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Gods' Bargains Behind the Barrier

Summary

Day 36 revealed that the Barrier depended on multiple bargains with gods, each apparently requiring a favour, communication to priests, and a boon, with severe hidden costs.

Known Details

  • Bridged gave a way in.
  • Noxia’s terms involved trinkets and barrier sickness caused by living near or touching the Barrier.
  • Otasha received unborn nerfili babies across the whole race, though the Barrier seemed to reduce this slightly.
  • The god of Darkness was worked around by making him the god Leptrop.
  • Ennik and Browning made many of the deals.
  • Hartwall did not know about half the deals made.
  • Ruby Eye and Carduneld discussed renegotiating some deals, breaking the inferlite curse, and addressing Barrier damage.
  • Day 42 Ashkellon offering bowls answered offerings to Bridged, Attabo, Seara / Nature, Igraine, Tor, Stitcher, and Attabre, producing warnings about safety, loss, betrayal, protection, tribute, crafted gifts, and freedom for Attabre’s children.
  • Day 43 Attabre manifested at the Ashkellon shrine, sought atonement and justice, was angry with Benu, and was connected to Goliaths receiving a protector like Trixus.
  • Day 44 old-school lore described Bright and Valentenhule as elemental-plane queens, Hannah as a priestess of Attabre, and Bynx as the baby Attabre spirit intended for the Goliaths as they became Emeraldus’s line.
  • Day 48 introduced the Vessel of Divinity: a lost part of Valentinhide said it made beings into gods, stripped something away, and left lostness behind.
  • Day 52 says the pacts are linked to the dome; if the dome ceases, the pacts cease, and all prisons release.
  • Day 55’s Papa Marmaru warning and Mericok intrusion show another dome-bound or prison-adjacent being whose consent, corruption, and identity remain uncertain.
  • Day 56 says Browning’s godhood ritual takes 1,000 years, was delayed when Soul crashed into the tower, and may now be powered by a crystal while the dome drains the party like elementals.
  • Day 57 Attabre lore says dangerous princes, a father descending to save an imprisoned child, and five others at Ground Towers led to a pact to rule one, but from afar.
  • Day 57 says the gods befriended by the party may offer gifts before the next realm, but choosing will be hard and death there may be final.
  • Day 57 says bringing down the dome remains the party’s choice, would weaken Throngore, and would not bother gods except those who benefit.
  • Day 57 adds Kasha’s merbaby soul route through the Barrier, Geldrin’s pact pressure over Guardwell’s soul, Hydran’s Pact offer, and Azar Nuri’s bargain for passageways and god-of-death manipulation.

Open Questions

  • What were all twelve divine terms?
  • Which terms are still enforceable, which have been bypassed, and which can be renegotiated?
  • Are infertility, barrier sickness, nerfili babies, and inferlite curse all results of these bargains?
  • What did the Ashkellon offering responses mean by betrayal being at hand and a gift crafted for a friend being the key?
  • How do Bright, Valentenhule, Bridged, and Attabre fit among the twelve divine terms?
  • What exactly is the Vessel of Divinity, and who should or should not hold it?
  • Which pacts would fail if the dome fell, and which released prisoners would be threats, victims, or both?
  • Is Browning’s godhood ritual another use of the same Vessel, bargain, or dome-prison mechanics?
  • Did Soul’s crash into the tower interrupt a divine ascension, a bargain payment, or a prison-power cycle?
  • Which Day 57 offers or threats are bargains the party has actually accepted: Hydran’s Pact, Azar Nuri’s terms, Throngore’s prisoner demand, and Kasha’s Guardwell pressure?