Thoughts on The Abstract Gods

Artists being used by the gods as a political move isn’t a new phenomenon. If I had a Mon for every sculptor or painter that gets visited by one of the Seasonal Dragons, I would be a very rich woman indeed. But after the discovery of The Shape of Reality, and the other Abstract Gods, things have been difficult.

We know for example, that Abstract Gods don’t want to attract attention, they just exist, observing either for their own amusement or for more sinister reasons. We can barely comprehend them let alone understand their motives, at least for now.

I hope.

It’s funny how all mortal kind might have remained ignorant if it won’t for the existence of one man. A painter who for whatever reason has been able to maintain contact with these creatures, been able to paint them with such a raw and blunt edge.

We have decided to, as the global scientific community, to refer to him as Diggby (a code name). Some of my more extravagant colleagues have nicknamed him Diggby: Painter of the Gods.

As much as I scoff at such grandiosity, I cannot help but understand what they mean. The Abstracts shook our foundational understanding of what a god is and how they operate, overnight what was a stable field of study became completely upended.I have had the pleasure of talking to Diggby myself. He’s a pleasant character, an ordinary man you might see working in the rice fields, or someone you see briefly on the streets of Haru. You would never suspect of him communicating with the Abstract Gods themselves. But the paintings, oh the paintings he makes! They intrigue me on a visceral level, they reaffirm my drive to study and understand the methods of the gods.

Processes are ongoing, but a fittingly global effort has been undertaken to understand (as best as we can) the nature of these Abstracts.

So far, we know that Abstracts don’t take an active role in mortal life, they just sit and watch in the background. They are not affected by faith, nor do they have a humanoid form, they are at best a shape within the domain of dreams or something else. Some have spoken back, but it’s always gibberish, a garbled series of sounds and verbs.I can confirm that Abstracts have something of a personality. The Shape of Reality (confirmed recently to be the god of dreams) seems to have a curious laid-back attitude, that we have been able to gather from the observed patterns of behavior.

I have no idea if this is true, The Primordial Butterfly is difficult to understand at the best of times, our current research has been sluggish to say the least.

Frustrating to put it mildly.

But that’s the nature of the beast, and when you are trying to study something as vast as an Abstract, you must be ready for the long run.

So far there are three Abstracts: The Shape of Reality, The Infinite Probable and most recently: The Maw. Each the god of dreams, chaos and entropy respectively.  The Maw seems to lack any cognitive ability, if our communications with our gods (recently classified by yours truly as Forebears) are accurate. The growls it gives from the depths of death suggest a truly terrible event should it ever escape. We don’t know what will happen to us if The Maw does break lose, or what it means to truly die?I shudder to think of these questions, I don’t fear death, I know what happens when we step off this mortal coil. We only reset after spending another lifetime in the Paleblue realm. But The Maw could put an end to that.

I don’t want to think about this more tonight, it’s been a long day.I know that The Infinite Probable is horrifying, we know it through the way it influences probabilities and outcomes to best fit its apparent desire for destruction.I haven’t been the same since I have learned of this, I know that Khulgana is fighting it, but it’s only one god. We only have a single Forebear protecting us from chaos! How is that a comfort?!

How do we kill something like the Maw? Or the whole of reality itself?You can’t even kill a Forebear forever. I must remain strong; science demands a lot from us, and I cannot be weak now.

One can only imagine what Diggby experiences when he paints these gods. He is so pleasant and calm in my conversations, he laughs when he reveals a new painting to me. Truly the madness of the artist I suppose.I pray to the Dragonic Four to give me the strength to keep on going. We only fear what we don’t understand, and maybe we can understand how to control the Abstracts?

I suppose we will only find out.

I shall try to go to sleep now, but I fear that I won’t be able to for a long while, my mind is swirling with thoughts and not all of them are pleasant.

-Journal of Mai Abe, Scientist of Haru University, God Studies department 5th day of the 7th month Year 1904