Gods, Religions & Cults - World Guide

Lillia

Symbols: A white disc or wheel.

Primary Portfolio: Death, Rebirth, Magic, Order.

Secondary Portfolio: Creation, Healing, Oracles, History, Earth, Punishment.

Worshippers:

Spell List:

Favored Weapon: Unarmed Strike, Staff, and Mace.

Appearance: Lillia's most common representation is of a woman hooded and completely cloaked in black. Her face is expressionless and alabaster white. Even her lips are white with eyes of solid black. Her left hand is green symbolizing plant life and her right hand is red symbolizing animal life.

Representational symbols: Her symbols include a simple white face or hand of red or green. Her priests will possess a white mask for use during funerary rites and for certain holy observances. Gloves of red or green, worn on the appropriate hand, are worn by her priests when blessing fields, conducting healing rites, etc… A simple circle or wheel is the common symbol carried by both priests and lay worshippers.

Holy Animals: Owls and ravens, especially those of pure white color, are sacred to her church.

Lillia is regarded as the savior of all creation having plotted to create the Wheel of Life and thereby counter the Unnamed's attempt to destroy all of creation. [See A Priest Speaks.] It is she who created the lifespans of the various races, created the ability of the other gods to aquire worshippers through the Wheel, and crafted the planes upon which the gods live and gather their worshippers to reward them in their afterlife. Her principle aspect is as the goddess of death and rebirth. She is regarded as a rather pitiless goddess rewarding the deserving not in this lifetime, but in the next. Her ability to create is unmatched among the gods, but her focus is on the creation of life and proper homes for deserving souls. She represents the imposition of order upon chaos and the struggle against the return to utter chaos. She both punishes the unworthy with death and rebirth into lesser forms as well as tests the worthy with suffering. An aspect of her creationist powers is manifest in her ability to heal even the most dire of hurts. This is reflected in the small number of healer-priests which serve her and their unique ability to invoke, with the assistance of the Speakers For The Dead, her grace in the form of ressurection and reincarnation magics.

Priesthood: The principle divisions of the Lillian Priesthood are as follows:

Sonscha "Ritualists" - These priests make up the majority of the priesthood and are concerned with the common duties in the Lillian Church. These priests officiate at most ceremonies consecrating the dead and the newborn as well as heading the daily observances. All members of the Lillian Priesthood must receive training in this capacity with some remaining to serve the worshipping public while others move along to serve in other areas. All priests of Lillia are commonly called Sonscha.

Ku'tscha "Seekers" - This is the second largest branch of the priesthood and consists of those who are of a scholarly bent. From this group come those priests who serve as advisors to those outside the church. Most Seekers are less outgoing and spend the majority of their time engaging in research on behalf of themselves and the church. There is a very rigid hierarchy within this group and no information is disseminated to anyone, including other church members, without the approval of the Council of the Wheel. The church's control of information is largely unknown outside of the church.

Voti'tscha "Healers" - One of the smallest groups within the church but one of the most sought after by those outside the church. Other churches have healers but none more skilled and only priests of Bellina even reaching their level. Unequalled by any is their ability to call upon the Lady to invoke ressurection and reincarnation magics - something which they may do only in conjunction with a trained Speaker For The Dead.

Fa'azi "Executioners" - These few are active agents for the church seeking out and eliminating any sign of the unlife as well as acting as agents of the church as called for. Once Born Fa'azi and Twice Born Fa'azi have drastically different roles among the Fa'azi as well as some changing abilities. Once Born Fa'azi may range far and wide in the service of the church but are rarely brought into direct conflict with agents of the First. Twice Born Fa'azi have served the Lady as a Fa'azi in a previous lifetime and by undertaking to serve in this manner again are granted access to greater powers. With those powers comes the responsibility to directly oppose the First and all his works. All Fa'azi may be called upon by any government that honors Lillia to serve as enforcers of that government's law. They are not obliged to hunt down criminals and will rarely do so, but they will execute criminals upon demand insuring their return to the wheel. Criminals also have the right to appeal to the Fa'azi who must then act as their executioner and return them to the wheel. Any Lord/Judge/etc… who has knowingly caused a Fa'azi to execute an innocent person will, by the grace of the Lady, return to the wheel at the slightest touch of any part of the dead person. The rituals used in requiring such services from the Fa'azi all include the judge touching the body of the slain after the execution has been completed. Failure to do so forfeits the right to require any service from the church in the future. Additionally the Fa'azi may take the life of such a person as they will. This has led to a number of instances where innocent men framed by evil lords have called for a Fa'azi to execute them. They will die regardless, but they do so in the hope of punishing the lord as well. Many of the Fa'azi travel incogneto as they are very frequently targetted for attack by agents of the First.

Speakers For The Dead - Members of this priesthood must all be Twice Born and have been priests of Lillia in their previous life. These priests act as oracles and are capable of speaking with the spirits of the dead. These priests are also the only ones who, in conjunction with Lilian Healers, may ressurrect or reincarnate the dead.

Arcanist - Members of this group must all be Twice Born and have been priests of Lillia in their previous life. Most have memories of and have served Lillia devotedly for many lifetimes. These priests have been granted the ability to form magic from the very stuff of chaos, that is to learn and use High Magic in the manner of mages.

Councillors - Members of the Council of the Wheel all of whom are Twice Born having served Lillia for many lifetimes and have been practicing members of all of the Lady's various priesthoods. They are some of the most powerful beings in existence and have little contact with mundane affaires even within the church. They choose, with no apparent criterion, assistants known as "Demi" who act in their stead when they are otherwise occupied (nearly always). No Demi's actions have ever been overruled by a Councillor. Demis serve for apparently random periods of time before returning to the duties they held previously and no Demi has ever spoken about their relationship with their Councillor.

Bellina

Symbols: A Sheaf of Wheat or a pair of white gloves/hands

Portfolio: Earth, Agriculture, Harvest, and Healing

Worshippers:

Spell List:

Favored Weapon: Scythe

Crispo

Symbols: A golden Harp or a red Wine Amphora

Portfolio: Music, Festival, Hedonism, Poetry, History, and Knowledge.

Worshippers:

Spell List:

Favored Weapon: Rapier & Dagger

Excet - "The Insane", "The Builder", "of the Two-Faces"

Symbols: Smith's Hammer above a cracked Anvil, A hammer wrapped in flame.

Portfolio: 1st Aspect –Smith, Craftsmanship, Building, Patience, Invention and Fires of Protection/Warmth.

2nd Aspect – Raging Warrior, Unreasoning Destroyer, and Destructive Fire

Worshippers:

Spell List:

Favored Weapon:

Karissa

Symbols: A white Owl, a pair of woman's lips, a spear

Portfolio: Martial Arts, Tactics, Wisdom, Beauty, and Inspiration

Worshippers:

Spell List:

Favored Weapon: Unarmed Strike, Spear.

Mu - "The Departed", "The Hidden", Son of Lillia

Symbols: Black Square

Primary Portfolio: Secrecy (particularly hidden knowledge), Magic of the Mind (Enchantment and Illusion), Numerology.

Secondary Portfolio: Divination, Sages, Spies, Assassination (under the auspices of his Mother),

Dreams.

Worshippers:

Spell List:

Favored Weapon: Dagger

Appearance: Mu is most often depicted as a man with black skin and no hair robed in black bent over a tome. Other representations robe him in grey symbolic of his neutral nature and a simple figure robed and hooded in black with no hands or face visible has been growing in popularity.

Representational Symbols: A black square has traditionally been the symbol of Mu with the more affulant wearing pendants of black metal fashioned in the shape of a closed tome. The Maesters, a sect of priest-sages, use a black quill as their symbol and the growing number of spies (and thieves if one is to be honest) prefer a small representation of a black expressionless mask.

Holy Animals: Similar to his mother the raven and owl are sacred with the black variety being most highly thought of. The raven holds supremacy due to its function as a messenger bird.

Little of Mu is known to the public and that is as he and his followers like it. Most of what is known comes through their close association with the Lillian Church. Muian scholars often work along side their Lillian counterparts and there is a long history of mutual cooperation between the two. There are very very few independent Muian temples, most being attached to a particular Lillian church. Rumors of secret temples separate from the Lillian church have been on the increase but such rumors are common every few centuries. Muian priests are rare even in Lillian churches. Most worshippers are scholars and are often students of divinatory or mind magics. The Maesters and their network of messenger birds are of course well known. Less well known is the increasing number of spies and other less savory types that have begun professing worship of Mu. The Maesters, due to their position as advisors and trusted messengers have strenuously worked to avoid association with this new element. There is a quiet but growing schism appearing between the "Quills" and the "Faces". The lines are increasingly clearly drawn although Mu has not yet shown favor to either group. Of note a very small group of Muian assassins exist unknown to all except the highest among the Muian and Lillian churches. This group acts only at the direction of the Council of the Wheel and often with the equally small group of Lillian assassins.

Priesthood: Muian churches have no formal divisions of priesthood but they do have a scholarly course of training the culmination of which the aspirant is granted the title of Maester. Priests may actually be of any profession so long as they follow the ideals of Mu. Access to higher ceremonies is granted to all worshippers according to their piety.

Rego

Symbols: A Gold Crown - occasionally with a longsword beneath point dexter.

Portfolio: Rulership, War, Sky, Sun, and Invention

Worshippers:

Spell List:

Favored Weapon: Longsword and Lance.

Shuroo

Symbols: A tree, A wave, A trident and lightning bolt. Shuroo's symbols are largely subject to the whim of each of his priests.

Portfolio: Oceans, Storms, Water, Untamed Wilderness/Animals, and Wildness.

Worshippers:

Spell List:

Favored Weapon: Trident, Whip.

Volisso/ia

Symbols: Joined Male and Female prophiles looking away from each other. A drawn bow and arrow superimposed over a moon.

Portfolio: Moon, Night Sky, Astrology, Lust, Hunting and Knowledge

Worshippers:

Spell List:

Favored Weapon: Bow, Saren (Elven Longsword).

Wenti

Symbols: A coin, A stylized pregnant woman (usually a carved figure), A loaf of bread and wine jug.

Portfolio: Motherhood, Maternity, Water, Money, “Womanly” Crafts, and Modern Women.

Spell List:

Favored Weapon: Dagger, Spike Shuriken