Please read the following transcript carefully if you wish to understand the Board's decision.
[In hindsight, it is really simple to understand. What sort of corrupt ruler tells you they're corrupt? Do they even know they're corrupt? And come on, history is written by the winners after all.
Except, that's only half of the story.
The devil/God titles are just titles they exchanged each time one usurped the other. I have been a divine historian for over a hundred years now, and I still find attributions hard. I mean, yeah, the current 'God' did the flood, to wipe out the previous God's worshippers or something. Noah did the smart thing by listening to whoever was in charge at the time. But which one of them crucified Jesus? Which one demanded for Ishmael to be sacrificed, only to change their mind later? It's a bit messy here.
You know what, let's call the current God Boss, and the other Not-Boss. It's easier that way.
Wait - what? No, no. Neither of them is the devil. I told you it's just a title to give to the loser. It works for humanity, at any rate.
And to answer your question, no, neither of them is Jesus' father either. I'm actually sure of that one.
See, both Boss and Not-Boss are just gods, not ultimately powerful at all. I mean come on, take a look at the universe. They're sort of above the ancient pagan gods in general power, but not in every aspect. General power? Ugh, sorry. I forget you're a newbie. Let me explain.
You see, we have different terms for different sorts of power. The term general power isn't even that accurate, but whatever. Look, let's divide it into three categories: there's physical power, which is the power of a god to affect the physical world we live in, through manipulation of the laws of probability; second, you have spiritual power, which affects spirit, human or other as well as the spiritual/astral realm; and finally, mental power, which affects sanity and sensory perception as well as thought, and the effect of that one is limited to human beings.
Both Boss and Not-Boss have extensive general power, which is another word for physical power. It's not very great, generally speaking, but it is something, at least from the human perspective. Spiritual and mental power, though, not so much. That's where the pagan gods come in. Let me tell you — and believe me — you don't want to fuck around with these lot.
Wait a second — I actually forgot. What are you doing here? You have been in this library for a few days now, there's no way in hell you just found out about the God/Devil drama.
Oh, that. Now that's something. But, please, say it correctly. It's The Grand Hypothesis, okay? It's not the 'what-else-is-out-there' bullshit. Look at my eyes, do you understand?
Fine, I'll tell you the story. Just take a deep breath.
The basis of the hypothesis is this: we believe there's some order or being — possibly a group of beings — that reigns superior over all the other gods, Boss and Not-Boss included. Why, they're all terrified of it/them/whatever.
Slowly, now, let me speak and I'll tell you everything you want to know. No, it's not the great Old Ones, either. Actually, the fact that they are scared of it is why the hypothesis wasn't studied further.
Look, Boss and Not-Boss had an influence on humanity for nearly two millennia now, so the time frame for the evidence is limited, but also the amount of stories and different tellings is staggeringly great. And yet, the pattern holds, and not only for them, but for other gods too.
It appears in different ways, and there are proper terms for them, but I'll say it in a way you understand:
2. The 'why-the-fuck-couldn't-you-take-the-easy-way-out'
No, no — don't interrupt me.
They are self-explanatory, honestly. The first is about all the dead messengers of gods, and how they all met horrible ends, or had terrible lives. Did you ever wonder why the god that appointed them abandoned them? Ah — ah, no. There's no better afterlife. The gods are fucking hiding from each other, and from something else, too. Who'd gather human souls and expose themselves?
Oh, what happens to those who expose themselves? Well, we are not sure. They disappear forever, for all we know.
So yeah, no heaven or hell. At least not with Boss and Not-Boss.
Oh, I kind of feared you'd ask that. I don't think you're ready to hear the answer, yet. Trust me, just drop it.
Anyway, the second is pretty clear. There are many instances, in many stories about all sorts of gods where there is a dilemma and an easy way out vs. a hard way out. And the god, the supposedly superior being, takes the hard way out. The bloody way out, and it doesn't make sense, does it?
The third...well, take a breath.
We look into the universe for signs of divine activity — sort of like how gravity creates waves and fields — to understand the exact range of some gods' powers or to gauge the age of the oldest gods, usual work. Yes, there is a science for that! It was this that told us that something must be terribly wrong.
Imagine this, the divine field — I coined that term — is very predictable and regular, all over the universe. There are some differences that can alert you if the divine field you're observing is due to a god that doesn't belong to earth, or how old the god is. Yes, there are aliens — is this really the time for that? The point is that a divine field tells you what you need to know about a god.
Anyway, it's all good so far. Except there are vast areas, and I mean vast, that are completely devoid of any divine influence. They are literally surrounded by it, but they themselves remain untouched. Here's the thing: it isn't some random patch of space neglected by chance, it is a very defined territory of space in which no divine field exists. No, dear, it's not that the space is empty. It is that the space is dead.
There used to be creatures there, at some point, the telltale signs of temples and structures dedicated to worship are there, but they're so subdued we can't even tell who they were worshipping anymore. Not that it matters, they are also dead.
Seriously, you don't understand what? There is a being out there with the power not only to delete the entire existence of a civilization, but also the existence of whoever they worshipped.
Oh, dear, you don't get it, do you? They're dead and forgotten, god and worshippers. I remember early on, when the hypothesis was still in its developmental stages, one of our own suggested placing a mural of any random god in one of those spaces, to excite divine activity. It was a fearsome thing, I think it was one of the great Old Ones. A god sleeping since times unknown.
Look, it wasn't our first option, obviously. We tried other gods first, and every single time the ship and the mural were blown to shards before they left the ground. The gods were very simple and forward with their messages: absolutely fucking not. The only way out of it was to send a god common enough to have way too many murals to track, but also old enough to be sleeping and unaware. I think it was Yog-Sothoth? Or Azathoth. The names look alike after a while.
Sorry, I, ugh, I lost myself there. What – what happened? The ship carrying the mural was removed from existence before it even left the vicinity. All that was left of it, and everybody on board, was their absence in our memories. No divine activity was percieved near a mural of that god ever again.
I don't think you actually get this, so let me put it plainly: Azathoth, after eons of sleeping to his flutes, woke up, saw the universe for the first time, and committed divine suicide, withdrawing all his power and essence and influence from existence!
Withdrawn to where? You were in this library for three days, for goodness' sake!
Well, I don't know. Nobody knows if there's even a where that he could withdraw to, hence the term, divine suicide.
In any case, losing even the memories of our colleagues who were lost with the god was enough for us to cease all work on the hypothesis. We simply didn't want to know the truth.
So now I ask you: what are you doing here?
All associations affiliated with divine archeology has been banned and forgotten for centuries now, even this library is time-locked. Why would they send someone now?
Well, given everything I told you, I suppose you wouldn't be surprised if I reached for that board behind you, would you?
Leave, then, if you wish to live, although I don't recommend it. I know – I know why they sent you, so here's my answer: it's not that we don't know what to do, it's that there's nothing to be done. We only hope that in death we may not be touched by the shadow.]
Based on Transcript #H666Op-C2, of Agent (?) with the Keeper of the Last Divine Archeology Library in Nowehere, we hereby recommend the genocide of humanity by merciful means. Based on data from the records of divine activity also attached in this report, the timeframe ought not exceed three years.
May we all be untouched by the shadow.