Saint's Questionnaire

[the following is a transcription, translating from Slugsign to English, creative liberties have been taken to enhance understanding for readers.]

home...home is cold, comfortable. theres not just me, myself and a few others call it home. some visit, pilgrims. some come and stay, settlers. none, though, none truly understand. home is not just ice and metal and beasts and snow. it is...was, a tool, for old gods. it was akin to that radio you have. it was a communication array for an ancient mind, now dead... we turn the corpse of a god, far larger than many of my kin can even imagine, let alone understand, into a home, a den... but I can imagine, I understand.

[the following is a transcription, translating from Slugsign to English, creative liberties have been taken to enhance understanding for readers.]

scavengers... they pull apart the god, same as us. we, the colony, sell to them what we carve out, and all in the colony benefit from this. scavengers give pearls in exchange for old things, dug out of ruins, used as currency to purchase other old things, and dug out of ruins. soon, the workshop will be complete, and then we can trade in goods, rather than old things. many are happy about this, I am as well... some are not. when traders come, I use pearls to get enough materials to continue making my tools, as well as whatever novelties interest me.

[the following is a transcription, translating from Slugsign to English, creative liberties have been taken to enhance understanding for readers.]

death... I have felt it before. when I was ending the cycles, I died many times. it is...not an old friend, but not a foe either.  I am familiar with the pain of death, as well as the euphoria of rebirth. I desired to finish the cycle, and I did... now I just want to rest, to guide my younger kin on the right path, as any elder should, especially after their mothers and sires...shuffled themselves off the mortal coil in the wake of my victory, had I known what they were going to do, I would have delayed my quest until they could care for themselves.

[the following is a transcription, translating from Slugsign to English, creative liberties have been taken to enhance understanding for readers.]

most defining? that would be when I ended the cycles and freed my home from an ever-repeating... hell, I believe your people call it. since then I have given up much of my power (translators note: the original word used here was "karma") and have spent most of my time helping the children grow, after their parents hastily took the exit I made, it left them without guidance, I believe becoming that source of guidance has changed me the most... did you know that they call me father? many of them had their parents leave before they even developed enough to remember their faces.

[the following is a transcription, translating from Slugsign to English, creative liberties have been taken to enhance understanding for readers.]

just three people? I know more, but very well, I can do that.

first, there is Rivulet, though she may be small, she is as quick in thought as she is in motion, she is the one who got me my cloak, and claimed it from the corpse of a dead god closer to her birthplace, she often acts as the... therapist, I believe your word for it is, the one who listens to woe and helps minds heal.

second, that would be Survivor, he is a rather calm individual, easy to panic, rather good at gathering, as well as beast handling. he was a great help in setting up the colony, just like the next one.

Last, but not least, there is Gourmand, a rather large one, he is often the one to cook or to consult if you don't know what to do in a situation, he and Artificer act as the crafters of the group, creating whatever tools we need, recently, they've been trying to use the materials of red... (translators note: saint visibly shivered before the next word) lizards, as well as the shell of red centipedes (note: not direct translation, but its as close as I could get) to make armor, I'm curious how that goes...

[the following is a transcription, translating from Slugsign to English,  creative liberties have been taken to enhance understanding for  readers.]

my mother and sire? My mother was kind, she, like I am now, was part of the colony council. in charge of the hunts, she was, kept us fed. father... father was different, not like us, he was made by a god machine as a puppet, even if we didn't know it at the time. he was the hand by which the god machine guided us toward enlightenment.

childhood? it was...fine. if boring, except when Father came back from communing with his creator, at which most of the colony would celebrate, dancing and singing around a bonfire. for mother though, it was a... different celebration, often held alone with father, long after the wider festivities were done, when I was young they would usually send me to help clean up the aftermath of the celebration, but I knew what they were doing.

[the following is a transcription, translating from Slugsign to English,  creative liberties have been taken to enhance understanding for  readers.]

love? I have never felt love for another, but I do know the feeling of platonic love for a sibling. Rivulet, for example, is a good friend, almost like a sister to me, she is incredibly important to me.

other than that? never. I've never had the need, want, or time. it's just not something I care about.

(translator's note: asking others in the colony shows that some of them joke that Saint has taken a vow of celibacy, it was rather interesting.)