by Ethan "JB" Goldman
In the Realms we had to once kill a God because the faith of the Realms was out of balance with the amount of Gods we had. This had lead to a ultimatum, either accept our apathy and forsake faith, abandoning worship and allowing the worshippers to be put to axe… Or to take one of the strongest of Gods and strike him down, a task that was done with shockingly little fuss, and only one casualty.
This raised a question: Does the Realms need the Gods? And this highlights the purpose of Garm perhaps best.
We have become jaded, we have killed too much, forced our will on so many, that the Gods have lost their splendor. The Dark One does not call anymore, we feed it anyway. Why would the void look back at us, who follow it blindly?
Why turn to the Light when Darkness itself has died twice? It's not by Gaia’s hand that Norlund was saved, and why would the Realms bend the knee to their children, having fathered 3 pantheons?
Intervention is no longer Divine, and we do not worship, we negotiate, as if they are but mercenaries. Some of us wait for a god to impress them to follow them, not wishing to believe in someone on paper when the god will, inevitably, emerge to make their own case… as if the God is applying for a job.
So when Garm asks “Why have the Gods”, what CAN the Realms do but echo that question? When we wonder “What can Aurora do for us” you will always be disappointed by that answer.
I offer a second theory: I believe the Gods are being looked at the wrong way. We treat them too much as we do humans.
We see their power and know they are, or at least claim to be, good, and question why they are not perpetually involved in world affairs the way our kings and lords are. Sure, the Dark One need not meddle in banditry and other evils… but with Rainecourt threatening all divinity, with the Erl King wishing to render this world a wasteland… Their lack of assistance seems striking, even when they do help.
Shandar is willing to walk straight to Garimaddon and fight his dark magics until the false king’s all too mortal heart gives out, yet Gaia will not stay with us at nightfall to face the knight who most wishes to defile all she cares for?
By this paradigm the Gods owe the Realms much, but this only works in the concept of humans with the powers of Gods, we do not think much of the duties of the gods that we do not see of them, yet define their worship.
We ask Aurora for spell resets, or for her Tears or her swords. In short we ask her for miracles.
We do not ask her for matters of the Light, of Purity and Hope, except in the context “Boy I hope we get a spell reset”. We do not ask for guidance from the gods, merely Guidance. We choose to flavor our demands of resources in the colors of the gods but rarely do we go further, thanking the gods for the blessings of their domains that are NOT tied to miracles.
When one turns to the Gods as sources of power, you will inevitably be disappointed, in the same way that Lionheart is a subpar shovel. It has all the qualities necessary, it is strong, it will not break, it is not what it is however.
The gods are not masters over their domains, they ARE their domains. A wizard may call forth water with ease and move on his day with no consequence. The Storm can not rain without diminishing its clouds, bleeding upon the earth. The gods are the same.
The Dark One is not simply every 200 taps to the back of the head and a praise to its name. It is ENTROPY, it is every roll of the dice, every wave breaking the rocks to sand, every sound you hear when you are alone. It is outside us, and while our actions may feed it, or even oppose it… its work remains. The Dark One always guides the sword that slices the soul, whether or not we ask it for divine aid or otherwise pray.
The other divinities are the same. They are constant presences who serve to color the worlds in ways directly beneficial and sometimes harmful, but always in ways outside their purpose to their clerics. The sun will rise whether or not Aurora’s faithful remember to crow at it, because Aurora believes in the Realms more than we believe in her.
Which is all very sappy… but there’s a point.
We treat faith as a tool, as the Fourth Path of magic, something we reserve to our rituals, or plots. We do not speak of the gods until we need to save them or kill them. But this is what builds our ire towards them an ire they do not deserve, as we await them to be “Worthy of us”. We define the gods only by their miracles and their priests… but they are beyond that. You do not need the admiration of Aeston for Justari to deliver you from your enemies, Arius does not need you to utter the Cowards Confession each time you steel your nerves… These mundane blessings are where the gods’ songs can be heard, not in the rare miracle. Indeed these miracles are often the gods at their LOWEST. When Aurora blessed the Realms with her tears, it's not as effortless as simply offering her hand to the people. Her child was murdered, and she felt despair, failing her one true purpose, her tears are the concentrated form of her power as they are nothing less than the broken pieces of a shattered soul.
I would not wish that on my worst enemy. But because this is her greatest miracle, others have. Simple consequence of the pragmatic mindset. If we view the gods as how they can help the Realms, and their miracles are martyrical… then inevitably, the Realms will define them BY their sacrifice, and hope to maximize the gods assistance to the realms by imitating it. Inevitably, the Gods become Meat.
When a god performs a miracle, they must turn away from their duties, they must forsake hope, or death, or war, to assist you and hope that the investment is worthwhile. Many times it is, when Vesta assisted against Rexan she sacrificed her powers to bring a world that was less poisonous… BUT this does not mean this trade off is viable EVERY TIME.
We ask why, if the gods do not always answer our prayers why do we need them, but if the gods are personally answering every prayer of yours why do they need YOU?
The Gods do not need our direct prayers to do their work. You can do the same.
You do not need dog ears to appreciate the full moon, the lit paths are a gift enough. You do not need the blessing of Laika to hope for a better future
If one were to treat the Gods for who they are, not for their clerics and their miracles, then one would see the gods for the Value they have, to the Realms, and even, maybe, to you yourself.
In this series I seek to do just that, we will look at every god not for who follows them, not for the prayers they answer, but for who they are. We will see past the churches and magics to look the gods in the eye.
Along the way I shall provide maxims to assist one in attuning thyself to faith.
We will start with my oldest rival, one of the first gods of the realms, Gaia herself.
Maxim 1: Neither a single plant, nor a forest, makes a garden. Do not look to a god for every answer, nor do you the vastness of gods steer you away from faith itself. Cultivate a Garden of worship, defining your values and fears by the faces of those behind them.