( video )

[heelies]

[The video feed begins on a close view of a face, revealing a stern set of eyes and a curve of nose but little more. Then the picture shakes as a new perspective is gained. The man who comes into view posesses a princely bearing and wears well the mantle of importance. His voice belongs to one who is accustomed to being listened to.]

I am told that this is the way that men call others to counsel in this land, and so as strange as it seems to me to address those whom I see not, I shall follow the local custom. I am Achilles, son of Peleus — Peleus who rules the fertile plains of Phthia, and who claims for his own worthy father Aeacus, judge of the House of Hades. New as I am to this land, which is farther from my dear native land than even the windy plains of Ilios, I bear many questions, but the first in my heart is this.

What deathless gods watch over the city of Lunatia? I have seen no temples built to honor Zeus who bears the aegis, nor bright-eyed Athena, nor Phoebus Apollo. Where are the priests who aid in the rituals of sacrifice, the seers who interpret the will of the gods in bird-signs? Surely, a city so rich as this, with precious silver trimming its houses, and all manner of riches I have never before seen — surely its people have the benison of the gods. Yet I see no practices that would suggest such reverence. Tell me, therefore, the ways to honor these gods who to me are so mysterious.

Comments

[thedarkbond]

I'm wondering about that myself...it doesn't sound like anyone's found out yet. You don't even have to go as far as lying with someone, you can make smaller amounts by doing things like holding hands or embracing, so it's strange that it's become something they can't do. Especially since we've had some visitors before from another part of this world who seemed to need Chroma to raise their young, but needed to come for our help to gather enough this time.

[heelies]

It could be that their failings are a punishment for some offense or another — not against the sister goddesses of the moons, but against another deathless god, one whom the moon-loving Prismals have forgotten. What a terrible punishment it is, to lose the very power that sustains life!

[thedarkbond]

Maybe...they talk about a "calamity" that happened a while ago, but it sounds like a pretty big gap between when that happened and when the lack of Chroma became a problem. So I'm not sure whether that was the cause of it or maybe the start of it deteriorating or something, but the calamity has legends about it, so you should be able to find more information.

[heelies]

From whom might I learn more of this calamity? Just as surely as it is wise to know how to honor the deathless gods, so too is it wise to know what offends them.

[thedarkbond]

There was a festival recently where the Queen told everyone about it...it sounds like most Prismals at least know the legend, but you might have to go to the Lunar Scientia to find out more. They seem to be the ones who mostly do all the knowledge-dealing here.

[heelies]

Very well, then there shall I go for the answers I seek.

Then it must be that you have not been long in this land, but even so you might tell me more of these blessings that the moon-loving goddesses bestow. How might they show their favor?

[thedarkbond]

I came with the first group of Moonblessed, so I've been here about as long as any of the ones brought here can be...which means I know a bit about moonblessings, at least. They're not quite the same from person to person, but each moon seems to have a sort of...pool or group of changes that you can end up dealing with if you're under that moon. Some are physical and those are usually animal features, and some are mental, like Sanguis people getting aggressive.

[heelies]

Then these sister goddesses purpose to make wild beasts of men! To me this seems a curse more so than a blessing, just as when the gods rob men of their wits. What a man does in such a state, he may later come to regret once it passes as smoke when a fire burns to its end.

[thedarkbond]

Mmm, the locals call them blessings but I've seen a lot of the Moonblessed complain about them...I wouldn't say it's as bad as the things that happen in those stories, but some people don't like it. And it really depends on the person how bad it gets, too, not everyone is affected the same way or even the same from month to month.

[heelies]

You do arouse my curiosity, stranger. What manner of stories have you heard?

[thedarkbond]

You mean the stories I'm comparing against or what I've heard from people here? My world has a lot of legends that I could talk about. Including yours, though it's a few thousand years old by the time I'm from.

[heelies]

It does gladden my heart to know that in such a span of time, longer than any man can comprehend, the glory I wrested from the bloody jaws of war has not faded. However, what I desire are tales of this world that I know not so well yet.

[thedarkbond]

Oh, that's easier. I've seen and heard of a couple of people turning completely into animals, but it doesn't seem to happen as often as people turning partway. For affecting the mind, Sanguis seems to be the worst because it makes people aggressive and sometimes violent, and people seem more inclined to run off and get themselves hurt during that moon, but people don't end up totally thinking like animals or anything. I think there's tales of the three gods that kind of hint at what kinds of changes their people end up with, but I couldn't tell you them off the top of my head.

[heelies]

Then I fear you would make a poor bard, stranger. Nevertheless, you have not given me nothing.

[thedarkbond]

Probably. My memory isn't the best sometimes. [Ren shrugs a bit at that, but at least he's honest(-ish, since he's leaving out that he primarily has a selective memory rather than a bad one).

Though the address of "stranger" has something else occur to him, and he puts a hand to his chest in something of a polite gesture.] Oh, I forgot to introduce myself, didn't I...Suzugamori Ren, but just call me Ren.

[heelies]

Very well, Ren. Then is Suzugamori your father's name?

[Such strange names the people here possess...]

[thedarkbond]

Sort of. It's a family name, so it's passed down from parents to show who's related to who, but we don't usually pass down given names in my time.

[Though Ren is never one to talk about his family much.] Though which order you introduce yourself in depends on what part of the world you come from, too. I'm used to family name before given name, which is why I said it that way, but a lot of other countries use given name, then family name, so that would be Ren Suzugamori in my case.