(CONCORDIA - “UNITY, HARMONY”)
“IF A MAN ANALYSES HIS OWN MIND, HE FINDS IT
VIOLENTLY DIVORCED FROM ALL ENVIRONMENT,
A THING OF ITSELF, STANDING ALONE,
IN UNNATURAL ISOLATION.”
Synthesis, unity, marriage; in the Orthian Concord, these concepts are irreclaimably fused. The Indestructibles, chief of their deities, are the origin of mankind’s dualities. Its inveterate contradictions. Its history, and its future. Perhaps fittingly, the Indestructibles are the most storied of all deities within the Orthian pantheon: they existed as a concept before the Second Age as nameless gods of prophecy, worshipped by the people of Ensas; when the Marathans claimed them, repurposed them, they became Enerda: binary stars entwined like snakes, constricting both sides of the wheel of time; and when the Gailian tribes found them, centuries later, they became the agents and outcomes of the Axiom’s undoing. Their name is a reflection of this syncretism. Past and future, what was and what will be. The two things beyond humanity’s reach.
Indestructibles.
In Lagain, cantors who dutifully adhere to the Orthian Concord’s teachings, upon ascension to a titled rank, may be rewarded with exclusive access to the Indestructibles’ rites. As the years have wound on, however, the secrets to their communion have bled into the wider consciousness. The dissident cults of the Null-Gods—opponents of the Orthian Concord who defy their message of unity—covet the scant sacraments which they have stolen. It is the belief of their visionaries that individuality is the source of mankind’s strength.
Communing with the Indestructibles is viciously prosecuted by the Orthian Concord: only one who has been granted the title of Holy Intestator, hand-selected by Immortal Allelaeon, is permitted to utilize their power. Even with this prestigious rank, a cantor is bound by oath to only channel the influence of the Indestructibles’ Zenithal half. Squadrons of sevisars are assigned to protect and serve the Holy Intestators, and their tongues are severed to ensure their silence. To the Visionaries of the Null-Gods, the image of the coiling snakes, forgotten by history and censured by the Concord, is the truest manifestation of completion through contrast. They worship the Nadiral half of the Indestructibles, believing one must understand what has come before to anticipate what comes after. The visionaries operate in the shadows of Manster, Altrecht, Eskor, where the appetite for freedom is greatest and the agents of the Godhead weakest. It has become their mission to create subtle fissures in the Orthian Concord’s power—recruiting informants, stealing knowledge—so that when the time arises for another rebellion, Lagain and the Concord will fall as one. The visionaries are fond of that irony.
Where they are worshipped, the Indestructibles are powers beyond reproach. They are often depicted as a single body from which two heads bow; their arms are severed, for the Exalts and Exarchs are their limbs; and their ribs are exposed, for they refuse worldly indulgence before the Axiom’s reunification. They are the Nadiral Exarch Tenebrae and the Zenithal Exalt Concordia—past and future respectively, or absence and existence. As Enerda, they are two snakes coiling around one another, oftentimes forming an ouroborus, or circling the firmament and the entire universe with it. Wherever there are circles, gates, or abscesses, that emptiness beckons the Indestructibles.
Acts of Favor
- Leaves organized in a laurel (1 Favor)
- Snakeskin or teeth from a snake (2 Favor)
- A wooden wheel wrapped in cloth (3 Favor)
- A live snake, bound or restrained (5 Favor)
- An eye, glass or real, wrapped in cloth (5 Favor)
- Blood of the faithful, enough to inflict a Minor Wound (5 Favor)
- Blood of the faithful, enough to inflict a Major Wound (25 Favor)
- Tongue of the faithful, fresh and surrendered willingly (50 Favor)
Invocations
The Invocations of the Indestructibles are secret. Only through special circumstances can a Theurgist gain access to their Invocations.