Devotia Ch. 14: Strategem

Callie closes her eyes and thinks for a moment. She takes a few deep breaths, trying to sort through a variety of conflicting feelings. When she opens her eyes again, reading the concerned expressions on both of their faces, she forces herself to settle down slightly. "So... so if the river is the world, and magic is the pebble, and the goddess is the ripple..."

Dynasa nods, encouraged to see Callie trying to work it out for herself.

"What if I filled in the river, or made it more shallow? Then, when someone throws a rock in..." Callie scratches her head, feeling an understanding slowly form. "The reflection would look different - Suul would behave differently - because we changed the context of the rock... is that right?"

"I think she's getting it," Xamner croaks, coughing into his elbow.

Callie's mind feels like it's awakening, and another idea cautiously pushes forth. "Is... is that why Suul didn't intervene to stop the changes you told me about?" She turns to Dynasa, remembering the history where Devotia could marry. "Enough people in the reactionary movement took charge that it changed Suul's reflection... and made her support them?"

"No..." Dynasa muses for a second, before changing her mind and exclaiming, "Yes! Not how I would've worded it, but the fundamentals are there."

"And the previous Magewitch was deliberately blocking all research into the Mirage Arcana," Callie realizes. Limens' warning about mages falling into danger for disobeying the rules of the Standard Arcana suddenly makes more sense. He wasn't conservative in the ways that Rookwell was... he was conservative in a magical sense.

"Exactly," Dynasa nods.

"So let me get this straight," Callie holds her head in her hands, shaking it in disbelief. "You want to alter the personality of a goddess to alter the role of Devotia to alter society?"

"That's a close enough understanding, yes."

"That's... that's insane!" Callie scoffs, pacing back and forth on the dock. "You don't know what the impacts could be!"

"Now you're thinking too big," Xamner perks up. He takes another drink, sighing contentedly.

"No, I'm not," she rebuts, glaring at him. "It's one thing to suggest trying to get the Imperium to change its rules. That's what I thought we were going to do. You're talking about taking control of a goddess!"

Dynasa sighs, frustrated. "Those are the same thing, Callie. That's what we're trying to say. The Standard Arcana tells us Suul changes the rules. The Mirage Arcana, what we're trying to embrace, simply rebuts that and claims that the rules change Suul. If we're correct, then people are doing this every day."

"It's not just rules," Xamner corrects. "The fundamental approach of our society changes her. If we were to only use magic for war, Suul will become more war-like as well. If we use it for art, Suul will be more of a poet."

"Fine," Callie relents, "I get it."

"If we're correct, and we are," Dynasa quips, lowering herself down onto the dock and splashing her feet into the water, "Then our enemies, that reactionary movement I told you about, this is how they've created our system."

Callie paces back and forth for a while, trying to piece together everything she's been told. "So... so say I believe you. What do you want me to do?"