The Paths

This was an unprecedented disaster.
If only because this world had yet to fully come to be, Fate's children had never before faced strife. And having been torn in two by the invading Celestial... it wasn't surprising that the four elder gods were staying close to their creator, weepy from exhaustion and overexertion. It noted how Chaos and Order stayed close, slightly apart from Truth and Deceit, but made nothing of it.
It turned its attention back to the fallen and shattered antler of their foe. It seemed almost a shame to take all of their spoils from them, even if Fate knew that they were dealing with far more power than they could handle. But perhaps small pieces, reminders of their victory, would be safe.
Gently, it placed one piece of the shattered antler into each of the four gods hands. It told them of the dangers of misusing these pieces, and suggested they only be used if the Interloper was to return.
It looked back to the other pieces of the antler, musing. Four more tiny pieces wouldn't hurt, right? It could use them to create tomes for its children, tomes that would warn them of events such as this before they happened. To protect them! It lightly brushed a finger along four pieces. Celestial magic bloomed under its touch, the antler shards seeming to shift and reform until four books lay among the remaining shards of the antler. The books each bore the symbol of the elder god it belonged to, but their covers and indeed the pages seemed to shift and pulse with complex symbols that the gods recognized as the Celestial language. As Truth stared at the one meant for her, she could see that the symbols were describing different futures, the present, and the past...

Purpose

The Paths are a set of four books, owned by the Elder Gods. These tomes were created from pure celestial magic as a sort of warning system for additional disasters to come. The Celestial, Fate, was concerned that without this foresight, its children may not survive another attack by the Interloper.
The Paths codify the paths of fate. Each book is slightly different, showing outcomes that the owner would find positive as well as negative. The language of the book is ever-changing, making it extremely unwise for mortals to even look at them.
The elder gods consult these books in times of strife and times of peace, always seeking the most beneficial outcome.
The question is, do those outcomes always line up with one another?

Historical Details

Background

The Paths were intended to act as a warning system for the Elder Gods should the Interloper attempt to return to the planet. However, they have caused the Elder Gods to have much more agency with regards to how events occur in Tarin. If they wished, they are able to follow the threads of different decisions in order to determine how to reach the most favorable outcome to them. Of course, being Celestial magic, the favorability is defined by the God that owns the book. The same decisions that lead to a favorable outcome to Chaos, for instance, lead to an extremely distasteful one to Truth.
The Gods created a council in order to discuss their findings and reach the most favorable outcome for the majority of the Gods. Now that one of their number has been exiled, decisions are much more skewed, much to the increasing frustration of the odd one out of their ranks.

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The Paths

by CrimzN

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by ChaosTearKitsune & CrimzN

Type

Manuscript, Magical (Tome/Scroll)

Medium

Paper

Authors

• Fate

Decisions Made due to The Paths
Divine Knights were created as a direct result of these tomes. It was clear that the threat of the Interloper persisted, and the idea of mortals powered by Divine magic and trained in the arts of war was the most favorable to the Council.
Similarly, when the actions of the Gods accidentally destroyed a continent with the power of the Relics, the Paths led them to the decision of creating Vessels.
The Paths also contributed to the decisions of the Council that led to the exile of the God of Chaos.