PIALA ALICE: GODDESS OF MISCHIEF & THE UNEXPECTED

Why would you listen?

You know that I am Piala Alice, the Trickster, the Mischievous, and I carry blames by the score. A twisted immortal who takes the form of a naive child. Why would you trust a word I say? Yet, here you stand, and I can make only one answer: that where you see me, I once stood too.

I have lived among humans for as long as nature allowed me, then far more. At first I tricked them freely, I played with them for sport; and they learned, they responded, they withdrew, they ground me into a dust of doubt and nightmare and danced rituals to brush me away. They thought me only a creature distant from themselves, for there would be no human desire or joy in becoming such a thing; they could not consider that I might be one of them, trapped in the cycle I created.

Yet I did escape, for I learned of them. Those who serve Order say that all which is worthwhile comes from planning and understanding; and for all their faults, in large part they are correct. Remove that and mistrust, hate, and suffering alone remain. Yet they will not face their truth: that plans must end, and life does not. Even an immortal could not create a plan lasting forever, and live to see that plan begin. All those who form plans will include in them a final success; and so beyond that end lies only failure.

They dream of changing the world, so that it may be wonderful once changed. But the hardest truth of all is this: when change stops, all decays. People lose their purpose, fall to boredom and corruption and random sin. Their dream is nothing but a dream, yet it is valuable; seeking it drives them forward, creates the things they desire. Yet when they learn this, that their dream is of a fantastic journey to emptiness, they do not embrace the journey; they jump into the emptiness. For their sake, the lie must stand, yet it remains a lie. And all progress, all their order, all their desire, is due to that: that they are so tricked.

And so I persist. I escaped their nightmares when I saw the truth of their dreams. That they must make their plans and strive for them, and that those plans must not reach their end nor last too long. A knife in the dark, a slip in the rain, a deal gone wrong; yes, I am still there, but also in a treasure discovered, a miraculous cure, a chime of joyous news. Do not confuse me with Arenji - my acts are purposeful, not wild; of knowledge unbalanced rather than absent.

Join me, for I am all that may persist. While I oppose the frozen sterility of Law, I do not favor dark death in Chaos. Distrust me yet if you will, for action amidst distrust is my path; or take me for truth, and be enlightened.