The Greatest Sin [Progression Fantasy][Kingdom Building]

Maisara covers this in her own text, but the Goddess of Order is correct. For thousands of years, magic existed as a crutch for mankind to jump ahead of the currently-impossible. This reliance on the superpowered propagated the stagnant medievalism of the Tyrannies, Heroism and Reconstruction. In terms of material sciences, Maisara is entirely correct, one cannot even begin to fathom a counterargument against the idea that magic stalled the technological advance of Arda.

Yet I do have to counter-signal Of Order here, for there is one demesne that did advance and through it, we may have avoided the coming of doomsday-bringing Divines. Theology as a science was researched relentlessly up until the Great War. I discovered the splitting of Divines and proved it, along with the mass scalability of Divinity through the building-ghosts which would later become known as Fortress-spirits. The foundation for creating national mascots was laid out in Reconstruction, Pantheon Decrees precede it.

We can look at the reckless technological advance that is currently ongoing through Empire and marvel, although it is only through our mastery over theoretical Divinity that the Empire does not unleash a second wave of tyrants onto this world. A Divine of the SIS, for example, cannot be allowed to form. The SIS operates under the same mantra as Holy Orders precisely because we are aware that there is no such thing that blocks something such as an “Of Secret Police”, yet we understand that the creature would be terrible.

The Imperial Military is another such entity. It cannot be allowed to incarnate an independent mascot Divine that would think itself worthy of ruling our armed forces. Whereas independent ship and divisions may be allowed to possess their won mascots, these slot into the chain of command. The O-Bombs, which forever have to be referred to as O-Bombs to make sure that the general populace understands this phenomena not as the chain reaction of a nuclear explosion but as the will of the Goddess of Chaos who is on our side. The creation of an “Of Nuclear Bombs” would most likely not be a problem. They would still be Imperial after all, but the key word is ‘most likely’.

The Empire does not operate on ‘most likely’, it operates on certainties. Whereas there are always more questions to be asked about Divinity, we have discovered enough about ourselves to be able to say that we certainly are able to control the general Divine population numbers.

When Maisara writes of the eras of Pre-Material-Sciences, she misses the point. Humanity was not cursed to stagnation by the prevalence of magic, it was blessed to have a hard cap on technological advancement until it was ready to overcome the challenges which would come from combining the worlds of theology and technology.

- Excerpt from the private writings of God Arascus, of Pride.

“Well would you look at how cute this one is.” Maisara made an unimpressed face as her and Fer walked through the snow-coated market square of Kaczaw. Olonia was planning to build a Divine-sized mall in the city since it was close enough to the southern mountain range on which the Land of Gods was situated. Of Order watched Fer lean down and point through at a wooden sculpture of a dragon bursting out of the moon. Great. Fantastic.

“What is that even? A local myth or what?” Fer shrugged.

“I don’t know.” Around the pair, the locals passed by. Kaczaw was relatively used to Divinity, it was definitely more accustomed than other cities in the Empire. The train station in the city had a hole platform specifically for Divine trains, along with its own supersized hallways rather than the usual method that architects resigned themselves to, which just installing a cattle gate for Divinity instead of making the structure massive.

“You don’t know?” Maisara stood and inspected the little wooden dragon sculpture. Inside, the shopkeeper was pretending not to notice, along with the people inside the store who had obviously stopped their shopping so that they could gawk at Fer looking to buy decorations.

“Am I supposed to know everything?”

“Sometimes I think you.” Maisara said. “Come on, shopping makes me feel sick.”

“We don’t have anyway to be.” Fer stood, Maisara turned around and walked towards the massive market square of the Kaczaw. It was one of the largest in all Epa, with huge buildings of golden stone and red brick all painted in bright colours. Their roofs were peaked at sharp angles precisely so that the snow which sat on the ground would not build up and collapse the ceilings on the people inside. The centrepiece of the square was in the middle: the Seller’s Hall. A relic of a structure built immediately after the Great War, Maisara had been here when it had been built although it was one third the size back then. Save for the name, nothing about it was the same. “Unless you want to go back to Ciria.”

“I would rather rip my hair out.” Maisara said and Fer burst out in laughter.

“Dad did scare me though.”

“He terrified me.” Maisara admitted. Here they had been told that they would not ever have to deal with Ciria again and suddenly he was going back on his word. That was the part which had been more unsettling at first. Maisara had always assumed him honest enough. Not as honest as her, of course, but honest enough. Definitely better than Allasaria or Elassa.

“Oh it wasn’t that bad.”

“It was that I thought he suddenly started breaking his word.” Maisara said, then realised how it sounded. “I mean, do you know what I mean? There’s how many Divines you can actua-“ Fer interrupted Maisara with a hand on her shoulder.

“I understand perfectly Mai. I get it.” Fer said gently. “No, dad would never.” She giggled as a troop of young scouts in green shorts and uniforms walked past them. The leader was obviously a soldier, or a veteran. He had a perfect march and he was one of the few people in the entire market square that did not give the pair of Divines a second glance. “Forti fucked herself, didn’t she?”

“That’s one way to put it.”

“She should have asked us.” Fer said, tutting. “I would have told her it was a bad idea.”

“Would you though?” Maisara somehow doubted that. Fer seemed like the sort who enjoyed when others got in trouble. On the other side of the market, Krak, the local Divine of the city was giving a midday speech with a troupe of dancers behind him. That was usual for Lubska. Olonia liked her public festivals and events.

“Of course I would.” Fer said, she pointed to a shop several spaces over from the one they had just been at and then walked quickly enough for it to be called a scamper. “Look at that!”

“I’m looking.” Maisara said, although what at, she wasn’t sure exactly. Surely Fer did not mean the clothes shop? When the massive Goddess of Beasthood stopped in front of the glass, Maisara sighed. It was the damn clothes shop. “Come on Fer.” This was worse than managing Ciria… Maisara blinked, no it wasn’t. Even though she liked argumentation, even she couldn’t stand that stupid, annoying, bitchy Goddess of Civilization. That woman didn’t debate anyway, she just moralized instead.

“They’re cute.” Fer was pointing at a series of white skirts which had a pattern of grey crosses. Maisara preferred solid colours compared to that. She looked down at her own clothes. A grey skirt, leggings underneath, a silver coat for the weather. She did not need any more clothes. Allasaria and Helenna were the ones who went shopping.

But style was style, and a person who appreciated style once would appreciate style forever. “I’m not buying anything today.” Maisara cut off her reasoning before she spent more of her own money.

“What if I buy you things?” Maisara sighed, her shoulders dropped and she made a loud moan. By her the side, the populace started to give the two Divines space. A pair of police officers on the backs of horses rode by.

“Why would you even say that?”

“Because I’m nice?”

“I’m trying not to buy anything!” Maisara said. “I don’t have a house.”

“Then we should go to Olonia.” Maisara blinked as she realised what Fer was just proposing. Part of the reason her and Fortia had not built a house was precisely because Imperial Bureaucracy felt impenetrable. How did one even apply for the Land of Gods?

“What? You mean you just go and ask?” Maisara struggled to believe it.

“Mmh.” Fer said. “You just go and ask.” She chuckled to herself. “Sometimes you are stupid Maisara.” Of Order didn’t even care for that insult. It wasn’t her job. Besides, she did feel stupid. That was such an obvious solution that she should have just realised without having needed to be told. “Do you think that would go with my hair?” Fer pointed at a shirt in a cream colour. Maisara took a step back so that she could take the whole view in.

The glass front of the clothes’ shop, the massive door by the side with a worker already stood there. The young man was pretending not to be excited at the fact that two of the most important Divines in the entire Empire were considering buying something here. Fer had her new hair, with streaks of silver over the thick and luscious blonde locks. Her tail was tufted in silver too. “No.” Maisara said. “The cream is bad.”

“Is it?” Fer asked.

“It’s another bright colour, you want contrast.” Maisara said. Beauty, at the end of the day, could be reduced to a set of mathematical calculations. Maisara knew how to make herself beautiful, and she knew all the tricks of the trade when it came to dressing up.

“I didn’t take you for being into fashion.”

“I’m not.” Maisara said with a smile. Fer was obviously impressed though. “I’m just good at the things I do and Divinity should be beautiful, thus, I am beautiful.” It was as simple as that. A Goddess had to look her best to uphold a certain standard amongst the mortals. Maisara flicked her silver her back. Fer pulled an thoughtful face and nodded as if it all made sense.

“I see I see.” She said. “What about red?”

“Red goes with everything.” Maisara said. “Even brown, there’s nothing you can stick red on and have it not work.” Fer stopped for a moment, Maisara could see her try to visualize every combination of colours that went into her mind. There wouldn’t be one though, red was like white, it was just a universal highlight. Brown was the opposite, blue and brown were a disgusting combination. Brown and green was too much like camouflage. That was a difficult colour to make work.

“What would you pick?” Fer asked.

“I have clothes made for me.” Fer stopped, then turned to stare at Maisara, her golden eyes travelled down Order’s neck, then onto her shirt. Fer tentatively stuck out a shaky finger.

“That’s designer?” She said.

“It is.” Maisara replied dryly. What was the issue now?

“Just a white shirt?”

“It’s off-white.” Pure white would have been too reflective. “And it’s comfortable.” Fer made a stunned face, then shook her head.

“You’re just as bad as Helenna, you know that.”

“What are you even talking about?”

“This…” Fer gestured towards Maisara, unable to find words. “This.” She trailed off again. “This fashion.”

“I’m not some fashionista!” Maisara said loudly, far too loudly for a city. She was glad her voice didn’t echo off the market square. It could. There had been times when it had in the past. Fer chuckled, turned, took a step and then stopped. She pulled out her phone. “Oh.” She stared down at it. “Guess who is ringing me?” Maisara immediately to the two people who had reason to ring.

“Fortia.”

“No.”

“Arascus.”

“No.”

“Kassandora.”

“No.”

“Malam or Helenna.”

“Neither of those.” Maisara tried to think for a few moments, but at this point, her only choice left was to just go through the list of every single person they knew and she wasn’t going to be doing that.

“I don’t know then.” Maisara said.

“It’s an unexpected one.” Maisara thought for a moment. She was actually having fun with this.

“Can I get one qualifier?”

“Depends on what it is.”

“Is it a Divine?” Maisara asked.

“It is.” Fer said. That was good, that removed ninety-nine point nine nine nine percent of the Imperial population. Unexpected though…

“Iniri.” Maisara said. Fer whistled and shook her head.

“Nope but close.”

“Close?” Iniri? Then who? Helenna had been mentioned so… “Kavaa?” Maisara said. That did make sense, if Of Health had a problem then she would ring…

“No.” Fer said and Maisara sighed. “Oh. She dropped the call.”

“It’s because you didn’t answer you idiot.”

“I’ll ring back.” Fer said and tapped something on her phone. “It’s Elassa by the way.” Elassa? What was Elassa calling for. Here Maisara had been glad that Fortia was the one who got the utterly terrible job of looking after that idiot Ciria, but Elassa? Fer interrupted the train of thought. “Hell hello? This is Fer, what are ringing for Elassa?” She turned the phone to loudspeaker and then put it between herself and Maisara. This was dirty and… Well, it was Elassa, but even Elassa didn’t deserve it. She was annoying and pretentious and every negative stereotype of a mage, but she wasn’t a traitor.

“I’m here too Elassa.” Maisara said. “You’re on loudspeaker.” Fer’s expression was all manners of unamused as she stared Maisara down. “What? It’s fair.”

“Extremely.” Fer said. “What is it Elassa? You’re on loudspeaker.”

“Thanks for the warning.” Elassa replied sarcastically. “No, I have a job for you fair.”

“Am I going to be paid then?” Fer said. “I’m not cheap.”

“Huh?” Elassa replied quickly, then thought for a moment, Maisara could practically hear the woman’s shock at Fer’s demand for payment. At this point though, Maisara had learned that Fer would ask and do anything, no matter if she was paid or not. “You want to get paid?”

“Of course I do.” Fer smiled at Maisara and put her finger over her mouth. Maisara nodded, this was Elassa’s own problem for falling for such a stupid trick. “What are you offering?”

“What do you even want?” Elassa said. “What? I’m not going to give you a title or something. What do you want?”

“Well if I knew what I wanted, I wouldn’t be asking for what you’re offering.” Fer said and Maisara could practically see Elassa groan. In the White Pantheon, there would have been a demand already, or someone would have shouted at another person. Here though? Fer was very obviously playing a joke on everyone involved.

“Whatever.” Elassa said. “I have nothing to pay you with. A bottle of wine is the most I can spare.”

“I like the fruity vodkas.” Fer said.

From the other side of the table, there was a crash as if Elassa dropped or threw something. “Alright. You’ll get a fruity vodka.”

“An Arcadian brew?” Fer smiled at Maisara and Of Order just rolled her eyes. Arcadia did not brew its own vodka, Maisara would understand that question as an order to start. She assumed that Elassa would in the same manner.

“Alright.” Elassa said. “Fine. Whatever. Can I tell you what I need done now or no?”

“You don’t need permission for that.” Fer said.

Maisara spoke into the phone before Elassa managed to embarrass herself again. “Just speak Elassa.”

“I need help finding Saranael.”