Difference between revisions of "Alil"

Latest revision as of 17:28, 28 February 2021

History in Avendar

With the collapse of alatharyan civilization and the mass extinction of the Sundering, the earliest to fill that vacuum were the forebears of the aelin. According to legend, these racial progenitors were granted their emblematic wings by the goddess who dwelled atop the Daphoan Ialiedae mountains. This goddess was Alil, and when the Seven Sentinels claimed the giant disc that floated above the highest summit, they consecrated it in her honor. This became Ilodaiya ("destined clouds" in first era aelin), the cauldron of aelin society and epicenter of their future empire.

Of the Seven Sentinels, Alil marked Linayla the Open Heart as her first recorded chosen. Possessed of her white lotus brand, he founded the Alilean religion proper, focusing it upon radiance, glory, and empathy. The revelation of the divine power of transference created a rift between the early Alileans and their religious contemporaries, the Aeolians; the former championed it as a medium of true understanding, while the latter feared it as (at the absolute best) manipulation. Within their own sphere, the Aeolians cast Alil as the Rose King's divine partner, an idealized romantic couple. Outside it, Alilean sensibility greatly influenced early Ilodaiyan aesthetic, producing some of their earliest spires.

While the War of Fire destroyed vast swaths of aelin civilization, it was the arrival of the Sythraki army in Daphoa which truly imperiled their survival. Alil, in defiance of Aeolis' inaction, appeared high above the southern province of Illata, and destroyed all life in it in a conflagration of light and fire. Resonant as she was to mortal emotion, their collective terror echoed through her, and by extension, her devoted. Mad with divine pain, Alil's organized following seized the imperial court, naming her the de facto head of state. Driven out by force, the Aeolians retreated to the fringes of Daphoan society, and with the coming of Serachel, the fabled Dalae era began. The roles of women vastly expanded, and the traditional behavioral prohibitions of Aeolian culture were dismissed. However, growing turmoil from the emerging Serachelian faith and the shadow of the War of Night became the prevailing historical touchstones.

Conspiring with Rystaia Lightbringer, Aeolis imprisoned Alil to keep her from protecting Serachel. Her entrapment severed the divine bonds between she and her following, leaving them traumatized and vulnerable. The cost was enormous; the estranged Aeolians led a pogrom against the Alileans, and after, set about casting her faith as mad lustmongers and degenerates. Millennia passed before Alil sacrificed one of their glorious wings, and in doing so, broke free of their planar prison. The clouds above Ilodaiya flashed with silver fire and rained bloody feathers on both the city and the mountains below. They appeared anew, transformed, their lost appendage replaced with undying flame, and shook the floating disc with the sound of their voice. However, their long exile left them incomplete, and their much-maligned religion struggled to take root for another eight hundred years.

The renewal of the Alilean faith began in earnest with the emergence of Feolne Ilaephos-Lenahiri as the first ruby lotus and the reintroduction of transference to Avendar. They conspired with the war criminal, Eshrin Linphori, and the last Rose consort, Keiari Telanei, to restore Alil's memory and break the silver grip of the Aeolian faith on Daphoan political power. In doing so, the island of Aehiori was leveled, Alil was restored to their full prismatic glory, and the long stagnant order of aelin society began to reorganize in reaction. The Empath is again heralded as the first of the aelin deific triad, offering a bold direction for the aelin soul-- one free of limitation and conformity, and founded on intimacy and experience rather than dogmatic guilt.

Goals and Methods

The goal of Alil is deceptively simple: utter and complete autoliberation for themself and their followers. This means throwing off not only their physical (or otherwise) fetters, but severing the connection between what they want and their hesitance to pursue it. This dominance over their own internal space is paramount; the domain in which no one dares intrude without invitation or permission. The borders of this personal realm can be patrolled vigorously or loosely, depending on the individual's proclivity and what specifically they intend to feel, do, or achieve. However, Alil considers each of theirs responsible for their own personality, meaning their victories and defeats are theirs alone.

Alil achieves their ends through a heady mixture of empathy and specific, personal experience. It has long been posited that Alil does not simply read the minds of their following, but that they drink deep of their resonant memories. In this way, Alil knows the depths of their followers-- their glories and their failures-- in a more personal way than most of the pantheon. However, in the cases where their usual tools fail, they fall back to violent, necessary retribution; it is then that Alil's terrible fury is loosed to not just restore parity, but assert a long-forgotten supremacy. Ultimately, to challenge Alil is to beg the question of whose bloody feathers will litter the earth when the flames die out.

Organizations and Followings

Despite Alil's fickle whims, varying strains of thought have risen and loosely organized in Their name. Those who seek the Lotus are as diverse as the experiences They so relish, but the most well-known of Their followers fall under the following:

The Sanguine Lotus

"Fuck around and find out."

(the sensates)

The Ruby Lotus

"I will save everyone."

(The promisekeepers)

The Golden Lotus

"Glory forever."

(the glory seekers)

Individual Followers (OLD, IGNORE)

Typical followers of Alil have complete eschewed anything that resembles a common morality, exulting in the basest of lusts without hesitation or compunction. This self-centered outlook does not necessarily require manipulation or greed, but they tend to come in handy to those seeking to live as if their lives end tomorrow. Her devoted tend to choose their own path in life and traditionally reject authority, but particularly the moralizing of evangelists. Their clashes with the law tend to center largely around outrageous behavior, but those trifles are as quickly passed as a morning hangover. Given Alil's capricious nature, this is not without exception, especially in the case of Alia's Steadfast, who embrace all of what Alil is almost certainly not.

Alil is commonly and casually worshipped as the goddess of revelry. This is most apparent on feast days, when some of Her following organize and oversee large, localized celebrations. Raising a glass to the Mad Angel is hardly frowned upon, even by non-followers, to lower inhibitions along with the copious alcohol that will no doubt be consumed. Even the proud aelin offer a toast to their fallen goddess, although perhaps more soberly than those of lower birth.

Those who find favor with the whims of Alil are marked with a red lotus.

Relationships (OLD, IGNORE)

The gods of the Light largely look upon Alil with pity or scorn, as Her spiral into madness is as much derived from Her own lack of self-control as the prompting of Serachel. Contrarily, the gods of darkness largely view Alil as both a pawn and liability, as her ephemeral whims often sabotage their designs as much as assist them. Lawful gods are largely indifferent to the disruptions of Alil; they rarely manifest in the dangerous ways of other chaotic deities, who gleefully watch the spectacle of Her actions.

Aeolis, in particular, has a strong interest in restoring Alil to Her former self. As the father of the aelin race, He longs for the return of His divine lover and muse and the cleansing of Her tarnished name. Conversely, Serachel seeks to complete the corruption of Alil and to claim Her as His prize. She, in turn, might become as He is, and usher a new era of the aelin race as at His side.

Shrines, Sigils, and Mobs

Rooms

A Silent Shrine (vnum 6357)

A Furnished Loft (vnum 18992)

Sigils

Tier 1 - a red lotus (vnum 1282)

• AC 0/4/4/0
• Saves -4
• Damroll +3
• Charisma +3
• Verb prog p: transference - Lotus open an empathic bond to another character (global)
• Verb prog p: reverie - Lotus echoes the empathic bond target (global)
• Verb prog p: confer - Empathic bond target echoes the lotus (same room only)
• Verb prog p: create <item> - Create cigarettes, popcorn
• Verb prog p: invoke sigil - Blade barrier (level 55)
• Fight prog 4: Frenzy (+10/+20) (level 55), 2% chance; firebolt (level 55), 2% chance

Tier 2 - a ruby lotus (vnum 1203)

• AC 10/14/14/10
• Saves -4
• Damroll +3
• Charisma +3
• Verb prog p: transference
• Verb prog p: reverie
• Verb prog p: confer
• Verb prog p: agechange - Lotus can adjust their current age at whim, from 19 to (max - 1), losing 4 years of max age each time
• Verb prog p: petalbrand - Lotus brand another character with a ruby lotus petal (vnum 12399) temporarily; internal cooldown before reuse.
• Verb prog p: create <item> - Create cigarettes, popcorn, whiskey, party globes
• Verb prog p: invoke sigil
• Fight prog 100: Frenzy (+10/+20) (level 55), 2% chance; firebolt (level 55), 2% chance; silver guardian debuff (100% chance)

Mobs

Vakara (vnum 13653) - Wanderers character

Luthelle (vnum 7096) - Priestess, fire templar, drunk

Ilaene (vnum 7105) - Aeolian-hunter and whip lover

Eshrin Linphori (vnum 12249) - Ancient Alilean sex-haver, murderer, former Coven Scorpion

Keiari (vnum 22498) - The last Rose consort, magical girl

God Mark

You notice a fiery crimson gleam in [his|her] eyes.

Wisdom score equals (Charisma - 1)

Notes, Logs, and Other Documents

Alil encourages all experiences, but many (if not most) players will equate this to sex or just ridiculously over the top behavior. This is at times a really fine line as to what is acceptable and what isn't; we don't want to suppress people from attempting to roleplay lust because it's such a big thing, but we need to be mindful of when it's getting out of hand. Because of this, if you're going to be overseeing Alil applicants, you need to expect that you are going to probably be watching sex or other uncomfortable scenarios. If you aren't okay with doing that, pass it off to another immortal who is.

If you think something is really getting out of hand though (namely, if it is a violation of rule 11), try to find a way to warn the player or players. Watching a trainwreck helplessly is not going to help anyone, and players often get very upset if they are punished later on when they were able to go on uninterrupted. When it does go too far, and continues to do so even after a warning, it's probably time for the character to be unceremoniously denied.

Helps

None

Lore

None

Logs

None