VEROS

you don’t have to talk like that you know, this isn’t a Culture essay

ANULO

O?

Yeah

When you become a fucking Godling you start to fucking grow up a bit

And realise that talk-shit is just Professorium bullshit

So cut the crap, KK??

Of course, Anulo, my apologies

yeah whatever

so your drug mule type fucking left House Power or something

Exactly

And I was seeking counsel on what you’d recommend I do

I mean, ask for your advice

Right totally

Well to be honest lil godlet, this meagre House drama shit is fucking below me

Like, when you get to my status, you realise it’s all just tiny shit

no godling worth their weight cares about fucking “Houses”

But you are the Leader of House Power?

yeah but I never really wanted that fucking shit

I just found it super shit-easy to become the top triad

we’re all out for ourselves here

I'm sorely confused

metagods you sound like a twat stop with that shit

Sorry but just

the Ichor-Slay is entirely dependent on Houses, and how triads within the Houses work together

when we’re cast in

Yeah but that’s the game

The shit-real fucking game

they want you to break the rules, lil godlet

they want to see who’ll snap and actually get as sharp as they’ll need to be when in parliament

it’s just pretence so godlets or godlings or gods-in-waiting, every type of god-to-be, can show off their shit

So my advice

Is chill the fuck out

And look behind your own back only

Veros.

? am I to know of you?

You will.

Where is Anulo?

Do not concern yourself with her.

Seriously.
She is a prat.

You shouldn’t be in this manifestation

External agents are forbidden

I’ll excommunicate you

This is what I love about the Godlets.

For all the play-plotting and basking in arrogance, you’re all also so privy to Professorium rules.

Pantheon rules, ultimately.

Your Godlet convictions are adorable.

Well, why else wouldn’t we listen

We’re the rulers of reality, we inherit every speck of creation

Just as Master God Zeu, Presider of the Parliament, proclaimed: “No outsiders!”

Almost as if the structure would crumble with just the slightest interference, don’t you think?

But that hasn't happened

What hasn't?

Resistance

Parliamentary disagreement, sure, but not what you’re describing

There are scores of angels of Baeol that would disagree, my dear Godlet.

No there aren’t

I don’t know what kind of demon or Yi Side scum you are, but this is weird lying

Usually you’d have tried to slay me by now, isn’t that how this works

And fail, obviously

So the stories go.

Stories of the Glytch snatching children.

Funny fairytales, except these are true.

Truly true.

The same social binds go for immortals as much as mortals, that I find the greatest irony.

All that separates is "I Am"!

Which fits me and all these goals, that heuristic.

: What the shit is this that you force me to read

And why can I not disperse

Yes, I suspended deusLogicus for a wee perpetuity.

So I can get in my words, beloved Veros.

There is a reason I have not slain you back to the protoplasma from whence you’ve came.

And not just because I am not the Glytch.

On the contrary, I have no odious affliction against you.

You interest me greatly.

Fine, I’ll deign to listen, if you’ve made such an effort to break through to the Octryn

Least I can do, as a God-to-be

Spinning your fear as bravado, very good.

No wonder you have reached House leadership.

What are you here to give me

A question.

Nothing more.

No gifts?

That's disappointing

WHat do you want, Veros?

…

That is your question?

That is what you have risked the fury of the Pantheon to ask?

Oh do not worry, the Pantheon can.

Truly.

Do nothing against me.

I am outwith their power and jurisdiction.

Who are you, then

Before I answer, answer that

Are you of the metagods?

Ah, now THAT is an interesting fairytale, of those beings.

No, I am not of the metagods.

Though correspondence exists.

Tactful, brief, conciliatory.

Glum.

I am the Arkmaster.

I have never heard of you

Charmed.

I don’t want you to, so, truly, gladdened by your words.

Now answer my fucking question.

: I want to graduate to Godling, then to God-in-waiting, then to God, and take a seat in the Pantheon

What else would I desire?

But what kind of seat?

Whatever God is at the end of their tenure

I will see who is considering retirement, or in such a weak position that I can push them for De-election

Pathetic

Consider my scepticism lobbed to your face

I know very well your trajectory, little Godlet

I know your talent far surpasses this little deficit of a ploy

Is the LEADER of House Power so complacent?

Fine

War.

I want to be the God of War.

Yes.

THAT is what I expected you to say.

That is what the name ‘Veros’ rings like, a god of such fundamental jurisdiction.

The electorate of conflict. It suits you well.

Are you saying I will be the God of War?

Are you meta-clairvoyant?

Not in the way you assume.

Much can change before you present your Thesis as a God-in-waiting, so I will not calcify what godhood you seek.

I could see you taking on the God of Fire.

Even the God of Underworlds, though that would be a stretch of interests.

Very bureaucratic, you understand.

My point is you will inevitably be a major God.

The Professorium all say this.

Very, very, very few Godlets are discussed the way you are.

Good

I deserve it

Oh, you are adorable.

So it is settled – you have the ambition I need you to have.

Thus, I present my deal.

And you will take it, for you are sensible:

...Sponsorship?

Essentially.

That is outlawed

It is an executable offence

The Octryn are set the way they are so we become

Autonomous, self-serving

Prepared for the brutality of parliament

Sponsorship spits in the face of that

Which brings me on to my other point.

There is a reason I have contacted you, and no other protoplasmic worthlessness in your batch.

Veros, what do you know of your birth?

Why would I know of something so boring?

True.

Well, there is no other way to put this.

You destroyed Qivon.

You turned it into a sphere of undulating magmatic force, the negation of birth.

God-death was borne from your arrival.

The protoplasma that became what you self-christened Veros was so potent that it burst the Pillar, it killed the nursing-harpies, it sent a shockwave of such astonishing force that the entire fissure between the Pantheon and the Preverse was cauterised.

Within the infinity of infinite possibilities that have repeated an infinite number of times, you represent the one anomaly no what-if dared suggest.

You are the Last God, Veros.

The Last God

Yes.

No other after me?

Absolutely none.

Your batch is the final batch of new gods.

Slain Godly entities no longer feed back to be reborn unknowing, their energies will simply swim until vaporising to quantum foam.

But when the survivors of your batch graduate, a new realm will begin.

One I do not know the exact schematics of, but I sure as Panepit will configure to my choosing.

And you, too, will be a leading light in this.

But

This means

No role will ever end?

There will be no successors, yes.

The days of petty parliaments are over, it will be infinite reign and stability hereafter.

Or tyranny

Well, yes.

But this is why you can Sponsor?

Because, really, there is no punishment to offer.

Because if the Professorium execute you, well, they have no purpose, and the Pantheon will dispose of them.

So the Professorium want to hold on and savour their brief moment of power over this one final batch as they figure out what to do.

I cannot stress what a shift is currently occurring, Veros.

The YiYa Model is in chaos.

I have already mentioned the angel rebellions, but the Yi Side is worse.

The Metabyss, the Domain of Nothingness, is in a brutal three-way civil war, having declared itself separate from the domain of the Pantheon.

And things will break closer to you, believe me.

Some in Parliament want you all culled, to preserve their roles.

Never-ending absence of challenge, no risk of De-election, you can imagine that appeals to the Godly senses.

But the Professorium disagree, since that would negate their purpose, and they want to self-preserve in their own way too, though it’s a futile endeavour.

But accept my Sponsorship, Veros, and we will sidestep the continuing aftermath.

I will provide intel and additional sources to present the most effective argument you can, for your Thesis.

And also polish your essays.

Help with the bribery process, too.

I hear you are in a current predicament concerning ambrosia?

Consider that sorted.

The only thing I cannot give my support is for the Sacrifice, that is beyond my powers, but you are more than capable of survival in those conquests.

So.

What do you say?

How can I trust you

How can I trust anything you have said

Well.

This is the other irony of immortals.

Ultimately, you are as beholden to faith as your subjects.

And maybe even the metagods are forced to pray to something.

The glittering pendulum of infinite regress.

You know, the prettier you intend your words the less I am inclined to believe in them

Believe in me, then, if not my words.

That makes less sense

Shoosh.

Yes or No.

Yes

I do not trust you

But I want to to be the God of War

And I want out of this manifestation, if nothing else

Then it is confirmed.

I am your Sponsor; glory be to our talents.

I will let you get back to Anulo.

But believe me, my lovely Godlet, she won’t do anything for you.

Her deputy is going to slay her in her coming Second Ichor-Slay.

What???

Speak soon.

??????????

Ah, sorry my Manifestation

Expired

Or whatever

Okay, lil Godlet, whatever excuse you need

Don’t give me silence ever fucking again though, yeah?

I’m busy

Yes, yes, sorry, it won’t happen again

It definitely won’t

I have to leave; I have combat practice

You’re a bit weird but I like you, Godlet

I think you’ll be a decent Leader

Eventually