James Galloway - The Tower of Sorcery

Tarrin sat down on the bed calmly, holding up the shaeram that graced his neck, studying it. Its black steel shimmered in the light of the cloudy morning pouring through his window. It was the symbol of the katzh-dashi , but it was also the holy symbol of the Goddess, and its design held many meanings. Dolanna had explained them to him once, long ago. But it was what the Goddess had said to him that had been gnawing at him since last night, a night spent reading a book on theology he got from the library. The shaeram is for her, just as yours is for you and the ivory one is for Allia .

The Keeper had given him this shaeram , and alot of the hostility he felt for her was directly attributed to it. Yet the Goddess said it had been for him. And the other two had been direct presents from the Goddess to Allia and Keritanima.

Did the Goddess make the Keeper give him the amulet? Just who had placed the weave on it that kept it from coming off his neck?

Sometimes the Goddess seemed to be listening, and sometimes she didn't. He knew that she could hear his thoughts. She called it listening to his heart, but it was more like listening to his head. He wondered if he could incite her to listen to him.

"Goddess?" he called tentatively. "Are you there?"

Only because you'd be very disappointed if I weren't, she answered impishly. Make it quick, kitten, you have no idea how busy I am at the moment.

"What do you mean by that?"

Your faith is very tentative, she replied calmly. If I weren't to answer, you'd start thinking that what you feel, and what you think I feel for you, are wrong. I can't answer you all the time, kitten, but when it really matters, I'll be here. You were wondering who chained you to that necklace, weren't you? Tarrin didn't answer, and he suddenly felt very guilty for even thinking of accusing the Goddess. Well, I know this will sting, my kitten, but though I didn't place the weave, I fully support it being there. You can't lose that amulet, Tarrin. It's absolutely imperative that you keep it, and it was the only way to make sure that nobody could take it from you. So I nudged the Council into making sure that it won't come off. That keeps you from losing it, and it keeps others from taking it off of you.

"If you can nudge the Council, why don't you nudge them into stopping driving me crazy?"

Things aren't that easy, my kitten, she said. We don't take direct actions like that. You know that. I'm the patron goddess of the order, but that doesn't mean that they all do what I say all the time. The katzh-dashi have duties to perform, the same as the Knights. So long as those duties are being performed satisfactorily, I really don't have the right to intervene. I don't like a great deal of what goes on in that Tower, but I have rules to obey the same as they do.

"But you're the Goddess," he said in consternation. "They have to do what you say!"

Kitten, many mortals don't listen to their gods, she told him simply. And I hate to burst your bubble, but need I remind you that I'm an Elder god. You read that book that explains the distinction last night. Well, we may be more powerful than the Younger gods, but we have more stringent rules on how we can use our power to affect mortals. Human society simply doesn't fall into our sphere of influence, kitten. I can't directly take matters into my own hands, or I'll get in trouble with Ayise.

That seemed strange. He did read the book, and understood the difference between the Elder and Younger gods. The Elder gods were the ten gods created at the beginning. First there was Ayise, the Allmother, and she bore the other nine. The Elder gods represented the primal forces in the universe, the forces of nature and the forces of life. Earth, air, fire water, time, creation, life, death, and magic, those were the forces that were represented by the ten Elder Gods. The Younger gods are all those gods who came after the Elder gods, after the human civilizations took hold. Civilizations that had a need for gods to look over them, gods that weren't busy with running the universe. Many Younger gods had spheres of influence that overlapped the Elder gods, like Talon, who was the Younger god of the forests that also fell under the influence of Leia, Elder goddess of nature, but many Younger gods occupied niches that the Elder gods did not. The Younger gods represented civilization and human nature more than elemental forces. Love, war, hatred, peace, these were represented by Younger gods. Many Younger gods were patrons of entire kingdoms, the way Dallstad was god to the Ungardt, Karas was the god of Sulasia, and Sheniia was goddess to the island folk of the Stormhavens. But some gods, like Talon and Dommammon, god of the moons, overlapped with the Elder gods, and when they did, the Younger gods served the Elders in that regard, taking a bit of the burden off the Elder gods and letting them have more time to deal with mortalkind. The Elder gods were different from the Youngers in that they couldn't be destroyed. A Younger god's power was tied to the mortals who worshipped him, and if there were no worshippers, the Younger god died. If the Younger had been born mortal and ascended into divine status by other gods, then he returned to being a mortal, to live out his natural life. But Younger gods born of other gods, or who were created to fill a need, these simply died. The Elder gods were true immortals, and they existed without the need of mortal followers.

And because they didn't need mortals, that restricted their ability to interact with them. All the Elder gods had temples and priests, just like the Younger gods, but the Elder gods didn't gain any additional power by this association the way the Younger gods did. From what the Goddess was saying, an Elder god couldn't really put a hand into the world unless it directly affected one of their own worshippers.

Precisely, she confirmed. And even with our own people, we are somewhat limited. Because we only give power, we do not get any in return, it is considered a gift and not a symbiotic relationship. That means that we can't be as demanding as the Younger gods in what we want our priests to do, mainly because it isn't something that we couldn't do ourselves. Unlike the Younger gods, we Elder gods can and do directly affect the mortal world with our power, so we don't really need priests. The Younger gods have to work through their priests to directly affect the world when it doesn't involve their portfolio of control. That's why that restriction is there, to keep us from taking our priests for granted. It keeps us humble.

"I'm still not sure I understand that," Tarrin said.

Tarrin, gods are powerful, but they're not wise , she told him impishly. Many of us are just as immature and silly as humans are. The Elder gods especially, because we really don't have to answer to anyone but Ayise. Ayise saw this, so she put limitations on us so that our actions couldn't disrupt the mortal world. Right now, I could, with a thought, kill every single living being on Sennadar. It's within my power. But I can't, because I have my own rules to follow. Kitten, it's very complicated. Let's just say that we have our own little hierarchy up here, and one of the rules is that Elder gods can't directly influence mortals. Anything a mortal does at the behest of an Elder god is because they choose to, not because we force them to.

"Alright, I can understand that. But why can't you make the Council listen to you? Couldn't you just take away their power if they disobey?"

I don't give you your power. You're tapping into the power that I maintain to keep magic in the world, so you're accessing my power without me directly giving it to you. If you were priests, and I was supplying you with your magic, then I could make you do anything I want by threatening to withdraw my support. But it doesn't work that way with Sorcerers. To answer your question, no, I can't take away your power. It's a natural ability, not a granted power. They only way I could take away a Sorcerer's power would be to kill him, and I'd rather not bump off the ruling Council. It would take me years to rebuild the order.