"If you have even once in your life sincerely thought that you wished to burn in the purifying flames of Hell and emerge perfected, I think you are a step ahead of the general peasantry," Ferrer Maillol says dryly.  "I am not looking forwards to it, in fact, though I would not say as much to anyone who didn't have a note in their file about having apparently sincerely thought what you did.  At our level, in our inner fellowship, it is not demanded of us that we pretend that the fates Pharasma assigned us are the fates we would have chosen for ourselves.  We live inside an absolute and inescapable greater tyranny - all of us, from Cheliax to Lastwall, from slaves to the gods of Good.  Most people have no natural response to that except for endless whining and complaining, and living in denial until Lawful Evil inevitably conquers everything that isn't Lawful Evil.  Some of us are born with something that is native to the plane we live in, that can push along the tyranny rather than being swept away struggling.  That's why we get to wear pretty rubies on our robes, and burn in Hell for a shorter time and come out of it as higher devils.  We're not just playing the game because we want a better score in it.  It's our game.  We'd play it even if Asmodeus wasn't there.  It's that quality - not feeling grateful for Asmodeus having to force us into it - that makes us the favored of Asmodeus and recognized as His own."  Though that's all Inner Ring theology and part of his own favored concern of tyranny, which he should maybe not emphasize as much if Sevar hasn't a visible aptitude for it.

"If you have even once in your life sincerely thought that you wished to burn in the purifying flames of Hell and emerge perfected, I think you are a step ahead of the general peasantry," Ferrer Maillol says dryly.  "I am not looking forwards to it, in fact, though I would not say as much to anyone who didn't have a note in their file about having apparently sincerely thought what you did."

"At our level, in our inner fellowship, it is not demanded of us that we pretend that the fates Pharasma assigned us are the fates we would have chosen for ourselves.  We live inside an absolute and inescapable greater tyranny - all of us, from Cheliax to Lastwall, from slaves to the gods of Good.  Most people have no natural response to that except for endless whining and complaining, and living in denial until Lawful Evil inevitably conquers everything that isn't Lawful Evil.  Some of us are born with something that is native to the plane we live in, that can push along the tyranny rather than being swept away struggling.  That's why we get to wear pretty rubies on our robes, and burn in Hell for a shorter time and come out of it as higher devils.  We're not just playing the game because we want a better score in it.  It's our game.  We'd play it even if Asmodeus wasn't there.  It's that quality - not feeling grateful for Asmodeus having to force us into it - that makes us the favored of Asmodeus and recognized as His own."  Though that's all Inner Ring theology and part of his own favored concern of tyranny, which he should maybe not emphasize as much if Sevar hasn't a visible aptitude for it.

"If you have even once in your life sincerely thought that you wished to burn in the purifying flames of Hell and emerge perfected, I think you are a step ahead of the general peasantry," Ferrer Maillol says dryly.  "I am not looking forwards to it, in fact, though I would not say as much to anyone who didn't have a note in their file about having apparently sincerely thought what you did."

"At our level, in our inner fellowship, it is not demanded of us that we pretend that the fates Pharasma assigned us are the fates we would have chosen for ourselves.  We live inside an absolute and inescapable greater tyranny - all of us, from Cheliax to Lastwall, from slaves to the gods of Good.  Most people have no natural response to that except for endless whining and complaining, and living in denial until Lawful Evil inevitably conquers everything that isn't Lawful Evil.  Some of us are born with something that is native to the plane we live in, that can push along the tyranny rather than being swept away struggling.  That's why we get to wear pretty rubies on our robes, and burn in Hell for a shorter time and come out of it as higher devils."

"We're not just playing the game because we want a better score in it.  It's our game.  We'd play it even if Asmodeus wasn't there."

"It's that quality - not feeling grateful for Asmodeus having to force us into it - that makes us the favored of Asmodeus and recognized as His own."

Though that's all Inner Ring theology and part of his own favored concern of tyranny, which he should maybe not emphasize as much if Sevar hasn't a visible aptitude for it.