Whisper was in full teacher mode.
“The most important thing about combat in a BC is that our stats don’t seem to be applied to our skills.” The silver man twirled a flame between his fingers. “Since there aren’t a lot of Gods who are willing to open up Their Mantles for research, and even fewer that are willing to share that research, you end up with only what is passed down to a Godling who is being prepared to take a city.” He nodded at Kara. “Usually there are Diety Classes in a God’s personal guard and some of those get allocated to the Godling, so they can learn about how things work, but those are very few.” He began walking back and forth in front of us. “The safest personal guard comes from descendants, but new Gods rarely have that option, so they have to pull from regular Adventurers that they trust or Deity classes that They might discover along the way that aren’t beholden to a God already.” He looked at me. “Occasionally, there are Godlings that aren’t registered, like Atlas, or Gibboram that fall through the cracks like Ether, but most of the Gods will have Their children added to a list of non combatives with the Gods of a Ward.”
“So does that mean that all the Gods know who my parents are?” I glanced over at Harror, who seemed to be giving Justia a lecture as well.
“Doubtful.” Whisper shrugged. “But I’m not privy to that information, but if They did know about you before, then I doubt they’d have let you just disappear.” He looked at the throne. “Though Mive is known for helping to hide Godlings, but those are only the ones who haven’t been declared.”
“Why would a God want to declare a child?” Ether folded her arms in front of her.
“Having a child be declared is a way to let the kid live a semi-normal life. The other Gods in the Ward won’t be able to go after them and will even go out of Their way to protect them if they are in Their city, since They wouldn’t want a Desolation to happen.”
That sounded like a pretty good life to me. “So why wouldn’t a God declare their child?”
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Whisper shook his head. “It puts the child under a lot of scrutiny and most Wards require the child to be banned from being able to take a city as long as their parent is alive. If all the Gods in a Ward are from the same family, then it can be seen as a country in itself. That’s the main reason why children are supposed to be limited. Too many Godlings running around without Cities to take would result in too many civilian deaths due to Desolations. Start having too many kids and you can be seen as trying to make a grab for power and the other Gods will come in and cull you to stop a larger war from breaking out.”
He grinned and shook his head. “Then there’s Nevah. That old God has got descendants all over the place. In fact, I think there's one in every Ward. And if He didn’t have a universal non-aggression treaty in place, He probably would have been taken out a long time ago.”
That was the God that Whisper thought was actually my father. It felt strange to think that I could have so much family all over when I’d grown up thinking that I was all alone.
“So why have a kid in secret?” Ether looked at her sister, then at me.
“Because Gods are horny?” Whisper shook his head. “Think about it. A God can live for hundreds if not over a thousand years. If you’re limited to two kids in that time, how fast are you going to hit that quota? And how scrutinized are Their kids going to be?” He nodded at Kara. “She can’t answer this, but for you to be in here, that means your mother IS a Goddess. Which means that there is a chance that one of your siblings could be as well.”
I could tell by the look on her face that Ether hadn’t thought of that. The look that Kara was giving off was as neutral as possible.
“So what happens is this theoretical sibling, then has kids and one of them is a Godling?” Whisper turned back to me. “Just because of the chance of continuing the line, by declaring a child, you’ve cut them off from creating a power base and put all of their children under a microscope. To give their children a chance at a normal life, most will hide them among the Nobility.”
Whisper looked at us as he waited for what he had said to sink in. “But I’m not one of the Gods, so what do I know?” He shrugged. “My parents weren’t declared and I still didn’t have a normal life. But that’s enough about the politics of the Gods. We need to learn about how to fight in the Chamber for whenever the Demons come back.”
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