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"Good day class, today's topic is entitled "Vying for Power" and will explain how the different deities contest for sources of power and the disadvantages of losing the conflict."
"This portion of the course is one that is hardest for students to learn as well as the hardest subject for me to teach. Explaining how deities fight among themselves is similar to trying to explain the casting of magic to a peasant. You can explain the outcome of the spell, the material components used, and the gestures involved but none of that really imparts the true use of magic. Therefore pay close attention to what I say and try to expand your intellect to encompass the realm of the deities. I will be using a cloud similitude to link what really occurs with what can be comprehended by mortals."
"When a deity takes control of a source of power, he extends tendrils throughout the source. The source can be imagined as a cloud. These tendrils can be imagined as roots that funnel the power into the deity and can be manipulated by his will. As a deity gains more experience he can increase the size of his tendrils and control more of the cloud. This takes time and concentration on the part of the deity. But once the tendrils are in place it becomes extremely difficult to remove them against the deity's wishes. With this concept in mind, I will explain the conflicts that occur between deities."
"The first kind of conflict is one where two deities compete for the same source of power. A deity controls a fixed volume of the cloud that expands and contracts based on the actions of their followers and the power the deity expends. Regardless of the power differences between the two deities, there are only three options for them to use as a means of resolving this kind of conflict."
"The first option is to split the cloud into two distinct parts. This is a difficult and dangerous process with severe disadvantages. Some of the volume of the cloud is destroyed in the process of splitting and this can weaken both deities. The amount of destruction varies and cannot be predicted which leads to a hesitancy to use exercise this option. If both deities work together to split the source of power the amount of destruction is reduced. When a source is unilaterally split, the backlash of destruction can greatly exceed the volume of the acting deity. Perhaps an example is in order. Suppose that one deity's share of the cloud is worth 200 coppers. The second deity's portion is worth 30 coppers. If both deities work together to split the cloud it might cost the more powerful deity 20 coppers and the weaker deity 5 coppers. If the weaker deity decides to unilaterally split the source, it might cost the weaker deity his full 30 coppers but cost the more powerful deity 80 coppers or even, in the case of a severe backlash, the full 200 coppers. This will completely eliminate the weaker deity as well as causing a large amount of damage to the more powerful deity. Alternatively, the effect of a unilateral split can be that the weaker deity loses 2 coppers and the more powerful deity loses 10 coppers. Thus this is an unpredictable option. This unpredictability is a concern that has caused some powerful deities to voluntarily split off a portion of their source of power to a weaker deity even though they could have won a prolonged conflict."
"The second option is to burn up a portion of the cloud under the deity's control and strike at his opponent with that power. The opponent must use up an equivalent amount of the cloud under his control to counter this attack. Eventually one of the two deities runs out of power and fades away. To use this option, the attacking deity must act quickly and decisively so as to prevent his opponent the time to resort to the first option and unilaterally split the cloud. The interesting factor in this option is that the attacking deity does not always know the exact power of his opponent. Therefore it is possible that he burns up more power than required to destroy his opponent. Alternatively, if he doesn't burn up enough power for the first strike his opponent might gain enough time to resort to a unilateral split."
"Their third option is to start a war on the mortal planes, hoping that by eliminating their opponent's followers it will limit that deity from expanding his share of the source. Once that is accomplished, the winning deity can then expand only his portion of the source of power using the techniques discussed in the second lecture. In addition, the losing deity's volume of control will slowly decrease as he uses power from his share of the source to remain alive. At one point the winning deity will decide that he has amassed enough volume so that he can eliminate his opponent and still survive. Hextor and Heironeous are presumably in this process at this time."
"The second kind of conflict is one between deities of different sources of power. This will be discussed after a short pause."
