Martyn Stanley > Quotes

“The trouble was, love was such a strong emotion. It made everything else unimportant. It grabbed you and imprisoned you in the moment."

Deathsworn Arc 4: The Temple of the Mad God”
― Martyn Stanley

“Our lives are a flicker of light in the shadowy darkness of eternity. Disease, famine, war, death, sorrow... Life is a cycle of pain, perhaps the one thing we should do with our short lives is to try to leave the world a better place than we entered it?’"

~Vexis Zaelwarsh - Low Priestess to Avanti
-Deathsworn Arc 4: Rise of the Archmage”
― Martyn Stanley

“Enough Truthseeker! Do not utter another word about religion! We have debated it to death! If you so much as mention it again while I am present, I will resume my heart-carving. Not for the honour of Avanti, but to shut you up!"

~ Vexis Zaelwarsh to Brael Truthseeker
Deathsworn Arc 5: The Temple of the Mad God
Martyn Stanley”
― Martyn Stanley

“Interesting Avil, the priests and the acolytes of the various religions and temples of Torea build their whole lives on a lie. At first, as children they believe it. Maybe as they grow older and more wise they see the absurdness of their beliefs, but by that time they have invested time and emotional energy into those beliefs, then seeing them crumble and fall apart would be too hard for them to bear. So the protect the lie, they shore it up with more lies and they ebb out their short lives, knowing what they preach is untrue, but preaching it all the same... Almost as if preaching it hard enough will make it true... Are they trying to convince their congregation? Or themselves? You are wiser than you look Avil.”
― Martyn Stanley, The Verkreath Horror

“On the revelation that there are no gods or afterlife:-

"I do not 'like' the truth any more than you Avil, or anyone. I wrestled with it for a long time, for a while I was distraught, desperate to find that my research had been wrong - the more I searched, the deeper I delved the more clear it became that the truth was what it is. After much reflection, I came to the conclusion that though accepting the truth is hard, moving on from that, it becomes clear that the important thing is to make the world we live in a better place. We get one life, it's our duty to make the most of it."

~Brael Truthseeker of House Krazic
Deathsworn Arc 2 : The Verkreath Horror”
― Martyn Stanley, The Last Dragon Slayer

“Unfortunately it is often the vocal minority that are heard in times of conflict."

Brael Truthseeker
Deathsworn Arc 4: Rise of the Archmage
- Martyn Stanley”
― Martyn Stanley, Rise of the Archmage

“As the cauldron bubbled she mused at how she missed prayer. It had been cathartic, and helped her to understand her own thoughts and feelings. She’d thought there was a god answering back too. Now she couldn’t conceive that there existed any great spirits or gods beyond the veil of reality the world resided in. Even so, she longed to pray. Could she pray with nothing to pray to? Prayer meant hope, it was hope carefully crafted into specifics."

~Vexis Zaelwarsh - Low Priestess to Avanti
-Deathsworn Arc 4: Rise of the Archmage”
― Martyn Stanley”
― Martyn Stanley, Rise of the Archmage

“Sometimes people would feign friendship for as long as it suited them. However resentment built, like dry kindling, stacked around a fire - waiting for the spark to ignite it.”
― Martyn Stanley, Rise of the Archmage

“The truth is I don’t know what happens to the spirits of the dead when they leave this world. Priests may claim to, even Truthseeker may claim to. However nobody truly knows. All Truthseeker truly knows is that Ishar, Kirfell, Orion and Avanti are lies. He has no proof of an alternative. I don’t know. There may be nothing beyond this dark reality we live in, but that doesn’t feel right to me. We love, we hate, we fight, we strive... People’s lives seem too complex and important to be simply extinguished like a candle.’

~Vexis Zaelwarsh
Deathsworn Arc 5: The Temple of the Mad God”
― Martyn Stanley

“I’m afraid, my blue-skinned friend - that matters of religion are absolute. True believers cannot be reasoned with. You either agree with their beliefs or you accept that you will be in eternal conflict with them.’"

~Saul Karza
Deathsworn Arc 4: Rise of the Archmage”
― Martyn Stanley

“Vexis listened, then shook her head, her eyes full of sorrow. ‘YOU are the fool! You cannot rob people of their beliefs and expect them to just accept it. Even now, I mourn the death of Avanti every day. Even though I now know she was never real. The idea of Avanti was real. Serving Avanti gave me a purpose, I felt she was guiding and encouraging me. Now I have nothing, I am reduced to simply “making it up as I go along”. I hate you Brael. I will never forgive you for what you did.’
Brael took a deep breath. ‘You were always making it up as you went along. You just didn’t know it. People need to take responsibility for their actions. There is one person guiding me, and that is me. I will live as long as I can and I will try to leave this world a better place for my presence. That is enough purpose for all.”
― Martyn Stanley, Rise of the Archmage

“You are asking me questions I cannot answer. All I ask is that you do not fear Avanti’s judgement and that you live your life from this point, as if it were the only life you had. Make the most of each day you live, make every moment count.’

~Elden Roth
Deathsworn Arc 4: Rise of the Archmage”
― Martyn Stanley

“I’m afraid, my blue-skinned friend - that matters of religion are absolute. True believers cannot be reasoned with. You either agree with their beliefs or you accept that you will be in eternal conflict with them.

(Deathsworn Arc 4: Rise of the Archmage)”
― Martyn Stanley

“Lindie remembered experiencing that storm of emotion for the first time. That moment, when she’d realised that Kaya wanted her, and she wanted Kaya, was burnt into her memory forever."

~ Lindie Goldstraw
Deathsworn Arc 4: Rise of the Archmage”
― Martyn Stanley

“This outburst caused Vexis to tremble and reach up to her neck. Fox groaned and glared at them exasperated. ‘Shut up! Stop blaming yourselves! You think you’re these big heros going around doing good, saving the world? Does it make you feel good? Well, you’re not. You can’t change much, you can do a bit of good here and there, but you can’t blame yourselves for every wrong you failed to right!'

~Fox Fletcher
Deathsworn Arc 5: The Temple of the Mad God
- Martyn Stanley”
― Martyn Stanley