Well, I'm still not sure how well they fit, but I think I'll just post this now anyway; you can tell me if you think it's problematic for purposes of the existing mythology. All the Rivanna stuff can be cleanly removed anyway, and this can in particular since Rivanna's entry itself has a(n apparent) resolution of its own.
I left the outcome ambiguous for similar reasons to the ambiguous end of Volanna's chapter, and I'm hoping this also ensures that it fits in with the rest of the game's existing lore. If so, I'll post the others too sometime soon(ish).
Stonewarden Wrote:Chapter 5: Sarcodes Cycle
Deep in an inner cloister, Lord Fodran Thras met the stony eyes of the temple's keeper. Slowly, carefully weighing each word, in the deep and powerful voice that befitted a lord of the Khazad, he said, "They have been of great service, Stonewarden. Nor have they done any deed that would cast shame upon their honored names. They ask but little of us. How in good faith can we turn them now away?"
Quietly, hands folded piously before him, his eyes cast down to seek the wisdom of the great Mother below, Ninth Stonewarden Ondrak Khar replied, "Then think you that their dealings with us have been in good faith?"
Lord Fodran stirred and shook his head, not in answer to the question. "Had they said truly whence they came, and who would eat of the food we brought, it would have done more harm than what they did. We might have seen in them a separate invasion, and divided our forces even as we refused their aid."
The Stonewarden's eyes were on him, stern and questioning. "I ask if their dealings have been in good faith, and you answer that their deception has benefited us."
With a slow, deep sigh, Lord Fodran rose and began to pace the little cloister. "Their dealings with us have been honest, and yes, they were made in good faith, for they have done all that they promised. Their identity they concealed from us, and perhaps they suppose it still concealed, though our suspicions have been many times confirmed. Our secret eyes in the mountains now have even seen their hunters practicing their craft upon the surface. Yet I say that their identity and their dealings are not the same, and their deception merely enabled the deal which they faithfully have kept."
Lord Thras frowned beneath his beard, as though his words did not quite ring true even in his own ears, and the Stonewarden asked him, "Think you that is all that their deception has done?" His eyes found Lord Fodran's once again. "Yet you spoke of that already; at least they have not by their actions desecrated stolen names. Yet you say that they hunt in the wilds? Why, if they receive all that they need from beneath the earth?"
With a slow shrug, Lord Fodran answered, "Hunt they do, and gather such herbs as still can be obtained. They are elves; perhaps they crave other meats to supplement the pork we share with them, and greener things to eat." He paused, swallowing his disgust at the notion of elven food, and giving Stonewaren Khar time to do the same. "They may have other reasons though," he added soberly. "They may be aware that their future is tenuous while it depends upon our generosity, whether because they fear that we will detect their ruse eventually, or because they suspect when we no longer need them, we may prove unfaithful."
The Stonewarden raised one dark and shaggy brow. "Do you suppose we needed them at any time?"
Lord Fodran had to look away. "For the Khazad? For the Underhome?" He shook his head. "You need not remind me that we need no help to survive and to remain strong." But even as he said it, he met Ondrak's eyes once more. "They still have been of great value; many live today who would have died without their aid. Tell those, or tell their families, that we did not need our friends when this deep winter led so many creatures of the world above to try their luck and strength and lives against our defenses."
For a long moment, their eyes held, but at last, Stonewarden Ondrak bowed his head, and consulted as ever with She Who Dwells Beneath. "You would persuade me, then," he murmured, "that they perform their craft well, though their craft is the art of illusion; that they deal honestly with us though they do so under stolen names; that we must continue to give them the little that they ask in order to repay the debt of gratitude we have incurred."
Nodding slowly, Lord Thras answered, "It is what I feel, and the reason I have come to consult with you."
Once more, the Stonewarden nodded, and then there was a meditative silence as he bowed low over his clasped hands, facing the holy earth below. When he straightened at last, he had his answer. "You may be right that we would not have trusted them had they spoken only truth, and if so, we must learn to better know friend from foe: It is never wise to trust more deeply where you are deceived than where you are confronted with the truth. Yet let us not heap folly upon folly by letting their deception stand. There is no good faith in a stolen name, but a transgression may be forgiven when it has done no harm, or when recompense is made, if it is owned. This then I will proclaim: We must make the true nature of the aid we have received known to all who once believed the lie we were told; and if our willingness to bring them gifts arises from the value of their aid and not the love of the honored dead whose names they stole, then let us not perpetuate the lie on either side. Let them not think our gifts to them are meant for our honored dead, but give them the opportunity, when they know the deal will hold, to own and to admit the truth we know."
Lord Fodran slowly ran one thick and heavy hand across the back of a cloister chair. "It is a test of their true friendship that you propose then," he said at length. "It seems a weighted test though: Who among us could emerge into their midst to deliver this message of ours without giving them cause to fear that we are come to repel them from our caves? I would not risk the conflict that might arise then from mere misunderstanding, nor risk the life of any of my men by making him my messenger."
"I shall be the messenger myself, should our people approve this choice," the Ninth Stonewarden answered. "For am I not warden to this part of the Underhome? Coming alone and in holy orders, I can hardly fill their hearts with dread, and I shall try if I can to speak to them from within the tomb where we have left our gifts for them. My life I set at less value than the Way of the Earthmother and the course our people follow - we and any who would be our friends. For in my teachings I have shared the strength of the stone with each of you, and so you all shall be protected, whether I live or die, by the true shield of our faith."
I left the outcome ambiguous for similar reasons to the ambiguous end of Volanna's chapter, and I'm hoping this also ensures that it fits in with the rest of the game's existing lore. If so, I'll post the others too sometime soon(ish).