Chapter 305 Oracle
Mokou Town, the temple of Ogma, the God of Knowledge.
In the temple, the magic everlasting lamp flickers with soft light, dispelling all darkness.
This temple shrouded in divine light is like a library, filled with acolytes who study knowledge and hold various books, maps, and scrolls.
In the bright hall, there is a strong atmosphere of books everywhere, as if people are immersed in the ocean of knowledge and the torrent of history.
Knowledge is power.
In the temple of Mokou Town, countless books are kept. In addition to poetry, historical documents and celebrity biographies, etc., there are also many learnings such as magic, alchemy, mysteries and taboo knowledge.
As long as the clergy here can collect and preserve the knowledge here, they will copy, repair, and complete it as much as possible, and finally store it one by one.
At this moment, Patriarch Tysonde of the temple is wearing a white robe full of scholarly temperament, holding a golden holy emblem engraved with a blank scroll, standing in front of the Ogma statue in the center of the temple, praying devoutly .
As the power of Mokou Town continues to grow, with the help of their clergy, all towns within the territory have begun to establish academies to teach civilians the most basic knowledge, such as arithmetic, literacy, reading and writing. etc.
This basic knowledge is completely funded by the territory, and the temple dispatches instructors to teach it to all children of appropriate age for free and compulsorily.
As a priest of Ogma, Tysonde certainly knows how difficult it is to spread knowledge.
In the eyes of civilians, the first thing they need to consider is how to fill their stomachs, and then they are qualified to think about other things.
The backward social system makes civilians believe that instead of wasting their children's time in free and boring colleges, they might as well work on farms or manors in exchange for food and clothing.
This phenomenon is not uncommon even in a powerful kingdom like Cormyr.
But the lord of Mokou Town seems to have understood this situation for a long time. Not only did he grant the status of freedmen to a large number of slaves, he also distributed land to them and taught them farming knowledge. He also made appropriate adjustments to the taxation of the land so that They can afford to pay taxes and have a surplus of food at home.
This policy promulgated by Mokou Town has allowed a large number of farmers to obtain their first relatively satisfactory autumn harvest in just the past six months, with the unremitting help of the Church of the Mother Goddess of the Earth. The family had enough food left to last until the second harvest.
It is precisely because the civilians in the territory have enough food and clothing, and the slogan of 'knowledge changes destiny, magic creates the future' promoted by Mokou Town, that the consciousness of the civilians began to awaken and they gradually realized that learning knowledge importance.
The lord of Mokou Town claimed that the education that is spread to every citizen is not just literacy, but also basic natural knowledge, political thought... and the national consciousness and sense of belonging that are instilled in it.
Because of the improvement of cultural level, the territory can have enough grassroots manpower to promote changes. Compared with the ignorant people who do not know why they are fighting and accept the suffering, the awakening of national consciousness will Let them explode with unimaginable power.
The civilians in the territory are like the fire sown by the lord. One day, they will set off a prairie fire on this continent!
The facts are indeed developing as he imagined.
In today's Mokou Town, he can always hear children or adults chatting about the kingdom.
After all, the more civilians they are, the more they like to discuss important matters in the kingdom. Although they are not direct beneficiaries, they are definitely direct victims.
After the capital of the Kingdom of Sambia was destroyed by the huge dark ritual performed by the City of Shadows, most of the surviving nobles and wealthy businessmen immediately deposited their wealth into the Temple of Wealth.
For them, as long as they keep their own small treasury, they will not be destroyed even if their country is destroyed. As long as they have money, they can still live a luxurious life.
When the female leader of Sambia took office, a large number of wealthy people took the opportunity to purchase assets in the kingdom at ultra-low prices, leaving Sambia still in deep quagmire to this day.
However, these wealthy merchants all took away their wealth and moved to other kingdoms along the Sea of Fallen Stars.
After all, it is human nature to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages. Since this kingdom is not working, they can just change to another kingdom and continue living.
But the civilians have no escape route. The land under their feet belongs to them. This is where they settle down and live. They cannot even leave in their lifetime.
Once a foreign enemy invades, their only option is to take up arms and resist desperately.
Even if the kingdom has been destroyed and broken into pieces, they can only hold on to the kingdom. They have no chance to choose a retreat, because if they take a step back, their family will be destroyed.
Loving your own kingdom is the last dignity of civilians.
The lord of Mokou Town seemed to understand this very deeply, so he personally helped the clergy of the temple and changed the teaching materials of their academy so that the civilians in the territory could gradually cultivate a new national consciousness.
Tysonde is naturally happy to see this happen. After all, the higher the education level of the civilians in the territory, the wider the spread of knowledge.
Just like the recent rebellion of Prince Selant.
With the end of the war, the Queen Regent not only exempted civilians from land tax for one year, but also divided the land equally among them. She also established free colleges in pilot towns to allow their clergy to Spread knowledge and culture to children of appropriate age.
In the past, the Queen Regent's reforms would have definitely encountered strong opposition from the aristocracy. Even if they were enforced, not many civilians would be willing to bring their children to the academy to 'waste time'.
However, there was a precedent in Mokou Town, and the lord of Mokou Town was the Lord Protector of Cormyr. In the Dragon Madness Rebellion, the Orc War and the Rebel War, without exception, All showed up and turned the tide.
This made the common people and nobles of the entire Kingdom of Cormyr aware of the name of the Protector.
The lord's reputation throughout the kingdom and being a representative figure of the reformists naturally attracted the attention of the masses to the governance of the lord of Mokou Town.
In the territory of Mokou Town, whether it was the abolition of slavery policy, the equal distribution of land and the establishment of free colleges, or the slogans they promoted, all aroused strong responses from the people of the entire kingdom.
It was in this wave that the reform policy of the Queen Regent came into being, allowing the vast majority of civilians in the kingdom to see the shadow of preparing to imitate the system of Mokou Town.
In this case, the academies in those pilot towns have not yet been established, and throughout the kingdom, the registration lists received by the clergy of the Temple of Knowledge Church are all full.
This strong response, as well as the common people's desire to popularize knowledge, even caught them, the clergy who believe in Ogma, the god of knowledge, a little off guard.
It can be seen from this that with the issuance of reform policies, the entire Kingdom of Cormyr, under the leadership of the lord of Mokou Town, is moving towards a new future step by step.
But behind the prosperity, Tysonde saw a trace of worry.
This matter started when the lord of Mokou Town prepared to add simple magic knowledge to the popular knowledge books, so that children can gradually understand what magic is.
At first, he didn't care too much about this decision.
If you want to train spellcasters, it is indeed the best choice to provide magic enlightenment education to children of appropriate age, so that they can quickly integrate into the atmosphere and imagination of magic.
However, until today, he saw an elder from the Kingdom of Halua, leading nearly a thousand spellcasters. After settling in Mokou Town, Tysonde not only did not change like the people in the territory due to the strong power of the territory, He was happy, but a little worry arose in his heart.
As a high-ranking priest of Ogma and the patriarch of the temple in Mokou Town, Tysonde is naturally qualified to know some of the long history of the God of Knowledge.
According to the records of the temple, during the ancient Netherese period, the floating city of Azuma was the largest academic research center in the entire empire.
Grand Arcanist Opas is also a devout believer in Ogma, the god of knowledge.
The floating city of the Grand Arcanist is like a scholar who lives in seclusion.
This was the city with the highest literacy rate and popularity of magic during the ancient Netheril Empire.
There is no bustling trade or convenient transportation here. The citizens have been living a peaceful life, busy with their mission like a group of hermits.
Until the eve of Netheril's demise, Grand Arcanist Opas gradually mastered some of the secrets of the higher creations in the Netherese Scrolls.
Research on life and creation, no matter what period of time, is the most strictly restricted knowledge in the Church of Gods. Even if the Church of Ogma collects this kind of knowledge, it will be sealed directly and will never be spread out.
Although Grand Arcanist Opas, as the most powerful Grand Arcanist specializing in the field of creation during the Netherese era, has successfully come into contact with the research on life creation, he has not yet transformed his research into As a result, the empire came to an end because the magic network was broken.
The main reason Tysonde recalled this information was because he felt that as the Kingdom of Cormyr continued to grow into a real magical kingdom under the leadership of the pioneer territory of Mokou Town, it was very likely that it would also come into contact with these life creations. knowledge.
After all, after Halua's mage group joined the Mokou Town forces, rumors have spread throughout the territory.
Claim: Their lord is a mage from Halrua, and a remnant of the Netheril Empire. He not only wants to lead the Halrua mages to build a floating city, but also recreates the arcane empire. The glory of the past.
This seemed to be an impossible rumor, but after Tysonde calmed down and thought about it carefully, he suddenly realized that the actions of their lord had not always been developing in this direction. Of?
For example, deep in the Mokou Mountains to the north of the town, some huge and dense cave groups built by stone giants began to appear, and a large number of working people were transferred to work in them.
Where is the Mokou Mountains?
Since the many hobgoblin tribes and other humanoid creatures in the Mokou Mountains were wiped out by the Purple Dragon Knight, they have become the territory of the stone giants and are also the entrance to the Underdark.
The Gray Dwarves' King City of Aldus has several direct routes to the Mokou Mountains.
Tysonde can find a steady stream of mineral materials being transported deep into the Mokou Mountains every day, but he has never seen large quantities of weapons and equipment made by gray dwarves appear in Mokou Town.
Does this mean that their lord has accumulated so many raw materials, most likely preparing for the floating city.
It can also be seen that the lord added simple magic knowledge to the new textbooks, which is definitely preparing for the establishment of a magic academy.
Obviously, he intends to be like the Kingdom of Halua, not only to fully popularize knowledge and culture, and even national consciousness, but also to let them master magic.
What is magic?
In the ancient times when elves, dwarves, giants, and dragons still ruled the dense forests and wild wilderness of Faerûn, all those who had the ability to use magic were dedicated to seeking powerful power and concealment. Secret knowledge and a better understanding of the nature of the magic network in order to defeat the opponent.
What was the final result? Almost all of their powerful civilization disappeared in the long river of history.
In this regard, the early empires of mankind were also the same:
The Imaskar Empire possessed a large amount of knowledge about portals and gates to other worlds, and abducted tens of thousands of original inhabitants from other worlds, forcing them to They become slaves to their own arcane powers.
The Netheril Empire is proficient in various technologies for creating magical devices. These surprising or terrifying effects are still lurking under the desert of Haenorok.
Lomassa summoned many orc tribes from other worlds to fight against Narfio, but it didn't take long for these warriors to escape the control of their masters and become a permanent scourge on the continent of Faerûn.
There is no doubt that all these powerful civilizations and empires were destroyed by their abuse of magic.
After all, as a wizard and a spellcaster who masters arcane arts, they are all dedicated to discovering new schools of magic, gaining a deeper understanding of the secret arts through other means, or gaining terrifying new powers through forbidden research.
In history, many ways to understand power have been developed and then abandoned. However, various ongoing studies, some of which are cautious explorations, some of which are terrifying fantasies, are also constantly Bringing out various arcane magic theories and new spells that have never been seen before in Faerûn.
There are many stories told about the legendary spells of ancient Netheril and the fallen elven kingdom. It is said that these spells can make even the most powerful "wishes" look like shame.
If the power of magic is not taken seriously, then even if they establish a powerful magic empire, sooner or later they will end up like Netheril and Imaskar.
So, when Tysonde saw that the Magic Kingdom had begun to sprout in Mokou Town, he suddenly hesitated, or was confused.
If he follows his inner thoughts, as a priest of the God of Knowledge, and benefits from the lord's kindness, he will definitely spare no effort to help the lords of Mokou Town spread knowledge.
There is no problem with this.
But as the power of the church continues to grow in Mokou Town, Tysonde clearly feels that his strength is not only stagnant, but even declining.
As a priest, his power comes from the gods he believes in. He knows very well what this means?
He does not doubt that there is a problem with his faith, so the only possibility is...
"Am I confused, or did I really do something wrong?" Pastor Tysonde looked at the statue of Ogma with a pious face and murmured to himself.
Ogma, the God of Knowledge, is an absolutely neutral god, which determines that the Temple of Knowledge can gain a foothold in countries ruled by the good camp or in evil and dark areas.
But for Tysonde, he prefers to do his best to help the lord.
“Knowledge is everything.”
It didn’t take long for the priest to pray devoutly before a faint voice sounded in his heart, awakening Tysonde.
"My Lord!"
Tysonde looked surprised and hurriedly knelt down to worship the god.
The image of Ogma, the god of knowledge, in the material world is a young and handsome adventurer, wearing exquisite and ornately decorated armor, and carrying a beautiful-sounding snow-wood yatin. . Little by little the divine radiance emerges.
The tall statue of the god was vaguely coated with a layer of golden light. Tysonde knelt down and bowed his head. He still felt that a pair of eyes full of majesty seemed to be watching from the distant kingdom of God. .
"Remember: No matter how unreal or crazy a new idea may seem, we should not hide or cover it up, but make it available and scrutinized by everyone."
"Then why... "Tysonde hesitated for a moment, then spoke slowly, but in the end he did not express the doubts in his heart.
"Knowledge is the greatest gift a mortal can receive, and its value is more important than anything else."
"You can choose to stand under the banner of the purple dragon..."
The solemnity of the gods The sound seemed to come from far and near, echoing in the pastor's heart and gradually disappearing.
As the brilliance of the statue gradually dimmed, Tysonde stood up regretfully, and the Ogma statue in the hall returned to normal.
As a priest, being able to communicate so directly with the gods he serves is simply a dream for him.
Moreover, he can also clearly notice that his stagnant strength is improving at a speed visible to the naked eye, and it seems that he is not far away from the Legend of Destiny.
"Stand under the banner of the Purple Dragon, instead of..."
Tysonde stared at the statue, murmuring to himself, recalling the last words left by the God of Knowledge, which seemed to bring Sighing helplessly, but also like meaningful words.
"Could it be that..."
The pastor looked shocked, as if he understood the myriad meanings contained in this sentence.
…………
Mashanbai Port.
The blue sea is very calm, and only the slow and steady drum beats and the gentle paddling of wooden paddles can be heard.
The large merchant ships 'My Fair Lady' and 'The Shy Maid', which were fully loaded with cargo, groaned, the tightly stretched towing ropes were taken away, and the bulging sails slowly rose from the masts.
The high priest of the Temple of Wealth is still dressed in jewels, like a graceful and luxurious lady.
She stood in the port, facing the wind, letting the salty sea breeze blow her loose golden priest's robes, revealing her plump and graceful silhouette.
When watching the two wind snakes sailing away on the ship, chasing each other in the clear blue sky, the high priest felt unprecedented happiness.
The Tukan people of the Endless Wilderness like to call the ocean poisonous water. These nomads believe that any liquid that horses cannot drink is unclean.
She saw three Tukan guards from the nomadic wilderness on the 'My Fair Lady'. At the moment the merchant ship weighed anchor, the expressions on their faces seemed to be heading for the abyss, rather than sailing to Mulhorand.
They stared at the shrinking coastline, their eyes widened and white, and they clung to the railing for dear life. Even the smallest bumps would make them vomit.
Obviously, they looked like they would rather dance with the nervous horses than see this terrible landless world.
The high priest couldn't help but smile. She watched the two merchant ships that could take away the gold from Mulhorand leave. Then she returned to the temple and looked at a person passing by with a slightly solemn look. A small teleportation circle, a passed scroll.
This is a palm-sized golden scroll, which means that there is very important information hidden in the information conveyed in the scroll.
Thinking of this, the high priest lifted up his golden hair that was blown by the sea breeze. The smile on his face faded and he looked carefully.
After about ten minutes, the high priest put away the scroll and looked thoughtful.
"The elder from Halua led his mage group to join Mokou Town." The high priest murmured to himself, with an unexpected expression on his delicate face reflected by the light of the jewelry.
As the high priest of the goddess of wealth, she manages the temples of the entire Kingdom of Cormyr, as well as the large-scale caravans.
This gave her a good understanding of the Magic Kingdom of Halua, which opened to foreign trade in the last century.
She originally thought that the mage lord of Mokou Town was just an extremely talented spellcaster, and it was because of Cormyr's series of frequent disasters that he succeeded in gaining his current status.
Who would have thought that the other party would be even more incredible than imagined.
When she learned that the elder Arad of Halrua had brought nearly a thousand spellcasters of his Silent Wizardry, all of whom were loyal to the mage lord named Brian, it meant that she had to Don't change your mind about him again.
At first, the purpose of planning to be friends with Brian was just to facilitate himself to use the Dark Lord Graz'zt's hatred of him to weaken the power of the demon lord when there might be turmoil in the Underdark Region in the future. .
However, what she didn't expect was that as she got to know the mage lord better, she began to become more and more interested in him.
She once personally went to Mokou Town. As the important high priest in the Temple of Wealth, she just took a casual look and immediately discovered that the place was full of vitality and vitality, and gathered a lot of wealth.
Such a town that is located on the only way to the Eno Oak Desert, as long as it has a stable order, will soon attract many merchants trying to open the trade line between the central part of the continent and the Northland.
This is indeed the case. Even several large-scale caravans controlled by the Temple of Wealth have successfully opened up trade channels with the North and earned a lot of wealth.
Especially when Ma Shanbai's rebellion was put down, she invited Brian to her temple as a guest and talked about some things about trade, which refreshed her understanding of him.
Among these conversations, what impressed the high priest the most was when Brian accidentally chatted with her about a certain kingdom's '33 gold coins' ruling the people.
As priests who believe in the goddess of wealth, they have very keen insights, especially when it comes to grasping wealth and business opportunities.
As for Brian's identity, the high priest has already conveyed important news through the scroll, marking him as the person with the greatest development potential among the guests he has met so far.
Thinking of this, she felt that as the Patriarch who controlled all the wealth temples in the Kingdom of Cormyr, it was necessary to cooperate more deeply with the other party.
She gently rubbed the ruby ring on her finger and began to think about how to cooperate with it.
As the mage lord of Mokou Town and the protector of the Kingdom of Cormyr, even the Queen Regent obeys his words, and now he has gained the allegiance of a powerful mage group.
Recalling the recent series of reform policies in the Kingdom of Cormyr and Mokou, a town known as the 'pioneer of reform', the high priest realized that this descendant of the ancient Netheril Empire may have more than just ambitions. Cormier is that simple.
If he can gather the power of the entire Kingdom of Cormyr and defeat the City of Shadows, then he can use Mokou Town as a bridgehead and gradually conquer the entire Eno Oak Desert.
Although this continent's largest desert is barren and of little use value, as the highest priest of the goddess of wealth, he even personally participated in the adventurers who went to the bottomless abyss to rescue the goddess.
The high priest has long understood based on the information and knowledge he has mastered that the fundamental reason why the former territory of Netheril turned into the barren Aenook Desert is the ancient monster buried deep underground— - Felin magic sunflower.
If the Phayling Demon Sunflower can be completely eliminated, then it is only a matter of time before the desert can be turned into an oasis through weather manipulation spells or with the help of a certain natural god.
This is a big gamble!
After considering the whole issue, the high priest instantly realized what kind of choice he was making.
As the goddess of wealth, she was once so weak that her divine power was about to fall to the demigod level, and then she rushed to the realm of medium divine power. This is naturally related to the wealth, trade, currency and merchants that the goddess controls.
In the realm of the goddess of wealth, once a war breaks out and affects trade, her power will be affected, because in this case, there is basically no way to carry out trade, and naturally there is no way to increase the amount she obtains. Divine power.
However, with the advent of the 'Arcane Catastrophe', the unprecedented disaster spread to almost the entire continent. Not only did the goddess of wealth's power not fall, but it steadily increased at an extremely fast speed. The reasons for this are naturally related to The goddess's new role as a merchant and the temple's help in protecting wealth are inseparable.
But for the goddess, this is already the limit. It is obviously not advisable to rely on disasters and wars to break through the medium divine power again.
Under this situation, the high priest gradually set his sights on some kingdoms and territories with great potential.
After all, in a prosperous country, trade will grow rapidly, and as living standards improve, the wealth accumulated by the people of the country will gradually increase.
If it continues to develop in this way, the role of the Temple of Wealth in helping civilian merchants or nobles keep their wealth will become an indispensable presence in everyone's life.
If such a prosperous and powerful empire can really continue to develop, it can even allow the goddess to obtain a new protective priesthood. Even if she is promoted to a powerful divine power, it is not impossible.
In the eyes of the high priest, among the many countries she has traveled to, whether it is Silvermoon City in the North, Waterdeep City in the Sword Coast, or even Amn, Calishan and many other regions, none meet her standards.
On the contrary, it was the series of reforms in the newly emerging town of Mokou, the emphasis on education and magic, as well as his identity as a descendant of Netherese and the joining of the Halrua mages that gave her a glimmer of hope. .
The most important thing is that when talking with the mage lord of Mokou Town, Brian also told her that when the other party had traveled to other worlds in the alien plane, he had seen some prosperous countries and had long given up on gold. and money minted in silver, replaced by paper money and 'bank cards'.
His words undoubtedly helped the high priest to open a new world and the future development direction of the Temple of Wealth.
Thinking of this, she was vaguely ready to make a decision.
She is not only the high priest of the Temple of Wealth, but also a businessman who is extremely good at investing.
Hundreds of years have passed, and she can still vividly recall the growth history that changed her life.
She was born into an ordinary family in the Kingdom of Cormyr. If there were no accidents, she would spend her whole life on the working land.
When she was twenty years old, she hid her parents' secrets, mortgaged her house and real estate, took out a loan at the Temple of Wealth in Daotan Town, and used the money to purchase a large amount of acacia bark from the Kingdom of Sambia. Agent, a guy named 'Pig Nose' bought it from there.
At that time, someone laughed at her: If someone would buy acacia bark shipped from Sambia, he would be really stupid, because in the Kingdom of Cormyr, oak bark can be purchased at extremely low prices.
But the next day, the druids of the Kingdom of Cormyr threatened that if people did not stop destroying the oak trees, they would let plague and locust plague come to that land. The elves of the Forest of Kings also supported the druids.
As the ruler of the Forest Kingdom, the King of Cormyr announced a permanent embargo on oak trees, effective immediately, and the price of acacia trees continued to rise.
This was the first pot of gold she earned in her life, and she became a priest of the Goddess of Wealth, eventually growing to her current status.
The high priest came back to his senses, his bright blue eyes gradually became firm, and then he waved, and a female priest in a golden robe walked in.
"Help me hand this gift over to Lord Brian of Mokou Town in person." She took out a shiny gold card with the emblem of the Goddess of Wealth engraved on it, "This is With a gold card from the Temple of Wealth, you can withdraw 500,000 gold coins from any temple on the mainland at any time.”
"You tell this lord." The high priest considered for a moment and said slowly: "Although I need to establish a cooperative relationship with him, this gift is not within the scope of our next transaction. No matter whether we can cooperate, it is only Representing the heart of the temple.”
“In the Kingdom of Cormyr, the Temple of Fortune has the most powerful financial resources and the largest caravan, and we can fully afford any future construction.”
Looking at the leaving figure of the female priest, the high priest nodded slightly, turned around and stared at the statue of the goddess.
The image of Wojin, the goddess of wealth, in the material world is a young, beautiful and slender woman with gorgeous long bright golden hair, and her eyes are like two melted golden balls.
She wore a robe studded with various gemstones and precious metal sequins, a cloak strung with gold coins, a belt made of gold, and a pair of large pearls. gold boots.
As the goddess who controls wealth, the Temple of Wealth has no shortage of money. Even if the five hundred thousand gold coins are given away, she will not feel a trace of distress.
Right now, the only thing she lacks is a potential partner.
This should be her largest far-reaching investment to date.
Although there is no return in a short period of time, if the investment is successful, the return cannot be measured in money.
She believed that the lord of Mokou Town could make the most appropriate choice after seeing the gift she sent.
After all, if you have money, the rules can be changed. If you have the power, the rules can serve you. If you have neither money nor power, then the rules are tailor-made for you.
…………
(End of this chapter)