When the Changdalean tablets were found to be blank, the priests began to wail and thrash about and, soon after, threw themselves down the temple steps where they rolled a great distance before coming to rest in the streets below.
Their bodies were mangled. A man named Balfour stepped forward and nudged one of the piles of priest with the tip of his sandal. “He’s dead,” he announced to the gathering crowd. Word spread with alarming alacrity that this was happening at each set of temple steps.
A member of the crowd stepped forward and nudged the pile just as Balfour had done.
“He’s dead,” said the second man. And then there were cries as the crowd noticed another thin body tumbling down the steps. It struck the first body at high speed, sending guts in a spray that coated the onlookers.
Bright light suddenly burst free of the temple, shooting into the sky. The temple began to crack and fall apart. They looked up with bloody faces and began to cheer as they realised they were free.
Explanation:
This story is a commentary on societal hierarchy, particularly as it relates to religion. For thousands of years the priests of the temple have relied on the stone tablets in order to guide them. Similarly, the citizens relied on the priests to tell them what to do.
The mangled bodies, the destruction of the temple–these things represent the dangers of blind faith.
Trivia:
A small fragment of one of the Changdalean tablets is in the possession of the Crystalline Archive and stored in an utterly useless void cube.
Links:
The Shrine of Insanity 