“As unhealthy as the habit is, far too many people prefer to believe in sweet lies than to accept the bitter truth for what it is. They are probably aware that doing so was no different than to fool themselves, yet they did so on their own volition anyway, often just so that they could bask in the sweet fantasy where everything in the world works in their favor a little bit more.

It is a delusional practice that far too many weak-willed people succumb to, unfortunately.” - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.

“What’s all that about, Aunt?” Áine asked with obvious curiosity as they watched some town guards drag a screaming man away – or at least he was screaming until one of the guards got fed up with his screaming and gagged his mouth with some rags.

The group had entered Assadun three days ago and walked to a medium-sized town where they saw the scene. At first the screaming man being dragged away was preaching on the side of the street, only for the people walking by to ignore them. That apparently incensed the preaching man and he started hurling vitriol – and nearby objects – at the passersby, which led to the guards being called in that in turn resulted in the present situation.

As the man happened to be preaching in a local dialect that none of the siblings – or Kino – knew about, they didn’t really get what the actual issue was, or what the man preached and screamed about, for that matter. As such they turned to Aideen in the hopes that she could shed some light on the situation.

“I’m not too certain about it myself, honestly. Not too familiar with that dialect, but the bit I did understand was talking about… suffering in life and rewards in the afterlife, I think,” replied Aideen. “Which would make him one of those suffering cultists. No real surprise that he got ignored and then dragged away, if that’s indeed the case.”

“Suffering cultists?” asked Kino, though the three siblings beside her nodded in understanding at the term Aideen used.

“I’ll let you three explain it to Kino. It’s pretty old history so I don’t blame her if she forgot about it.”

“Understood, Aunt,” replied Rhys with an eager nod. “Anyway, Miss Kino, these… cultists of suffering are adherents to tenets that used to be the major belief here in the northern regions,” he explained. “Those beliefs stated that the purpose of life is to suffer and work hard, so that their efforts would be rewarded many times over in the afterlife.”

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“You said that it used to be the major belief here. What brought about the change?” asked Kino.

“The dwarven exodus happened,” said Áine as if that explained everything. “Tens of thousands of dwarven refugees fled south from Alcidea after Igunacio’s Wrath and the civil war that tore apart the Dwarven Kingdom Down Under of the time. The majority of those ended up settling down in the current Caliphate, and naturally, they were rather flabbergasted at the local belief of suffering.”

“Got to understand, Kino, these people were fresh from having witnessed a Deity’s Wrath with their own eyes, so they tend to be less than impressed with some tenets from some unnamed source that claim to be a higher power yet never showed any sign of their existence,” added Eilonwy with an amused voice. “Probably doesn’t help them that the belief in the Six Deities was the mainstream religion even in Ur-Teros at that time, outside of the northern region.”

“So where did that belief in suffering come from then?” asked Kino curiously.

“Nobody could tell for certain, given how long ago all that happened, and even the dwarves, as long-lived as they were, had gone through many generations between then and now,” replied Aideen as she brushed a strand of errant hair away from her face. “Most records I’ve read seem to think that the belief was one made up and purposefully disseminated by the ruling class of the northern region at the time, however.”

“Huh? Why would they do that and spread that sort of thing to their own-” asked Kino as she retorted with a question before things clicked in her mind mid-sentence. “Oh.”

“Yeah. It’s a very convenient thing, isn’t it? If your peasants and commoners believe that life is all about suffering and hard work and that they should accept it all gratefully to be rewarded in some afterlife, it would certainly make ruling them easier, don’t you think?” said Aideen with obvious distaste. “It wouldn’t even be the first of its sort. History noted many such attempts, where rulers tried to control their people with propaganda and belief so that they became docile sheep that lapped up every word given to them by their so-called betters.”

“Surely that sort of thing couldn’t last for that long, right?” asked Kino with a somewhat pleading tone in her voice. “People aren’t so stupid as to believe in them… right?”

“Well, it depends, sadly. Many crumbled before too long, but some lasted for generations, decades, centuries, or even longer,” replied Aideen. “Like that preacher you saw being dragged away… the poor thing probably wholeheartedly believed in what he was preaching. It might well be the only belief he knows of, something he was raised on by parents who similarly believed that way.”

“As such, it’s hard to say that it was his fault in particular, as the blame definitely lies partly with those who raised him that way, while they in turn likely share the blame with those who made them turn out that way. It just goes ever onward until you realize that the blame for such beliefs even propagating in the first place was because sometimes, people are just too lazy and opinionated to look outside in search of something better and chose to cling onto what they know for what little comfort it brought them.”

“You will want to keep this in mind, all of you, as people often fall into this mental trap, regardless of their age or intelligence. Make sure you keep an open mind and check things out for yourself, rather than just refuse to accept any challenges to your point of view.”