oo2 || Video

[thralls]

[When the feed starts, Athelstan is in his room, with one of Will's dogs stretched warmly across his lap. Athelstan rubs his fingers against her ears as he looks over the projection from his bracelet- right, recording.]

...'this is the end'. The tree has been- is being?- destroyed. I am not a commander of men, nor am I any sort of leader, but times are dire and I... [His lips press together firmly as he nudges the dog off of his lap- she makes a soft, indignant noise before skittering out of his room.]

Where I come from, the men worshiped these gods. This tree was their world, holding up everything they held dear. We must fight to keep it standing, we must- I can show you how these gods must be worshiped, I can tell stories of their exploits and wit, if that would give you cause to fight for them.

[There's a short pause, as Athelstan lets out a breath, contemplating his next words.] Even if you cannot fight, you must pray. All of your gods have guided men through their trials for hundreds of years- longer, in some of your worlds. They would not abandon us now.

[The words are encouraging, but his voice is hollow, preaching a message he's not sure if he can believe in.]

Comments

[proudofwhatiam]

[She smiles at that. Perhaps she should have guessed his mind would jump there first.]

They had well over a dozen--to represent the different phenomena of everyday life. Geb was the earth and Nut, the sky. Ra, the god of the sun. And so on and so forth. Their religion was extraordinarily complex, and the most important gods--and how one worshiped them--shifted and changed dependent on the years.

Shall I tell you a story about some of them?

[thralls]

I would like to hear that very much.

[He nods.]

Thank you.

sorry this is so long, man, STORIES i'm just saying

[proudofwhatiam]

All right. Why don't we start with Isis and Osiris? It's a rather nice one, if you ask me.

[She clears her throat, preparing for a rather long tale. Evy tells stories enthusiastically and with a great deal of animation to her speech and expression. She's more concerned with getting the meaning across than the actual texts, as evidenced by the way she doesn't notice that she's switched tenses halfway through.]

Long, long ago, Geb and Nut, the earth and sky, had four children: Isis, Osiris, Seth, and Nephthys.

But Osiris was the pharaoh--er, the king, you might say--of all Egypt. His sister, Isis, was also his wife--you'll find that's rather common to ancient Egypt, I'm afraid. Royal families were full to the brim with incest, but that is a story for another day. And you should bear in mind that this is a story that's been told and retold many different ways--only one version of many. But I think it's the best one to start with, since the other ones would be a lot of me saying 'it might have been this or that'.

Now, where was I? Osiris ruled Egypt, with Isis as his queen. Seth was a jealous brother, one who wants Osiris' power for his own. He contrived to have a beautiful coffin built, exactly to Osiris' shape and size, and at a party, he presented it for all to see. Whosoever would fit within it, he says, would receive it as a gift. Of course, everyone tries it, but only Osiris is a perfect fit--and once he's lying down inside it, Seth shuts the lid on top of him, then throws the coffin into the river Nile.

Isis went to retrieve it after some trouble--there's a great deal of detail there that isn't terribly important for our purposes--but Seth stole Osiris' drowned body away once more. He chopped the body up into fourteen bits and strewed the pieces across the known world. Isis, of course, was a devoted wife, and she went in search of her husband's parts, hoping to put him back together. She transforms herself into a bird and searches high and low for what remains of Osiris.

There are only thirteen pieces left to be found, however. His, er--[and she clears her throat again] shall we say his male parts?--had been scattered in the sea and eaten by a fish.

Isis replaces them with gold imitations and puts her husband's body back together, which is, of course, the basis for mummification. Have you heard of mummification? Well--that's also a story for another day. She returns Osiris to life with her breath, and they conceive a son called Horus.

And there's a great deal more from there, of course, wherein Horus confronts his wicked uncle, who has been ruling Egypt all this time, and Osiris is eventually made god of the Egyptian underworld. I can certainly tell you about all those, too, of course. Oh--and their designations as gods and goddesses, I nearly forgot that bit. Osiris is the god of the afterlife, as I've said. Isis watches over children and mothers and wives and offers protection in general. Seth is the god of the desert...which I suppose you've never seen, have you? It's hot and dry--never rains--and filled with sand. Most of Egypt is desert. He's also the god of chaos and violence, and a rather nasty piece of work in general.

...And of course, there's more, a great deal more, but I'm sure that's no surprise. There are dozens and dozens of stories among your Northmen, too, aren't there?