The Blood Cult/Undead/Nicolas' exchange with Marshal

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The contents of this page are not readily available to everyone, either because it is sensitive or because it is rare or otherwise little known knowledge. It is here for the purpose of archiving or making it more accessible to a certain audience, and this should be kept in mind while reading the contents of this page and all it's subpages.
In short, the contents of this page are to be considered OOC knowledge, except for characters who are not considered evil by the faith and visit a temple or have been given a copy by Nicolas Chénier.
Letter from Nicolas Chénier
Message sent to Marshal
So what does it take to be selected for a second service anyways?
Nicolas Chénier (Field Marshal of Enweil, Viscount of Wheling)


Letter from Marshal
Message sent to Nicolas Chénier
It takes death.
Marshal


Letter from Nicolas Chénier
Message sent to Marshal
All die eventually, yet I do not see them all called for a second service.
Nicolas Chénier (Field Marshal of Enweil, Viscount of Wheling)


Letter from Marshal
Message sent to Nicolas Chénier
Do you think there is only one way to return? How narrow-minded men have become.
Marshal


Letter from Nicolas Chénier
Message sent to Marshal
You talked but of one: dying. The returned are of the gods. I have yet to figure out which god has sent you to us, however, and why.
Nicolas Chénier (Field Marshal of Enweil, Viscount of Wheling)


Letter from Marshal
Message sent to Nicolas Chénier
We never said there was another requirement. We said only that not all fight in death as they did in life. Stop reading words that are not there, mortal. Life - and death - is a much simpler thing than many would have you believe.
Marshal



Letter from Nicolas Chénier
Message sent to Marshal
Then you answer me with my own question. That some serve after death in different ways than others is a given. There did not lie the question, but rather how one is chosen and who chose you.
Nicolas Chénier (Field Marshal of Enweil, Viscount of Wheling)


Letter from Marshal
Message sent to Nicolas Chénier
What is it you really ask?

Are we chosen? We do not know, or care, for it matters not. We are a nation as vast as all those that have come and gone throughout the ages, innumerable in number, surviving through - and for - the Ancient Pact.

How do we become what we are? Again, we do not know or care. We know only that we are. We who walk these lands now are but one small part of the legions who fight beneath the earth, marching against the snakes and consuming the beasts... and those yet pale in number to the great many that do not fight.

We have already told much of this to another mortal. The smell of the snakes was unmistakable, but he asked odd questions for one supposedly loyal to the creatures...
Marshal


Letter from Nicolas Chénier
Message sent to Marshal
You speak of those of the Netherworld? Is it not rather the snakes that are loyal to them instead of the other way around? In the end, we are all puppets to one god or another anyways, matters more how well you do in life than what you do.

Your kind are servants of our Lord, but not only his, and this is why we question you. From your words he who questioned you was of the royal house of Fwuvoghor as I, or served it, and therefore of those who spread the faith to the harshest corners of the world. To learn about the Returned is basically duty.

My questions are simple. What did you do in life, or in the other, to be sent back to the surface, and what have you been sent to the surface for?
Nicolas Chénier (Field Marshal of Enweil, Viscount of Wheling)


Letter from Marshal
Message sent to Nicolas Chénier
These are difficult questions for us to answer. When we - using your term - return, most lose their person, it having joined us. The memories 'live' on, but there is no one among the Many.

We can tell you that the soldiers were usually - but not always - soldiers in life. There are others as well. Artists who were artists in life, craftsmen and the like. This is merely how it is, yet any of us can pick up the work of another.

Most importantly perhaps, we were not sent. We became aware of the snakes and beasts moving once more and came as the Pact demands of us.
Marshal



Letter from Nicolas Chénier
Message sent to Marshal
If the pact demands you come, once could say the pact sent you, or at least whoever who had that pact with, could one not? Are there not others as you, soldiers but who have not returned? What would set you apart from them? What is this pact you speak of? Why would it matter to you if the snakes and beasts stir?
Nicolas Chénier (Field Marshal of Enweil, Viscount of Wheling)


Letter from Marshal
Message sent to Nicolas Chénier
Man lives off the earth. From it he grows his crops and tends his cattle, and upon the earth builds his home.

When he dies, he joins us. He is our earth, without which we wither and die. As you defend your earth from invaders, so do we defend Man, for without Man we would not be.

This is the Ancient Pact in short. We march to defend Man when destruction stirs, and whether he is willing or not, he joins our ranks in death.
Marshal



Letter from Nicolas Chénier
Message sent to Marshal
And when you die? How is it better that you kill a man to then have him be killed again against the daimons than to have him die to the daimons directly, especially if he may fell some of yours before joining? Or, for that matter, what does it matter if the daimons or the monsters are the ones to kill him rather than old age, fellow men or forces of nature?
Nicolas Chénier (Field Marshal of Enweil, Viscount of Wheling)



Letter from Marshal
Message sent to Nicolas Chénier
Die? We are already dead. When we fall our bodies turn to dust. Most of them, at least.

It is better to slay a man who would stand against us, to raise him and march him against destruction, than to allow him to cower in fear behind his walls awaiting death. If he marches of his own will, while living, he may fight twice. It is this that the enemies of Man fear.

And surely, you must know, nature and old age are no enemies of Man. These serpents and beasts however would see Man wiped from the world. Tell me, mortal, how these compare in any way.
Marshal



Letter from Nicolas Chénier
Message sent to Marshal
Many a great wonders have I heard or seen bear such destructive force. When the gods tired of the South-East Island, they sank it into the sea. The daimons have plagued men for a long time, and yet most of the population remains. Indeed, they've been reported to feed off of men, something that would hint they would not wipe us out. Furthermore, their plague is limited to the lands of the strong, to Beluaterra. When cyclones bring salty waters and ruin farmlands, we mourn for the lost lands but we know there will be many others elsewhere to sustain us. Should we all die, your ranks shall still replenish from the weaker lands of Atamara and the other old worlds.

Why would you oppose staying behind walls? Would you not rather that men bring his enemies to fight him where he is strong and can cause more damage than to have him feed the snakes in the open fields where he causes much less? And if you fight them yourself, not only do they not get a chance to oppose the others but they will turn some of yours to dust before you can claim them. It would seem as a counter-productive investment to me, rushing for the short term what the long term would produce tenfold.

Some reliable texts present the monsters as the original owners of these lands. That men took Beluaterra from them, proved themselves in battle and so gained mixed reactions from the gods. Now the monsters would want it back, as they once had, their words corresponding with these stories and the fact their refuge was raided last year. Yet the gods shielded them from utter destruction, and so we face them again. I believe the worse one can expect is the same for us. Should we fail this test, the gods will shield us from extinction for our past accomplishments and proofs of worthiness.

And so I ask you, where lies the difference between being crushed by a falling tree and being stomped on by a hulking beast? Why should we fear extinction?
Nicolas Chénier (Field Marshal of Enweil, Viscount of Wheling)


Letter from Marshal
Message sent to Nicolas Chénier
The daimon is a greedy thing that will consume until there is nothing left, leaving naught but death in it's wake. Have you never wondered why this place is so plagued? This is the only entrance for them! If this land, this fortress, falls, the path will be opened for all the world to be consumed by claws and fire. Nature kills a few, but these creatures will destroy all. Have you yet seen cowardice win out against the serpents? How many cities must fall before you learn hiding will not save you?
Marshal



Letter from Nicolas Chénier
Message sent to Marshal
Our victories behind our walls has taught them to keep far from us for years. I wouldn't call it cowardice if the most tactical choice is to fight behind walls.

I've also had reports from my own blood, in far-away untamed lands, where daimons also exist. Word is they are most hospitable and fair.

And as men rule in the Netherworld, the idea that they will wipe out all men is doubtable, lest they have themselves consumed. They also have kept to their little corner for years, and proved great moderation in the past, growing and stirring only with the coming of your forces and those of the monsters.

Have you not considered you are threatening yourselves? If you weaken humanity, less will be there to reproduce, and the daimons and monsters will have less targets if their aim truly is to kill us all.

So the only concern you have about them plaguing us lies in the numbers which they will fell?

And what did you do Below, before your Return? Why did you not come earlier if they are such a great threat, the daimons have been here for some time, after all.
Nicolas Chénier (Field Marshal of Enweil, Viscount of Wheling)



Letter from Marshal
Message sent to Nicolas Chénier
The sickly lies of the serpents falls from your tongue with every word. We will speak no more to one who has partaken so fully of their poison.
Marshal



Letter from Nicolas Chénier
Message sent to Marshal
Lies, what lies?

The daimons of Dwilight have been confirmed by many, not just my brother.

All in Enweil can testify that Prudent decided to stop attacking Enweil after we crushed her armies in Fengen.

Any Beluaterran can testify that the daimons have been here for years and in slumber until your arrival (and that of the monsters). We've also seen them rule Sint and Vlaanderen, and yet these people were not extinguished nor did they kill all others.

I seek only to inform myself and my kin. After all, knowledge of the afterlife is the most important knowledge of all.
Nicolas Chénier (Field Marshal of Enweil, Viscount of Wheling)