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Posted on December 05, 2024--
Sophos: It has been good to see your renewed focus, Kosmas. After all that passed within our family, this revitalized unity is a blessing and a relief. And please allow me to express that you have become particularly skilled at managing the protective power of the Golden Colosseum’s Wish Upon a Star ritual to shepherd in a peaceful ending to each year.
Yet, as for my own wishes - I do desire to confirm, given all that you and your power have gone through of late… Do you feel up to the task of embarking upon these complex funerary rites? I know that the transformation that you have chosen to usher in the God of Story’s funeral can be a particularly taxing one for the wielder.
Do you feel that you are recovered enough?
I think so… And even if I have to rest up extra afterwards, this is a big deal, so it deserves a meaningful transformation! Even if it’s a super challenging one! Besides… leading a funeral and creating a new constellation is one of the most meaningful rituals that the God of Winter can offer up to His Mystics. And I want the chance to reconnect with that part of His legacy.
So I thought about it for a long time, and did tons of research on which transformation of Winter I should use to create the funerary constellation of someone like the Narrator… And after a lot of cross-referencing, I think this is really the one that makes the most sense.
Sophos: It has been a long time since that that guise was invoked. A transformation first created to devise a constellation for an extremely ambitious general, who fell from grace long before they fell on the battlefield. It has been used since for those who specifically sought complicated means to rise to power.
Uh-huh… And there are also some attestations indicating that this specific transformation was used in later instances for the funerals of those who perished as they were FORCIBLY removed from power! So… I thought it seemed fitting… Right?
Sophos: Just so.
Yeah… Yeah, okay! In that case…
By the memory of Winter… I invoke Your power to give my transformation the guise… of THE STARSTRIVER!
Aaah!!!
M-May… May my brow be graced by the Winter Sky Starstriver Diadem, to symbolize the power that the God of Story, The Narrator, once bore…
May my arms be wound with the Winter Sky Starstriver Bracers, to symbolize the constraints that he once placed on those who trusted him, and the constraints that his Role placed on himself…!
May my feet… be wrapped in the Winter Sky Starstriver Sandals – woah! Which are pulling me STRAIGHT UP! Faster, faster, faster, higher, higher, REALLY HIGH – u-um - -j-just as the Narrator was always aspiring to something far greater than could be reached on his own…
May my body be clad in the Winter Sky Starstriver Robes – arghh, h-how can such minimal fabric be s-so heavy?! It’s dragging me back down, fast – TOO FAST! AAA, what do I do, what do I – W-wait, I know!
SOPHOS!
CATCH ME!
Now, together! We can find the balance…!
Ahh…!
As the Mystic of Winter, I summon the constellations to represent one who reached for the stars, then watched the stars themselves ripped down, then rebuilt them anew with his stories. A blessing and a curse! A creator and a destroyer! A man, and a God, and a shadow!
There it is… The Narrator’s constellation, sparkling bright. So many stars... But it’ll be up to all of us to draw the lines between them, and decide for ourselves what they represent!
Now I officially begin this funeral by summoning a ritual weapon to symbolize a life cut down – which in this case, is the Winter Sky Starstriver Blade! With a circular edge, like the cycle of life, repeating again, again, again…
But it is not the ceremonies of the Golden Colosseum that matter most today. My role to play is done. I will maintain the constellation ritual until we conclude, but now I formally usher in the main speaker who has been chosen to lead the proceedings today…
I hereby call upon The Dollmaker of the Shadow Stage to step forward to perform the Narrator's last rites, and begin the sharing of memories from the assembly!
