The Tale of the Bringer of Seeds

Spoken by Arvoittaja, Berroc

You want to know about Ilvir's priests and their sermons.

Very well.

I have been commanded to tell you.

Do not mistake that for a willingness to do so.

I am Arvoittaja. Arda-voit-taya, if you care to pronounce it correctly. In the Scipion tongue, it means Riddler. I have lived for more than four thousand years, and in all that time I have learned that knowledge is often more troublesome than ignorance.

But Ilvir has commanded me.

So I will speak.

The First Child

You must understand something first.

Ilvir's very first creation was a Berroc.

His first child.

We Berroc call Ilvir All Father, in the Scipion tongue. And his first child was the one you now know as the Bringer of Seeds.

Siem-en-ten Toy-yha.

He was called this because he seeded all of Nyonia with the Berroc.

When the Uusia came to Nyonia—

Arvoittaja points at you.

—you called him Father Berroc.

Father Berroc lived for so long, and grew to such a size, that eventually he became his own island. An island that floated upon the inland sea.

For a time, a small group of Larani and Peoni clerics settled upon the island. They remained there to tend to Father Berroc.

And so things continued.

For many years.

Then everything changed.

What Happened

Last year, followers of Agrik invaded the island.

They killed the occupants.

Not merely out of cruelty. They intended to sacrifice innocent life so that they could open a portal to Agrik's realm.

Had they succeeded, they would have broken the Concordat of the Illimitable Tome.

Agrik and his sons would have been able to invade Nyonia.

And then?

War.

Not a war between kingdoms. Not a war between armies.

A war between gods.

Nyonia would have been destroyed.

The sacrifice was stopped.

The portal was destroyed.

But Agrik's followers were not finished.

As they fled, they covered the island in oil.

Then they set it ablaze.

Father Berroc—the Bringer of Seeds—was destroyed.

There is nothing left of what he was.

And when the Bringer of Seeds died...

Ilvir felt it.

His first child was gone.

And Ilvir was grief-stricken.

What Comes Next

Arvoittaja pauses.

You want to know what happens now?

I will tell you what I know.

I am afraid.

Ilvir's wrath is coming.

Nothing can be done to stop it.

I do not know why Ilvir commanded his servants to tell the curious Uusia what has happened. Perhaps it is because of the Concordat. Perhaps there is some other reason.

I do not know.

And if the choice had been mine, you would know nothing.

Especially after the way I was mistreated by an insolent Wangai.

But it is not my choice.

Nyonia is about to change.

Those who come after this time will know strife and struggle in ways they never imagined before.

That is what I can tell you.

That is what I have been commanded to tell you.

And now—

Arvoittaja looks at each of you.

Each of you may ask me one question.

If I can answer it, I will.

After that, I am leaving.