Cthulhu Gonfalon

This year’s winter could be said to be a relatively peaceful period for the Main Plane. Thanks to the demise of the God of Conspiracy, organizations which were previously at war were now at peace.

The crossover from the old year to the next was quiet and uneventful. However, as the new year started, a huge and catastrophic event unraveled.

Within the Natural God System, the God of Rain had fallen.

Things happened as such: After the Goddess of Bumper Harvest had fallen, the God of Rain, the God of River and the God of South Wind had all eyed the possibility of taking on the priesthood of harvesting. After all, their original priesthoods were all related to harvesting. In the past few months, they had all collaborated extensively with the Goddess of Bumper Harvest and gained insights on harvesting. With enough time, this priesthood could be bestowed unto any of the three. Of course, there was a greater possibility that they would all have to share such a priesthood.

As much as they had assumed that they would be able to access the role, fate had it that the God of Agriculture, Damwade was born while the three gods were busy, and he managed to steal a big majority of the harvesting priesthood.

The nature of “harvesting” was to increase the number of harvests. It was thus appropriate for the God of Agriculture to take over this priesthood, if one were to argue with such a perspective. This was seen as a matter of fact not just by the priesthood, but also by the general public. Damwade was then able to easily absorb about 60 percent of the harvesting priesthood and gain many new disciples that were previously under the Church of the Goddess of Bumper Harvest. These disciples even helped rebuild the temple of the church in Garth City.

On the day where the construction of the new temple was completed, many high-level clergymen who had lived since before Garth City was built cried out with tears streaming down their faces.

Ever since this temple was destroyed in the battle between the Goddess of Bumper Harvest and the Goddess of Marsh, the Goddess of Bumper Harvest had been on a downhill path till her demise. Because of that, all her disciples had generally become lonely ghosts, roaming around aimlessly. They were generally gloomy and depressed during that time period, and it was shocking to them that no one had actually tried to commit suicide in despair.

Now, that dark period was over.

Under the leadership of Lord Damwade, everyone worked towards developing the vast land, allowing all to have a steady livelihood. When one died, they could also head to the Void Mask’s God Kingdom to meet the followers of other goddesses that had fallen. Sui Xiong had already transferred the Goddess of Bumper Harvest’s followers to a piece of land in his God Kingdom belong to the God of Agriculture. Now, they were considered the God of Agriculture’s disciples too.

With such a context, one could enjoy life both while alive and after death. As they thought about this prospect, they teared up with joy. In a mere few years, the influence left behind by the Goddess of Bumper Harvest was adequately succeeded by the God of Agriculture. There were only a few disciples left who remained conflicted as they had always been with the Church of the Void Mask or were deadly loyal to only the Goddess of Bumper Harvest. For the latter group, they stubbornly refused to accept the God of Agriculture’s rule and continued to stick to their original beliefs.

Such a situation greatly worried the God of Rain, the God of River and the God of South Wind. They were not concerned about the conflicted disciples. Rather, they were concerned about the remaining shares of the harvesting priesthood. With the current situation, the remaining shares were likely to land in the hands of the God of Agriculture, as well. This was unacceptable!

The God of Rain thus decided to take action.

Although he had not made sufficient preparations, the God of Rain nevertheless held a grand prayer ceremony on the second day of the new year to demonstrate his priesthood and attempt to use his understanding and knowledge to gain control over the remaining 40 percent of the harvesting priesthood.

However, he failed.

The reason for failure was unclear. Some felt that it was due to changes in the harvesting priesthood; it was now different from when it was under the Goddess of Bumper Harvest’s reign. Furthermore, the God of Agriculture now controlled 60 percent of the priesthood, and the notions of the remaining 40 percent were a mystery.

The God of Rain had tried to acquire the remaining 40 percent with outdated knowledge and thus could not secure a victory. Originally, the God of Rain’s consequences of failure were not that severe. He simply needed to rest and rejuvenate for a few years in the near future. However, just as his prayer ceremony failed, the God of Drought, who had sensed that such events would happen, issued a vow to the world. He proclaimed that he would use all of his power to break the balance between rain and drought, causing the entire land to enter a long dry season.

Normally, this would not be a big deal. Previously, seasons of heavy rain and seasons of drought were not uncommon, and such vows had been made a few times before as well by the two gods. Although the God of Drought pretended to be an imposing figure, unless the God of Rain set down a similar degree, his impact was not that severe.

The God of Rain naturally issued a similar vow against the God of Drought to allow for a long rainy season. However, this time, something bad happened. The God of Rain had just ended his attempt to obtain the harvesting priesthood based on his understanding of the balance between wind and rain in creating ideal weather. Although he had no control over wind, he was in charge of rain, and thus his idea of ideal rainfall was naturally where rain was moderate and sufficient. Because of that, with his sudden turnaround vow of breaking the balance of weather and causing a long rainy season, there were now conflicting views. One also could not forget that he had just proclaimed his intentions to the world! This was akin to a small chief proclaiming to the company’s boss that he wanted to get a promotion by stating his aims of correcting the splurging and excessive spending of the department. The boss would then refuse but compliment his ideal motivations, urging the small chief to continue striving for excellence. In the end, this small chief would end up being an extreme hypocrite by endorsing a huge, lavish banquet for his department right after.

It went without saying that hypocrites often faced harsh consequences by those who felt cheated by them. In this case of the gods, the God of Rain naturally faced the scorn of the world and thus had extra injuries inflicted upon him. What was worse was that he subconsciously admitted his mistake and willingness to surrender. Regardless of the God of Drought’s actions, he would no longer take any action of his own in return. According to the evaluation of other mid-level gods in the Natural God System, he was killed not by the world but by his own stupidity now.