null action act ii: unact harder | Glowfic Constellation

"The only thing necessary [...] is for good men to do nothing."
-- Edmund Burke Abridged

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Nethys

But Cayden was told how it would go—

and-be-merry

Does it matter, when people pray to gods?

Does it help Them, when They fight?

It is commonly thought that it does help, some tiny bit, so that if many people pray, maybe that helps enough for a god to notice.

and-be-merry

And through all the taverns of the world and the wild words that drunks dream up, as is His domain, a rumor was spread—

—though also there were other rumors, contradictory or less alarming ones or naming earlier or later times, to make their way to high officials and those charged with officious panic. But once a time was set and communicated to His representative, then to His true flock and all the ordinary people of Golarion beyond Absalom, to them this tavern-rumor was spread—

That at a certain hour and a certain day,
There would come the next godwar,
A flickering of the sky visible by day or night,
And the meaning of that godwar would be this:

That Carissa Sevar
(—have you heard the word about her, that she freed Wanshou from the great elder kraken that ruled it since Aroden's death, and gave it better government; that Cheliax's Queen suddenly bent knee to Carissa Sevar as her Empress, and Carissa Sevar at once began to rein in Cheliax's worst excesses—)
would ascend to godhood on that day,
under the star of Lawful Evil,
and other Evil gods would try to slay her,
for that if she won,
she would rein in Hell,
and create an alternative to horror,
not a paradise, still a place where real evil would be judged,
but where souls would not be shattered for their sins;

and even those already in Hell, whom you fear lost there,
from suicide, from exposing a child they couldn't save,
would then be rescued and given succor—

And of course it isn't believed.

Who would believe it?

It's not the sort of thing that anyone repeats because they believe it.

Godwars don't occur on schedule. Prophecy is shattered, and much of the point of prophecy in the first place was to avoid godwars.

and-be-merry

but if—

Some people have heard about Carissa Sevar's supposed compact with Asmodeus, and even if you believe that, the compact definitely doesn't say anything about Carissa Sevar being able to save souls already in Hell.

and-be-merry

but if—

There's no way that Asmodeus would ever allow it. And there's no way that an ascended mortal could ever take Asmodeus. Iomedae isn't that powerful, Irori isn't that powerful—

Greater Iomedae

lintamande

Not yet, but Iomedae is more powerful than She was six seconds ago.

Irori

become-stronger

Irori had always meant to accomplish such feats with the aid of His students, after inspiring others to also ascend.

There's even a ridiculous version of the rumor that has Carissa Sevar somehow doing something about Abaddon and the Abyss! No respectably cynical person would ever let themselves be seen believing it for a second!

and-be-merry

There's souls less lost than that, who frequent His taverns; the respectables can be left to their cynicism.

But it's really not believable!

and-be-merry

It does not need to be believed. Only to be heard.

...So the skeptics repeat it, they describe what it is they are skeptical about. Thus the rumor is heard, and spreads.

And unlike most such rumors, it is concrete and falsifiable: it foretells a sign, which is the sky-lights of a godwar, and it names a day and hour. Even those untrained can appreciate that kind of epistemic courage.

Don't believe it? Fine, don't believe it. Cayden Cailean is not a god of forcing people to believe things. Only tell your friend (your friend, not the authorities, there will be many other rumors to reach spies alongside that one); say it to your friends in the same drinking session that recounts lewd stories of the orgiastic rites practiced by Sevarists in Kelesh; laugh about those stories, but laugh with them also about the story that names a day and hour to look up to the sky and hope. You don't believe it, but surely many others do; and won't they feel stupid, come the day, ha ha?

Even a god as weak as Cayden Cailean can work a phenomenon like that on Golarion - for some short time before being caught - if He's willing to spend down His strength on it to the danger point, and sentence Himself to inevitable death for treaty-violations.

So almost nobody believes the tavern-rumor.

Yet many carry in their heart a burning coal that refuses to resolve itself completely and burn out. And some such do hear that rumor, and think, in some tiny part of themselves:

and-be-merry

But if—