>>FROM:@AEGONNER

[northerndragon]

Tell me about your gods.

If you don't have that kind of faith, then tell me what else you believe in. There must be something.

And if not that, tell me what you think of when you know a battle is coming.

Comments

[northerndragon]

They do. We call them the Old Gods and the New, but the New are also called the Faith of the Seven by those who keep to it.

The goddesses in the Faith of the Seven are the Mother, the Maiden, and the Crone. There are gods, too: the Father, the Smith, the Warrior... and then there's the Stranger.

No one prays to the Stranger much, especially not on the eve of battle.

[servant]

Why, what's so bad about the Stranger?

[northerndragon]

The Stranger represents death. A god who guides souls to be judged.

Who's Uther? What did he replace your old gods with?

[servant]

Oh. Yeah, I can see why people would just as soon not meet him.

Uther's the king. He hates the old religion. He didn't replace it with anything, just himself.

[northerndragon]

I don't think a king can replace his people's gods. I don't think he should try. It comes too close to tyranny, and makes outlaws out of ordinary people.

He should be trying to make things better than he found them, and it doesn't sound like that's the way to do it. Are the punishments harsh, if anyone is caught practicing the old religion?

[servant]

It's punishable by death.

It's as you've said. Some people use magic for evil, but not all. But Uther will never see it that way, and good people have died.

[northerndragon]

He's a fool to make enemies of his people that way.

Your old religion was magic? Was anyone hurt by it -- did the gods demand sacrifices?