text - Xuanwu

[cloakedinruins]

Here's a thought: The Heavens and gods have worked in a certain way for beyond memory. Gods die and then they come back as younger versions of themselves, souls are gathered as shinki to aid them, and the ayakashi are set against them. There is a balanced rhythm to this place and how it all worked.

And then it didn't. Something happened, the balance was broken, the gods died and nothing came back. So what happened? A new way to fill in the missing pieces appeared. Us.

Now, I'm just theorizing out loud that this system is a mutation caused when a body, or The Heavens as it turns out, feels it's under attack and trying to keep itself alive and functioning. In order to do that, it has pushed to fill in the spots that it has lost too fast by doing the unthinkable - by grabbing people like us.

Does that mean there's an underlying sickness? A rot in the system that the pull of faith or belief is trying to heal through us? Or is this just an experiment to see if we are able to shore up the problems inside a collapsing system?

Any other theories, or am I just thinking too much on this?

Comments

[cloakedinruins]

Yes, that could also be a different approach. In fact, that would be a better scenario than what I suggested, though it doesn't quite touch upon the way we factor into the system. Then again I don't have enough data on that portion yet.

[futhark]

Perhaps those gods died and were simply gone for too long? And when people remembered thow to worship them again, the world had to fill a place somehow.

[ Did New Age movement and internet bring gods again? Who knows ]

Those whose names got forgotten are sure to stay dead, though.

[cloakedinruins]

Human memory only last as long as the material they manage to save... I do remember that. I think it is similar to most races. My people lost most of their language and history so it wouldn't be impossible for the same to happen to humanity.

So a surge in new-found popularity precedes the appearance of new gods?

[futhark]

That's always a damn shame when it happens. But it does, and it will. Books can be burned entirely out of existence. Oral traditions, lost without a chance of recovery. When no one writes the lore down and storytellers die out, who is there to call out the name no one remembers?

Old gods die out, but the new ones can be made. Maybe the change of how incarnations are handled, reflects the change what people seek in them?

[cloakedinruins]

It had been one of my thoughts to preserve what I remember from when I was a child, but I had been too busy. Sometimes I wonder if that was by choice among those in the Palace, since my memories never painted them in a good light.

Maybe. It would be something that the old gods would not like in any case. They do not seem the types that like losing their power.

[futhark]

Most of those in power do everything to stay in power. Losing a throne often has an unfortunate side-effect of shortening the lifespan.

So you erased those memories, or are they still buried somewhere? It's not that easy to forget- sometimes it's just hard to remember. If you wanted to preserve that, that's it.

[ Sometimes it is better to not remember ]

[cloakedinruins]

I never really cared to stay in power, only that people are treated fairly.

[ Guess who is admitting that he is one of those beings in power back home. Not that he found it that important or anything. ]

Some memories are faded with time, some are easier to recall given time for meditation. I also have found that this temple I was given has a record of what I know in the library. It constantly updates so I suppose if I were to read what it had at the beginning, it may have some memories recorded there.

[futhark]

The scroll sounds like an incredible artifact. Self-writing journal. Guess it would be kind of rude to ask why your memory is so tricky, so I'll ask something else.

Did you succeed in that? In having people treated fairly.

[cloakedinruins]

I sometimes feel that I have seen something similar once. There is a lot of items in this building that echo ones that I recall from my childhood.

I tried, but I suppose it failed in the end.

[futhark]

Ideal versus reality.

It's unfortunate but there is going to be always injustice in this world.

[ It's a bit nihilistic view. Caster would argue it's a "realistic" view. But there is still a positive thing that he can say. ]

Fighting against it, saving as much as you can, that's a noble struggle.