Eulogy of the Late Godking Faust by Valik Ethril

Valik Ethril, the Second Hero, but namely one of several nephews to Lord Faust Cenodoxia, made an address during the burial ceremony. Political tensions ran fever pitch during the address as to whether Valik Ethril would seek to claim the throne by birthright. This would have likely been contested by Faust's Brother's (Valik's Uncles) who would have had higher claim as heads of household, though the Ethril family has greater economic influence to benefit a displaced Empire.

The Validity of the Account

As the document went unsigned, it is impossible to know who recorded the Valik Ethril's eulogy. The popularized theory is that this account is recorded by the Third Hero--Rorik Angrstrad, a Dracovian tradesmen; however, this has been disproven by comparing handwritten accounts proven to be written by the Third Hero to this document.
A radical conspiracy theory is that this account is embellished or even forged, as 1) other accounts of Ethril mark his stoical and reserved character making him unlikely to have waxed emotional during the furneral even considering familial ties, 2) Ethril was never recorded to have met with Lord Faust even as a child, 3) This document sets the groundwork for the myth behind the creation of Ethril, and 4) This address humanizes Lord Faust which could be a part of The Tribe of Faust's propoganda.
Additionally, several copies of the document exist in the Heroes Guild's own Archives and throughout the connected Guildhouses, with the original remaining in the care of The Sophia since the founding of the Guild itself. With so much time having passed and so many copies commissioned, there is a great amount of ambiguity surrounding the validity of the recording itself.

Consulting the Consciousness of Valik Ethril

One way to allay any of these concerns of validity is to find the consciousness of Valik Ethril and simply ask him. Ethics notwithstanding, this has still proven impossible to date.
With the absence of death records from Valik Ethril, no one has yet been able to locate his grave. This is perhaps for the best; though burying the dead is a common Taran tradition, this has made many gravesites an archive for mages to peruse, disturbing the famed dead in an attempt to "pick their brains"--if one will excuse the phrase. As such, many funeral institutions have left headstones in graveyards unmarked to maintain a tradition but deter any zealous mage. These sites exist alongside the Heroes Guildhall in Thaigh Dural. None have yet reported to have found Valik Ethril there.
One possibility is that Valik Ethril's consciousness is stored within the Simmias Archive, making it a part of the race's collective consciousness and potentially lost if deemed vestigial information by the systems in place.

Read the Document

Eulogy of the Late Godking Faust by Valik Ethril

I wish the people had not learned we could kill a God, and nor would I wish the imparted lesson to be that there is any heroism in the slaying of one's own kin. Neither the death nor the deed should be honored. I confess, this event has labored my thoughts. I loved this condemned man, I loved my king--blood or not.
He had several hounds, each of whom he nursed and gave names with his surnames. When one grew ill, he would care for it, sleep with it, in solidarity. When one died, he stayed with the late hounds siblings, mother and father. Innately, my Lord Faust knew of loss and loneliness; "There is a hole in man," he told me, "And I alone cannot fill it." I fear this thought festered in my Lord Faust heart, for he never found love and never sired heirs.
Herewith, I make no claim to replace my Lord, though some in attendance have expressed this wish privately. I resend it, all of it, for there is a hole in man, and I alone cannot fill it. Perhaps my betters will find a way, but I will find my own.
We all should seek this, to become complete through our own efforts, true heroic deeds, where we find ourselves not in one another, but ourselves through just deeds. We can begin by burying a goodly king, a misguided man, the first, and, I pray, the last Godking.

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