To: All Summoned

[shadowthief]

Hello. My name is Inej, and I currently reside in Solvunn. I have been attempting to research information on the Gods and religious practices here. I have been told some wive's tales by the locals about not going out at night if you do not know the way, and the way a single person's fault can affect the lives of many if the Gods take offense.

My research in the library has not given me much more in way of specifics, just vague tales of them, theories of how they might have looked, but one thing does keep coming up: The Singularity came before them. I do not know if that means that the ones the locals see as Gods here were once people like us, pulled into this place... or if it means that the Singularity somehow created them. All the books hold the same theory: Prayer and dedication will wake them from their sleep.

I found something hidden in one of the volumes I was looking at today:

Ever searching
Ever longing
Lost and greedy
Wails of mourning
What has been found is never enough
Her reach is vast and cutting.

The parchment was ripped and smudged, nothing else could be made out on it. I am uncertain if it means anything at all, but I see no reason not to share it, just in case it might match something someone else has found.

If you have made it this far in this message, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

Comments

[shadowthief]

I am not sure I would make such a bold statement, the stories are mostly very vague. And I would not consider the people here in any way cruel. They have been very helpful to me since I arrived.

[fourarmedandangerous]

They are clear enough for my purposes.

[Just words on a parchment and yet the tone of those words, the creatures they describe, of a voiceless voice within the trees, eyes without a face, greedy, destructive, ever-reaching...these words play on deep, primal fears. And what inspires fear and distrust is good for Goro.]

Do you consider the entities the words written here describe to sound benevolent? I do not. And I think many will agree with me.

Of course they have been helpful. You are useful to the people of Solvunn. Naturally, they will try to ingratiate themselves to you. Perhaps their people truly are as affably dull and non-threatening as you believe. Some of them, at least. Not all. And those are the ones who will be watching you now.

[shadowthief]

I don't consider myself qualified to make judgments on another world's Gods and Saints. We don't have the context of these scraps of stories. It means nothing until we do.

You say that as though the other factions and cities are not doing the same. There are betrayers no matter where you go, only a fool trusts blindly.

[Inej may have had a decent experience with the people in Solvunn thus far, but she has never once truly let her guard down, either. She spent too long in Ketterdam to let that happen.]

[fourarmedandangerous]

No. It means what we wish it to mean.

Of course they are. Why else would they be summoning us if not to use us? But that does not mean they cannot be used as well. A fool trusts blindly, but those with wisdom seize upon opportunities to their advantage.

[shadowthief]

On that, we will simply have to disagree.

[There's more, she thinks. They just don't have the right pieces lined up together yet.]

I'm not personally in the business of using people. Hm. I know the type.

[fourarmedandangerous]

Use, or be used. It is the province of those without ambition who are consigned to the latter.

And that is the difference between you and I.

[shadowthief]

That sort of thinking leaves no room for nuance, and I do not believe anything is that simply black and white.

A difference I'm quite all right with keeping.