Elden Ring: Putrefaction of Gold

He Who Conquers the Stars

When Radahn was still a nursing child on his mother's knee, he often watched the shooting stars. Where did they all go he wondered. He asked his mother if he might one day catch one, to which she smiled, kissed his head, and replied, "No, little culver. It is for us to observe destiny, not impede it."

It was an answer that had to suffice for a boy, but he was a man now who had time to experience the world for himself. Beyond the fog, Radahn saw what lay outside Marika's divine influence with an insight that Marika provided all her demigod children. With this insight, Radahn had to state that what Marika built with the First Elden Lord Godfrey was something of wonder.

There was no hunger or famine. All had more than what was needed. Not even death itself was feared as all lived unnaturally long lives and returned to the Erdtree to be spun into life anew. And Marika's offspring enjoyed no such bitterness.

Why should such a thing be allowed to end?

Now that he was a captain and one of Marika's many champions, just like his father before him. And it was in Sellia that Radahn found his purpose and opportunity to prove himself before the Golden Order. But more important; to save the many innocent people Radahn had come to call his friends.

His scrawny horse Leonard came and pushed his nose against Radahn's hand, which got a chuckle and an affectionate scratch from the demigod.

Radahn was a mere pup still that barely left his mother's side when he met his friend. It was huddled up in the corner, unable to stand. The Stable Master told Radahn there was nothing to be done, as the foal was born premature, and its mother rejected it. With no will to continue living, the stablemaster looked to make the creature as comfortable as possible before its essence returned to the Erdtree.

His father came to search for him when Radahn didn't come home and found Radahn in the pen with the foal. The boy begged the scrawny foal to take some milk. Radagon, who often lacked patience for such things, tried to coax Radahn to leave the foal and come home, but he refused. Radagon reasons ranged from "it's not possible to keep" to "it will find peace within the branches of the Erdtree" to an outright "it's the will of the Order, and the Order is the Greater Will". Radahn countered by hugging the foal and saying, "But I want him to live!"

So Radagon let Radahn keep the horse to save him, and Leonard hadn't left Radahn's side since. It was almost a second heartbreak when Radahn grew too large to ride, which caused him to come to Sellia to learn gravity magic.

"Humph," said Radahn as he rubbed Leonard's nose. "The stars are shifting. It won't be much longer now."

The astrologers warned about what the people of Sellia have called "the Calamity" centuries ago, but no one paid any heed then. It seemed an event too far off, and who knew how the stars might shift between now and then? So, they did nothing while it was still possible to intervene.

Now, the hour had come. Not only had the stars not shifted, but the Calamity was far worse now than previously thought. If it landed, it threatened to destroy the entire town of Sellia and render much of Caelid uninhabitable. Panic ensued, and councils started offering anything from the improbable to the ludicrous. (One even suggested moving the town - buildings and all, north. They figured they might make peace with all the dragons somehow.)

Radahn asked the astrologers to send the Queen word. They wrote a lengthy thousand-page brief that laid out every scientific observation and all calculations of the event; complete with detailed diagrams and ledgers full of equations. It took them months to compile through the bickering of whose contributions to include and credit; even if it was redundant or useless.

Radahn still smiled at their faces when Marika's reply came within less than an hour of the brief's reported delivery, indicating she did not read it. In a message addressed only to her stepson, Marika gave the one-phrase response, "Do what you must."