Somewhere along the way, on the journey from Sutheron to the Copper Hills Fort, Lucius, complete with Sutheron accent, strikes up a conversation with Alexis:
“Say my fellow Sutheroni, I heard an interesting speculation in the Five Winds Inn and Tavern between a couple of priestly types, and it nearly started a fight with some Westy horse traders, apparently one of the horse traders is from a farming family…
“Anyhoo, the one acolyte says to the other, ‘Oo-rin is THE Harvest God, and Hood harvests souls, seems like may be two facets of the same gem, the scythe is associated with both as well, right?”
“Now, the Westlander overheard this and started yelling, ” ‘arvesting gray-en ain’t da say’m as peoples!” and whatnot… no Hoodites were to been seen to stand up for their Patron, but there certainly wasn’t much more discussion of the issue that night!”
“What is your learned opinion, Esteemed Alexis Laelius? Is Hood connected to Oo-rin? It seems odd to me, I always thought Hood was just the… children’s name for Erlik…”
Alexis listens to Telosh’s story and nods along. At the end he smiles a little and looks sidelong at Telosh.
“Obviously I can’t say much of the two from a devotional perspective, although I like the poetic nature of the idea.”
“And while I haven’t studied either god specifically, I can tell you that the power of Hood’s Scythe brings death, while the Oo-rin’s Sickle actually creates a greater yield. As you might know, Hood’s Scythe is actually one of his lesser items, with his gate said to be his greatest item. Some say there is a place where the gate can be accessed by mortals still living. There is a tale of a young man who lost his lover so he made his way to Hood’s Gate and made a bargain with one of the souls to deliver a love letter to his beloved. Old stuff, that story.”
“As for the scythe, I suspect there are at least clues to its where-abouts in Ederos. They say that Hood lost something there. Or that something was stolen from from him there. Some think he lost a knuckle there. Heard one drunk fool say Hood lost his humanity there.” Alexis shakes his head sadly.
“Now Oo-rin’s Sickle, that could be an enormous boon to humanity, but I think it was actually lost. Well, I think it was actually traded or loaned. Since I’m in a speculative mood, I don’t mind telling you I think it was loaned to the Hin. There are some tales of the Hin asking to be raised up to the stature of the larger races. There was some pity from the humans, and some maneuvering from the elves, such that we parted with the tool that might give us enough men to truly fight back against the dark forced. Imagine having an over abundance of food. The farmers *within* Sutheron could feed all of Sutheron, with food to spare. A small fraction of Aegir could provide more than enough food for all of Aegir, Sutheron, and the Westlands. Our women could be ever-pregnant, with our men getting us all rich and pushing back against those who would keep us down… and we would have enough food to buy allies.”
Alexis comes back to himself.
“No. Oo-rin and Hood are very different. Very different relics.”
Lucius nods, clearly pleased, as Alexis discusses the relics of Hood and Oo-rin.
He smirks a bit and mention of “farmers *within* Sutheron,” clearly an even more preposterous idea than Hood and Oo-rin being the same god…
Once Alexis concludes, Lucius looks thoughtful for a moment and then, with a slight smile, speaks,
“I knew I could count on you Alexis, excellent points about the differences between Hood’s Scythe and Oo-rin’s Sickle. What of Erlik though? Is that a different God than Hood? What of Erlik’s… relics?”
Alexis looks with surprise at the question “What do you know of Erlik? Why would you have an interest in that obscure name?”
“I know very little, hence the interest. I’ve only heard the name uttered in… less polite circles and curses… As I mentioned, I’ve always assumed it was another name for Hood. Thinking about the idea of Oo-rin and Hood being the same God reminded me of this other name… and you reminded me of divine relics.
“Well I can’t say I know much more than you. Some sort of god of death. Was Hood? Will be Hood? Another name for Hood? Hood for the… ” Pauses to think “…’Erlik’… ‘Erlik’.” Alexis seems to be playing with the sound of it. “Perhaps Erlik is/was the god for some offshoot humans. It’s an odd name. Odd sound to it.” Alexis shrugs and moves on.
“The most I know of Erlik, if you consider this significant, are of various pieces of clothing. In one book I read, the author mentioned ‘Erlik’s robes’. A now-dead friend of Publius Helvius Laeca mentioned something about ‘Erlik’s coif’, although he mentioned at the time it could be ‘Erlik’s sandle’ instead. The details are frustratingly scant. Makes me think there must be more details someplace like the Citadel of Pulathi, Ederos, the City of Miren, or the Sunken Library. Having been to Pulathi, I’m a bit doubtful, but there is still hope.” Alexis gives a little nod of his head at that and flashes a smile.
“Very interesting, the only possession I’ve every heard referenced is Erlik’s balls, perhaps that is mistranslation of sack though…”
Lucius almost manages to maintain a straight face, but the slightest hint of a smirk spreads across his face and he glances to Red and Gus to see if either of them recognize how very clever he is.