001 ♦ Audio (Backdated > 401)

[cassock]

[ It'd taken a full day for Martin to recuperate from his stupor, even longer for his curiosity to kick in. Without his magic, he feels deaf, blind and mute, craving the comfort of religion, but not so callous or unaware not to know some other deities rule here.

Not that he cares. These gods can take Akatosh from his dead, cold claws. ] Will these gods care if I worship my own god? [ Still, a smart man is a cautious man. He isn't about to set up an altar to the Dragon God without information. ] I refuse to turn my back on the Dragon.

Comments

[audio]

[needsnoheadsman]

[Robb nearly chokes on his drink when he hears his father's voice. For a second he wonders if his father has somehow arrived, but then he checks the name and--oh.]

They won't care. [He still follows the old gods, though there is no godswood around.] They can hear you, if they choose to, but for the most part they don't seem to care if you worship anyone else.

( Audio )

[cassock]

What kind of gods don't care about their worship? [ Petty, loveless beings. Daedra. No, lower than daedra—even the princes still demanded tribute, as gruesome as they were. ] These gods, is there a way I can...contact them, in person?

( Audio )

[needsnoheadsman]

You could send them a message by this bracelet, but I've not tried to do so yet. [You sound like my father, he almost says, but that would just be strange to say, to someone he's only just met.] But I still follow the old gods of my world, and so far I haven't heard any protests from the gods here.

( Audio )

[cassock]

Send them a message, through this piece of jewelry? [ What sorcery is this? His disbelief is palpable. ] Then I will do the same. Thank you for answering.

text;

[emgoldened]

Turn your back on what dragon?

[Viserys likes text function for a few reasons, and uses it all the time. It's easier to make those he knows think of him as less mad, and also, aren't the only people who can read the more worthy? Being able to read is a luxury not many can afford. So clearly, those who can answer him this way are worth something. He hasn't realized that's not the case everywhere.

He thinks he's clever.

As per usual.]

( Audio )

[cassock]

[ The reply confuses Martin, still too unaccustomed to the bracelet's technology to reciprocate the written question. So voice it is, although his words take on a reverent demeanor not present before. ] Akatosh, the Dragon God of Time. My father, and the father of all dragons.

text on his end forever, etc;

[emgoldened]

[Nope, Viserys uses text forever. He's conditioning himself with it. It's easier to not fly off the rails because he can actually think things through (this is new and not very easy for him) before he says them. It's a startling invention, truly.

And it's good now he's not showing his face or saying anything, because the people he knows who talk of dragons...]

I have never heard of him. [Probably stupid, but whatever! He hasn't, and Viserys knows all the dragons. All of them. Beat into his head and absorbed like a sponge, he knows them all.] You say you are a dragon? You look like a man. Did something happen?

[Like he set himself on fire as a dragon and it backfired (haha!!!!!!) and he became a human? Yes. That must be it.]

( Audio )

[cassock]

Not surprised. I seem to be the only mortal from Tamriel here.

[ Well, this is a complicated question. Is a being born in a mortal body but with the soul and blood of a dragon actually a dragon? And, when that being mantles the Dragon God and turns into a flame-wreathed dragon, is he then a dragon? ] Yes. [ A long, long pause. ] I died. My mortal self, that is. Last I remember, my wings were growing heavy and my eyes were closing.

Then I found myself in this realm.

[Video]

[comeonthensexy]

You can worship what you like. That's not what they've brought us here for.

( Audio )

[cassock]

[ It takes Martin a couple of seconds to get over the shock of a visible transmission. At first he thinks it's an apparition, so he digs into the sleeve of his cassock for the silver dagger he keeps there, slashing at air. But it does nothing. ]

Then what... [ He coughs. ] ...did they bring us here for?

[comeonthensexy]

To help. Didn't you read the welcome brochures? Well, I say brochures. More like messages, on these bracelets.

[cassock]

It was drawn by a child.

[emulation]

[blink blink. Whatever you say, religious guy.]

What dragon?

[cassock]

[ Solemnly. ] Akatosh, the Dragon God of Time. My god, the god of the Cyrodiilic Empire, and its citizens.

[emulation]

That's weird. I never heard of a dragon god.

[wait.]

It's not a demon, is it?

[cassock]

How dare you, Akatosh is not— [ Breathe. These people know nothing of Tamriel and its gods. Martin sighs, pinches his nose, stills his anger into something neutral and diplomatic. ] He is far from a demon. He created...my world. [ My world. There are other worlds. It's not a speculation, it's a fact.

His mind (and heart) fills with a scholarly curiosity he hadn't felt in a long, long time. ]

audio;

[sicarius]

A dragon? [There is a beat, and Ezio pauses, if only slightly.] I do not think they mind. We are taken from our worlds to help this one. To demand worship on top of all they ask us, it would be rather much, do you not think so?

( Audio )

[cassock]

[ Is a dragon god that outlandish? ] Do they take dead people as well? [ Because I am dead implied. ]

( Audio )

[sicarius]

[Not at all! So long as that dragon god isn't attached with Thiazi, since that was his last encounter with one.]

Sì. There are many here who have come from after their death. [A pause.] Some choose to live as if nothing ever happened, others choose to move on at their own pace.

[Either way, it's their choice, so long as they choose it themselves.]

[text]

[proudofwhatiam]

I can't imagine they would care particularly. If I've learnt one thing from my time here, it's that this city's gods are fairly self-assured in their own existence.

What sort of god is it that you worship?

( Video )

[cassock]

In my world, even the self-assured deities wish for more worshipers. [ Because to be worshiped is to be given power, for their existence to continue. Does a god no one remembers still exist?

Not in Tamriel. ] Akatosh, the Dragon God of Time. It is my duty... [ He shakes his head. ] no, more than duty, it's gratitude to serve him after all he's done for me and my citizens.

[proudofwhatiam]

In mine, there's scant evidence for their existence at all.

[Couldn't one dig up the icon of a forgotten god and his holy texts and thereby revive him? Of course, Evy'd be coming to them from a scholarly angle rather than a religious one; arriving in Asgard really didn't help her crisis of non-faith.]

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with him. What did he do for you?

text;

[bruxisms]

[ Well... this catches his eye. Partially because of the man's voice, which sounds oddly familiar. And partially because of the mention of a "dragon". ]

You worship a dragon as if it were a god?

[ Dragons were formidable creatures, to be sure, and perhaps there was more wisdom in placing one's worship with a tangible force, rather than absent Gods... ]

( Audio )

[cassock]

As if it were a god? [ A huff. ] He is a god. The other dragons are His children. There are stories of dragons who passed themselves as gods, but for their hubris, they were casted down. [ The ancient Nordic tales are full of dragons stupid enough to think that being shaped in the image of a god meant they were gods themselves.

Now their skulls decorate mead halls. ]

( Audio )

[bruxisms]

You speak of dragons as though they are as intelligent as any man.

[ He knew his tales of dragons well enough, but this was a shock even to him. What sort of realm did this man come from, if dragons could reason?

(Though, perhaps if they could in Westeros, they might still yet live) ]

And have you seen this "God" for yourself?

[ Suspicious of divinity, as always. ]