In Hell's Pay

By James Walker

**Flaming
Feather**

The thought struck me - most dreamshades serving the pagan gods would have Infernal Rites. The logic goes like this:

A dreamshade continuously feels the pull of the Celestial realm, and can release their hold on the Ethereal realm at any time, travelling to their final reward. This is a problem for the pagan gods. Every time one does so, they lose a Servitor, and they can't recruit sufficient replacements. Of course, a dreamshade who is going to go to Hell is going to hang around longer than one who is going to reincarnate, and still longer than one destined for Heaven: they've got more motivation to avoid their final destination. And Hell wants as many souls damned as possible. So it is in the best interests of both Hell and the pagan gods to have their worshippers given an Infernal Rite each: the pagan gods get to keep them longer (and they're more powerful to boot) and Hell gets them all in the long run.

Granted that not all of the ethereals will be arranging this. The Hindu pantheon probably doesn't see the point - they still have a decent Corporeal supply of worshippers, and don't have any time for Hell. The Norse gods would see this as proof of their beliefs: their refusal to deal with Hell means that they have fewer - and less powerful - worshippers than their foes, which is why they will lose at Ragnarok.

The rest, however - the temptation would be immense. The ethereals know that they're mortal, and cannot survive without their worshippers; they get to make their worshippers stronger; and it's a way of getting revenge for the Purity Crusade. Besides, their worshippers want the power...

**Flaming
Feather**

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