Cécile

Table of Contents

I'm Cécile, a daughter from a minor noble family of the capital, and a 35 years old archivist working at the royal archives. Thanks to this, I know all the secrets of court politics and of the gods' puppetting us behind the scene. Of course, I have some common sense, and will never get involved with any of them. However, I guess I feel a lot of morbid curiosity about what's really going on in the country...

My family

Despite our noble status, my family is of very little importance in the kingdom. We live comfortable enough, yet always aware of what we don't have and of the necessity of keeping up appearance with the rest of the nobility despite not having the same means. As nobles, we get the honour of being able to vote for the election of royal heirs but are not important enough to truly get involved in the politics surrounding it or to get singled out for blackmail.
As for me, I was born the eldest of three siblings from the youngest son of the matriarch of our family, and so I have little hope of inheriting anything, anyway. What I did get from my family is a nice amount of magic and a great sensibility to it. While it could allow me to become a very skilled engineer and gain the favour of the forging god or to be able to easily control the irrigation devices of our Lord the water god Lydien, this has only made me want to hide from any divine attention.
Indeed, thanks to my sensitivity, I can perceive the gods' presence among mortals even when they're trying to hide it, unless they are making a really special effort to do so. Which they never do. This means that I have seen a lot of their manipulations of us, their possession of our leaders, their starting petty conflicts for fun without care for those they hurt. It is impossible to become familiar with the gods and keep a favourable opinion of them. No, while I could undoubtedly make myself noticed by one of them, it is quite clear that the path to longevity does not lie that way.

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The archives

What I chose to do instead is to gain even more insight about what was going on with the world and the gods. I easily got myself through the toughest test in the kingdom to become an archivists in the royal archives of the capital so that I would be able to learn all the exclusive and secret information kept there.
While some archivists can become very influencial and advise the king and high priests themselves, that's far from the case for the majority of us. With little effort, I have been able to lose myself among the crowds and keep my distance from anyone too important. My life is unexcited and far more comfortable for being that way!
Even better, this means that I can easily look for information I have no real business knowing. And throughout history, the gods have given a lot of knowledge to mortals before deciding we were not good enough for it and attempting to erase all traces of it. Through my 15 years at the archives, I have done many forbidden rituals and crafted many dangerous artefacts. Not because of any great need; it was just fun and to see if I could do it. No doubt the gods would find fault with this if they knew, with how killjoy they are...

My relationship with the gods

My philosophy for an easy life is to treat the gods with exactly the right amount of respect: too little and they'll get offended, and too much and they'll take notice and want to "reward" you. Gods get a tiny magic boost from every prayer we send them, so they get quite particular if anyone misses out, and they love brainwashed people they can pump magic out of. Our saving grace lies in the fact that there are so many of us mortals around, the gods cannot possibly keep track of anyone.
Pay lip service to everything you're supposed to say and do, and live your best life unopposed and untroubled! What use is it to attempt to change the kingdom and improve our lot when the gods will prevent any of it, anyway? My family all makes this mistake, trying to get in the grace of anyone powerful, divine or mortals. They even have the gall to get disappointed that I won't debase myself in the same way! They also always get super involved with charities, helping out people, lobbying for law changes, and then getting hurt when nothing happens and people continue to get killed uselessly. Such a waste of time and energy.

Upcoming royal heir election

My family have all already asked me what I intended to do to gain favour during the upcoming royal heir election and what I intended to change with that newly gained influence. My answer is nothing! I'll continue just as I've always done. If anything, I'll spend longer hours at the royal archives to reduce any risk of coming upon any of the minor gods that will litter the streets for the occasion.
I cannot help but be more than a little scornful about all of those people considering the election with dreads for the inevitable deaths that will follow. So long as the major gods don't all suddenly decide to do away with their rules and go in an all-out fight right in the middle of the capital, I am under no risk at all.
More people should do like me and realise the gods mean nothing but troubles. Or maybe not. After all, if the gods ever notice there is something wrong with our faith, they will undoubtedly want to "purify" the population with a great deal of fire. So yes, too bad for the rest of the kingdom, but it's their fault for being stupid and falling to all the gods' manipulations so easily. At least the election will be entertaining to watch from safely from afar.