Samir Morningstar really had given Aaron a great deal of information.
According to him, Vander Dragonspear had originally thought that becoming a god would make him hot stuff, free to accomplish all sorts of things.
But only after ascending did the God of Art and Reptiles, a mere quasi-deity, discover that even without counting other Crystal Spheres and the Outer Planes, he ranked at the very bottom of the Realms' local pantheon, lumped in with quasi-deities such as the God of Lions, the God of Vengeance, the God of Song, and the Goddess of Cats and Dance.
Even among quasi-deities, however, Vander Dragonspear's standing was low. Those deities were either junior members of a pantheon, like the God of Lions, the God of Song, and the God of Battle-Spirit Totem; aspects of powerful foreign deities manifested in the Realms, like the Goddess of Cats and Dance; or extremely ancient gods, like the Ancient God of Death, who was currently doing the bare minimum.
Vander Dragonspear could not accept that disparity.
In the mortal world, he was a legend a thousand years in the making, one of the few legendary bards in all the Realms. He had crossed mountains and seas and witnessed countless civilizations fall to disaster. He had explored the ruins of Imaskar, Netheril, the Elven Empire, and even the Creator Races. He had fought the avatar of Moander, the God of Corruption, in the great forest of Cormanthor. He had always been so proud.
Was Evermeet, belonging to the elves' western multiversal empire, really that impressive? He had laughed and chatted with the Elfqueen herself!
Unable to accept the disparity, the God of Art and Reptiles simply stopped trying. He was newly ascended anyway, so he threw himself into exploring the Outer Planes.
Samir had told all of