Wallie noted, briefly, that he was apparently very wrong about his impression that Dilandau was from a lower-technology society, with his talk of sorcerers and demons and use of swords. It sounded like an interesting society, whatever else.

"Gods don't explain themselves. But, I think..." Wallie pulled a face, thoughtful. "The sorcerers they wanted Shonsu to deal with, originally, were the ones who held pretty much all the technology past the stone age. The society as a whole didn't even have writing, but the sorcerers -- they had writing, they had books, they had gunpowder, they had basic electrical generators, they had telescopes -- I'm not even sure, yet, of everything they have. Meanwhile, they were spreading out, dominating the rest of the World who couldn't compete and couldn't even fathom what they were dealing with."

He looked over at Dildandau, smiling crookedly. "A wise man in my world once said that any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic. These sorcerers were distilling liquor and selling it as 'enchanted wine,' and no one had the experience or knowledge to to identify it as anything else. I... I think the gods wanted me because I could recognise what the sorcerers were doing, and I could recreate it. I could actually meet the sorcerers as an equal, and could stop their advance."

He shook his head. "I forced a peace. I thought it better to let the 'magic' of the sorcerers serve everyone, rather than a select few, or no one. It seems that's what the gods wanted."