The Elden Ring, Played to Ruin

Why were Outer Gods gods?

Because gods were ruthless. Once they had emotions, self-awareness, and thoughts of their own, they were no longer gods.

And clearly, Goddess Marika could not remain ruthless.

At the beginning, Goddess Marika had been the Golden Order's staunchest supporter. Yet although she had forged the seemingly glorious Golden Dynasty, she knew full well that the current Golden Order was far from flawless.

But as for how to make the Golden Order and the Elden Ring more perfect, Goddess Marika had no idea what to do.

Just as Marika, the Lands Between's most ruthless figure, had directly created an alter ego named Radagon to deal with internal and external troubles, she did not simply leave things to her successors. Instead, she decided to try correcting the Elden Ring.

One decision she made was to travel abroad and investigate.

At the time, the Golden Dynasty in the Lands Between was at the height of its power, but the disaster of Astel's Meteor had already altered the terrain of the Lands Between.

Beyond the Golden Dynasty still lay unconquered wilderness, so Marika sent Godfrey, the first king, and the first generation of the Golden Dynasty to expand its territory.

Stormveil Castle, Limgrave, the Weeping Peninsula, and other places that came later were all fruits of that expansion. During that massive expedition, Godfrey also casually smashed Olus, the Minotaur Dynasty, which had tragically worshipped nature.

To Godfrey and the others, it had been an expedition. But to Marika, every one of them had merely been a chess piece, because her goal was not expansion, but perfecting the Elden Ring and the Golden Order.

So after Godfrey and the others had conquered those lands, Queen Marika immediately stripped them of their Golden Blessing. Due to the nature of the Golden