly a reasonable offer to make, I do not tolerate that kind of behavior with my own staff, but obviously I could not do that." 

"Because you're going to invade his country? Well, an advantage of not invading peoples' countries is that you can offer them jobs, or add them to your harem or whatever."

"I was looking very hard for alternatives to invading his country by the time you arrived here! But also is a Herald and his Companion would object, and the King would surely object, and in short it would just be very complicated. ...Less complicated now, maybe. I worry that being a Herald is not very good for Vanyel." 

Leareth glances around. "So - should we finish our brunch and then go prepare to visit Rethwellan?"