The Church of Sartan/Tales and Visons

Here the various visions with which Sartan has blessed select members of his followers are recorded.

The Tales of Priestess Selene Octavius

A vision from Sartan

As Selene lay wounded she had a vision: She was standing amidst a ruined city, its walls crumbled and its buildings destroyed. As she looked around she realised with horror that it was Niel she was standing in, a Niel that had been destroyed. As she looked at the burnt out buildings around her she became aware of a presence, of something watching her. Drawing her sword she spun around and stopped at the sight before her. Her sword dropped from her hands and clattered on the ground as she looked in shcok upon a pile of corpses, corpses of Sartanian soldiers and nobles, with horror she recognised her own body lying upon the pile. But this was not what had made her turn around, rather it had been the man she now noticed standing by the base of the pile. The man appeared to be a warrior of some kind, he was dressed in battle armour and carried a sword at his side. As she looked at him she noticed his face, where the eyes should have been light shone from the eye sockets. The man spoke to her in a deep and echoing voice which seemed to shake the air. "I am Sartan, your Lord and God. You are my chosen servant." Selene knelt in amazement. "Oh lord." she said "Thank you for granting me the honour to see you." The man smiled "Child, I know what emotions your words mask. You wonder as to why you see your fellows and yourself dead, you wonder why I appear next to the corpses of my followers. Well, I shall tell you. "What you see is a future which may come to pass. It is possible that Sartania will die, my chosen land annihilated and my followers put to the sword. It is possible that my holy city of Niel will be destroyed. But this future is not certain and I do not wish it to occur. Therefore I have chosen you. You are entrusted with preventing the death of Sartania, with saving what you can from your enemies. In the course of this duty I charge and allow you to do whatever is neccessary." Selene was speechless. Eventually she stammered "Th-thank you my lord. I shall do as you command." "See that you do. To help you with your task I give you my blessing, you may be wounded in battle but you shall never die from battle wounds as long as you live. Now awake and save my people." Selene sat bolt upright and awake in her bed. "Fetch me my scribe! I have an important letter to send."

A second vision

As she dozed fitfully during the day Selene had another vision. Once again she was standing in the streets of Niel but now the city was fully repaired but empty as the grave. As she looked around Selene could hear and see no one. Not even a solitary bird sung or a dog barked. The city was still. Again she felt the feeling of someone watching her, prepared this time she turned around and once again beheld Sartan. This time he was dressed not in the garments of a warrior but in the fine clothes of a high ranking nobleman. Once again light shone from his eye sockets instead of eyes. This time however, she was able to see the rest of his face. It was a handsome one, but one filled with sadness. At the sight of it Selene wanted to weep. Sartan spoke “Why have you failed me Selene, why have you abandoned the task I set you?” “But my lord,” said Selene in surprise “I did my best, I even went before the Pontifex of Arcachon in rags to beg him to spare Sartania, but he would not listen. I have done all that I can.” “Foolish child. I commanded you to save Sartania, not surrender it.” “But how else could I save it lord. Our enemies are too many. Our army is vanquished. We prepare to make a last stand but we have no hope of victory. Our only chance lay in surrender.” “Ah, the foolishness of mortals.” said Sartan. “Of course you cannot hope to win by force of arms, you know that. But surrender would be a living death for my land. No, to save Sartania you must forget the land. Look to the people, they are what give life to Sartania, not fields or buildings. You must help save its people and my church. As long as they endure then my land can be reborn. This city where you stand is not sacred to me. The whole world is sacred to me, even Arcachon. As long as people serve me then that land is sacred. I expect you to fight until the death of this Sartania but not until your death. You must urge others to do the same. When you can fight no more then you must go to other lands. In exile you must help my church sink its roots deep and go strong. This was not the first time Sartania existed and it will not be the last. For millennia people have served me and I have had lands dedicated to me, even though they knew me by different names and those places are long gone and forgotten. So go now and take heart. Spread news to my people that it is their duty to thrive after the death of Sartania, thrive and grow strong. Now, Selene, awake.”