Verity

High Priestess: Elsie
Sphere of Influence: Truth (fidelity, constancy, enlightenment)

As Truth has existed from the beginning, so Verity has always been. However, she has not always been a living, conscious entity. The precise moment that the goddess was formed into a consciousness is unknown, but the event was directed by Karn himself. Some would argue that Verity can be considered a neutral deity, as Truth simply is - existing as the state of reality outside of any moral choices. However, there is no truly neutral state for any deity that exists in the world in which Karchan is set. Every deity in existence came from either Karn or from Zhanos. Having from Karn, this puts her firmly in the category of good deities. Furthermore, her opposite, Kulanin, is the son of Zhanos, strengthening her alliance with good.

Distant Past: Several thousand years ago, the goddess inhabited an island called Ilaantia. She gathered her followers there and organized it in the form of a mortal kingdom, ruling over it personally. This was the scene for her great experiment. After several generations of observation, she chose six families to carry her, "gifts." She explained these gifts to them in terms of water, fire, earth, sky, light, and knowledge. In reality, this was the beginning of her experiment, a thing that was unprecedented among all the gods. She divided herself up, splitting her essence into several pieces. She placed these pieces within the mortals of the chosen families, leaving so little of herself to her own consciousness that she was nearly mortal herself. In this way, she continued to rule over the kingdom, observing mortal behavior from a front row seat.

Running around inside numerous mortal forms was taxing for her, but it was essential in order to learn what she wanted to learn. That is, she wanted to gain an insider's perspective on how mortals perceive life. She wanted to understand what it means to choose between that which was real and that which was not, truth and lies, good and evil, pure and corrupt. She wanted to examine mortals' motives for making the choices that they made, understand their limitations, know everything about them.

This experiment ultimately caused her downfall. The House of Brant, those to whom she had defined herself as, "fire," plotted to betray her and their fellow man. Weakened as she was by her efforts, their intentions were undiscovered until it was too late. The details of precisely what happened have been lost to history, but the precious Isle of Ilaantia was destroyed. The majority of the island's inhabitants perished with the disaster. There were survivors from two of Verity's chosen families, however. Those from the House of Marsic, keepers of her "water" gift and those from the House of Kent, keepers of her "light" gift miraculously made it to shore. Perhaps Verity used her last remaining influence to aid them in their escape. The Marsics went on to found the Kingdom of Tarlith, and the Kents established the Kingdom of Light directly to the south. Verity was lost to history, surviving only in these remnants of her followers.

Recent Past: In recent history, Verity seemed to have found a way to reclaim her essence and pull the various pieces of herself back together. The last step to doing this would have been to track down the remaining members of the Kent and Marsic families, both of which resided in Karchan. This explained her seemingly sudden appearance in the land more than a dozen years ago.

Upon regaining herself from these, she was once again nearly herself. However, she ran into a problem when she found the last of the House of Brant. The essence bestowed upon that family, having first been used in betrayal, then inhabiting a succession evil-minded men for thousands of years, had become so corrupted that she was incapable of absorbing it back into herself. Thus, she found a different mortal in whom to place that corrupted part of her. She made contact with a young woman by the name of Elsie Carrington and made a deal with her, the one agreeing to carry the goddess until the essence was purged of corruption in exchange for some benefit that remains a mystery to outsiders. Part of the agreement involved Elsie building her church and acting as her high priestess, probably to assist Verity in keeping tabs on what was going on with her missing piece.

General Beliefs: Those who follow Verity value Truth above everything else, sometimes even to the exclusion of love and compassion. However, these other virtues are encouraged whenever possible. Followers of Verity also believe in showing respect to other deities while owing worship and allegiance only to their own.

When a follower dedicates him/herself to the goddess of Truth, he/she has the possibility of gaining certain attributes or magical benefits from their association. This is because, having once set the precedent of her essence seeping into her followers, it is difficult even now for her to keep herself completely separate from them. Except in the case of her high priestess, though, nothing as well-defined as an actual piece of her transferring can happen currently. Because of this connection, however, her followers regard it a sacred duty to choose good and right, or 'a life of veracity' in every situation in which they are capable of doing so.

Abilities: Some followers of Verity develop an inability to lie while others feel physical discomfort when lying. Many gain increased perception about other mortals, such as being able to sense what deity one follows. All of her followers have an aversion to werewolves of every kind, though this may manifest in multiple ways. They may, in some cases, not even be aware of the cause of their discomfort when around these creatures. If a follower of Verity is attacked by a werewolf, it is impossible for them to be turned. In cases in which a person is savaged so severely that the lycanthropy would normally take over and transform them, a follower of Verity is more likely to simply die. Short of death, they would experience a recovery time consistent with what the injuries normally would take. If a werewolf chooses to follow Verity, they are cleansed from the affliction regardless of what form it takes. Very rarely, a follower of Verity may gain the ability to force the truth from another person using only their own strength of will.

Priesthood: As with all other followings, the clergy of Verity have the legal right to perform marriages, divorces, and other formal ceremonies requested by parishioners. These are considered valid in every known city in Karchan. Elsie is the current high priestess, and other members of the clergy include Adrienna, Elise, Chreyay, and Nais. Rachel is working on becoming a cleric. There is currently very little structure or ceremony tied specifically to this deity's following. Her religious center is located on the top of the Blue Mountain in the form of a simple chapel.

Commands: The following commands are currently available to those who are followers of Verity:

follow Verity - this command sets the attribute that identifies one as a follower of Verity. To gain this attribute, one may speak with a cleric or go to Verity's Altar in the big temple north of the Grove of Nature.

stop following Verity - this command takes the attribute that identifies one as a follower of Verity off. One should do this if their character decides to cease service to the goddess of Truth.

find chapel - teleports one to the top of the Blue Mountain in front of Verity's chapel.

find village - teleports one to the village north of the sign on the road.

Go Back

Last modified on November 5, 2024, 20:44:09