(SEERIA - “GLOWING”)
“WHEN A MAN FAILED TO WEED HIS GARDEN,
DID HE NOT GROW WEEDS?”
Saint-Knight Yvaine: Saint of Retribution, Conquest, and Blood.
Aliases: Aspect of Seridia, Archon of Justice, the High Magistrate, Saint-Knight Yvaine of Peren.
Symbols: Warbows, blindfolds, the winged bull, chariots.
Worship: Seek retribution for all misdeeds, no matter how slight; make them fear you, lest they forget you; never shy from the path of most resistance.
Dwelling: The High-Courts of the Empire of Tousav, and the arc of a sword’s swing.
Equivalents: Seridia (Marathan/Mazzaroth), the Bull God (Tousavi Crownlands).
For a time within the Tousavi Empire, the Bull God of the Seridians was worshipped as the chariot of their grand ambitions. In the days of Marathas they would invoke its name in times of war. Before battle, a bull or an ox would have its back broken and its blood drained upon their swords and shields, imparting the Bull God’s blessing through the carnage of its weaker aspects. This practice—and warfare itself—became so synonymous with the worshippers that the moniker “Seridia” supplanted the Bull God’s name, and to the Marathans there ceased to be a distinction between the savagery of the Seridian tribes and their patron. So it was that Seridia subsumed the worship of another star, and so it would be that Yvaine would consume Seridia in kind.
Seridia was one of the first casualties of Virtudom: the Saint-Knight Yvaine absorbed its rites and image. From the beginning of the Fourth Age onwards, the embodiment of law and archon of Justice would be prayed to in times of great unrest. Given its history of conquest, this made Yvaine of Peren an extremely popular god within Tousav. Within the Ordre de la Hatchette, named the “Chapter Justice” in his honor, Yvaine is prayed to at the onset and completion of a hunt. It is a firmly held belief of the Hatchetmen—and many within the crownlands—that he must stand as the third axis of every trial: the accused, the empire, and the arbiter of order.
Depictions of the Saint-Knight Yvaine in Tousav have changed with the turn of Ages. He was, at first, a man drawing a warbow while wearing a blindfold, symbolic of the belief that a just arrow will always find its mark. Later, this was adapted to a fair-haired, svelte man lofting a severed head in one hand and a woodsman’s axe in the other. The inherent femininity of this interpretation, though seemingly emasculating, is thought to represent the beauty in justice. To the Imperials, a righteous man is unsullied by the ugly nature of his work. To the Seridians and Marathans, who still associate Yvaine with the Bull God, he is granted the additional appearance of a winged bull, and is closely associated with the imagery of chariots and warfare. Oftentimes these competing interpretations will mix, and Yvaine will be shown winged or with the horns of a great ox.
Acts of Favor
- A vial of blood (1 Favor)
- Art depicting acts of warfare and heroism (3 Favor)
- The meat of a bull or cow (5 Favor)
- All the blood drained from an animal kept as livestock (10 Favor)
- Imagery of conquest hewn into a lintel or carved into a statue (10 Favor)
Invocations
Smite Complexity: 1 Favor: (#, minimum of 2) Range: Paces (5) Duration: Instant AP: 2 Effect: The target must succeed a Strength v. Strength contest; on a failure, they suffer the Bleeding (1) condition and take 1d6 damage. The range of this invocation increases by Paces (5) for every 2 additional Favor spent to cast it.
Twist the Knife Complexity: 2 Favor: 5 Range: Paces (5) Duration: Instant AP: 2 Effect: The target takes damage equal to their Bleeding (#).
Indomitable Complexity: 3 Favor: 7 Range: Self Duration: Persist (2) AP: 3 Effect: Gain 1 AP whenever you take damage for the duration.
Salt the Earth Complexity: 4 Favor: 10 Range: Paces (10) Duration: Persist (5) AP: 4 Effect: Supernal light radiates from a space of your choice within range. All targets within Sphere (15) suffer the Deprived condition, and cannot remove their negative conditions through any means. Conditions that would reduce at the end of their turn still apply their effects, but are not reduced.
Dissolve Like Snow Complexity: 5 Favor: 20 Range: Sphere (5) Duration: Instant AP: 5 Effect: All targets within range gain Burning (#) equal to half their Bleeding (#).