nexus_sages | (no subject)

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A young man sits on one of the many couches in the Forum, and sighs at a notebook in his hands. The page is full of scribbled-out text, pages and pages of it. The pages are dog-eared and a bit ragged, indicating he's been using this notebook for a while.

"How can it be this hard to think of a good name for a secret identity?"

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"Intriguing. Most professions are learned through direct apprenticeship, where I am from. Magic is optionally different, with the Arcane College, but even there early students are considered apprentices, albeit to the guild as a whole."

"It's not unheard of in my part of Earth," Jon says with a nod. "In most cases there are way more students than there are teachers, so a good quality apprenticeship is really hard to come by. A master with many students can't give them all his full attention, and so on."

"Ah, now that is certainly true," he agrees. "I must give such a model consideration, going forward."

"You plan to become a magic teacher? Or that's just what you have to do when you master the skill?"

"Circumstance has made me the Archmage of the Mages' Guild rather sooner than I expected--which is to say, ever," he admits. Scaly white fingers brush carefully over the fabric of his clothes. "My robe of office."

"Oh, well, congratulations then. Sounds like it's a big responsibility." Jon doesn't know what an Archmage is, but it sounds important, and he can infer from context that it's some kind of leadership position.

"Indeed. A year ago, I was an impoverished student from Black Marsh, applying to enter the Arcane College. Today, my whim directs the course of study. It is a mantle I must wear carefully."

"You went from zero to hero in a year, huh? That's some pretty fast promotions."

"There were... unanticipated vacancies," he admits. "A cabal of necromancers sought to overthrow the Guild. I was involved in the efforts to discern and thwart their goals, but many lives were lost nonetheless, including the Archmage. He left instructions that I should succeed him to the position."

"You must've really impressed him either way."

"So I surmise. With him gone, I must infer what he saw to the best of my ability, and strive to meet those expectations. And there is still the problem with the Oblivion Gates."

Jon raises his eyebrows. "What's an Oblivion Gate?"

"The first step in an invasion," he answers. "They are doorways of fire and stone which appear, and through which daedra may emerge to conquer in the name of their master. The gates may only be closed from our side by passing through to an interstitial realm, where stands a fortified keep. Within the keep lies the sigil stone maintaining the gate's existence, and seizing it allows the gate's closure. The interstitial realm collapses, and Nirn-native matter in proximity to the stone appears to fall back through the gate to the Nirn side."

Not all of that makes sense, but he thinks he's got the gist of it. "These... daedra things... they're trying to take over?"

"They are. My working theory at this point is that they intend to sufficiently anchor their realm of Oblivion to Nirn, and then use those anchor points to drag the world into that realm, and their master's grasp."

"Yeah, that definitely sounds bad. And you get to lead the defense against it? Lucky you."

"I seemed, initially, to stumble into the situation entirely by accident," he confesses, "but from what I have seen, it may well be the work of divine providence. Certainly, I have seen evidence enough of godly works in recent days."

Jon doesn't necessarily know if there's any god where he comes from, but he's seen enough from other universes to know that deities are very real in some places. "What's your god like?" he asks, curious.

"That... is a simple question with a complex answer." He considers for a moment, then prefaces any further response with, "how much do you wish to know?"

Apparently it's a super complicated explanation he's stumbled into. "Just the basics would be fine, if that works. Call it academic curiosity."

"The basics, yes." He draws in a breath, ordering his thoughts. "As a Saxhleel, I revere the Hist, the wise trees of the swamp with whom we live in communion. The broader empire, being composed mostly of men and mer, have no tie to the Hist, and instead revere the pantheon of the Aedra--the eight Divines who created the world, and a ninth, a mortal man who ascended to join them. Also worthy of consideration in this discussion, and subjects of worship in their own right, are the lords of the daedra, the assembled spirits of Oblivion who did not participate in the creation of the world. Their number is somewhat greater."

"So there are a lot of different belief systems. That's similar to where I come from, too."

"Oh? Who are the gods of your homeland?"

"Depends on who you ask. Most people in the country I live in believe there's only one god who created everything. There are lots of religions though. Some worship spirits of nature, or believe there are all kinds of gods who are in charge of different things. There are also a few religions where they don't believe in any gods, just ancestors. It's pretty diverse."

"It sounds so. I imagine substantial friction between the adherents of the single god and the adherents of the many."