The Hand of Leona

[Emma]

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CATHEDRAL IS NOT AN ACTUAL FACTION.
Due to the fact that it won't even be pivotal to the main plot, I'm only putting this here to explain an important part of Broddring and eastern Du Weldenvarden's cultures. However, if you want your character to be a believer, go right ahead! It's just that the Cathedral isn't an official faction. The Hand, however, as explained in the post below, is.

The Voyage of the Nine Moons is one of the few concepts that are entirely native to Alagaësia. Though it does have a Goddess, referred to as Nyx of the tranquility of the night, the Nine Moons is more of a journey to betterment and self-understanding rather than a religion per se. Referred to as the Voyage, a difficult path that can take a lifetime, or several, to complete, the undertaker of this inner quest must test the mettle of their body, emotions, mind, and spirit, in that order. Nyx’s teachings preach kindness, tolerance, and the preciousness of all life, as well as the inner peace of Her followers instead of regular worship and offerings to Her. She is felt rather than seen, and is more of an ascended teacher and guide rather than a supreme being.

This ancient religion was first practiced by the Grey Folk, but as they faded away, so did it, especially when their closest descendants, the elves, mistook it for tribal pagan worship and later assumed an atheist view of the world. However, it is still widely practiced among the elves of Ília Fëon as well as a few in Nädindel, much to most of Du Weldenvarden’s distaste. It was the Voyagers of Nädindel who spread Nyx’s teachings among the humans of Broddring when they first landed in Alagaësia. As a result, the Nine Moons is widely popular in Broddring, and the entire city of Leona is dedicated to it, its most prized building being the Cathedral within.

However, the human practice of the Nine Moons has largely been bastardized. After the Broddring Empire collapsed, and so did the worship of the Divine Three in the Imperial Temple, the aristocracy of Broddring clamoured for a new state religion, as religion had power, and therefore was very in. The teachings of Nyx caught the interest of many, but few took up its practice the way it was supposed to. The health of the body, the First Essence, is often misinterpreted as ‘spend as much cash on makeup as possible’ or ‘eat as much as you please’. The Second Essence, emotions, and the Third, mental health, is generally regarded as the need for instant gratification- money, beauty, sex, and other ultimately useless desires. Finally, the Fourth Essence, spirit, is almost entirely ignored, as few are able to get into any sort of touch with their spirit.

Those who want religious prestige usually join the Cathedral, as well as a few who follow the teachings the way Nyx meant them. The humans of Broddring also actually rarely take note of Nyx herself, instead heaping homage and praise on a man or woman known as the Divine, the person in Broddring who has achieved complete inner peace. Besides the Divine, there are Initiates, usually recent joiners of the Cathedral who have not passed any tests of their Essences. Then there are the Sentinels, who have completed the bodily portion of their trials. Those who complete the Second Essence of emotions are Channellers, and finally those who successfully pass the mental test of the Third Essence are Seers.

Those rare few who successfully pass the test of the Fourth Essence, spirit, become Oracles, and serve and work with the Divine directly in a small order known as the Hand of Leona, named after the current Divine. Also working with them are Paladins, specially trained Sentinels who are the designated protectors of the Oracles on their many goodwill missions. Finally, the person who oversees the Oracles and chooses each Divine is the Prophet.

However, it should be noted that due to the overly modified Broddring version of the Voyage, passing the tests in the Cathedral is rarely the same as actually achieving the peace of the Four Essences as described by Nyx. Someone who spends a hundred years as an Oracle could be much farther away from completing the Voyage than some nobody who spends as little as a year in deep mental refinement and contemplation. Though this is a subject of much anger among brothers and sisters of the Cathedral as well as outside practitioners who truly devote themselves to the Voyage, their numbers are too little to attract much attention.

It should also be noted that it is very easy to ‘go back’ on the Voyage. This is impossible to do in the rankings of the Cathedral, but those who truly achieve the peace of the Four Essences can go in reverse by losing sight of the teachings or by committing sinful acts against others, murder being the worst amongst them. Anyone who is beyond completing the Second Essence risks their sanity if they do such crimes. Though it is possible to come back, it is extremely difficult to do so. The Voyage is long and treacherous, and demands, at the very least, a balance between good and evil.

The Divine: Leona Savasta
The Prophet: Malandra Ramakrishna
Followers: Kieran Kolbjorn, Edan Valaician, Helaku Vuorinen

[Emma]

THE HAND OF LEONA

Everyone knows Broddring’s version of the Voyage of the Nine Moons has been distorted for their own personal gain; they just won’t admit it. But what most people don’t know is just how far the corruption has spread, and that its uses are much, much darker than mere lust and gluttony. Palancar was an atheist, and though insane, he was also highly intelligent. The only reason he integrated the Nine Moons as Broddring’s state religion was because of some ancient manuscripts his spies uncovered. They revealed several secrets of the most forbidden arcane art of all- blood magic. Once regularly used by the elves long ago when they still inhabited Alalea, it was this evil magic that caused many terrors, two being the devolvement of the Urgals and the elves’ necessary flight to Alagaësia. Not even the most mean-spirited elf has touched it since.

Palancar wanted protection against the elves, and he decided it was this blood magic that would do it. Blood is the one necessary thing no person can live without- it controls the functions of the body and the mind, fuels emotions, and keeps the spirit within the body- all four of which happen to be the Four Essences of the Nine Moons. This was why Palancar suddenly decreed the Nine Moons to be Broddring’s state religion sixty years ago- it allowed perfect access for the research of this blood magic. He made his top researchers Oracles, and picked the most tranquil among them as the first Divine- Vaveli Reyele, and set him up, and Malandra Ramakrishna as his puppeteer, the ‘prophet’.

The public belief is that the Divine is always picked amongst the existing Oracles, but this is not true. When a Seer is ready to become an Oracle, or when someone outside the Cathedral achieves all four Essences, they are told of the real purpose of the Hand of Leona. They may then make a choice- become an Oracle and swear to uphold their research and secrecy, or die. However, whenever a new Divine is needed, they are actually picked from one of these people who have truly achieved the Four Essences. The person thinks they are about to become an Oracle, but are instead imprisoned in the Cathedral Undercroft and used as an experiment while being proclaimed as the new Divine. The Divines are nothing more than figureheads and guinea pigs for the Oracles. Each Divine lasts no longer than ten years, though a few have up and died early- there have been eight Divines in the past sixty years, and Leona Savasta is the ninth.

Blood magic is much, much more powerful than the Ancient Language, as it uses every part of a person- body, mind, emotions, and spirit- to fuel it rather than the living energy of a caster. Naturally, blood mages normally use people other than themselves for their spells, usually their Paladins since they are willing. However, exceptionally powerful spells normally use slaves or criminals as fuel. Being the fuel for blood magic cannot kill anybody, however, though it can leave them a spiritless husk, insane, or a quivering pile of boneless flesh, therefore not posing any risk to the caster’s sanity if they have achieved more than one Essence. Paladins are the ones who do the killing, and as such must have and ONLY have achieved the First Essence, bodily perfection. They also have either no magical skill or very little, but have intense combat and mindbreaking training.

It is NOT POSSIBLE to ‘stop’ being an Oracle or a Paladin. When a person joins the Hand of Leona, their blood is taken and kept in a vial known as a phylactery. If the person should try to run away, they can be tracked with their own blood. As it is impossible to get rid of it, the person is always caught by the Paladins- their main purpose is to hunt down runaways- and killed on sight.

The Puppet (Divine): Leona Savasta
The Puppeteer (Prophet): Malandra Ramakrishna
The Blood Mages (Oracles): Pele Lahela Serowë
The Paladins: Cyprus D’Ellsadro

Staff Notes on the Hand of Leona-
- Your character cannot, under any circumstances, have the ability to use blood magic unless they are an Oracle.
- Your character also may not have ANY knowledge of the Hand of Leona’s true purpose unless they are a Paladin or an Oracle.
- You may also not have your character join the Hand, and then ‘run away’ two days later just to be able to use blood magic due to the phylactery business I mentioned in the last paragraph. They would die. XD
- Your character can, however, be an Oracle without achieving ANY of the Four Essences. They can have worked their way up the Cathedral any way possible for religious power- seduction, blackmail, bribery, anything. They just need to be able to use magic. Paladin characters must have achieved the First Essence and nothing else due to their duties as hunters and killers.