An Epilogue from the GMs

We have chosen to leave things at broad strokes to allow for whatever epilogue specifics our players and crew have in mind - we don’t need to impose a ‘canon’ ending on anything. People ar welcome to ask the GMs for their headcanons about how certain things go, however.


In times to come, scholars would refer to the new era as the Age of Water.

No longer a world flame, no longer the fire of dragons. In the new world they would have a great pool of spiritual energy from which every human being drew a cup, to use for their lifetime and return to the pool upon their death. As long as the pool fed the world, they said, life would go on.

(and if the pool was shallower than it might once have been, who was to know? There were few left alive who had seen a world before the Fall, and fewer still who had any idea of measuring that world’s vitality. The important thing was that there was enough for plants to grow, for children to be born, for the wild to flourish and be cultivated for the needs of humanity.)

News quickly spreads that some of the old gods have returned to the world, but although many wait with bated breath none of them display the full power of their past. Some do announce themselves, and their followers flock to them. Some humans take issue with this, whether they perceive a threat or simply do not believe the old gods have any right to rule. Either way, there are wars. Whether under an ancient banner or a new one, humans fight humans for what they believe - all sides secure in their conviction that they are doing what is right for humanity.

In time, things settle. The world heals and grows. Humanity begins a new era, new patterns in new places if not necessarily new stories. Civilisation spreads out from the ancient citadels as the land comes to sustain it.

Evinar the Sage travels the world with a band of what he will not call followers, only companions. He is content to be led by others. There is a certain peace in that.

Marius the Knight and Telisi the Dervish disappear from the world, enjoying a well-earned time of quiet and each other’s company…

…but the Dervish was never one for sitting still, and the Knight has much to see of the world he gave a hundred years of his life for. Later, they travel too, and delight in the small things.

People live and people die. Knowledge of what came before is kept, both its warnings and its tantalising possibilities intact for future generations.

This is a new world, and at the same time, the only world there has ever been. It begins again. It continues.

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GM headcanons prompted by Facebook comments:

Carrimorne
Jaron and I discussed this tonight. The general shape of it is:

The word goes out among the Blades, and from them among the people everywhere: Carrimorne is returned. But she doesn’t announce herself or try to claim a throne (her own citadel is ruined). Well aware of the human forces who would prefer to see her dead, Carrimorne leads her Blades from the shadows. It is known that she has a human body, but very few people would know her on sight. In fact she soon moves between bodies on a regular basis, thanking one host for their service and then taking a new one. It makes it harder for her to be betrayed, even if her Blades could be broken.

The world still needs justice, and Carrimorne still wishes to see sin punished wherever it occurs. However, she decides that the time for the Curse of Judgement has passed. Humanity should build their own justice systems which are fair and accountable; atonement and punishment don’t need to be dealt impersonally any more. Blades are sent out to be agents of justice answerable to their fellows as well as to their goddess. And if someone exploits the loopholes of a justice system… well, that would be a sin, wouldn’t it?

(basically, Carrimorne becomes a Shadow Broker of Justice, hopping bodies and locations so she can’t be assassinated and trying to set up something that would survive her)

Messahl
As I have discussed with a few people already, Messahl couldn’t stop the Divine Kingdom from putting him back on the throne is he wanted to!

He would announce himself, both because he loved his citadel and his people and because now that he’s aware ofthe civil war he feels a responsibility to put it right. He verifies that the divine bloodline is not descended from him, and declares that the Fox Fern ‘infidels’ should be allowed to rejoin the city in peace. He also states that the deception was done with the best intentions and helped to preserve the kingdom, and he does not want any repercussions against members of the bloodline, who are blameless.

Both sides are likely to acclaim him as Divine King of Messakai, an honour he can hardly refuse. The court would offer to provide him a body ‘more fitting’ than the blind man he arrived as, but Messahl would stick with Musashi for as long as Musashi wanted that. When his host grew old or ready to move on, the expectation would be for Messahl to take a new one. Surviving members of Queen Teiyo’s family would be first to volunteer, but Messahl politely refuses them (“we cannot heal the wounds of your past by continuing the same line, my friends”). In response the Order of the Divine Bride has many suitable candidates for him to choose from, and will continue to offer such as long as Messahl the Eternal rules.

An ever-living spirit-king moving between human bodies is not something that all the world is comfortable with, of course, and Messakai is embroiled in a number of wars over the years defending their new Divine Kingdom. They endure, though. And ultimately, Messahl is pretty chill as far as eternal tyrants go, and mostly wants what’s best for the people in his realm.

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