Chapter 188: The Secret of the Gods

The earliest origins of the Andals were located on a peninsula in the north of Essos bordering the Shivering Sea, known as Axe Isle.

For unknown reasons, this people moved south and established Andalos, whose southern border consisted of plains and the Velvet Hills. They fought against the indigenous people here, such as the hairy Wildlings, and seized control of this land.

Andalos is located south of the coast of Braavos, east of the Narrow Sea, and west of the hills of Norvos. The western part of this region is plains, while moving east there are many hills, such as the Velvet Hills.

Here, the Andals developed their own culture and religious beliefs; legend has it that the Seven descended and crowned their first king, the King of the Hills, Hugo.

For the sake of distinction, Qyburn refers to the people still in the Andalos region as the Andalosians, while those who have already migrated to Westeros are called Andals.

"Not just me, the vast majority of Maesters who study gods and magic believe that this world is godless; even the Archmaesters who are extremely repulsed by magic agree with this view."

Qyburn added.

But the well-traveled Oberyn Martell did not think so.

"There is a Free City to the southeast of the Stepstones called Lys; some of their customs are enough to prove the existence of the Weeping Woman of Lys."

The crowd was puzzled and asked one after another what the evidence was.

Oberyn Martell gave a wicked smile, "One of the specialties of Lys is poison; the world's number one poison, Tears of Lys, and the world's number two poison, the Strangler, both come from here. As far as I know, the tears of the Weeping Woman of Lys are the Tears of Lys."

The Weeping Woman is another name for the Weeping Woman of Lys.

Arthur nodded, acknowledging this statement.

The biggest driving point of the main plot of Game of Thrones is Jon Arryn being poisoned to death by his wife, Lady Lysa, and the poison used was the Tears of Lys.

This is a very rare and expensive poison; its taste is as clear and sweet as water, and it can be dissolved in wine or water. It cannot be smelled or tasted, and it causes death by disrupting the stomach, like an intestinal disease, leaving no trace.

The Strangler, on the other hand, is a crystal the size of a seed; under the reflection of lamplight, it shines brightly, like a jewel, glowing with a purple light.

Although this poison is not very famous, the people it has killed are illustrious.

In the original story, Qiao Fo Li Da Di died from the Strangler at the Purple Wedding.

Oberyn Martell's nickname, "Red Viper," is because he is skilled in poisoning, and based on his knowledge of poisons, this statement should be credible.

But Arthur I was still puzzled and asked: "Then how does the Weeping Woman of Lys send the tears she sheds to the believers?"

The Red Viper took the wineskin handed over by his mistress, Ellaria Sand, and after taking a long drink, he replied:

"Shrines, the shrines dedicated to the Weeping Woman will occasionally flow with silver tears, which, after being processed by the alchemists of Lys, can become the Tears of Lys."

At this time, the army had already advanced to a relatively flat hill, and looking out, the surroundings were still large mountains.

Innes, who was leading the team in front, rode over and requested: "Your Majesty, it is now near evening, and the road ahead is all cliffs; it would be better to camp here. We should be able to reach Silverhill by noon tomorrow."

The King nodded and ordered the War Minister to go and arrange the encampment.

This army was composed of 4,000 men of the Riverlands Coalition, over 3,000 Rowan and Oakheart coalition troops, over 4,000 Tyrell and Reach family soldiers, and 4,000 Frey soldiers. Each army had its own leading nobles and Knights, so the King did not need to be personally responsible for many details.

As for Silverhill and Deep Den, 1,000 Rowan-Oakheart soldiers were left in each place; the people of the Westerlands were busy with two-front defenses and could not spare a large army to recover these two castles.

In less than half an hour, the huge tent for the King to stay in was already set up, making Arthur sigh that power is truly good.

After the servants set up the simple furniture, the discussion about gods continued.

This time, more nobles joined in: Queen Margaery, who came with the army but sat in a carriage; Lothar Frey from Raventree Hall; Clement Piper, the Count of Pinkmaiden; Hugo Vance of Yalan Cheng; Karyl Vance, the Count of Wayfarer's Rest; Saeas Rowan, a Knight of Goldengrove; and even the hostage from The Vale, Harlan Hunter, and more than twenty other nobles of sufficient status participated in this expanded meeting.

The crowd discussed whether gods existed, with most leaning toward the existence of gods, but only a few were devout believers.

This is not to blame them; many nobles' education is the responsibility of Maesters, and this group does not believe in gods, so the students they teach naturally do not have much respect for gods.

"My lords, let me share my point of view." Tyrion Lannister, who had already gotten himself five-tenths drunk, suddenly stood up and began to express his high-minded theories.

"If everyone is familiar with history, you will find that some gods are just created by the founders themselves, such as the Many-Faced God; the appearance of this god is so simple that it makes me think I could also create a religion."

The book-loving Tyrion Lannister began to explain the origin of the Many-Faced God to everyone.

This god is the deity worshipped by the Faceless Men, an assassin organization established in the Free City of Braavos. The founder of the Faceless Men realized and believed in the volcanic mines of ancient Valyria that Valyrian slaves from all over the world were praying to the same god, that is, different incarnations of the God of Death.

The Many-Faced God has many names; in Norvos, it is the "Black Goat"; in Yi Ti, it is the "Lion of Night"; in Westeros, it is the "Stranger."

"The first Faceless Man walked in the mines, listening to the prayers of many slaves, and then summarized this god; as far as I know, this god has never shown any miracles."

Tyrion said loudly.

A Reach Knight, Aiglon Oakhart, immediately spoke out in opposition: "Wrong, what the Lannister said is wrong."

The crowd asked why it was wrong, and the Knight replied:

"If we really follow the doctrine of the Many-Faced God, then every death is the Many-Faced God showing a miracle. By this count, the Many-Faced God is the god who shows the most miracles."

The nobles laughed one after another.

This was indeed a pretty good cold joke.

"Alright, everyone." Arthur stood up and began to summarize the gods.

"We now have three theories. The first is that there are no gods; the so-called gods are just explanations of magical phenomena by groups such as Warlocks, Priests, Septons, Alchemists, Moon Singers, Red Priests, Dark Sorcerers, Necromancers, Cloud Dancers, Pyromancers, Blood Witches, Nightwalkers, and so on."

For some reason, the number of magical people on the continent of Westeros is far less than on the eastern continent, where monsters and ghosts frequently appear.

The nobles listened quietly to Arthur I's words, and only a few people like Qyburn nodded in agreement with this point.

The King paused and recounted the second point of view, "The second theory is represented by the Many-Faced God and its followers, advocating for Rule Gods, which means a certain god is responsible for a certain rule of the world. For example, the God of Death; He has different names in different nations and regions, but essentially He is the same god."

This point won the approval of Tyrion, Queen Margaery, and several non-devout followers of the Seven.

"The third theory is very terrifying: all the gods with different names in this world exist, and they all have their own divinity; many gods even have overlapping divine offices, and the two compete for believers for this reason."

Oberyn Martell and the bald Innes acknowledged the third point.

The remaining majority did not express their stance; they were not very interested in gods, nor did they want to go against the King's wishes in this kind of discussion.

But Arthur I was determined to figure out the secret of the gods; if it were really like the third situation, then he could prepare for some things.

For example, intercepting the power of faith during expansion, seizing divinity, and preparing to become a god.

"I am not repulsed by any of these three theories, but I want to figure out the secret of the gods. You can continue to list evidence and try to convince me."

The King ordered the few who had already expressed their stance.

Qyburn, who had the most in his stomach, spoke first:

"Your Majesty, if we understand some basic facts, we will find that so-called gods may not really exist. For example, the soul; humans have souls, and even if the body is damaged and near the point of death, the soul will not go far. This is the ghost in the mouths of the vast majority of commoners."

This old Maester really wanted to say that he could truly capture souls and then create "people" without pain or emotion, but in this setting, he still wanted to maintain his Maester image.

After all, a considerable number of lords are very resistant to Black Magic; there is no guarantee they won't collectively write to the Citadel to strip him of his Maester's chain again.

The King sat back down in his chair, "The Maester is right, souls do indeed exist. As far as I know, two people have been resurrected after death, and one of them died several times."

The ones in Arthur's mouth were Beric Dondarrion and Lady Stoneheart.

Under the blessing of the Red Priest Thoros of Myr, Beric Dondarrion was resurrected several times, and on the last occasion, he used his own "fire of life" to resurrect Lady Catelyn Stark, who had been dead for several days.

"But miracles do indeed exist; for example, the Lord of Light, He can send prophecies to believers in the fire. That beautiful red priestess, Melisandre, was the one who saw my deeds in the fire, which is why she chose to persuade Lady Selyse and came to King's Landing to assist me."

The King said.

Originally, Melisandre would have been the best candidate to discuss matters related to gods.

In terms of magic, the twenty-some people here combined do not have as much insight as one Shadowbinder and one red priestess.

But Melisandre is a very self-righteous person; she often acts to bring about the prophecies she sees herself, and her initiative is extremely strong—she does what she says.

Before the situation was completely stabilized, Arthur did not dare to keep Melisandre by his side, so he sent her off with the party heading to the Wall to help defend against the Wildlings and White Walkers.

Qyburn could not explain this point; after a sheepish smile, he sat down and said no more.

"My lords, I suddenly have an idea." Arthur looked around at the nobles, "Everyone knows that House Baratheon has a characteristic of strong seed; as long as one parent is a pure-blooded Baratheon, the children will all have black hair. Even dragon blood cannot suppress it, let alone the golden-haired bloodline of the Lannister."

This remark drew low chuckles from the nobles.

The meaning of "strong seed" is that the black-haired Robert was cuckolded, because his three nominal legitimate children were all golden-haired.

"But black hair is one of the marks of the First Men. Although the ancestor of House Baratheon, Orys, also had black hair, it is said he was a close relative of Aegon I, and this bloodline could not possibly suppress dragon blood."

The hair color of the First Men was generally dark, with brown being the most common, but there was also plenty of black hair.

Arthur continued to recount his conjecture, "The Storm King family also had black hair, so the characteristic of strong seed was very likely inherited from House Durrandon."

"Then why would House Durrandon have such a powerful bloodline? Let us trace it from ancient mythology: the progenitor of the Storm Kings, Duran the Godsgrief, married the daughter of the Sea God and the Wind God. Whether they bore offspring is hard to say. But if the Storm King line had the blood of gods, then it would make sense that dragon blood could not suppress the black hair of House Baratheon."

This statement made some nobles nod in agreement; hair color and bloodline were things they were familiar with.

Marquess Innes exclaimed, "So that means the Baratheons have the blood of gods? By the Seven, how noble must that be."

A few knowledgeable nobles ignored this foolish remark.

Tyrion muttered to himself, "I have long seen accounts of the First Men kings of the ancient era interacting and communicating with gods. If we follow this theory, wouldn't gods have physical forms just like humans, and be able to interact with humans normally?"

Qyburn agreed with this very much, "Lord Lannister is right. Gods are merely animals that have mastered magic; in some aspects, humans might even be stronger than gods. I believe that as long as we persist in our research, things like gods, magic, and death will no longer be secrets."

This was one of his dreams; conducting live experiments was only a means, not the end.

"To summarize, I am more inclined to accept the second theory, but the first can also be explained within it: some gods are actually magical creatures, just ones who understand stronger magic, leading people to mistake them for gods."

Arthur concluded.

Matters regarding gods still needed further research; if only there were a loyal and powerful Warlock or Priest by his side.

King's Landing, Red Keep, Rookery.

This was the Maester's residence. The spacious suite was filled with shelves of herbal ointments and potions, as well as several bookcases crammed with scrolls and books.

This room was located in an inconspicuous corner of the Red Keep. The previous Grand Maester Pycelle had lived here for decades, until he was sent off to the Wall by the current King, Arthur I.

The successor, Maester Gormon, was of mediocre talent and not much younger than Pycelle; other than his background in House Tyrell, he had no merits.

It was already night. After finishing his meal, Gormon returned to the spacious but crowded room, preparing to sleep after washing up.

"This Queen Sansa is really not easy to serve," he muttered.

The pregnant Queen had kept him busy for quite a while, preparing menus for her, deciding what she could not eat and what she should eat less of.

Just after lighting the candles on the candelabra, Maester Gormon suddenly discovered a figure in front of him.

He had just wanted to cry out when his throat was already slashed by a blade.

Dark red blood sprayed out a full foot away, and then the body collapsed with a thud.

After a few breaths, the mysterious person confirmed Gormon's death, then blew out the candle and left the crowded room without a sound.

A few hours later, the chest in the corner was suddenly thrown open, and a large, fat man wearing a hood and black robes darted out.

Under the cover of darkness, the former Master of Whisperers, the Spider Varys, looked at the already cold Gormon on the floor, feeling puzzled.

Who else would be thinking of killing the new Grand Maester?

Even as clever as he was, he could not figure out the key to it.

But this matter was only a small detail; the focus of tonight was Duke Mace Tyrell.

With his uncle killed, Varys was certain that Lord Tyrell would definitely not be able to sleep and would rush over to check the situation.

After finding a concealed position that was convenient for escape, the fat man Varys hid himself nimbly.

Sure enough, after midnight, an assistant Maester discovered the abnormality in the Grand Maester's room and reported it to the level above.

In just over ten minutes, Duke Mace Tyrell arrived here with several guards.

Deeply concerned for his uncle, the "Pufferfish" did not think at all that there might still be someone in the room. He ignored the guards' obstruction and rushed in, throwing himself straight onto the remains of his uncle Gormon and beginning to wail loudly.

Varys did not hesitate any longer; the crossbow in his hand was fired, and the new Hand of the King was struck in the neck by an arrow, dying on the spot.

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(End of chapter)