The Church of Luxos has long maintained that the blessings were proof that the gods love us. Without them we would face a world filled with monsters, terror and fell magic unarmed and naked. Cynics point out that without Ankros, there would be no need for the blessings. Humanity could easily survive without the magic, status sheets, and special abilities conferred by the Sixteen if the God of Night and Struggle didn’t decide in his infinite wisdom to fill Karell with monsters and his warlike children, the Durgh.

This author on the other hand, humbly disagrees with those cynics. We might be able to survive without the blessings and the monsters, but we would never thrive. Although the Durgh and monsters represent an external threat, kingdoms war with distressing frequency. Without blessings, we might not have the magic and martial arts to make such wars into the grand affairs they are today, but we also wouldn’t have the magic to grow crops at a moment's notice or heal the wounded.

Plus, without attunements what would we do for money? Some rural or poverty stricken zones allow bartering, but not everyone possesses something that a merchant wants. If a man wants a loaf of bread and all he has to offer is jewelry, what is he to do if the baker has no need for jewelry?

Some of my contemporaries have discussed the concept of creating markers out of rare metals, disks and triangles issued by the various Kings with a set value. This idea seems manifestly unwise. Gold is rare and pretty, but what use does it offer to a merchant, warrior or prince? Ultimately it is but a few chips of a fancy rock that we’ve decided has an arbitrary value.

Attunement cannot be robbed from you and it is awarded by the gods themselves. What could be a fairer system? Although attunement can be transferred freely between individuals, an enterprising person can simply go and earn more by accomplishing the various tasks set out by the Major Gods. Each has their own goals for mortal life and growth that are reflected in how they reward us. Fighting Monsters will earn you night attunement from Ankros, God of Night and Struggle. Research, study and learning new spells will earn you moon attunement from Mursa, Goddess of Moon and Magic. Serving as a harmonious and productive member of society will earn you sun attunement from Luxos, God of Sun and Growth.

Better yet, attunement is useful. Although classes help determine the amount of mana someone earns each level, attunement provides an important baseline for both mana capacity and regeneration. After all, each mortal has three mana pools, one associated with each attunement. Each pool is more useful for spells and martial arts closely related to the deity with whom the mana is attuned. Technically, you could try to use moon mana to power an elemental fire spell, but even the most inexperienced scholars could tell you that sun or night mana would be significantly more efficient.

Of course, some of my contemporaries say this system is unfair. Not everyone receives a blessing. The forgotten don’t have access to their status, making them unable to level or use magic entirely. Although they can still earn attunement, without their status they don’t even know how much they have, often leading to dishonest merchants swindling them. These disabilities, combined with a healthy amount of discrimination often lead to the forgotten occupying the bottom rungs of society, mired in poverty and barely able to eke out a meager existence.

“Micah!” A voice called, causing a young boy to snap his head up from the dusty book he was reading. “The Sun is starting to go down. You might want to finish your chores so that you can go home. You wouldn’t want to miss your birthday tonight, would you?”

The boy slapped the book shut and slipped it onto the trolley he used to sort and file the library’s books. Keeper Ansom was right. Today wasn’t the day to be late.