Several interesting things are happening in Mephoria at the moment. What with the random Frog Combustion up in the Hyellia Lowlands, the mass Elven bread fight in the Ciphia Swamps, and the fact that Ian The Sharp-Eyed tripped over a rake and fell into a ravine on Tuesday, Mephoria has been a busy place. Its denizens have lots to consider, it seems.
Primarily, where exactly their loyalties lie. Mephoria has a plethora of Gods, and an even larger plethora of people wearing sheets and claiming to be Gods. But it is the creation of those Gods that has always been of interest to the people who end up killing the sheep that go on the sacrificial altar.
Lots of people believe in positive and negative energy. The idea goes that if you believe something will happen, it will, because you believed in it. It’s usually a good idea to make sure your belief is strong enough to make it happen before testing it out, though. It’s no good believing there is a large pile of mattresses at the bottom of the mountain you just fell off if you can’t even conjure up enough faith to make a spoon grow a beard if you run backwards around the dinner table three times.
These things are truer than many of the inhabitants like to believe. The thing is, if enough people start to believe something, it becomes true. The universe begins to think it is the odd one out for not knowing that a pig coated in toffee can run through fire without being harmed on a Thursday and so rearranges the laws it knows in order to make this new and strange belief real. It works the other way around too, which is why when people stopped believing in Thron the Invulnerable, he died last Wednesday when a cow looked at him severely.
The problem is, the universe has had enough, and has spoken through its conduit, the Temple of Thranaira. In the ancient structure the universe is given a voice, and it tells its disciples, The Bearers of The Way, what it is currently thinking. And the universe has spoken. Change is afoot.
What the universe has a problem with is the fact that whilst a certain amount of people have to believe in the powers of a person before they become real and a new God is created, it is by no means a majority of all the people who will then become affected by the jurisdiction of this new God. For example, only thirty per cent of the people in the village of Uck actually believed that salmon have an immense understanding of manners coupled with a thirst for revenge, yet suddenly all of the villagers found themselves having to tip their hat to the river as they crossed Uck bridge, or they find themselves slapped half to death by pink, watery ninjas.
The universe has proposed a change. It thinks that creating Gods all over the place is fine, but the system should be fairer. No more minority Gods, the universe has ruled. If someone wants to be a God, then most of the population of the area their influence would grow to affect must also agree. Not everyone needs to, of course, for there is always one person who, upon stumbling into paradise will find the most uncomfortable patch of ground to sit on and complain that the Angels are too nice and the clouds too fluffy.
The universe is presenting the people of Mephoria with a new way of choosing their deities. They must get together as villages, towns, cities or even nations and decide if Barry the Soothsayer really has enough Sooth worth hearing. If most of them agree, the universe will grant him the power to become Barry; Creator Of Sooth. If not, then he won’t. Simple.
Mephoria is heading for a new age of fairness and prosperity, one in which its Gods are fairly elected. Should they choose the new deity selection system, people will no longer have to suffer nipping out for cheese and coming back to find their chickens have been anointed.
There are of course those who oppose, and claim the system is flawed. Which way Mephoria will go remains to be seen…
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