Not being one to seek out controversy I was eager to appease my family
when Sayber was cursed by Niuri. However, even one so craven as I must
have some steel within him and it was not long before some assumptions
made by the Lady Niuri began to rankle. Began not to fit. Began to ring
false.

Let me make one thing clear, I hold the gods in high esteem. There is
little they can do to lessen my regard for them. No act, no vagary, no
whim of theirs can do the slightest to diminish them in my regard. After
all, are these gods not placed there by Varian himself to guide us,
teach us, punish us?

I respect the right of the gods to do as they will. These are, after
all, divine beings whose ability to act and whose vision exceed by far
that of us mere mortals. But Varian Himself has claimed that within each
of us resides the potential to achieve godhood. This both inspires and
depresses me. For while it holds a great goal before us, it implies that
each god once walked as one of us, and once was rife with every failing
that makes us so vile. One assumes that with godhood comes an ability to
leave behind such mortal failings as anger, blind loathing and the need
to crush that which one does not comprehend. It would sadden me if these
beings before whom we bow, to whom we devote our waking hours, should be
no less fallible than us.

Yet that seems to be the case in this instance. The harmless buffoonery
of my nephew, which in its time garnered the praise of many a deity, has
fallen out of favour with the Garden. I was not aware than this august
gathering was so fickle, so eager to yield to the whims of fashion in
such a way that they could look upon a thing and declare it delightfully
whimsical on one day and blasphemous on the next. But who am I to know
the mind of a god?

Except that I hope the mind of a god is better than the poor lump of
protoplasm that sparks within my skull. In fact, I know this to be true.
And, knowing this, when a deity descends to the level of us poor mortals
and engages in argument with us in our forum I never know what to do.
Should I bow and retreat? Or should I pay this deity the respect due a
worthy partner in any debate and point out that within an argument
presented there might be a few wrong notes, so to speak?

I would like to point out to the Lady Niuri that I know that She is
right. This goes without saying. But according to the dictates of mortal
reason, some points remain worthy of consideration. When Lady Niuri says
for you to scribe your perceived camaraderie with Us is transgression
worthy of Our curses She is either referring to the title recently
stripped from Sayber wherein he styled himself Varians Quill, or
referring to the way that every free Aetolian can speak of the gods
without fear, except for the occasional smiting that we all take as the
price we pay to live here. Let us assume it is the former, for if it is
the latter then our world is at an end.

So, it is worthy of curse for Sayber to call himself the Quill of
Varian? He may be held in bad odour now, but the time was that he was
praised highly by gods of this realm, one of them confirming that truly
he was the very Quill he claimed to be. But he is out of fashion now and
therefore an easy target. Let us plead him guilty on this charge so as
to save time.

The phrase You seem to have convinced yourself that insulting the Divine
and Their
realms is a fitting use of your quill. is a classic case of begging the
question and clearly placed there to amuse us and lighten the tone in
preparation for the rest of this missive.

I cannot understand the meaning of the phrase You stretch your faculties
beyond their limit when you attempt to derive consequences of gender for
Mortals, let alone apply them to the Gods and therefore I must say that,
eluding my intellect as it does and unworthy advocate that I am, this
assertion of the Lady Niuri is right. In some way. About something.
Moving on.

There might be some cause for debate concerning the phrase you blaspheme
by implying that you are the same as the Divine save for a bit of might
and ability. I myself believe that the only difference between me and
the divine is might and ability. What other differences could there be?
Could someone enlighten me regarding this? Where is it written that this
is not so? Perhaps it is written somewhere in the secret writings of the
Order of Niuri that She is more than merely mightier and more able than
us mere mortals. Certainly Varian seems not to think so, or He would not
dangle the lure of potential godhood before us.

And if it is written that there is some divine substance that makes the
gods inexplicably better than us, some ineffable element that we can
never comprehend or touch but compels our doglike and slavish obedience,
it is still an inescapable fact that Sayber is bound to blaspheme, as
are all of us who do not worship Niuri and her specific dictates. We are
all either worshippers of Niuru or justly accused blasphemers. I suppose
we shall all be smitten by and by.

But the fact remains that a butterfly has been broken upon a wheel. A
huge expenditure of power that could well have better served us in
curbing the recent horrors that have afflicted us has been expended on a
poor fool. But this is ever the way amongst us mortals. Craven figures
of authority often expend disproportionate amounts of venom on writers
and poets, no matter how untalented., rather than take on a real foe.
Countless denizens of these realms can slaughter, cheat and bully their
way through life and not occasion more than a tilt of a eyebrow from
those in authority. But one flawed but original voice suddenly wakes up
the sleeping rulers who are supposed to protect us in times of trial and
suddenly these somnambulant beings lumber into action and smite a poor
scribbler. Singling him from the midst of a horde of murderers, cheats
and embezzlers for special treatment. Shame on those who would do such a
thing. Shame on those who would censor us in such fashion. And this
shame should be greater in such beings who are supposed to be great, but
only flex their muscles against the weak, sitting smugly back while the
truly vile march unimpeded. Such leaders and politicians are truly a
mystery to me. Perhaps it is this fallibility that Varian intends us to
shed on our path towards ascension, even though only one of us in a
million can make such a journey.

But the question remains. Do I want to live under censorship, or must I
speak out to defend the drivel that my nephew is given to spouting when
sufficiently taken by his own perverted muse. My, what a test of
character these gods have posed. Almost makes one worship them. But
whether I fail this test or not, I beseech the gods to have pity on the
poor simpleton who is my nephew, Sayber. There is no malice in this
childs heart, just a boundless joy in this world that, poorly understood
by him though it may be, delights him as no other thing ever has.

Penned by my hand on the 12th of Variach, in the year 133 MA.