"That they may in the fullness of time rise once more to aid their living kin."
How pragmatic of their faith. Adopting a fact of the local environment as an article of post-mortem disposition.
Not because what they do is less ghoulish, but more because it's less Sheeda-like. 'First' funerals aren't that big a deal in Columbian society, and it looks like that's a tradition the warlock-breed have maintained. It's not until a person's final death that you can fully commemorate their lives. They don't bother trying to convince themselves that the grundyman they're raised is just a mindless and soulless zombie; their theology makes specific reference to the fact that they're not.
Which would make it rather awkward if, say, a murder victim returns as a Grundyman, and is assigned to his murderer's family... I doubt they'd do that sort of thing... Though some might find it reassuring that they'll be able to continue aiding their family after they've passed.
"I shall now read from the Gospel of John, chapter eleven."
Abednego looks around the crowd of mourners, who I suspect are gathered here more because it's a social event than because they're particularly interested in what this outsider has to say. They started depositing the bodies as soon as the holes were dug, and I started doing that as soon as they were all identified. The holes were something else that's different from Christian burial as it's practiced on Earth; they're only two feet deep to make pulling the grundyman out easier, and the corpse gets rope wrapped around the torso for much the same reason. And they're buried face down so that they can't climb out on their own.
All measures to ensure the inevitable Grundymen don't go wandering off devil knows where... Very sensible.
"'Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village…'"
They're actually paying more attention to the ropes than to the bodies, something... I suppose that I should withhold judgement until I observe a second funeral, but I already know that Lord Hades wouldn't like this. I shake my head and turn away as Abednego continues his reading. I offered my aid in making repairs, but unlike Mistress Butler's village the people here have enough of a resource surplus that they can afford to do things in the manner of their choosing. They don't want help from me, and they don't want me to disrupt the magic they use.
And you're probably a reminder of the fact they needed help to throw out the invaders. I can see that sticking in their craw...
"…join us here."
Mistress Butler is talking to one of the villages' two surviving 'shapers'. Magic users who specialise in biology, though they'd be totally out of their depth talking to a true biomancer. Everything they do relies on the Sheeda traits that they and the Sheeda creatures possess.
Like specialised mechanics trained to work on one kind of machinery, and only one. Machinery that's quite adaptable, but requires methods very different to most.
"That is a generous offer, Mistress Ginter, though you will have to forgive me if I am somewhat surprised by it."
"We have empty homes and work enough. Our need is greater than our reluctance to involve those who do not think of our condition as we do. We are not unaware that the Unenlightened threaten you and those other settlements close to their lands."
'Unenlightened' presumably being the devout Columbians. Goes a long way to highlight their outlook.
"Will you also make such an invitation to the other villages?"
"If we can safely make contact with them." She turns to face me. "Is that a thing that you may accomplish?"
Depends. Do you
want giant orange flares pointing out each village's location to your nominal foes?
"I keep getting told 'no', due to the danger that the spells pose. I doubt that I could do it without the Columbians detecting it."
"Do they not know that you are here?"
Oh, they know, but they're looking the other way out of politeness. But the second they get an idea of where
oath-breakers are, well...
"They know that my colleagues and I are heading this way. They don't know exactly where we are or who we're talking to. As I see it, any risk incurred would be yours, so if you want me to make the attempt I'll put the idea to Accomplished Perfect Physician."
"And in return, you would ask us to show you Melmoth's Tomb."
You make it sound like you're being asked to show off an embarrassing, out-of-the-way tourist trap...
"We're rather hoping this motivates you to do that anyway. But… No. I am willing to do that anyway. Though I suggest that you give more thought to the offer I made to relocate you."
"I accept that you made the offer in the spirit of kindness, but we will not be moved to suit those people."
Why not to
spite them? They'll know that people so offensive to their beliefs that they're hunted down are out there, somewhere, beyond their ability to pursue... That'll give them
such an
itch...
"I didn't make the offer to please them, I made the offer to preserve your lives. And theirs. To my mind, if two peoples have such irreconcilable differences, moving them to separate locations is a perfectly sensible thing to do."
"No."
How stubborn. But I suppose anyone tough enough to forge their own village out in these wilds, in the face of persecution, would be
damn hard.
"Mistress Ginter-."
"We will not do it. Not while they still take the pledge. Not while their timidity still gives rise to warlocks. We will not abandon the few free-thinkers who can escape from their iron-bounded civilisation."
Ah... Now that's more understandable. It's still a big risk, but better than leaving them to get hunted down when they cannot find allies outside Columbia.
I bow my head slightly.
"I'm.. saddened to hear it, but very well. If we're fortunate, it will be unnecessary. Regarding the Tomb-?"
"Your Sheeda prisoner can show you its treasures better than any of us. Unless you want a tour of the place."
Can't really take the risk that the Sheeda won't know how to activate some countermeasure and turn it on the heroes.
"I would, actually, though I suppose that it's not a priority." I hesitate. "How are.. your people feeling about this?"
"We will mourn our losses. And our weakness. But more than anything… There is almost a relief to it."
Mistress Butler nods. "That we are not so similar to Melmoth that his kin would see us as their kin; that the accusations of the Columbians are fear-filled lies."
Heh, that's would be a load off their minds. Knowing that they're not corrupted in the way they feared they were. That compared to the Sheeda, they're merely mundane.
"I… Suppose. I referred more to the truth of our history. That the self-serving version told by the Unenlightened is not pure invention. That Melmoth's kin are as self-serving and cruel as their tale makes them out to be."
"I don't remember hearing them say that about other Sheeda, only about Melmoth himself."
"And how long were you amongst them?"
If he'd been amongst them, they'd have
felt it when he started killing them.
"No, I'm not suggesting that you're wrong; I'm asking for clarification. What do they say about other Sheeda? I'm working off the stories of a mad scientists who didn't actually see that much and the history of the handful of people who survived the last Harrowing."
Mistress Ginter blinks at me with both sets of eyelids.
"What be a 'harrowing'?"
...Well. I suppose they're too low priority for the Sheeda to concern themselves with. Too small a population, too little resources to be worth stealing... And four eyelids? Hmm. Four eyes, or a secondary reptilian set? love that ambiguity.
"You don't know anything about where the Sheeda come from?"
She shakes her head.
Something lost in the flight from Melmoth's lands, then...
"Okay, well, I suppose it can't hurt to give you a summary. The Sheeda are the-." They left in the sixteenth century. They're very unlikely to have a concept of natural selection or evolution. "-Are altered humans from a very long way in the future. They live on Earth, but so much has happened between then and now that it seems like a completely different place. Every so often they travel backwards in time and destroy civilisation. They loot everything they can load into their harvest ships and then return to their own era, but not before burning everything that's left. We don't know exactly how many times they've done it before; they're pretty thorough about destroying all traces. Melmoth was their king, but lost a power struggle with their current queen and had to flee. Exactly why he did any of-" I look around. "-this is a mystery to me, and from the sound of it the Sheeda here didn't know either."
But they do seem very curious. It's probably a good thing if they returned empty-handed. While I doubt Columbia would be worth Harrowing, they may find the concepts and mutations amongst the people to be worth.. studying. And we've seen how they study things.
"By whom were they altered?"
Hm. Worth asking, I suppose. Their whole identity is built around their difference, after all.
"I don't know. It could be that they changed over time, or that they changed themselves. I rather get the impression that you've been altering yourselves."
...Oh gods, what if the Sheeda are
far distant descendants of the Columbians, and this is a metastable time loop...
Mistress Ginter nods. "Based upon them. We have not created anything new, not to our knowledge."
"But you know how it might be done?"
"Yes…" She frowns thoughtfully. "Pray excuse me, Orange Lantern. I must.. speak with my people. We will arrange for a guide for you on the morrow."
I can see OL just twitching at the 'unwarranted' delays. Unfortunately, he'll have to wait.
