Founding The Great Church
The statue was never forgotten by any of the Holy Ones. Though they put aside arguing about it for a time, hiding it under Terak’s great chair, occasionally one of the Lords of Good would mention it and the shouting would begin anew.
After some time of this, Darmon grew tired of the ceaseless arguing. “It is quite clear that we will never agree on what this statue represents. Clearly, it is important that we decide this matter, or Heaven shall be sundered over a lump of rock.”
Darmon had ever a honeyed tongue and the gods could not help but agree with him. “What does my clever brother suggest?” Aymara asked. Darmon suggested the statue be destroyed, which was not a popular notion. Each of the gods presented a different way to resolve the problem, each more ludicrous than the last, until at last Anwyn, the gentle little sister, suggested that the gods pluck a lowly mortal from the world and have him tell them what he saw. He would be beyond guile and other such problems, for he would be the simplest fellow they could find. And so Darmon set out to tour the mortal sphere and find such a mortal. One day he stumbled on a drunken shepherd asleep in his pasture after a night of long drinking. He grabbed this fellow by the collar and shouted at him, “Awake, shepherd! For you have much to do! You must resolve a great dispute among my family.” and he took the shepherd to the Celestial Palace. As would soon become apparent, this drunken shepherd was in fact a religious scholar. Named Saint Hefasten (HEH-fuh-stun) the Wise, he had been exiled by the king of his country, for the monarch was jealous of his wisdom and influence. At the time, each of the gods had a church dedicated to his or her honor, but faith in all the Gods of the Tree had never been unified. Hefasten, a scholar and faithful member of Morwyn’s Healing Halls, was known as a peacemaker and had negotiated settlements in many conflicts between churches. Despondent at his exile, Hefasten found shelter with a poor family in a neighboring land. After four years of drunken ostracism, the wise man found himself taken by Darmon to an opulent house. There he was surrounded by a large family of the most beautiful people he had ever beheld. It took him only a moment to realize he stood before the gods in their mortal guises, but before he could prostrate himself and make proper obeisance, the woman at the head of the family spoke: “What is your name, simple shepherd?” “My name is Hefasten, who was once Hefasten the Wise, and is now Hefasten the Drunk, milady Morwyn, the compassionate.” So saying, he fell to his knees and touched his forehead to the ground three times, as is fitting. This was precisely what the gods had not wanted. Instead of a simple peasant, they had a religious leader, and one who had sworn himself to Morwyn. The Holy Ones began to argue once more, and thunder shook the heavens. At last, they came to a solution: “Hefasten, who was once the Wise, we would ask this of you: Help us solve a riddle,” Tinel said to the blessed shepherd. “But before we ask for your aid, we ask that you cast aside your worship of my sister, Morwyn. We ask that instead you swear that you will give homage to each of us equally, and swear to obey us all when we have need of your service.” To this Hefasten agreed. Once he had done so, the gods asked him what he saw when he looked at the statue. And when he gazed at it, he beheld the likenesses of all the Lords of Heaven standing before him. When he said so, “I see all of you,” the argument was resolved. For indeed it was a statue of them all. They gave Hefasten the statue and returned him to his flock. The scholar journeyed back to his homeland with the lump of marble upon a cart, and he went about the land preaching the worship of the Lords of Good together, without exclusion. The king who had exiled him was converted upon beholding the statue—which seemed to him a magnificent statue in his own likeness—and, when he heard it was a gift from the gods, he built for Hefasten the Wise a great cathedral in which to house it. It rests there today, the central cathedral of The Great Church.
Darmon had ever a honeyed tongue and the gods could not help but agree with him. “What does my clever brother suggest?” Aymara asked. Darmon suggested the statue be destroyed, which was not a popular notion. Each of the gods presented a different way to resolve the problem, each more ludicrous than the last, until at last Anwyn, the gentle little sister, suggested that the gods pluck a lowly mortal from the world and have him tell them what he saw. He would be beyond guile and other such problems, for he would be the simplest fellow they could find. And so Darmon set out to tour the mortal sphere and find such a mortal. One day he stumbled on a drunken shepherd asleep in his pasture after a night of long drinking. He grabbed this fellow by the collar and shouted at him, “Awake, shepherd! For you have much to do! You must resolve a great dispute among my family.” and he took the shepherd to the Celestial Palace. As would soon become apparent, this drunken shepherd was in fact a religious scholar. Named Saint Hefasten (HEH-fuh-stun) the Wise, he had been exiled by the king of his country, for the monarch was jealous of his wisdom and influence. At the time, each of the gods had a church dedicated to his or her honor, but faith in all the Gods of the Tree had never been unified. Hefasten, a scholar and faithful member of Morwyn’s Healing Halls, was known as a peacemaker and had negotiated settlements in many conflicts between churches. Despondent at his exile, Hefasten found shelter with a poor family in a neighboring land. After four years of drunken ostracism, the wise man found himself taken by Darmon to an opulent house. There he was surrounded by a large family of the most beautiful people he had ever beheld. It took him only a moment to realize he stood before the gods in their mortal guises, but before he could prostrate himself and make proper obeisance, the woman at the head of the family spoke: “What is your name, simple shepherd?” “My name is Hefasten, who was once Hefasten the Wise, and is now Hefasten the Drunk, milady Morwyn, the compassionate.” So saying, he fell to his knees and touched his forehead to the ground three times, as is fitting. This was precisely what the gods had not wanted. Instead of a simple peasant, they had a religious leader, and one who had sworn himself to Morwyn. The Holy Ones began to argue once more, and thunder shook the heavens. At last, they came to a solution: “Hefasten, who was once the Wise, we would ask this of you: Help us solve a riddle,” Tinel said to the blessed shepherd. “But before we ask for your aid, we ask that you cast aside your worship of my sister, Morwyn. We ask that instead you swear that you will give homage to each of us equally, and swear to obey us all when we have need of your service.” To this Hefasten agreed. Once he had done so, the gods asked him what he saw when he looked at the statue. And when he gazed at it, he beheld the likenesses of all the Lords of Heaven standing before him. When he said so, “I see all of you,” the argument was resolved. For indeed it was a statue of them all. They gave Hefasten the statue and returned him to his flock. The scholar journeyed back to his homeland with the lump of marble upon a cart, and he went about the land preaching the worship of the Lords of Good together, without exclusion. The king who had exiled him was converted upon beholding the statue—which seemed to him a magnificent statue in his own likeness—and, when he heard it was a gift from the gods, he built for Hefasten the Wise a great cathedral in which to house it. It rests there today, the central cathedral of The Great Church.
