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A Thousand Year Voyage (Elden Ring-ASOIAF) by pemmil
A Song of Ice and Fire & Elden Ring Xover Rated: T, English, Humor & Adventure, Words: 203k+, Favs: 754, Follows: 951, Published: Jul 15, 2024 Updated: Sep 5
365Chapter 4: Pastor and Septon (and the Swordhand)
Apart from an embarrassing mishap at the gate to the city, the first week following contact with the foreign civilisation turned out to be surprisingly calm for Oldtown. It had to be pointed out, however, that this state of affairs was less due to the goodwill of the residents and their openness towards the outsiders, and more due to the limited contact the locals had with the newcomers during this period.
For although both sides made certain efforts to develop economic and cultural relations between themselves, such as the inhabitants of Wisdom of the Moon opening a market near the city and the Oldtown authorities allowing unrestricted access to the city to the ship's denizens, these actions were hardly sufficient enough to breach the immense barrier separating the two civilisations.
This was because, while the prospect of trading with an uncharted market was undeniably tempting to traders from the commercial heart of Westeros, none of the city's major players wanted to risk being the first to venture into this dangerous new market. For this reason, the first few days proved to be fairly idle for the traders arriving from the ship. Although the more adventurous individual traders had already begun to venture outside the city to explore the new frontier, they were mostly just minor traders with little to offer the foreign merchants. It didn't mean, of course, that this state of affairs would continue indefinitely. The prospect of acquiring previously unheard-of goods and potentially making contact with a previously undiscovered market from beyond the sea was bound to break the dam sooner or later, beginning inter-civilisation trade in earnest. It didn't change the fact that, for the time being, such an event had not yet occurred, and the lust for profit was still battling for supremacy with a deep-seated fear of the unknown.
It was however important to mention that the lack of trust was not entirely one-sided and was also very present among the newcomers from the Lands Between. Most of the traders found on the Wisdom of the Moon were former members of the Great Caravan, persecuted by the Golden Order for their beliefs and wealth, making them extraordinarily suspicious when encountering potential, unknown customers.
The situation was not helped by the fact that, while the ship's inhabitants had been given free access to the city, they could hardly be regarded as welcome there. Human visitors didn't have it so bad yet, being able to blend in with the local population with enough effort, but members of other races became an object of interest as soon as they entered the city, whispers and covert glances thrown their way accompanying them at every turn. Naturally, not all of this interest was negative, as some of the onlookers appeared to be genuinely fascinated by the arrival of previously unheard races, but it didn't matter much. Many of the newcomers had suffered discrimination from people of the Lands Between in the past, being either enslaved or exterminated, so when, having sworn obedience to the new goddess, they experienced freedom and respect for the first time in their lives, they were not inclined to put up with mistreatment, real or perceived, from the city's inhabitants.
All of this made the first week after the historic contact between the Lands Between and Westeros surprisingly uneventful. The situation was not helped, of course, by the fact that the only one who was genuinely concerned about such a state of affairs was Leyton Hightower, Lord of Oldtown, who in the arrival of the ship saw an opportunity to acquire the knowledge and magic possessed by the visitors. By contrast, the rest of the city's leadership, aware and averse to the lord's obsession, was far more wary of the newcomers, seeing them more as a potential danger to the city's existence than a chance to gain wealth.
As for Wisdom of the Moon, apart from establishing a rudimentary trading relationship with the city, Hadwyn did not put much pressure on his subjects to undertake a more intensive relations with the city. In line with the policy of non-interference established by himself and his wife, he limited his actions solely to ensuring that traders were able to trade, without interfering in further developments in that area unless it proved necessary. Such a necessity, however, was unlikely, as the visit to Oldtown was merely the first point in an endless voyage undertaken by the ship and thus not worth any intensive effort.
Nevertheless, it was not to be said that Lord Hightower's efforts had been entirely fruitless. His tireless, one might even say tiresome, attempts to integrate the two groups led to representatives of the various factions in both the city and the ship agreeing to undertake a form of cultural/religious exchange.
One such representative was Gerold Rykker, who served as the Septon of the Starry sept located in Oldtown. This fourth son of a minor Stormlands lord was a man already past his prime, his once thick black hair long since giving way to thinning grey, but he was still a person full of energy and ambition, having successfully led the second most important sept in the realm for more than ten years. He became known among the faithful as a very charismatic and, more importantly, authentic person, making him extremely popular with both smallfolk and his brethren in the faith over the years. Although his relations with the regional nobles could sometimes prove tense, even these nobles, in their own way, respected and liked the priest's surprisingly apolitical nature, a breath of fresh air in the political swamp that was the Reach.
It was this apolitical nature, combined with the important position he held, that made Gerold the perfect candidate to carry out the first religious mission towards the visitors from overseas. Then again, calling it a religious mission may have been a bit of an overstatement, as in a conversation conducted with Gerold, Lord Hightower made it very clear that he did not wish the septon to be too pushy in his conversion attempts.
In essence, his mission amounted to nothing more than going through certain specified formalities, mostly limited to a meeting with the local priest of the ship's population in order to clarify each other's respective beliefs and, if successful, the possibility of interacting with the locals to introduce them to the basic tenets of the Faith.
While all of this meant that his visit was going to be purely political, Gerold had to admit that the prospect of being the first to introduce the Seven and their teachings to the visitors from beyond the sea evoked a certain amount of excitement in himself, the old zeal and desire for adventure reviving in his aging bones. In his youth, he had repeatedly dreamed of a similar opportunity, to bring the light of the Seven to non-believers unfamiliar with their grace, but other duties and tasks would always stop him from pursuing such a passion. Nevertheless, the Seven seemed to have taken pity on the aging Septon, as they gave him an opportunity far more wonderful than anything he could have ever dreamed of.
Unfortunately, the experience he had accumulated over the years and his innate pragmatism prevented him from getting completely caught up in the excitement. Indeed, Gerold was aware that reaching religious understanding with the outsiders could prove quite difficult given the tenets of the Holy Faith.
This was because one of the leading dogmas of the Holy Faith was the primacy of the human race over other creatures of the world. This was not a controversial statement when the only examples of intelligent non-humans were the legends of the children of the forest and the vague accounts of giants living beyond the wall, but such dogma would encounter great difficulties when dealing with a civilization in which creatures of all kinds lived on a par with humans, working and traveling side by side with them.
Gerold himself personally saw no problem in teaching the truth of the Seven to creatures different from humans. He firmly believed that every thinking creature deserved to be welcomed into the embrace of the Seven, every one of them deserving to know their divine grace. He knew, however, that news of the outsiders would soon spread far and wide across the realm, and that among the thousands of brothers and sisters in Westeros there would be many who would have their own ideas about the role of non-humans in the divine order. Role that probably wouldn't be received well by the ship's inhabitants.
A certain part of the Septon also feared that the ship's inhabitants' religion, of which he knew nothing as of yet, might prove to be completely incompatible with the one followed in Westeros, perhaps even being hostile to it. There was a chance that the ship's inhabitants, though seemingly peaceful, had more in common with the priests of R'hllor and their bloody rituals than with the dogmas of the Faith. Admittedly, the level of sophistication and technology displayed by the foreign civilisation made the probability of these fears coming true unlikely, Old Valyria and its horrors made it clear that development and power did not always go hand in hand with morality and compassion.
Regardless of the nature of the newcomers' religion, however, his task was clear.
After leaving the city, Gerald headed leisurely towards a small patch of land to the west of the city that had been temporarily given to the visitors to use for the duration of their stay. The journey there was quite pleasant due to the nice weather and warm temperature, as so typical in the Reach, and the guards stationed densely on the roads made the journey smooth and uneventful.
It wasn't long before the Septon reached his destination, an area stretching over two acres of land, including a strip of seashore and a connected meadow used by the ship's inhabitants for their own purposes.
As the man made his way towards the makeshift settlement located in the said meadow, where he was to meet a priest appointed by Lord Hadwyn, the ship, known as Wisdom of the Moon according to the rumours, revealed itself in all its glory, towering over the entire area.
In the shadow of the ship was the settlement itself, though its size and quality made it look like a reasonably aged village, rather than the foothold established just a week ago. While initially he was surprised by the stone buildings and sturdy enclosures he encountered upon entering the settlement, the man recognised that it was most likely the result of the staggering construction skills of the ship's inhabitants, which had been already demonstrated by the extensive improvements made to the Oldtown harbour just a week prior.
Despite the many things that drew attention in this extraordinary place, what particularly moved Gerold about the settlement was the fact that, though it was essentially no different from any other settlement in the Reach in terms of its purpose, the identity of its inhabitants and the livestock they reared gave the village an almost fairytale-like quality.
For as he walked through the settlement, passing the villagers who watched him with some curiosity in their eyes, he noticed fantastic sights, closer to the songs of bards than to reality. Everywhere he looked, he saw huge, hulking colossi and other creatures working side by side with humans in constructing new buildings and various other structures with tools both familiar and unfamiliar to him, their cooperation harmonious and untainted by the anticipated fear and distrust. Some distance away, on a beach clearly visible in the light of the sunny day, Gerold could see humanoid entities made of crystal working together with small, grey child-like creatures, together engaged in the peaceful husbandry of animals completely unfamiliar to the man, ranging from unfamiliar small, black and white birds to the mysterious balls of Tentacles, slowly moving with their slimy extremities inside an enclosure spread out on the sea line. The pens in the nearby meadow also hid animals completely unfamiliar to the Septon, such as dog-sized animals, a strange combination of spider and scorpion, wandering peacefully in the grass under the watchful eye of the farmers watching over them.
At one point, Gerold thought he noticed a normal sight in this place full of wonders, as his eyes fell on sheep walking in a nearby field, which, apart from the golden colour of their wool, were no different to the farm animals one would find in every other farm in the Reach. This impression was immediately shattered, however, when, at the sound of a tree being felled nearby, the animals panicked, curling up in a ball and rolling away to safety. This absurd sight, once the initial shock had settled, brought a genuine smile to Gerold's face, this disarming and unexpected spectacle causing him some long-needed amusement.
Although he found that observing the settlement and the idyllic harmony there brought him unexpected pleasure, everything had to eventually end. For at some point he crossed the village boundary, his footsteps carrying him towards a stone structure visible in the distance, where he had been told to go by Lord Hightower during their conversation.
As he approached the said structure, situated on a flowery hill south-west of the settlement, it became clear that he was looking at a small stone temple, to the best of his knowledge built only after the arrival of visitors to Oldtown. Although the building itself was not particularly grand, not much larger than a typical village sept, the material from which the building was constructed, the details covering its walls and the fact that it had been erected in less than a week left Gerold in considerable awe.
In the front of the building's entrance, leaning on one of the pillars, stood an unfamiliar figure, who had been observing him in silence for a while. The figure distinguished themselves significantly from their surroundings, as they were covered entirely in heavy, dark plate armour of a type he had never seen before. The armour itself was intricately crafted, with a multitude of fine details adorning its various components, and evoked a sense of great unease in Gerold. Indeed, the armour was extremely intimidating, with a terrifying visor obscuring the wearer's face and long, curved blades rising from the helmet and epaulettes.
"Gerold Rykker?" He was half-convinced that the motionless figure was merely a building feature, designed to frighten visitors, when a melodious, calm voice reached him from beneath the armour. Although the armour itself was completely genderless, the figure's voice suggested that Gerold was dealing with a woman.
For a moment, the idea of a woman wearing heavy armour, a garment reserved for a man in virtually any civilised country, caused the man some surprise, but with some amusement Gerold realised that this was probably the least surprising thing he had observed so far in the village of the outsiders. It was certainly less strange than the rolling sheep from before.
"Yes, that would be me." Gerold replied, fighting the smile creeping onto his face at the memory of these delightful animals. Somehow he managed to do so, though it was difficult. "And you might be...?"
"...I am Jolán, a knight in the service of Lord Hadwyn. By his command, I am currently charged with protecting the Honorable Miriel." The woman replied after a moment, her voice bordering between neutral and bored, as if the function she was performing did not excite her very much. It also didn't seem like she was paying much attention to Gerold, interacting with him purely out of a sense of obligation. "Come, his excellency awaits you."
"I see. In that case, please lead the way." Gerold replied with a gentle smile, only for her to ignore him completely, turning away without a word and opening the metal doors of the building.
Once they were inside the temple, an unexpected sight appeared to Gerold's eyes.
The first thing that caught the Septon's attention was the rich vegetation that covered the entire temple. Where the man had expected to see a stone or wooden floor, instead there was a lush growth of grass and flowers, most likely the same ones that had grown there before the temple was built. For some reason, the builders decided to leave the natural surface in place, limiting themselves to only erecting walls to serve as a marker separating the interior from the rest of the field. Significantly, the building seemed to have no ceiling, so sunlight easily illuminated the flora within.
The interior of the temple itself seemed almost empty, save for a beautiful white marble sculpture of a woman at the end of the temple, seemingly emerging from the pool of water below, and a large, irregular boulder located in the very centre of the temple...
No, wait a minute…
It was not a boulder. The object looked too smooth for a natural rock formation, and the regular carvings on its surface formed a cluster of different shapes, one that Gerold found vaguely familiar. Although it was hard for the man to believe, he was currently looking at a huge...turtle shell?
"Honorable Miriel." Indifferent to the Septon's confusion, Jolán spoke back towards the motionless shell, causing it to stir unexpectedly. 'That man you spoke of, Gerold Rykker, has come to see you."
Gerold jolted in surprise when long, thick limbs began to slowly emerge from the sides of the huge shell, and a turtle's head slid out from an indentation at the front. Most surprisingly, on the reptile's head was a pointy white headdress, giving the animal, as absurd as it may have sounded, a wise look.
Given that this turtle only emerged at the mention of Gerold's arrival...no, there was no way. It was just impossible.
The world seemed intent on proving the man wrong, however, for the next moment a slow, surprisingly gentle voice came from the turtle's mouth, halting any thoughts racing through the Septon's head.
'Is that so?...thank you, Jolán' the turtle (talking turtle!) looked at Gerold with calm eyes, as if giving him a silent appraisal, before turning to him and inclining his head gently in a gesture of respect. "I am pleased to meet you Gerold of House Rykker. I am Miriel, steward of this sacred chamber. I have been told that we have many...Oh? Has something happened? You look rather distressed."
"...What...I don't...I mean...yes, I apologize for my behavior." Gerold replied with some difficulty, still trying to pull himself together after the discovery of his interlocutor's reptile nature. While he was aware that his behaviour could be seen as disrespectful, some things just couldn't be accepted out of hand. "Please don't take this the wrong way, honourable Miriel, I just find it hard to believe that I am talking to a...turtle. I don't mean this as an insult in your direction of course, you must know however that the turtles around here are not...good conversation partners."
Miriel made a humming noise, tipping its grey head and seemingly giving Gerold's words a profound consideration.
"Truly? Well, I suppose it makes a certain amount of sense. Although turtles in the Lands Between have always been seen as a symbol of wisdom, that doesn't mean they will be treated the same everywhere or that every turtle will be capable of holding a conversation." The turtle finally replied, giving out a soft chuckle at the thought. "I am sure that we, too, will soon experience true astonishment when we come across sights in these lands that will leave us stunned. Such is the beauty of the world, I suppose."
Though Gerold sincerely doubted it, aware of how absurd the newcomers from these 'Lands Between' were compared to the almost entirely mundane Westeros, he decided to keep the comment to himself, not wanting to offend his counterpart who had only just forgiven him for his undignified conduct.
"In any case, young Hadwyn has informed me that you are interested in learning more about our beliefs, am I right?" Miriel asked, giving the man his full attention.
"Ah, yes. As you might expect, your appearance has caused quite a stir in Oldtown. We still don't know much about you, so Lord Hightower has decided to ask me to delve into the subject, if only to avoid making any diplomatic gaffes in the future." The septon replied easily.
"That is a truly commendable approach." The turtle priest applauded. "Many would consider learning about other religions to be pointless, false beliefs offering nothing of value, but I am pleased to see that you are not one of these people. In truth, I believe that the accumulation of knowledge and the exploration of others' beliefs brings us closer to the truth, whatever it may be. All things can be conjoined, as I have always said."
"It is hard to disagree with that statement." Gerold allowed, inwardly wondering how to interpret the priest's words.
While they were undoubtedly rational and close to his heart, they could just as well be evidence that the deity worshipped by Miriel was close to the Many-Faced God, which could be advantageous or disadvantageous depending on the circumstances. For now, however, he decided to give the turtle the benefit of a doubt.
"Is that so? I'm glad you feel that way. In my life I have unfortunately met many who are quite repelled by this philosophy' chuckled Miriel innocently, before turning his leathery grey head towards Jolán, who was currently standing not far away, merely listening to the ongoing conversation without much interest. 'Jolán, could you please prepare something to drink for me and my guest? Our conversation will probably take some time, and I'm sure the journey here may have left him a little parched. Ah, for me, water will suffice."
"Of course." the woman said formally, then addressed Gerold in a much more casual, even rude tone, "And you? What do you want?"
"Herbal Tea would be nice, thank you." Gerold replied simply. After hearing this, the woman turned on her heel and left the temple without a word, leaving the two men(?) alone.
"Please don't judge Jolán too harshly. She has had a hard life before entering Lord Hadwyn's service. It will take her some time before she learns the...let's call it more complex social cues." Miriel said as he watched the armored woman leave the temple.
"Don't worry, her behaviour was not an issue. In fact, I found it quite refreshing." The septon said with a smile. As of late, all the people he encountered, whether they were nobles or smallfolk, referred to him with reverent respect, so meeting someone who was so obviously unconcerned with his status was surprisingly endearing.
"I'm glad to hear that." the turtle said with some relief, though it was clear that he too was genuinely amused by the knight's comically hostile behaviour. "Returning to our earlier conversation, I understand you would like to learn more about the religious customs of the lands between?"
"If that is the name of the realm you come from then yes. I would be very grateful for any information on that subject," Gerold replied, bracing himself.
"Is there anything in particular you would like to know? As you can imagine, it's quite a broad topic." Miriel asked.
"Well, I think I should probably start with the first question that comes to mind in a situation like this. Could you please tell me what god or gods you worship?"
"Worship? This is an interesting and deceptively difficult question to answer. Well, it is mainly because there is no single correct answer. Some will probably say that they worship Marika the eternal, some worship the dragon god, and some worship yet other gods, seen and unseen. The truth is that the people of Wisdom of the Moon do not have a standardised belief system. Perhaps that is a good thing, given what happened the last time such a system existed." replied Miriel enigmatically, his voice growing somber at the end.
"May I take it that your belief system recognises the existence of many gods? Are you polytheists?" Gerold enquired.
"Hah, perish that thought! Everyone on the ship will admit that they only worship one god, not acknowledging the others. The only problem is figuring out which god they are referring to." Replied the amused turtle, his words confusing Gerold. He could not imagine how such a system could work. Mortals choosing gods according to preference and rejecting the others? It sounded all the more...vulgar. "If it was necessary, however, to name the god to whom we, as both the ship and the realm, are closest to, it would probably be young lady Ranni, princess of the House of Caria."
"Lord Hadwyn's wife is your god?" Gerold asked with some surprise, recognising the name given by the turtle and trying to understand how such a system would work. It took him a while, but eventually he came up with the answer that seemed most appropriate. "Do you mean that your people belive the existence of god-kings? Something similar to the faith practised in Yi Ti, where it's believed that emperors rule because of a mandate from the heavens? Thus, only the ruler of the state is recognised as 'god', while all other claimants are rejected?"
The man didn't know if such a system had any right to work, not knowing much about Yi Ti beyond the few rumours coming from across the sea, but such an answer was the only one that made any sense. As it turned out, however, his suspicions were completely wrong, and the truth was far stranger than he might have expected.
"No. While I am not familiar with the land you speak of, it bears no resemblance whatsoever to the Lands Between. No one has 'given' Lady Ranni the right to rule, at least not voluntarily." Tortoise replied, smiling a little at some joke only he knew. "Lady Ranni is not a god-king. She is a god in truth, serving no one and having power over the entire world. It is upon her, and her alone, that the right and the duty to watch over the world now rests."
"You... You really believe that your leader rules the world? Not in the context of the right of conquest, but in the most literal sense, where she decides everything that happens in the world?" Gerold replied sceptically, not even knowing how to respond to this crazy claim. Even leaving aside his inner thoughts as a follower of the Seven, the beliefs presented by Miriel simply did not make sense. "If I'm understanding correctly, your 'goddess' is merely a princess. Not even a queen, but a princess. I'm sure she's a benevolent ruler, worthy of your devotion, but she is still just a tangible person who serves a normal, mundane function among her subjects. Can someone like that be considered a god?"
"And what do you believe is the definition of a god then?" Asked Miriel good-naturedly. Although Gerold was aware that he had overstepped by openly questioning the priest's beliefs, the turtle seemed not to take it to heart, in fact looking somewhat pleased by the question. "Do you think that a god should be some sort of unseen entity, distant from its worshippers and difficult to contact? There are various such entities in and out of the world, capable of influencing the world by their actions, that would fit such a definition. They are, however, also aloof and incomprehensible, seldom worthy of following."
"And a god that lives in the same place as the faithful, bounded by their customs and beliefs, hardly feels qualified to judge the whole world." Gerold countered. "A God who makes a decision under the influence of feelings and intimacy with its believers cannot be called impartial and infallible."
"Hah, infallible gods? That would be incredibly convenient, wouldn't it? Unfortunately, gods are not like that. They are as selfish and flawed as any of us, differing from mortals only in the scale of the actions they take and their consequences." Miriel stated in a somber voice, his tone suggesting that he was describing the state of the world as it was, not as he would have wished it to be. After a moment, the mighty turtle shook his head, the smile returning to his face. "Then again, It's just my opinion. I'm sure many of the Wisdom's inhabitants believe that Lady Ranni is infallible, her tears bring rain, and her love warms the poorest on cold days. Who knows, maybe believing that would be better? It is certainly worth considering, at the very least."
After saying these words, a silence fell between the men, each of them most likely preparing a new argument supporting their interpretation of divinity, professional pride not allowing them to let their 'opponent' say the last word in the discussion. These attempts stirred Gerold's memories of the countless theological debates he had held in his youth with other brothers-in-training, bringing a smile to his face. Looking at Miriel, it seemed he too enjoyed the conversation quite a bit, based on the smile, at least Gerold thought it was a smile, forming on his face.
The activity so absorbed Gerold that he barely noticed when Jolán once again entered the temple, placing a bowl filled with water in front of Miriel and handing the startled Gerold a cup filled with steaming herbal liquor.
"Ah, thank you, my dear. I was so engrossed in a conversation with my new friend that I didn't even notice when you returned." Miriel said to Jolán, pointing with his head in Gerold's direction. Right as he did so, a glint appeared in the turtle's eye, for some reason stirring the anxiety in Gerold. The feeling turned out to be justified, as immediately afterwards Miriel did something truly unforgivable. "You could even say that you... sturtled us."
For a moment, silence fell in the temple as both Gerold and Jolán took a moment to digest the words of the turtle priest.
Once the moment had passed, however, the armoured woman let out a chuckle, completely at odds with the air of severity and mystery she had been exuding so far before, which quickly turned into a full-blown laugh, the armoured woman clutching her stomach in amusement. Miriel himself, meanwhile, seemed quite pleased with his 'joke', drinking the water handed to him with an air of self-satisfaction.
Gerold, the only normal person in the temple, merely let out a groan and looked up to the sky with a blank stare, re-evaluating his entire life so far. He must have done something wrong at some point, if his life choices led him to having deep theological debates with a turtle priest and being forced to listen to awful turtle puns it made.
He sighed. Well, it could have been worse, he supposed.
The priest could have been a dog.
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