Before Night Falls
Before Night Falls
The wonders of the Solar Exalted are many and varied, defined as much by their imperishable weathering of time as by their perfection of function. Some of them stand where all can see: massive edifices of arcane origin, the architecture of god-kings that reshape the land and its power. Others are less visible but no less potent.
The Solar once known as Veil-Winged Shrike, who would go on in later days to achieve other titles, other names, left behind her share of works, very few of which we can see. Even the great Temple of Thorns, known in common parlance as Where the Shrike Perches, while constructed under her auspices, was designed and built by various members of her cadre. Instead, she left behind a trove of legends, a rich tapestry of myth and song and story that lends her Temple, and her shrines, and those places touched by her hand and blessed by her presence, such significance. Where others created form, she created meaning, a metaphysical mark that is founded not on the fickle earth nor on stone humbled by mortal masons, but on our very hearts.
Such accounts reach us of her words, spoken before the great Battle of Port Calin, where she and her coterie confronted the being known as the Mask of Winters, a Deathlord empowered by dead titans who sought Creation's utter destruction. Her voice enfolded us all on that day, and her apparition towered in the darkening sky, made of spun sunlight and glowing with all the colours of the hastening sunset.
"Before night falls, my beloved people, who have submitted to our care and our protection, let us gather together in fellowship. Look to your neighbours and set aside whatever rancour you might have once had. Now there is nothing but this: a moment in time set aside for those things that, if we survive, will lend meaning to such lives. Let us remember camaraderie, and shared laughter; let us remember love! Share with one another the shelter of your homes, the warmth of your hearths, the protection of your arms and the gift of your names. Let no one die a stranger; as we pray for those who will, who must, fall in our defence, let us pray for them as family, for no brother or sister, father or mother, son or daughter, could give a greater gift to his loved ones than the laying-down of his or her life.
"Stand together! Stand fast! The night is full of fears, but before night falls, let us cast our eyes on the light as the sun sets for the last time on the Creation we know. When next it rises, everything will be different. All will have changed. Tonight we all die: let us rise from bent knee as newborns, free of hatred and jealousy. Let us stand before the sun's light as a people free from division and discord! And let us call upon the Light of All Lights, Our Guarding Star, to grant us his favour and his blessing!
"Sol Invictus! Sol Victoria! You whose hands hold mastery over all things, who reigns supreme in war and in peace, look down with favour upon Your gathered people. Creation stands against a gathering darkness, and it stands united, with hearts forged strong by determination and shared faith. Remind us even as Your Star fades that we are all Your favoured children, that it was in our shape that You ascended to Your throne, that Your splendour is a recognition of that spark we all possess! We bring You no sacrifice, for You hold in memory of our potential the only tribute You have ever kept: spear and shield, horn and laurel, You have taken the sacrifices of a moment and preserved them for all eternity, that no other might need be offered to entreat Your gaze.
"With the last rays of Your Light, ignite within our hearts the fires of Valour for ardent action, of Compassion for our neighbour, of Conviction in our righteousness and of Temperance to steel our hearts against fear. We do not ask that You stand beside us in this our hour of need. Merely that you make us worthy to stand together, to fight against the enemies of all that is Holy. Bless us, that we may acquit ourselves honourably for the sake of our homes, our families, our gods and our ancestors. Glory to the people of Port Calin, who stand so valiant in the face of the powers of the Void. Glory to the Chosen of the Gods, who defy impossible odds! And Glory to the Most High!"
