Curate, connect, and discover
I always find it particularly funny when people say that Ranni is just manipulating the player and that she’s using them as a means to a much more nefarious secret end, because if you actually pay attention to the game and character then one thing becomes abundantly clear.
Ranni literally cannot lie to save her life.
No seriously, she’s a cunning mastermind but she is a fucking terrible liar. When a random tarnished comes looking for her and accuses her of the assassination of Godwyn, she just goes “yeah? And what of it?” as if she’s not admitting to being the one behind the biggest act of heresy in known history. That's not something you should just say to people, least of all a tarnished!
You get her alone with you and within seconds she’s rambling about her plan, her past, her family, her friends that she adores with all of her heart, how you’re actually a lot like them, nevermind forget that last part please-
Sorry to burst the bubble of all the nihilist theorists out there that really want age of stars to secretly be a bad ending but if Ranni was planning anything nefarious with her godhood then I’m willing to bet that she wouldn’t be able to keep quiet about it until the end of her questline.