HSR Lore and Notes

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====== On Rain Ownership ======

Exactly which Titan do the raindrops falling on the ground belong to? Many a scholar has left behind mountains of debates regarding the answer to this question.

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Rain falls from the sky. It gathers into rivers and flows into the sea. If that is the case, then do the sky-blotting raindrops belong to Aquila's sky or Phagousa's ocean? As one of the most enduring topics in the debates at the forum, this question has yet to have a conclusive answer.

Regarding the ownership of rain, the theory that we are most familiar with is the primordial theory. Phagousa's priests cite the classics, finding attribution from the creation epics of the Titans' origins. During the Era Luminosa, Aquila and Phagousa spawned from the Pillar of Stone, born of Georios' breath. From that moment on, the ocean and earth have been locked in eternal odds. Phagousa, despised by Georios, could not descend upon the earth. Thus, they wandered between heaven and earth, turning into inextinguishable rain. It wasn't till Talanton's intervention that the brewing pool named Ocean was created on this land. Thus, from the beginning, the rain was a phenomenon that was under Phagousa's realm of governance.

In response to this argument, scholars of the Grove of Epiphany put forth the Fruit Thesis as a counter-argument. To view the rain as Phagousa's kin was but one perspective — all of Amphoreus' water, from the finest wine in a cup to the rivers in the valley, are all part of the Chalice of Plenty's divine corpus. Even if raindrops would fall from the clouds, it was because they had mistakenly entered Aquila's divine realm in a drunken stupor, and find themselves driven out from the skies by Aquila's enraged, thundering lance.

With this reasoning, any matter containing water would be part of Phagousa. Ripened fruits also contain tasty juices, therefore the fruits on trees were also part of Phagousa. However, even a three-year-old child from Castrum Kremnos would know that the fruits of the earth are gifts from the Bough of Rift. Thus, the proposition that rain is part of Phagousa is evidently highly contradictory.

The rain in the sky was part of Aquila, absorbed by flora, thus becoming the offspring of Cerces. If any body of water is part of Phagousa, that Titan would even have to take responsibility for the black tide devouring the world.

Among the many debates, there was no shortage of sophistry. Gordicus, a sage active during the beginning of Era Bellica, once declared in a public debate that rain should be a part of Mnestia's divine being.

In the rain, people can still see the sky, the earth, and the ocean, but none have seen butterflies fluttering in the rain. When butterflies vanish without a trace. One could posit that rain and butterflies were two halves of a whole, and that the golden butterfly symbolized Mnestia. The rain equally patters down on all that exists, causing cold and illness in both humans and beasts, but it only nourishes flora — lifeforms protected by Cerces. This inversely also proves that Mnestia, as Cerces' partner, nourishes their lover's body in the form of rain.

Gordicus' eloquence left many sages at the forum without retort. His destiny also took a turn with this event. After being exiled on successive charges of blasphemy by nine city-states, the proud sage fell by the coast and died in a huge downpour. It is said that returning fishermen saw countless sirens roiling up huge waves, carrying the lifeless Gordicus away with them in the tide. They said that Phagousa was angered by this prideful sage, and turned his soul into a fish, keeping him by their side as a jester for all eternity.

Since the world still functions normally, the roles of the many Titans governing it must be distinct. However, our wisdom is less than that of even a leaf in a forest — it is only natural that we cannot fathom the truth that constitutes Amphoreus. Only those who acknowledge their own ignorance and approach questions with humility can inch towards Cerces' logic. Gordicus' tale serves as a cautionary reminder for future generations.