Chapter 226

Chapter 226<~> Chapter 226

I sat down in the private room next to Morrigan who was already nose deep into a book. It looked like the others hadn't returned yet and were still browsing the shelves. Morrigan had fewer books than I thought she would but she was eager to get to reading now that she has some time to dedicate toward it.



"What do you got there?" I asked her.



She looked up from her book and smiled. "A book on advanced magic theory. It's interesting but... maybe not all that practical. How about you?"



I showed her the book I had found on the gods. It was a bit shorter than most of the other ones in the room but it was more of a brief that gave a small amount on most of the gods rather than anything in depth. It seemed to be aimed at pointing others in the right direction for additional research rather than providing much on its own. It was exactly the kind of thing I was looking for though.



She nodded. "Smart, with everything going on you should make sure to learn everything you can about them."



"That was the idea."



She smiled. "I'll leave you to it then." Without waiting for another response she put her nose right back in the book she was reading, which made me chuckle a bit.



It was interesting to see the goddesses of fate and luck to be at odds with each other, but it made sense. If Moira is considered an enemy of Fortuna, and Fortuna is associated with the Tamin church, then perhaps the Goddess of Fate and Future would be worth approaching. It seems unlikely that she would be working with Fortuna if they are at odds with each other.



Velenthel, Goddess of Life and Reincarnation. This god is most often worshiped by healers, various tribes of beastfolk, adventurers, and commoners. Velenthel is usually depicted as a tall motherly woman of all races. Unlike most gods that prefer one or a few specific forms, Velenthel is most likely to appear as the same race as the one she chose to appear before. Her personality has been described as wise and motherly as her physical representations would suggest, though she rarely appears before people herself. Velenthel easily has the most followers of any god mostly due to her popularity among the common folk. Velenthel is one of the most reliable ways to receive access to healing magic as a commoner and even many nobles choose to receive healing from Velenthel priests and priestesses due to their reputation for phenomenal skill with healing magic and access to rare fertility and virility treatments. As a result, she is one of the most positively viewed goddesses.



This was the goddess Sorsette mentioned as having wiped my memory during reincarnation. I'm not sure what to make of this goddess. From the description, she seems like she would be unlikely to work with the Tamin church due to her connection with commoners and some tribes of beastfolk. Sorsette wasn't able to give me a guarantee that she wasn't working with them but it seemed as if she hadn't really suspected Velenthel to be among them either. Other than mentioning that some tribes of beastfolk follow her there wasn't any information on how she viewed beastfolk. I shrugged and carried on.



Bollide, God of Pathfinding and Exploration. This god is most often worshiped by explorers, pathfinders, adventurers, hunters, and some beastfolk tribes outside of the Zarcuda region. Bollide is nearly always depicted as a tall tigerkin beastfolk that wears darkly colored leathers and hides, armed with a longbow. He rarely speaks to his followers directly, choosing instead to appear in moments of great peril for his followers. There are countless stories both real and fictional of Bollide appearing just in time to save someone from certain death while exploring somewhere new. It's generally believed by his followers that he does not appear for someone more than once on a single expedition and he does not appear for people who unnecessarily put themselves into danger or explore unprepared. Despite taking the form of a beastfolk himself, the tribes of Zarcuda do not agree with his zeal for exploration and trailblazing since most of the cultures within the Zarcuda region are more focused on tradition and community. Bollide represents the lone wolves and the black sheep of the beastfolk, empowering them to find their own path and search out new places to settle and explore. Bollide has temples in most major cities outside of Zarcuda and the Northern Greens though for obvious reasons the presence of his temples tends to be focused on frontier towns. He is not the most heavily worshiped god but his worshipers, including his priests and priestesses, tend to be individually stronger on average than most people and especially more than other priests, priestesses, and paladins of other gods.



This entry was interesting. Could Bollide be part of the Tamin church as a form of revenge for his followers' treatment by the tribes of Zarcuda? Though, the Tamin church tends not to discriminate between beastfolk, treating them equally as poorly, and it would be rather odd for a god that takes the form of a beastfolk themselves to secretly be a part of the gods that are cooperating for the Tamin church...



Sorsette, Goddess of Knowledge and Innovation. This god is most often worshiped by scholars, mages of all types, crafters, adventurers, avid readers, and world travelers. The likelihood that you are reading this very book in one of Sorsette's many libraries across the world is quite likely. Sorsette is usually depicted as a silver-haired Elven woman wearing purple colored robes or other dark colors. Of all of the gods, Sorsette is the most likely to appear directly before a mortal and the only reason for her differences in depiction is because of her own occasional inconsistent appearance among those she appears before. She is most likely to appear before mortals that she deems have made great contributions toward new research or the development of new magic, however, she is also known to appear before others as her whims dictate. She is most likely to appear to people within one of her libraries and it is also speculated that she likes to pose as a member of the library staff, you may have already spoken to Sorsette without having even known it! Sorsette is one of the most well-known gods across the world and has a library in most large cities. After the War of the Gods, she agreed to no longer hold any paladins and even her priests and priestesses are barred from channeling her divine power. Despite this, Sorsette has large numbers of followers spread out across the world constantly trying to develop new magic, learn more about the natural world, create new things, and preserve knowledge anywhere it can be found. Sorsette is very protective of world travelers and is the most likely god to shelter them when their ideas create conflict within the world. Visiting one of her libraries is usually free, though in some countries she is forced to charge for access or membership to operate within local laws. Membership to one of her libraries can be more difficult to gain but is usually within reach of most people if they are diligent enough in their studies, higher tiers of membership are only available to people who discover things or are able to contribute to the preservation of knowledge in some way. Sorsette is considered one of the wealthiest gods but that wealth is usually represented through her assets and land rather than her holdings in coin like Fortuna.



I smiled. It looks like this writer had a lot to say about Sorsette, I already knew most of this and I've met her myself. There was more but it's probably better to skip the rest of her section and continue on to the other gods I'm not familiar with.