I was still young when Lord Arion and Lady Chakrasul were first, within
the Midnight Age, seen on the shores of Sapience. But even though They
had not been seen in living memory, the extant histories and legends
were woven through with references to Them, so pervasive that They even
still were honored with names of months within our calendar. There was
no doubt that these were Divine, children of Varian, gone from Sapience
to other places but now returned. In fact, all the Divine were well
established in history, even those long absent as well as those we had
not yet seen.

When first the realm heard rumor of Galleus, nothing was more striking
to me than the surprise that another God could exist that had left no
trace whatsoever, at least that a non-scholar like me had ever heard of,
in history or legend, when other Gods were so thoroughly interwoven into
that history even when we had not seen Them in living memory. But as I
am not a scholar, I dismissed this puzzlement, assuming that a scholar
could readily answer the question.

My doubts were further exacerbated, however, when it became plain that
the awakening of this lost god was the result of artifice and
machinations brought on by chaos lords and angelic trinities, beings
with their own agendas and not unwilling to resort to devious means to
achieve their ends, particularly in the case of the chaos lords. But how
could even the chaos lords and angelic trinities play at divinity? Again
I set my questions aside.

Many in the realm were outraged when Galleus publicly announced his
domain and in doing so, claimed for himself things that were already
long known to be part of the realm of other Gods, Gods whose names were
woven into the history of the realm. He claimed he taught us how to
hunt, a claim which Lord Haern the Hunter could dispute; he called the
weather his realm, something which the Lady of Storms might want to
speak of. He claimed that his hand had been felt through the earliest of
our history and had shaped the very world we live in -- while not
offering any explanation for why he, alone, had been forgotten entirely
by history, by legend, by the very fabric of the realm which he
ostensibly had such a hand in weaving.

These doubts have been reawakened by a series of recent events. No
mortal can claim to know what it is to be a Divine, of course, but there
are certainly traits one does not expect to see in the Divine, such as
petty petulance and a desperate need to prove their own divinity out of
apparent insecurity. Where is the "civilization" in accepting and
allying one who regularly murders strangers for using the highway, yet
punishing with instant death the crime of a prank? Where is the "order"
in tricking, cursing, and ordering the killing of people for no more
than disapproving of your misuses of power? Are these the actions of a
God? Clearly they are the actions of one with great power, but where is
the purpose, where is the responsibility, where is the divinity of
presence that invites respect beyond any that can be given to mortals?

Perhaps there are answers to these questions, answers that scholars and
wiser people than I will find. Perhaps Galleus is indeed divine after
all. All I offer is a question, but perhaps the question needs to be
asked. I leave it to others to seek the answer, as other places call to
me now. Farewell, friends and enemies alike. May you find joy,
somewhere. If you do, revel in it while it lasts; that is the only
wisdom I can offer.

- Theragil Starion


Penned by my hand on the 21st of Lanosian, in the year 147 MA.