text; @Goldilocks, after April fight

[likemybooks]

[Everyone has to know. Some saw what happens to Ereshkigal during the fight, some only know that she disappeared. As the one responsible, Taryon feels he's deserved the position on breaking the bad news to ll Outsiders.]

It is with a heavy heart that I must relay to you all that our friend Ereshkigal is not with us any longer.

She was thrown into a Rift by the kaiju and vanished.

She fought valiantly and tried to protect me even in her last moments.

I'm sorry. I wish we didn't suffer such a heavy loss in this fight.

- Taryon Darrington

Comments

@AUO

[gilgamess]

I would not presume that she is dead.

Even if that is the case, it is not out of the realm of possibility that she may stage a return. It would not be the first time something of the sort has happened.

Death is a somewhat different sort of matter for us as Servants, and Ereshkigal is a goddess no less.

As the queen of the Underworld, she has a more intimate connection with death than any other being. Death is the ultimate eventuality of all life in the universe, and none would respect it more than she. All the better that, if this is the end, she went out gloriously in a battle. We may in that case hold proper reverence for her memory...

Besides, having died twice myself, it is not so bad.

Yet, I still certainly do not presume that this is indeed "the end."

[ Not that Gilgamesh has forgotten the talk they had upon his arrival about this world and the Throne and what death might mean or not mean here...

Troublesome that she should caution him and then POTENTIALLY go and get herself killed ... if that is indeed the case. But from what he knows of the Rifts, and reading these conversation threads, it sounds far from a guarantee that this is a demise so much as it might be a transportation to somewhere. ]

In fact, if she fell through a Rift, it may be that she has a greater view of the enemies of LILITH than we do. I see some discussion of a rescue party. Such a thing should be organized, but there must be strategic considerations involved. Depending on how the Rifts relate to the kaiju on the other side, there could be perils.

[likemybooks]

[This guy sounds like he knows a lot more about how gods work than Taryon, and his theories make sense. It makes sense. Ereshkigal is strong. She can survive.

And if...no, when she comes back, she'll know more than anyone else about the kaiju.]

I never got to ask: what exactly is a Servant? Are you protected from certain effects? Do you survive most things that will kill a normal man?

She said she doesn't have her full powers here. Being a goddess isn't going to help, I'm afraid.

[gilgamess]

Indeed. A Servant is the spirit of a summoned hero, sometimes a demigod, or sometimes a god or goddess themselves, summoned into a container or vessel. We cannot be harmed by modern weapons unless they are imbued with magic.

However, how this world affects us, I am still figuring out. It does seem I do not have access to my full treasury, and I am finding limitations which feel more... human-like. The exact parameters for us both remain unknown. But even if her power is diminished in some capacity, she should still have more than many others.

Besides, power aside, having been here for long enough, she should have acquired weaponry and knowledge as well.

[likemybooks]

[That explains some things about Ereshkigal: Ratio mentioning a contract with her, the fact that she's a goddess out here on the mortal plane...So is Gilgamesh also a god? Was Tezcatlipoca a Servant?

Wow.]

Who summons you? Apart from people like LILITH? I can only guess based on what I know of my world, but usually it's people with close ties to the gods that can summon beings from other planes. Not counting necromancers of course.

But it's up to the summoner's own power to have their patron be as helpful as possible. If LILITH isn't all that magically strong, that could explain why you are weaker here.

[gilgamess]

[ Gilgamesh is a demigod, a unique sort of existence, but Taryon is generally on the right track with that train of thought. ]

Generally, we are summoned by magi. Masters. So, it is similar enough to what you assume.

I cannot speak to LILITH's quantity of mana, or magical energy... but hm. That theory would indeed make some sense, actually. I had thought it might be that this is another dimension, or an issue with the affinity between summoner and summoned... but it might indeed be that the mana is not quite sufficient. That is a consideration in our world, and this one has an already apocalyptic quantity. During my era, the Age of the Gods, the mana on Earth was also quite higher than in later times, allowing for what one might "miracles" to be more ordinary.

[likemybooks]

If that's the case in your world, that there was once tangible magic, the our homes may have been more similar in the distant past. Anyone could potentially wield magic where I come from, but you have to study and train to make use of powerful spells. Summoning a known figure would be pretty wild even in Exandria.

So what happened to all of the mana? Did it leave with the gods? Could that be what happened here?

Just some thoughts I'm having. Earth is a very strange place to someone like me.