In an era timeless and in a place that is everywhere and yet nowhere three gods(I'shebethar, Hervulene & Krasteemith) came together.
After exchanging greetings in their unique ways, the three spent an age discussing the race of the plebians who live upon a small plane which they called Simulthea.
The gods lamented over the lack of appreciation and reverence that the plebians had thus-far shown. After all, I'shebathar wove time within which the plebians could thrive; Hervulene provided the life-giving rains; and Krasteemith provided inspiration aplenty directly into their conscious minds.
Hervulene had all but lost patience, sending in the occasional storm and flood.
The three gods came to an agreement. It was time for the plebians to show their appreciation. It took them a much longer time to agree upon what form the appreciation should take but here too they eventually came to an agreement.
They would each choose a plebian to be their intermediary - and they would ordain that a great wonder be built within the space of a Simulthean millenium in honor of each of the three gods.
And so it was.
Three plebians from all over Simulthea were treated to fantastic visions and experiences of different kinds. With reverence and fear they spread the tidings to their fellow plebians, and with a little help from their respective god in persuading plebian society, the plebians set about seeking to build the monument asked of them.
Now plebians are very industrious fellows - but having never had any more experience with building abodes beyond fitting a second and third level out of wood - they held little experience that would help them in building a monument of the scale that their plebian avatar had insisted was necessary.
They looked around and scratched their heads for days and nights.
I'shebethar looked on with a bemused patience.
Hervulene at one point lost his patience and rode in, arms crossed and feet planted upon a pair of thunderstorms. Lightning forked and baked the earth.
However it was the plebians led by Krasteemith's avatar who started out first, laying foundation stones upon the soils of a great forest. However as Krasteemith looked down upon the foundation, that which was seen was not to his liking. The forest was a mighty and suitable place - but the chosen location was flanked by huge and steep hills. He asked his avatar to halt works and to find a more suitable location.
Hervulene wished to take the opportunity to jeer - but he could not - having even less to show by that point. He redoubled his pressure upon his plebian avatar, sending her scurrying to and fro in search of an excellent location.
I'shebethar felt no need to apply such urgency and it was ironically the plebians who lost patience before her. A plebian workman, in an argument set down a single founding stone within the desert in protest of how long things have been taking.
As the avatar stooped down to pick up the mislaid stone he heard the voice of I'shebethar asking that he leave the stone where it lies - and that it be her will that her monument be built here upon the open sandy plains of the desert.
And so more foundation stones joined the first stone laid in anger.
The avatar of Krasteemith found a second location - and a third and a fifth. Each time the foundation stones would be laid as the god appraised the location. The threat of slides, inaccessibility, floods and more always kept the god from allowing the projects to progress far, with works discontinuing. Even Hervulene found it acceptable to pour scorn upon his progress.
Hervulene's plebians were the second to begin building their monument to him. Foundation stones were placed upon three great monoliths in the vicinity of the coast. These stones became arches and before the century was out the plane's first three-legged triangular tower spire was well underway.
It was another century yet before Krasteemith grew satisfied with the suggestion of his new avatar - the centuries claiming the lives of several by now.
A foundation stone was laid well within the boundaries of a plebian city. The city itself would be transformed into a living monument to Krasteemith.
Another century passed. The project in the desert was not going according to plan. The weight of the stones upon the shifting sand resulted in a sinking - especially when Hervulene was visiting to look upon the progress of his rivals.
Gods may have all eternity but their patience did not always reflect this - and Hervulene was an impatient god. As I'shebethar gazed down upon the growing yet troubled footprint of her monument, Hervulene was busy sending large waves to crash against the mighty monoliths as reminders of his wish to see completion. So insistent were his efforts that the plebians were forced to build a great walkway bridging the tower-capped monoliths with the nearby cliff. How else were they to route their materials to the project? He ignored his avatar's pleas for time and patience and grew more irate with every passing decade, in spite of the progress.
The towering spire being built in his name already threatened to scrape the clouds and yet his fury and discontent grew. He rumbled to himself as to why he had agreed to this futile contest. He even grumbled to his avatar - but his avatar had no answer other than to seek to ease his god that the plebians faithful to him have been doing all that they could.
He was dissatisfied, and it was during a fit of rage that, as the plebians were working upon the crown of his tower, Hervulene did stamp his feet in rage and massive waves did rise once again, crashing against the obelisks violently.
But where other times the water had but trickled off the impressive monoliths, this time the water dragged along their bottom, dragging sand and sediment away as many times before... but this time a sliver of rock shifted from beneath.
The entire structure shuddered as if a deathly chill had filled its every cavernous chamber.
And then a grind and groan. The third of the monoliths and that closest to the ocean slipped by just the breadth of a finger. But it was a breadth too far. The great tower keeled over and plebians screamed in fear and sorrow - anger and pain as the tower fell, breaking apart as it goes and shattering into a trillion shards upon impact with earth and water, much of it buried beneath the waves.
A brief moment of silence.
Then a roar of rage from above as the earth is lashed by lightning and the skies are rent asunder with the rumble of thunder as Hervulene unleashed his tantrum-fueled wrath upon the plebians. His avatar had perished as she had been upon the crown of his tower directing its completion when it fell. The connection lost, he expressed his rage in the only way he knew how - with further destruction.
I'shebethar listened from afar, eyes transfixed upon the shoddy pyramid before her.
At many junctures subsequent avatars had tried to convince her that this was not the right place for such an undertaking and yet she refused every request to relocate. Her instructions were clear - to build her the greatest pyramid that a millennium could see built.
Yet she did not hassle nor hurry them. She would remain for the most part silent, simply soaking in the passage of time. She cared little for the collapsing passage ways and the unstable foundation of her structure. For her every block is placed where and when it was meant to be placed.
At times the plebians would seek to please her through the inclusion of finer stones and decorative works upon the pyramid's exterior - but she was always unmoved. As the final century came around she too had grown a little bored of watching and waiting.
But Krasteemith - he had not time nor cause to pause and listen to Hervulene's wails. He never lifted a finger and yet he was never idle. He was at work in the hearts and the minds of his subsequent avatars. Every step of the way he would second and third guess the plebian's progress - and sometimes required that such be unraveled for a different approach to be tried.
The plebians were at times anxious but they were always inspired and encouraged to try new things. Nothing that wasn't working survived for long. It was either removed or improved.
Curiously, even as the final centuries of the challenge flowed away into the endless cornucopia of eternity, no particularly massive structures rose in honor of Krasteemith. The other gods were puzzled as to why he seemed pleased.
A question that they would not have to wait much longer to ask.
The final century came to a close. The millennium had ended.
The gods convened again just as they had done before. They visited the site of each wonder in turn.
The first to be visited was that of I'shebethar. She revealed a massive pyramid still in the works. So great had the building surface area become that the bricks on the lower levels showed a greater presence of erosion - and parts of the pyramid were depressed into the ground, with the many signs of collapse still visible.
She explained that while the circumstances of its beginnings were far from ideal, the plebians had made efforts to make it work - although they could have worked faster and with more dedication the next time.
The next site that they visited was that of Hervulene. Aside from the shattered remnants of monolith and tower there was not a lot to see. Hervulene complained that his plebians had not been at all productive and that he eventually decided to end their pathetic and unworthy efforts. The other gods listened and looked upon the shattered remains in silence.
The final site that they visited was that of Krasteemith. He took them upon a hill to look down upon a bustling city. After dismissing Hervulene's suggestion that the plebians had indeed been lazy, the god explained that the monument to him was alive and well - within the heart of each plebian. Through living alongside them Krasteemith had sown inspiration into their mortal souls, and watched them create. While several attempts to build a superstructure were made, he was personally more proud of the little ways that they had incorporated him into their daily lives. There were fine food dishes named in his honour, and he was the one that they called out to in their times of need. His symbol could be found engraved at regular intervals and even etched upon their bodies.
In a millennium he and his people have produced a living monument - one that continues to improve and evolve even as he speaks. These plebians are his children and their devotion he shall reward with inspiration always.
And so the gods parted ways and this story formed upon just a flash of inspiration. What lesson have you learnt today?
This was certainly a different kind of post. _
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Sincerely,
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