Epilogue to Exatai: Part One - The Talani Fragments
Talan the Elder was born in the Kothari Exatai. According to apocryphal tradition, he was half Hu'uti. Even so, he identified as a Satar and followed most of their cultural customs. A court Oracle to the Fourth Redeemer in the fortress-capital of Athas, he is considered to be one of the only true Satar 'philosophers' of note, barring the oral tradition of the First and Second Redeemers. The flowering of philosophy in the Sesh to come in the next century would be the product of more settled, post-Satar cultures. (See: Sesh Satar Philosophy, Kothari Satar Philosophy)
Talan lived during a time when the unified Satar culture group was diverging under Ailuttorutto and Sehorsehockye influence in the north, and Uggor and Hu'uti influence in the south. The Talani Fragments have often been challenged in their authenticity, because of their reflective, sympathetic tone. Despite this, the cultural schizophrenia of the late Satar may justify the changing tone, as the Satar were, despite all their ferocity, forced to confront the world as it was in the wake of the Pyre of the Six.
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How many pantheons have we joined as villains, the horse-demons with faceless masks, defeated by the glorious hero in an epic cycle? But that is the nature of the battle-challenge. Arastephas seemed to say, we are your demons, leaping from ancient tales into flesh and blood and fear. Come challenge us, come bring your heroes. But there were no heroes or champions among the Bahrans, among the Katdhi, among the Sesh, among the Had, among the Faronun, among the Trilui. They did not understand the battle-challenge, and so they died. The Moti defeated the Satar, alone among the nations, because they did not value art or gold or music or ships or spears or gods. They valued heroes. They had champions.
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The tragedy of the true Redeemer is that he never seeks to win. He seeks apocalypse in battle. His failing is that his enemies are never truly great enough to deliver apocalypse. For refusing us absolution, we seemed to say, your punishment is our reward. Oblivion.
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Which of the three Redeemers was most victorious? Arastephas, some say, for the bounty of plunder and the depth of his rage. Atraxes, some say, for the height of his compassion and the depth of his wisdom. But I say Xetares. Xetares was most victorious, because he brought ruin, anguish, suffering, and utter pain upon more than a million souls. Victory in war is only this. Warriors are a curse upon the world. I say to you warriors: Beat your spears into sickles, and kill no more.
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We feel home here, alone among the snows and the mists, because civilization is so distant. I cannot imagine life among the cities. There are Satar who do this, who live in great cities like Magha and Tisatar. I say to you this. No barbarian who enters a city ever leaves in his lifetime. As far as he ranges, as far as he travels, the city has consumed his heart.
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There shall be other Exatai. They will not be Satar, but the lure and the promise of the golden mask shall pull a thousand tyrants, each one a small child compared to the one which came before. There shall be other Exatai, and I tell them only this: Conquer, my Prince, with compassion. Arastephas led a howling mass of unstoppable warriors, forged with a child's cruel joy joined to an adult's strength of arms. If Arastephas had been immortal, the world would have burned to death. If Atraxes had been immortal, so too would be the world-Exatai.
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The Aspects teach not that Taleldil was an unquenchable god of battle. They teach that battle had its' place in the balance of virtue. The Satar mastered one Aspect at the expense of all others. That is why the Ardai failed to protect the Third on that day when he was struck down.
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If you seek Exatai, the Silver Path is yours. Justice, compassion, tolerance, tempered strength. If you seek apocalypse, the Gold Path is yours. Arrogance, righteous anger, unbridled aggression. You shall destroy everything and build nothing.