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The elders in Oustellian culture often say that one should never deal in absolutes with the irony of using an absolute to say that being front of mind. The proverb predates Oustellia as a nation but Oustellia as an island region has long held on to its traditions. Their belief in the nigh impossible and the nigh improbable grows stronger with every passing century and even something seemingly absolute as death is often greeted with a "maybe."
Death, cosmic quantity that it is, sits in the company of other grand concepts that may spin at a moment's notice. Good. Evil. Time. The universe. All are limitless to Oustellians yet all are reversable. In this way, Oustellians see balance. The only absolute Oustellians could possibly believe in is the concept of "infinity" and even then, infinity is met with the response "Yes, but."
Oustellian culture is ever changing, but if there were a true absolute, it is the maintaining of an impermanence of state. Oustellians by and large are aware of this, again, based on wisdom, and sometimes lack thereof, passed on by their elders. The idea permeates their stories, their fables, their equivalent folklore.
Take for example the fox woman of the Kestivic Forest.
The forest itself is located between the rivers Rezk and Pulrev and many Oustellian elders will tell you this as well. The forest and its famous citizen anchors much of their wisdom.
There are several roads that lead into the forest but each and every one ends abruptly. This particular absolute is allowed based on the measurable fact that no road through the forest connects with any other, nor do they reach any proper terminal point. This is a fact of the forest. Should construction of any of these roads bring them together, then the absolute changes.
One of the western roads, known as the Fox Stone Path is of peculiar interest. Of all the attempts to construct some civilized passage through Kestivic, the Fox Stone is the oldest. The paving stones themselves are smooth and flat, but along the sides of the Path sit almost perfectly round stones with crude fox head like shapes chiseled into them. Presumably, some do not bear the mark. Oustellians give little patience to earth material census taking.
The stones are attributed to an entity known by the name Kistrivic Vol Yaspa, a shapeshifter said to watch over the forest in the guise of both a woman and a fox. Sightings are common as it is believed she doesn’t care to hide as any seeking to do her harm succumb to her tricks. Mischief seemingly makes up her nature, but part of her legend speaks to a longing for something else. No one, apparently, has asked her what that “something else” actually is.
Yaspa perhaps feels this longing as she has been tasked with the safekeeping of the Kistrivic Stone. By whom is mostly unknown to even the elders, presumed by self-proclaimed experts to be lost to time as a part of forgotten lore. Again, few bother to ask. Odd then, that much of this story relies on the forgotten. By most accounts, the Kistrivic Stone can measure how evil someone is at the core of their being. It can be found nestled in a cave at the center of the Kistrivic Forest, halfway between the rivers Rezk and Pulrev. Placed on a pedestal of carved limestone, the stone of remarkable insight sits guarded by Yaspa, bored for an eternal duty that prevented her from freedom. She can leave for a time, but she knows when a stone seeker nears. Frequently, she will return to the cave and speak.
"Is this the stone?" some adventurer will ask in a multitude of variations.
"It is a stone," Yaspa will yawn.
"But the stone to discern evil?"
“Yes, that stone. But I must warn you before you take it."
"It is cursed?"
"No," she replies a vast multitude of times, this conversation repeats enough times for Yaspa to grow tired of counting. "It is judgmental."
"The stone is judgmental?"
"Does it surprise you that a stone that measures evil would be judgmental?"
"Hardly.”
"Judgement is only a curse to the judged," Yaspa replies, looking on from a crude seat carved from the cave stone.
"Then I am to be judged before the stone will judge others?"
"The stone measures how you are evil based on your definition. Its judgement is of you. You are then judged."
"I do not understand.”
Yaspa frequently sighs. Not always. That would be an absolute.
"Do you consider killing evil?" Yaspa asks.
"Obviously."
"In war? In self-defence? When the forest lion takes an elk for food?"
"There are justifications."
"For you. Not the stone. It measures your justifications."
"But I am righteous."
"As have said many a general before going to war. What about theft? Lying?”
“Not as much as killing."
"There’s your answer. You’ve applied some level of evil. In that way, the stone would measure everyone as evil."
"This stone could save so many."
"Or damn then."
"I'm taking it," an adventurer will say.
"And I will not stop you. My task is to sit here and share wisdom."
If Yaspa demonstrates disinterest in these encounters, this is typically the point where her focus comes to light. She will willingly provide no more information. The judgement begins. Most adventurers take the stone. Some ask additional questions, but few of relevance. The occasional query is met with useful context but is ignored.
"What will happen when I leave the cave with the stone?"
"You will forget," Yaspa says, "And it will be as if we never spoke.”
Yaspa speaks truth here but mischievous as she is, her truth is not absolute. The stone is taken and the adventurers most often travel to the western road. Upon reaching the edge of the forest, their walk ends. Memory fades as the stone judges them as unworthy. The essence of the mythical stone fades and returns to Yaspa's cave, leaving only a smooth rock with a chiseled fox head in the adventurer’s hand. Having no recollection of why they are in the Kistrivic Forest, they drop the bauble or toss it aside, allowing it to join the others scattered along the path. They leave for different endeavors as Yaspa awaits the next to visit her. But this is a story of never dealing in absolutes. Those who choose differently prove it so.
"I will leave it," those rare few will say.
"Oh?" Yaspa says with frequent surprise as she often fails to guess those who will opt for this choice.
"I should not judge," the uncommon answer. In many ways, the wiser answer. "I cannot judge. The stone would not find me worthy."
Yaspa grins, sometimes laughs.
"Why, I must ask, do you think that?"
'The stone is absolute in its decision, is it not?"
"It is."
"Its decision could have no compassion or understanding,"
Yaspa often loses her smile at this point as she lived as one of the few who ever knew it was the stone that judged her and bound her to her duty. Experts rarely asked her. Elders rarely traveled.
"The stone is absolute. The Great Lie. Eternal. ‘Either or' but never ‘what if?’”
"Have I wasted my time?"
"I cannot answer that," Yaspa says many times. "Not for you."
Adventurers typically move on. Some occasionally take advantage of the time in the audience of a mythic entity, occasionally even earning a favor if she feels so amused by the company. The stone stays when the adventurers depart. Their memories, unlike those who take the stone, remain intact. Afterall, one would need to share the story of the Kistrivic Stone and Kistrivic Val Yaspa.
Stories are not absolute.
Memory is not absolute.
Wisdom never deals in absolutes.