07.10d In the Way, Out of the Way

[khadjair]

Cameron gets a slightly glazed expression. <<So this is what it feels like from the receiving end.>> He "extends a hand" to offer Rasanam a path back, though he's taking a moment to try and study how it feels. No real magical theory, so all he has to go on is observation.

[Krajk]

((All set to go to bed, changed and everything, and then I go "Oh bother, I was supposed to post, wasn't I?" *cough*))

Krajk will tilt his head in acknowledgement of Monty's greeting; although it's not the same sort or degree of greeting it's fairly clear that this is a case of different greeting styles and not any sense of superiority*. "Krajk," he will say in return. "No fancy titles or tribes; even if I'd felt the urge most other weres back in my home plane tended to be more beast than man, regardless of whether they were born or made, and what few weresharks I ran across tended to be worse than usual in that regard. Did run into a few packs of your kind, or your kind's kin at least, that were the only ones who managed 'civilized' on anything other than an individual basis. Other than being a bit clannish I had no complaints about them either, good in a fight and loyal to their words long's you didn't ask them to cross their pack brothers."

(*He does in some ways feel superior to the werewolf, but it's more of an "I'm a better fighter" sort and Krajk's ego doesn't need self-stroking of the sort that lording it over less-skilled warriors would provide.)

[Joshua]

Monty will nod... "Very well then, I won't bother you..." Before excusing himself.

The trump arrival is cut slightly short. Almost the moment Rasanam arrives, a large 8' 11" minotaur wearing black tunic, priest clothes and white collar, with a similarly-sized battle-axe on his back will yank Cameron off to the side by his ear.

Father Stormroar (A.K.A. Min) will whisper in harsh tones. "That priest I was with. He serves a present god, not an intangible one!" He seems to think the implications are obvious.

[khadjair]

Cameron staggers, taken offguard since he'd been busy concentrating on the nature of the Trump connection and missed Father Stormroar's approach.

'Wait.. what?" he tugs, trying to extricate his ear without removing it. "I get that there's theological implications here, but...seriously? My intersection with the divine was largely people wailing about how it had abandoned them as they starved to death in the streets. Or in their own beds if they were lucky enough to have them. The only "love and mercy" we were shown was by heretics and heathens*. I'd think at least a present one might at least be able to solve some of the disputes that make those specifics books so damned bloody."

He grunts and twists a litte more. "Besides... Isn't Lane the head of the official church around here or something? Wouldn't that make Dworkin their... deity of choice? Honestly, I have no idea, and with all the things Pattern seems to allow some people to do, where is the line between man and god anyway?"

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* - little known bit of history: The Ottoman Sultan sent three ships to Ireland laden with food. The British government turned them away, so the ships were gifted to the Irish as a way around the blockade. It wasn't nearly enough, but it was more food aid than the British had provided by that time in the Famine.

[Rasanam]

Rasanam blinks, caught off guard as well. But he rallies to the topic. "Not really. A present god is... problematic, in a number of ways. For example, it absolves its followers of thinking for themselves; morality becomes 'whatever the church ordered'. And when the church is run by a person so self-centered as to present themselves as a flawless deity... things can get bad. The better religions, at least where I came from, were those that acknowledged their gods were people, potentially flawed, and followed that deity's ideals over the deity in person."

[Joshua]

Stormroar twitches his fingers.. then visibly calms down. His voice, doesn't. "A present god means there's a powerful entity that is actively hiding itself from you. They don't follow Dworkin. Dworkin denounced them..." He really thinks this is enough... But will follow up with demanding of Cameron, "Maybe you should find this god?"

[khadjair]

Cameron blinks, suddenly understanding the concern. "Oh. OH. Now I understand. Though I have no idea where one goes to look for any sort of god, abstract or present... Maybe you can start with what led you to this conclusion. Give me something so I'm not wandering around Amber calling for a god like one does for a lost dog. I somehow doubt it.. he... she? would answer."

[Krajk]

Krajk seems to have largely tuned the conversation between Cameron, the newly returned Rasanam*, and the newly arrived Father Stormroar out, but after Cameron's bit about a lost dog he comments sardonically, "It would make for an interesting religion if they did, though." Still doesn't seem to be paying much attention, but presumably that's a lie now as apparently before.

(*Rasanam's arrival, much as his departure, got a wary, calculating glance, but no more. Even if it's a freaking weird means of teleportation, it's still teleportation.)

[Rasanam]

"A few ways come to mind," Rasanam says. "First, of course, is the blunt force approach - request that Lane introduce us. Second is to ask Asai; she seems to have every other possible spell prepared, so why not 'locate god'? Third is the Pattern, if you have the endurance for it; walk to the middle, look around without teleporting. Failing all that... I suppose we could ask Dworkin to look into it, or just go wandering around ourselves - perhaps one of their churches might hold some clues?"

[khadjair]

"What I meant was more 'how did you find out about this'? Did you see it, or just its manifestation, or is it things Lane told you? I'd rather not wander into a house of worship and start interrogating the people there; if there is a present god, it's the sort of thing that might tip him off that he's being looked for." Cameron shakes his head incredulously, rubbing his sore ear just a bit, clearly not used to thinking this way and part of his mind rejecting the entire concept.