Night Shift

You are likely never to hear their musings, but I assure you those that regularly work in the dead of night rival the greatest thinkers you could name

— Jasper Cameron, Leader of The Bronze Ravens

  "Look," Zuk said, taking a pause to look out into the darkness beyond the wall and sending a gout of flame toward an encroaching band of moss, "I'm not sayin' that I have it all figured out, but you have ta admit it a might bit suspicious that someone can read the stars, claiming that their positions govern fate, and believe in gods, who are sentient beings on a higher plane of existence who meddle in the affairs of us mortals, but then claim that the stars themselves are not in some way sentient. I mean, they move, they govern our fate, and they exist on a different plane. Seems like a being on a higher plane to me. "   "I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you," Harra said, shaking her head. "Its just that folks have visited the planes of the gods, or at least interacted with their messengers but have you ever heard of someone visiting the stars and comin back to talk about it. I thought not!" This last Harra emphasized by tossing a glowing blue bead out to where Zuk had burned away the moss. The bead seemed to take slightly longer than it should have to travel its arc, then exploded in a flash as she continued, "All I'm saying is that things attributed to the stars by you surface dwellers could be a logical extension of the need for people to anthropomorphize anything and everything that they can while telling stories. I mean there is absolutely no way that constellations, or the myths associated with them, are consistent across the world, whereas the teachings and deeds of the gods are codified such that whether a dwarf is from the Dragon's Spine or the Outh Mountains we still know the history of our gods."   "Just because no one has been there doesn't mean there isn't an Astral Plane. It could just be that no one has returned because we havent found the right mix of protective magics yet to survive. I'm sure that your people have just as many documented accidents as ours about the early visits to the elemental planes. And despite the visits to the divine planes, none of them are inhabited by anything resembling astral summons. and since it IS summoning magic, the creature must be summoned from somewhere else." Zuk finished, with a smug look before a blur of motion on the ground caught his eye. "Shit, we got a runner."   -Conversation allegedly remembered by the stones of the Fort of Burning Elk in The Emerald Hills  

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"Have you ever considered the conundrum of free will and omniscience. I mean really considered it. There are folks out there that claim that the gods are all knowing, yet at the same time, there are well document conversations and events where those same gods are caught by surprise. I would say that while they may have expansive knowledge of things within their domain, the very fact that some gods have domains that we name secrets and lies would imply that there are ways to conceal things from the gods. If the gods can do it, then that would imply that we can do it as well. It is decently documented that in the days following the fall of The Storm Giant Empire divine magics from the purification of food and water to the healing of relatively simple wounds took a god sending a messenger to act directly. Yet in the centuries since we are now able to channel these magics ourselves, and even greater ones. Just last week the Bishop cast a resurrection spell to bring back Katarina's child, as well as others lost in the earthquake."   "Furthermore, if we have free will, which most scriptures of the gods do agree on, then there is no way that the gods could know every decision that we make. For if they did, surely there would be no such thing as a heretic, at least not for long, as their existence would be communicated rather quickly to paladins and inquisitions. There would never be any corruption in the priesthood, unless it was of a less scrupulous god, for the god would instantly know of it. Think of it instead as similar to observing ants on the ground. you can focus on what the ants in one are are doing, and you could make a guess as to what other ants are doing elsewhere. You could even locally effect what is happening, such as by putting down some bread crust or blocking their path, but there are other ants of which you have no knowledge. In the same way, the gods are bound by time and perception, being able to only focus on certain areas or people, to the exclusion of others..."   "It was a rhetorical question Jimmothy, have you never heard of small talk?"

— Conversation recorded by Scribe Koi prior to being diagnosed with dreamwalking.

 

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  "So then it starts telling me about how it is prejudicial to assume that just because it looks demonic and has a bit of a grey pallor it must be up to something evil. Told me how hurtful it was to always have everyone assume it was up to no good."   "Course I pointed out that we has well documented events caused by the Grey Demon over the years. The fire of 3880, the famine of 3923. And they had the gall to ask how I knew that they was the same one. Course then I got to thinkin, cause while they had horns and was definitely grey, their eyes wasn't the glowin red like in the stories. Plus the didn't have no tail, or wings see.   "So I says that they may not be the Grey Demon, but it was a might suspicious that they was pokin' round the castle at night. Asked their business, and wouldn't you know it, turns out it was a blasted Fae. They had glued me boots to the ground just for laughs. Couldnt get'em unstuck for a month. Rotten tricksters, Why the gods made them I aint ever figured out. I mean sure, you could argue that they keep us humble, but I'm a night guard at the sea gate. Bit hard to be all puffed up an important when your freezing your ass off in sea spray while everyone else is asleep. all cause I got a bit o' elf blood from me grandpa, so I can see in the dark. | Palace Guard at Narrow Cliffs