[Immortals Tongue] The Shrine of Fei

[Tio Silver]

Immortal's Tongue
2nd Saun, 717

The Scalvoris Campus of the Viden Academy offered a wide range of courses to any who wished to pursue some form of knowledge, a range that kept on increasing trial-by-trial as new institutes opened. Earning some form of qualification from the academy usually required around two or three seasons worth of dedicated study and research, and so it was around the start of each new season that the professors advertised their courses around Scalvoris Town in the hopes of attracting new students. From simple posters to open displays of technology or magic the campus was abound with all manner of flashy presentations designed to show of the best of each institute, however not all of the courses gave their demonstrations at the campus itself.

With an island like the Immortal’s Tongue a boat ride away it was really no surprise that the God History course would take advantage of it. Instead of a show, professor Tag Fridson had arranged for an open trip to one of the shrines there so that prospective students could do more than just listen to some lecture about the early days of humanity but see the ancient murals that told those stories for themselves.

Tio was among the group that’d turned up to come on the trip, though you wouldn’t have known it to look at him. He was under the guise of his Eidisi form, Taelis, and wearing a scholarly looking sea-green robe and glasses that actually succeeded in making him of all people look something like an intellectual. He sat near the back of the boat, watching as the shoreline of the island grew closer and closer and listening to the professor at the front give a speech to the assembled group.

“Our world is one shaped and carved by the actions of great heroes, wise kings and beings of power beyond mortal comprehension. Chief among these are the Immortals; beings that have been around since long before man first walked the earth, and have entwined their vast powers with our destinies for so long that we worship them as our deities. By looking back into their history and learning the stories of how they have shaped Idalos into the form we know it as today we can come closer to understanding the very nature of the world we live in, and gain the wisdom with which to face the challenges that await us in the future.”

“So with so many tales and legends to study where should we, as historians, start? I believe that there is only one suitable place; the beginning. Which is why today I am going to take you to the shrine of a being that existed long before mankind, a being of power that was said to surpass even the Immortals. A being that we know by the name of Fei.”

There was a jolt as the boat landed on the shoreline, and with a grin professor Fridson hopped of the vessel and led the way up the beach. “Well, come along everyone. We’ve a long journey ahead of us, and every moment we spend out here if a moment we could be shrine.”

Off Topic

Please control the professor yourselves if you want to interact with him.

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[Faith Augustin]

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Faith was excited about this trip to Immortals' Tongue. The course in Immortals' History was something which she was doing as an act of worship, dedication and deference to the Immortals she followed and, it was learning. She loved to learn, loved very little more than that in fact, and so the chance to combine those aspects of her life was a delight to her.

So, she was excited, she was pleased to be here and she was really feeling a buzz of anticipation. But equally? She wasn't stupid. So, the short woman with long black hair and very pale skin had a sword strapped to her waist and a bag slung over her back which had an impossible amount in it, all of which was very well organized and packed. A first aid kit was slung across her body to hang at her hips and Faith was ready. It was Saun, so the heat was unbearable for most. She was wearing a strappy white top and a knee length but full pink skirt. Her silver eyes looked around at the others on the boat and she smiled at any who made eye contact, including the Eidisi.

There was no point in being coy about it, Faith was fairly well known amongst the student body. She was, after all, a professor in the Institute of Science, where she taught and studied Medicine. It was also fairly well known that she was in a relationship, about to be married in fact, to a professor of Physics, one professor Augustin. They didn't hide it, there was nothing to hide and, in fact, everything to be proud of.

However, this trial she was here as a student and so she climbed off the boat and as Fridson gave her a grin, Faith returned it and shouldered her bag to make sure that she was able to walk. Padraig had shown her the map of Immortals' Tongue he had and she'd made a copy, so when she knew it was to Fei's shrine that they were going, she had a good idea.

Faith didn't chat on the journey there, not unless spoken to, but she looked around with interest. It was like she was drinking in the sights which in a very real sense she was. Thanks to Vri's blessing, after all, the young woman never forgot anything so the more she saw, the more she remembered. It was not a short trek, so she made sure to take regular drinks of water from her canteen. Not that anyone here knew it, of course, but Faith was pregnant and so she had a very clear responsibility to ensure that she took care of herself and the babe which grew within her.

Yet she couldn't help the wide eyed curiosity with which she drank in every sight. It was amazing and delightful to her and so, the serious human looked around like a child in a candy store.

[Arlo Creede]

Arlo Creede wasn't anything close to a scholar. Formal university learning was for people who lived in cities and rarely ventured out of the confines and safety of their own homes. It was for politicians and accountants and equally dull pastimes. But not for the likes of him. It wasn't that the young man wasn't keen to learn all he could about the world around him. It was only that he figured it was better off learned by observation, doing, and by the seat of his pants. Not by sitting behind a desk in a hall of learning, and growing old, fat and dull in the process.

The young dreamwalker and follower of Cassion had surprised himself then when he'd paid his dues and signed up for a class focused on the Immortals themselves. He knew someone very well who might have been just as surprised, and would have teased him mercilessly about it in the process. In part, it was his devotion to two of the Immortals, or in truth as Arlo saw it, one and a half, that had prompted him to enroll. A chance to learn more about them, that was. And it was the nature of the class that appealed. It seemed that at least this once, there wouldn't be any sitting behind desks or staring at lines on a page.

He'd climbed onto the boat along with the others, and had come prepared. The young man had learned, long before he'd left home, that no matter where he went, some manner of trouble seemed to find him. It would be foolish to assume that this time, it wouldn't. He wore clothing and boots that would protect him from whatever the outdoors might throw at him, but light enough to avoid collapsing from heatstroke. He wore his sword, a knife in his boot and had brought along his pistol crossbow and a knapsack filled with any number of things, including plenty of water.

A look around while the professor talked confirmed that he didn't know anyone aboard except for Faith, who he'd met trials ago, and before then, when he'd wandered into a dream of hers. He nodded a greeting to the others, and grinned and tipped his hat in Faith's direction as they all put their feet on solid ground again and headed off, presumably in the direction of the shrines.

[Tio Silver]

The journey to the shrine was just like the one he'd made to the ruins on his last visit to the island, full of uneven paths than threatened to trip you up if you didn't stay alert, but at least this time the weather was infinitely better. The scorching heatwave that'd announced the arrival of saun this arc was somewhat cooled by the chilly winds that haunted the Immortal's Tongue, and so although the intensity of the sun was difficult to endure for long periods of time the group took shelter regularly in whatever shade they came across.

Tio's problem however wasn't the heat but something else entirely; boredom. Long journeys without something to entertain himself with didn't agree with him, and with nothing to do but put one foot in front of the other over and over again the Yludih soon found himself bored out of his mind. He needed to do something to keep himself occupied, he'd drive himself mad at this rate!

Most of the other people on the trip were in groups already, however among the crowd Tio spotted a man at the back in sturdy travelers gear. Deciding that conversation might make the journey pass quicker he dropped back to the stranger's side and smiled.

"So what made you want to come on this trip? You have an interest in the Immortals? Or were you just hoping to catch a nice tan?" He grinned and offered Arlo his hand. "I'm Taelis by the way. What's your name?"

Eventually the group reached the top of a hill they'd been treking over, and below them the shrine of Fei came into view. Tio paused where he stood to take it in; despite what he'd been expecting the shrine held none of the magnificence befitting a god, it was built almost entirely from plain stone and from a distance didn't seem to possess any decorations or particularly noticeable features. One might almost have mistaken it for ruins, except that it was kept clean and well maintained.

"When we get to the shrine feel free to explore on your own, but be sure to stay in groups. There are dangerous things on this island." Professor Fridson called to them as he led the way down the path to the entrance.

Tio glanced over to Arlo and smirked. "What do you say buddy, want to group up with me? We'll see if we can't collect a few more people too."

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[Faith Augustin]

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Faith grinned back at Arlo, pleased to see someone she knew on the trip. She nodded her head when he tipped his hat in her direction. He'd been chatting with one of their companions and she did not interrupt that, but kept her eyes constantly roaming. The trek to the shrine was not an easy one, it was quite a way away according to the map and then, as they undertook it she realised that the map was not lying.

Still, Faith was healthier than she had ever been and she was fit, more than able to manage this walk. It was the terrain she was cautious of; that and her own tendencies. Given her tendencies, Faith would wander off in a heartbeat, but she had made promises to Padraig and those she would not break. So, she didn't meander around, remaining with the group and drinking in the sights.

As they topped the hill and the shrine of Fei came into view, Faith looked at it with fascination, drinking in each detail. It was beautiful in its simplicity, obviously well cared for and tended to. Did people still worship the Originals, she wondered? If she understood it correctly, they didn't but she had to admit that her knowledge was limited. Still, that was the purpose of this, to learn more and to find out all she could. Faith had met a number of Immortals now, she carried the blessing of three of them, but the earnest young woman was very aware of her own lack of knowledge.

"Professor, may I ask, what do we know about the Original Eight?", Faith asked and the professor perked right up.

"Very little! We are, in fact, not entirely sure if there were seven or eight of these original beings. Accounts differ. The eighth, Delana, is mentioned in a few places but in others only seven are accounted for. Here, on Immortals Tongue, all eight are given shrines, but that is no more proof than anything else. Unlike our Immortals, of course, we can not know, they are vague and mysterious historical figures, not living, breathing deities."

Faith nodded her head, but the professor hadn't finished, not by a long shot. "We know that they died and, we believe that where they died there are markers. Events. Places. Fractures. Where they all are, we are not sure. We believe they brought the Immortals forth, they are the parents of the Immortals, to put it in our terms."

"Well, that makes sense. There are mortalborns, aren't there? Those who are the children of mortals and the Immortals. So, it might be that the Immortals are literally the children of the Originals?" The professor nodded.

"Yes, but it seems very likely that they were more powerful. In the way that a Mortalborn is not an Immortal, even though they have some of their power, conjecture is that the Originals were to the Immortals what the Immortals are to us."

Faith nodded and asked, thoughtfully, "Has anyone asked them?"

The professor chuckled, nervously at the thought. "No, not to my knowledge. Now then, let's explore shall we?"

Faith nodded and smiled around, looking to see what group she could join, then made her way to where Arlo was who she knew and the chap with him. "Hello," she said with a smile. Immortals, she hated meeting people and yet, she was getting better and better at it. "May I join you two," she asked, making sure to look at them both, not just the one she knew, "please?"

[Arlo Creede]

"Maybe somebody should ask them," Arlo called out from the tail end of the group, when the professor guessed that, to his knowledge, no one had yet to ask the Immortals about their own origins. Why not? Maybe, next time he was fortunate enough to come face to face with Cassion, he would. The Immortal hadn't seemed like the sort that would easily take offense. He might even appreciate the gall and the level of curiosity required to wonder aloud. As for making his way on the island, the young man might be less inclined than some others to struggle with the terrain. He'd been a wanderer before he'd even left home, in a sense, and since the time that he had, he'd spent plenty of time roughing it. The forests, the wilds, were as much a home to him as proper structures and cobbled streets were to others.

The shrine to Fei, when they came on it, wasn't as elaborate as Arlo might have thought it would be. Then again, what little he knew of the original already, gotten from a book he'd purchased after enrolling, made the simplicity seem more appropriate than it otherwise might have. He was pondering that when another member of the group fell back and introduced himself. Arlo smiled and thrust out his hand. "Well met. My name's Arlo. Arlo Creede. I guess you could say I have an interest," he explained. "I follow Cassion, and Jesine as well. Fei interests me, though I didn't know much about her before I enrolled in the course." Of course it was a little late to devote much worship to an entity that was, by all reports, dead. But if it wasn't the case? It might have been a nice fit.

"I was thinking too that if there was a shrine to Cassion here, I might pay it a visit. I never have before. I tend to practice in other ways." But why not group up? Arlo was on the cusp of answering when Faith joined them, and he grinned. She was a familiar face after all. "Good to see you again. Didn't expect it would be here. And of course," he said, regarding her joining them. "From what little I've read, Fei appears to be referred to as inquisitive. The scientist," Arlo added as they began to explore on their own.

Then he grinned and shrugged. "I'm no scholar but I like to consider myself as an explorer...which is a science of its own, maybe? I also read that she focused some of that inquisitive energy on Emea. So I figure that so far as originals, immortals and mortalborns like Jesine are concerned, well, I found the connection to be interesting." Particularly, he meant, where Cassion and Jesine were concerned. "You follow any of them yourself?" he asked, wondering if the man was just curious about Immortal's Tongue in general, or if he had a more personal interest like himself. Or Faith, since he knew already that she followed a handful of Immortals.

[Tio Silver]

"Fracture? Professor, what's a fracture?" Tio asked as he overheard the conversation up ahead. He'd heard that word before in passing from his mentor Zavious, but didn't have a clue what it meant. Considering the context he'd heard it in it was bound to be related so some sort of magicky mumbo-jumbo, but clearly the subject had only come up during times he hadn't been paying attention.

"Ha! If I had an answer for that I'd be on far more than a professor's salary." Fridson chuckled. "The truth is that nobody can say for certain what exactly a fracture is. There's a number of theories on the matter, but so little evidence or measurable data on them that it's hard to make any decisive answers. The most commonly accepted theory is that they are... damages I suppose is the best world, in the fabric of the world. Scars in reality that allow ether to bleed out through them. Because of this ether bleed fracture sites are the best place to find wells and other magical oddities, but tend to be very very dangerous."

Tio raised an eyebrow. "And you say these Original Beings left behind fractures when they died?"

Fridson frowned. "It is theorised that they did, but again there is so little evidence for us to go on to say for certain. If fractures really are scars in the world then the deaths of beings as powerful as the gods of the gods should presumably have left fractures too, and big ones at that. There are scraps of information found here and there but they are all so unreliable and often contradict each other that it's impossible to ascertain what's true and what's false. The Viden Academy has sent expeditions to try and find them before, but most have returned back unsuccessful and the rest... well they never came back at all."

Now that was interesting! So these fractures were places where all sorts of magical treasures could be found, and were full to the brim with danger to boot. They sounded like fun! Tio made a note to himself to do some more research on them when he got back.

It was then that the young woman who'd brought up the topic of the fractures with the professor approached them and asked to join the group. Tio offered his hand to her and shot her a wide grin, clearly pleased to have more company. "Absolutely! The more the merrier right? I'm Taelis by the way, Taelis Selvar. So what's your interest in the Immortals?"

At Arlo's question about which Immortals he followed Tio shook his head, unwilling to give away his connection to gods most people tended to dislike. "No, I've never been one for religion. I know about a few of the fun ones, but I never saw the sense in letting someone else decide your moral code for you. That's kind of why I signed up for this course actually, to find out which gods I need to make sure to stay well clear of."

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[Faith Augustin]

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Faith smiled and took the hand that was offered to her. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Taelis, I'm Faith." She gave a slight frown as she shook his hand, glancing between the two of them. However, shaking hands meant contact of skin on skin and that meant that two things happened. Tio felt that her hand was warm.

And as she touched him, she recognised that the man she was touching had no blood. It was a part and parcel of her Zuuda blessing and as he asked her what her interest in the Immortals was, Faith smiled at him. It didn't bother her, not in the slightest, if he was a Yludih which was the most likely cause of that lack of blood, it was fine. It was just if he was something else that she would need to be wary. Still, benefit of the doubt for the moment and she answered his question. "Well, twofold. Academic interest. I work and study at the University here already. But mostly," Faith smiled and motioned around, "Because I am a following of Famula, Vri and Moseke."

When he continued though and said that he never saw the sense in letting someone else choose his moral code for him, Faith's expression changed slightly. Just for a trill, but there was no doubting it. "I choose who I worship. They do not decide my moral code, they have chosen and blessed me because my moral code aligns with theirs. I believe that is true of each person who worships." Choose her moral code? Faith looked at the individual with no blood and she managed to not add the phrase you idiot to the end of her sentence.

She nodded to Arlo, and pulled out a copy of the map which Padraig had brought back, detailing the shrines. Arlo, she knew, had a copy too. "I would like to pay my respects to Famula, Vri and Moseke if possible. But I am very bad with maps." She handed it to Arlo like it was burning her. "I wonder, would you?" It was probably a good job, she'd been looking at it the wrong way around and trying to work out where they were.

Badly. Very very badly.

The Ability

Just so you know, the ability in question is "Burning Blood" from Faith's Zuuda mark. It says

"A curious side effect of this ability, a Zuuda can usually easily tell Yludih by touch, immediately realizing that there is no blood within them."

[Arlo Creede]

The professor's description of fractures made perfect sense, so far as Arlo was concerned. Even if it was just an educated guess. A fracture in anything could be considered a crack or break, an unintended opening where any given thing could leak out, or in, or both ways Arlo guessed. Whether it was a cracked pot that leaked water or a break in time and space between existances, like between the material world and Emea for instance. "I'd guess they're not very stable," he said to himself more than anyone else. A hairline break in a dam for instance was bound to pull apart over time due to pressure, and let far more than just a trickle of water pass through. Eventually the thing would give way entirely and let loose a flood.

"Maybe they inadvertently passed through the fractures themselves," he said, referring to the explorers who never came back and couldn't be found. "and couldn't find their way back again." Sort of like him in that maze off in Desnind, trapped inside some sort of cosmic box for what might have been trills, or breaks or even trials, till finally he'd found the way out. "Which are the fun ones?" he asked Taelis with a curious grin when told that the other man had no interest in religion.

Faith was right though, or so Arlo believed. He chose to follow Cassion and Jesine because they, the two of them, most represented his own natural inclinations. It would seem silly and disengenuous to choose a focus of worship and then tailor one's own moral code in response. Still, he grinned when he took the map from Faith, and promptly turned it round, opposite of how she'd been looking.

"Who maintains the shrines, professor?" he asked. Was it the followers of each Immortal, to care for the appropriate shrine? Or was it scholars from the university? "I'd like to visit the shrine to Cassion, if there's one here," he told the pair with him. "and Jesine...though she's not exactly an Immortal. Famula's shrine is that way," he told Faith after studing the map for a few trills. "Vri, over there." It was a start, he guessed, since neither of them seemed too far away, based on the map.

[Tio Silver]

It was with a certain note of unease that Tio noticed Faith's change in expression. Had he said something wrong already? He'd never had a problem with speaking his mind and so was pretty used to offending people, but he couldn't remember doing it this quickly before. He could well have just set a new personal record. "Did I offend you? Sorry, but I stand by my point of view. You guys seem to have the right idea, but then again you both follow fairly benevolent gods by the sounds of it. Look at the Eternal Empire, where thousands of soldiers march in every direction conquering everything they lay their eyes on. Do you think each and every one of those soldiers did their own soul searching and concluded that war and conquest was a good thing to devote their life to? Or did they do it because their god-queen and her laws tell them that it's okay to do it and they don't see the need to question her? Every god stands for something different, and in turn demands a unique form of worship. There's nothing standardised about it."

He turned to Arlo and grinned back at him. "Now the fun ones in my opinion are the ones who ask you to do fun things in their name to honour them. Your Cassion is a good example; he wants you to travel around going on adventures and telling stories right? That sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Ilaren sounds pretty good too, what with all the brawling and drinking she wants people to do in her name, and Syroa wants her followers to do lots of acting and make love to people. If a god promotes fun activities to their followers then they're a fun god in my opinion."

At last the group finally reached the entrance to the shrine, and with tentative steps entered the gigantic stone structure. The shrine was dark, illuminated only dimly by the light of the sun streaming in from the entrance archway, and was at first too murky for anyone in the group to see into. However the professor took a tinderbox from out from his backpack and got to work lighting a number of braziers across the walls and floor, bit by bit revealing more of the shrine. As he did so Tio realised that his first impression of the place had been completely wrong. Because it was constructed purely from stone in such a simple manner he'd assumed that the shrine hadn't been decorated, however the beauty of Fei's shrine didn't lie in statues or treasure like it did to the shrines to the Immortals but in something else entirely.

The firelight lifted the darkness to show that every square inch of the walls, roof and even the floor was decorated with paintings. They were not the sort of paintings that would pass for masterworks in modern society; they used very little colours besides shades of black, and lacked detail or refinement, but even so the sight of them all interlocked together created a feeling of ancient, primordial power. The paintings were filled with images of animals and creatures of all shapes and sizes, some instantly recognisable and some strange and mysterious, frozen into scenes that seemed to tell stories of events from long ago, though without any form of recognisable writing on them it was often hard to tell just what those stories were.

Within these picture there were some characters that immediately stood out from the others: humanoid shaped beings that towered over the other creatures, and which unlike everything else were exclusively painted in colour. The most prominent of these coloured beings was one drawn in a light blue which, unlike most of the other coloured beings who were drawn in scenes of battle with ethereal mist-like creatures and giant winged lizards, only seemed to be interacting peacefully with the creatures around it. Sometimes it knelt of the ground observing plants, rocks and trees, and other times it stood behind fleeing creatures with its arms spread wide and blocked the path of other coloured beings armed with spears and swords.

"Archaeologists have uncovered the ruins of temples decorated with paintings just like these all across the world." Professor Fridson explained as he lighted the last of the braziers and smirked triumphantly at the awe-stricken looks on many of the group member's faces. "We believe that they were built by humans who lived during or even before the war of the Immortals raged across the land based upon stories passed down from parent to child. When the pilgrims came to the Immortal's Tongue and built the shrine they decided to create the shrines to the original beings in the same way as the ruins had once been, and copied the pictures within them onto the walls as accurately as they could make them. The figure coloured in light blue is the one we know as Fei, sometimes called 'The Scientist' or 'The Inquisitive', and gathered here is one of the biggest collections of legends about her in the world."

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