Listen
children, with an opened heart, and know the ways
Of
the darkness. How it twists the unwary soul!
Three
the kinds of love: love of home and one’s own that warms
Every
good heart, as a winter fire balms the footsore traveller.
The
raw taming of passion, by goodness, to love and beauty.
The
surrendered self, in giving, grows.
Then
there is that unschooled loving, turned by torment
Into
hate and twisted words, like the thorn
That
rends the silken shift.
An excerpt from
the “Hymn of the Three Loves”, a meditation by the philosopher-minstrel Evrahm
of Mysorio, dating from some two hundred years after Shroudfall.
Today’s post introduces three rather disparate deities: the goddesses Tiavestha, Ventuphares and Yelith Bloodheart. Although they are quite disparate in their mythology and areas of concern, they are united by themes of love, beauty and the vicissitudes of the feminine in the New Kingdoms.
TIAVESTHA
Neutral Good
"Hestia" by Sandra M. Stanton
Also known as the Keeper of the Flame Most Sacred, Tiavestha is Zajepurti’s eldest and most powerful daughter, although her might is expressed in subtle ways not readily understood by devotees of the flashier powers. During the wars between the New Gods and the Wilder Gods, Tiavestha was betrayed by Drakanuska and captured by Modrus who then held her in the Great Deeps for millennia. Eventually redeemed by the cleverness of her brother Enzirien and the self-sacrifice of Nesephsoris, she returned, outwardly unharmed by her long imprisonment under the scornful gaze of the Lord Beneath. In truth, she had been much changed, her power hidden from His Burning Gaze by her indomitable will. Always quiet and gentle, she is now known as the Silent Lady and the Enduring One. She is the patron of those who must suffer alone, those who hide their power (by choice: devotees of Tiavestha never act lightly) and those who work behind the scenes. In the generally patriarchal lands of the Shrouded World this means that women are her primary devotees.
Areas of Influence: Home and Hearth, Ritual and Ceremony, Protection, Self-Control, the Sacred Flame.
Primary worshippers: in almost every human home in the settled lands there is a shrine to Tiavestha, whose worship is one of the most widespread of all deities. Married women, mothers, domestic servants and those men and women who practice ritual magic are her principal devotees. Men tend to fear her, and honour her – if somewhat diffidently – and only the most resolutely paternal and brutal men disregard the Lady of Silences. She does have male Priests, although they are seldom privy to the greater mysteries.
Priestly Templates & Spheres: Priests of Tiavestha must take the Pure Channelling template and may access the following spheres: Community, Peace, Wisdom or Fire. The latter option is available to women Priests only. In addition female Priests of Tiavestha do not suffer a penalty to Spell Casting if they are unable to speak.
Pathfinder Domains & Subdomains: Community, Fire (women only), Good, Home, Isolation, Rites (women only).
VENTUPHARES
Chaotic Good
Ventuphares is one of the most beloved and called-upon deities, for her purview is love, beauty, art and harmonious relationships (as these are expressed in coupling, the sexual act, art and nature). She values beauty and love above all, and thus sybarites and aesthetes are her most fervent devotees. But any who seek out love are her concern – save where the desire is jealous possession of the other, or a self-serving lust for mastery over others through celebrity. In those cases, she refuses aid. Only those of open heart and respectful of others receive the blessings of Ventuphares.
Areas of Influence: Love, Art, Beauty.
Primary worshippers: artists, musicians, poets, lovers, romantics and the lonely.
Priestly Templates & Spheres: Priests of Ventuphares must select the Pure Channelling template. They may access the following spheres: Arts, Crafts, Culture, Literature/Poetry, Love, Music/Dance or Peace.
Pathfinder Domains & Subdomains: Art, Charm, Friendship, Good, Love, Song.
YELITH
Chaotic Neutral
Few deities are as misunderstood as Yelith Bloodheart: hers is the power of the dark rage of the oppressed, of those spurned and misused – particularly women and children. Because her power is born in grief, pain and anger it is associated with wildness and evil, yet it is not necessarily so. It is however, apt for abuse in the wrong hands, or in the hands of those so warped by misuse or repression that they know no restraint. Yelith herself was the first mate of Zajepurti, but was cast aside for Jhurenai, a goddess so dissimilar in nature and temperament as to be almost opposite. Where Jhurenai is orderly, trustworthy and concerned with fairness and rights, Yelith is wild, passionate and untameable, driven by fey moods and violent emotion. Those who follow her are noteworthy for their vengeful, jealous nature and their insistence on complete freedom in all matters save one area: perhaps because of Yelith’s jilting by Zajepurti, she and her priesthood insist that when one voluntarily restricts oneself (as in marriage, contracts and oaths), if the sovereign autonomy of the individual is to have any value or meaning, then honouring such commitments is an absolute duty. The other defining aspect of Yelith and her worship is her femininity: Yelith considers herself a voice for women and their travails in a predominantly patriarchal world. Her followers dabble in the darker aspects ascribed to femininity: blood, emotional control, curses, blight and barrenness. This, in combination with her wildness, has led to the active suppression of her cult in many areas (which suppression has led inexorably to those who call upon Yelith becoming ever more extreme, extravagant and –some would say – evil). Needless to say, the disciples of Jhurenai are among Yelith’s most virulent opponents, considering no sanction too great to uproot and destroy her faith.
Areas of Influence: Rebellion/Freedom, Women, Vengeance against Oppressors/Unfaithful.
Primary worshippers: outsiders, ‘women scorned’, the oppressed.
Priestly Templates & Spheres: Priests of Yelith must take the Pure Channelling template, and may access the Darkness/Night, Mischief/Trickery or Justice/Vengeance spheres.
Only females may be Priests of Yelith. They gain the following bonuses: +15 to Lie Perception, +10 to Magical Ritual (for the purposes of seduction only), Magical Ritual (for the purposes of blight/barrenness rituals only) and may develop Seduction, Frenzy and Spell Trickery as Everyman skills.
Domains & Subdomains: Darkness, Deception, Ferocity, Freedom, Night, Retribution.
As a post script: the deities of the New Kingdoms have their archetypal origin in Classical and Hebrew mythology writ rather large - with some changes made here and there. I'd like to think - or at least, hope! - that they retain a certain symbolic appeal, and that my rather psychoanalytical(?) Jungian(?) perspective lends them some sense of newness, nuance or depth.
TIAVESTHA
Neutral Good
"Hestia" by Sandra M. Stanton
Also known as the Keeper of the Flame Most Sacred, Tiavestha is Zajepurti’s eldest and most powerful daughter, although her might is expressed in subtle ways not readily understood by devotees of the flashier powers. During the wars between the New Gods and the Wilder Gods, Tiavestha was betrayed by Drakanuska and captured by Modrus who then held her in the Great Deeps for millennia. Eventually redeemed by the cleverness of her brother Enzirien and the self-sacrifice of Nesephsoris, she returned, outwardly unharmed by her long imprisonment under the scornful gaze of the Lord Beneath. In truth, she had been much changed, her power hidden from His Burning Gaze by her indomitable will. Always quiet and gentle, she is now known as the Silent Lady and the Enduring One. She is the patron of those who must suffer alone, those who hide their power (by choice: devotees of Tiavestha never act lightly) and those who work behind the scenes. In the generally patriarchal lands of the Shrouded World this means that women are her primary devotees.
Areas of Influence: Home and Hearth, Ritual and Ceremony, Protection, Self-Control, the Sacred Flame.
Primary worshippers: in almost every human home in the settled lands there is a shrine to Tiavestha, whose worship is one of the most widespread of all deities. Married women, mothers, domestic servants and those men and women who practice ritual magic are her principal devotees. Men tend to fear her, and honour her – if somewhat diffidently – and only the most resolutely paternal and brutal men disregard the Lady of Silences. She does have male Priests, although they are seldom privy to the greater mysteries.
Priestly Templates & Spheres: Priests of Tiavestha must take the Pure Channelling template and may access the following spheres: Community, Peace, Wisdom or Fire. The latter option is available to women Priests only. In addition female Priests of Tiavestha do not suffer a penalty to Spell Casting if they are unable to speak.
Pathfinder Domains & Subdomains: Community, Fire (women only), Good, Home, Isolation, Rites (women only).
VENTUPHARES
Chaotic Good
Ventuphares is one of the most beloved and called-upon deities, for her purview is love, beauty, art and harmonious relationships (as these are expressed in coupling, the sexual act, art and nature). She values beauty and love above all, and thus sybarites and aesthetes are her most fervent devotees. But any who seek out love are her concern – save where the desire is jealous possession of the other, or a self-serving lust for mastery over others through celebrity. In those cases, she refuses aid. Only those of open heart and respectful of others receive the blessings of Ventuphares.
Areas of Influence: Love, Art, Beauty.
Primary worshippers: artists, musicians, poets, lovers, romantics and the lonely.
Priestly Templates & Spheres: Priests of Ventuphares must select the Pure Channelling template. They may access the following spheres: Arts, Crafts, Culture, Literature/Poetry, Love, Music/Dance or Peace.
Pathfinder Domains & Subdomains: Art, Charm, Friendship, Good, Love, Song.
YELITH
Chaotic Neutral
Few deities are as misunderstood as Yelith Bloodheart: hers is the power of the dark rage of the oppressed, of those spurned and misused – particularly women and children. Because her power is born in grief, pain and anger it is associated with wildness and evil, yet it is not necessarily so. It is however, apt for abuse in the wrong hands, or in the hands of those so warped by misuse or repression that they know no restraint. Yelith herself was the first mate of Zajepurti, but was cast aside for Jhurenai, a goddess so dissimilar in nature and temperament as to be almost opposite. Where Jhurenai is orderly, trustworthy and concerned with fairness and rights, Yelith is wild, passionate and untameable, driven by fey moods and violent emotion. Those who follow her are noteworthy for their vengeful, jealous nature and their insistence on complete freedom in all matters save one area: perhaps because of Yelith’s jilting by Zajepurti, she and her priesthood insist that when one voluntarily restricts oneself (as in marriage, contracts and oaths), if the sovereign autonomy of the individual is to have any value or meaning, then honouring such commitments is an absolute duty. The other defining aspect of Yelith and her worship is her femininity: Yelith considers herself a voice for women and their travails in a predominantly patriarchal world. Her followers dabble in the darker aspects ascribed to femininity: blood, emotional control, curses, blight and barrenness. This, in combination with her wildness, has led to the active suppression of her cult in many areas (which suppression has led inexorably to those who call upon Yelith becoming ever more extreme, extravagant and –some would say – evil). Needless to say, the disciples of Jhurenai are among Yelith’s most virulent opponents, considering no sanction too great to uproot and destroy her faith.
Areas of Influence: Rebellion/Freedom, Women, Vengeance against Oppressors/Unfaithful.
Primary worshippers: outsiders, ‘women scorned’, the oppressed.
Priestly Templates & Spheres: Priests of Yelith must take the Pure Channelling template, and may access the Darkness/Night, Mischief/Trickery or Justice/Vengeance spheres.
Only females may be Priests of Yelith. They gain the following bonuses: +15 to Lie Perception, +10 to Magical Ritual (for the purposes of seduction only), Magical Ritual (for the purposes of blight/barrenness rituals only) and may develop Seduction, Frenzy and Spell Trickery as Everyman skills.
Domains & Subdomains: Darkness, Deception, Ferocity, Freedom, Night, Retribution.
As a post script: the deities of the New Kingdoms have their archetypal origin in Classical and Hebrew mythology writ rather large - with some changes made here and there. I'd like to think - or at least, hope! - that they retain a certain symbolic appeal, and that my rather psychoanalytical(?) Jungian(?) perspective lends them some sense of newness, nuance or depth.
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