Lielqan

Overview
Favored Race	Ethron
Element(s)	Water Nature
Home(s)	Beneath the Sunset Sea (vnum x)
Alignment	True Neutral
Symbol(s)	A setting sun, a shark's tooth
Portfolio	Mortality, surrender, fate, rebirth, hard truths, boundaries
Worshippers	Truthsayers, sailors, the dying, impartial witnesses, intercessors

History in Avendar

For the young ethron race, the Sea of Lidreau represented many things: a source of food, of salt, and the home of the westerly breeze. It formed an absolute boundary-- nothing that ventured far into its depths returned, save the sun. Every evening it sank into the ocean, and every morning it rose again in the east. They named it Lielqan, derived from an ancient ethron phrase meaning "one who returns". The choppy waves became Her domain, and none dared question Her dominion over it.

Due to the nature of ethron oral histories, Her origin is disputed between clans. In some tales, She is Kyana's sister; in others, her daughter. Some describe Her as Elar's mother, while others believe She is the oldest ethron, shaped by the All-Mother Herself. These contradictions are at times woven into the same myth, asserting some, or all, to be simultaneously true. The tales do, however, agree on a few ideas: that she is likely the oldest living being on the Prime Material, and that She stands between sapient life and the oblivion of Tzet-Askhari.

Despite Her prominence in ethron belief, the oldest stories describe Her as a grim harbinger. She would emerge from the sea to gather the dead or dying. Although they did not consider Her malicious, it remained an ill-omen; Her coming meant that death was close among them. This has made Her place in their collective consciousness a cold one, and one given less affection than Elar or Nariel. However, She is responsible for two important gifts to the ethron as a whole, both of which changed the course of their racial history.

The first came during the War of Fire. While Elar bid the ethron to simply move away from the vast destruction sweeping the known world, not all were able to perform such a sudden and massive exodus. Lielqan offered them a new possibility: She altered their nature, allowing them to breathe underwater. This gift would allow them to dwell in Her domain beneath the waves, shielding them from death. Elar was displeased at this 'adjustment' to Her children, causing friction between the two goddesses and their followers. Many 'mermaid' sightings, spanning from Lidreau, to Lake Lithling, to the shores of Alensha, are attributed to this transformation.

The second was not revealed until the age following the War of Night. While no one doubts the valor and strength of the ethron who battled the shuddeni in Qilarn, strange stories began to circulate from the refugees of Var Bandor who had found shelter among them. According to these witnesses, the ethron barely suffered any losses, despite spectacular bloodshed at the claws of demonkind. This, they said, was because Lielqani priests could restore the spirits of the fallen into new, living bodies. The notion sent shockwaves through Avendarian survivors, and soon the ethron were beset by foreigners.

In time, Lielqan made Her mandate clear: She would act as as an intercessor for any mortal dead, so long as Her faithful asked. The scope of her protection, of course, has limits; but the very possibility of snatching a soul back from the jaws of the Dragon caused both distress and adulation. It would not be long before Lielqani priests imbued those of other faiths with the ability to recall the dead. However, the capacity to impart this ability has remained within Her priesthood. In the modern era, it has helped to ensure the sovereignty of the ethron race, possessing as they do a gnosis which cannot be stolen or perverted by others.

Goals and Methods

Lielqan stands at boundaries great and small: the Sea of Lidreau is Hers, being the great western border to the continent, and sailors and fishers both make offerings to Her before putting out to sea. Those who do not return from overboard are said to have not appeased Her, and those whom she spits back up are favored by Her; it is said She particularly smiles upon the victims of shipwrecks. Similarly, She holds at the place between life and death, where a soul has been liberated from the body but before the Dragon claims it. She, more than any other deity, stands in absolute direct opposition to Ashur, snatching life from the literal jaws of death. Only when she is no longer willing or able to intercede any longer does the Dragon get its due.

Because of this, Her compassion is boundless, but it is cold, tempered by the millions of lives that have passed through Her fingers. She looks at all beings as individuals, rather than as parts of systems, and makes no judgement at all as to their worth as a person. For all of these reasons She is little loved despite everything; it seems not to matter, for She shows no signs of stopping.

Lielqan deviates in only one way from Her absolute neutrality, making a single requirement of those she cares for: She does not intercede for the undead, even those who still retain their minds. This, She holds, is an utter violation of life itself, and She absolutely turns Her back on anyone who undertakes such an enterprise. Otherwise, She is not a jealous god; water magi who recall the memory of a spirit into the body or bind a soul back into its place trouble Her not at all, and She intercedes for both the kindest ch'taren and cruelest shuddeni without hesitation.

Organizations and Followings

While Lielqan personally absents Herself from any mortal dispute, She does not make such requirements of Her followers\; they may be of any alignment so long as there is a neutral component, and so long as they stand for Her values. Some of Her largest sects are:

The Sisterhood of Aanqa

"Lielqan does not judge. I do."

A closely-knit coalition exclusively made up of women, the Sisterhood of Aanqa have taken it upon themselves to lighten Lielqan's load to some extent. Historically they are a group of infiltrators and assassins, who seek out and eliminate targets who are likely to cause more deaths as a result of being where they are. Lielqan will still intercede for the souls who ask, but at times all that is needed is to remove someone for only that long. The earliest ethron Sisters crafted deadly poisons using bounty from both land and sea, and used to brutal effect. An individual Sister's methodology is given a great deal of leeway: she is free to focus on whomever she personally feels to be the most deadly to the largest number of people. The modern Sister might come from any walk of life or schooling, making them all the more deadly.

The Boundary-Keepers

"When the end comes, I will be here with you."

Someone must always watch the borders. This is the place of the Boundary-Keepers, who witness the fates of the dead and dying. Many will take written records of the events they see, while others will compose songs for the memories of the fallen. They tend to take little part in conflicts, but their tendencies to seek out the greatest tragedies and most dangerous situations often force them to take action, either by external forces or their own consciences. They often find themselves working with Chadraln's faithful in both preserving records or looking for fortuitous events to observe, but their morbid nature is just as likely to force them to work alone. In particular, the Vaialan Zseania Saxeitu find them philosophically distasteful, for they concern themselves so little with the hearts of the living left behind. Bards are the most common Keepers, and often sing the old myths as well as the new tragedies.

The Intercessors

"One life or a thousand, it's all the same!"

Some stand for life, in all its forms. The Intercessors follow in Lielqan's footsteps, trying most directly to save lives. Some will do this at great personal risk\; many a water-mage has had her powers stricken from her because she felt the perpetrators of some dark deeds were in need of healing. Those who do so under Lielqan's aegis have some measure of protection, so long as they are not irredemably corrupted by any such associations. Nor do the Intercessors only aid the wicked: they stand for the weak and the righteous as well, if there is need. What matters is that life be preserved, that the Dragon be denied another victory on this day. Water scholars and templars are the most common to seek the Intercessors, but so too do swordmasters and others who are willing and able to place their life on the line for others.

Individual Followers

Lielqan's followers are seen everywhere throughout modern society\; they tend altars and keep records, heal the sick, and perform funerals for the truly dead. Few are eager to see one of Lielqan's chosen\; many consider it a sign of bad luck or impending doom, but they are rarely the cause of any ill fate themselves. Her chosen are frequently both diplomats and high advisors in the various ethron clans, and are known as a source of sound, if generally unpleasant advice. Many elderly ethron, particularly women, will find themselves seeking out the Inevitable's favour late in life, and it is known that She smiles more gently on the old than the young. Her younger followers are known for some daring feats-- a small cult has formed up of those who hunt the largest and most dangerous of predators\; whales and sharks both are frequent targets for seabound ethron, and lions for those on land. Her followers have a reputation for being grim, with dark senses of gallows-humour, but this is at least a little bit undeserved.

Her direct worship is most common among ethron clans rather than in the great cities, but any who keeps an altar of resurrection will know Lielqani rites. Adventurers come from all walks of life and most races, with no particular need to hold themselves apart from conflict. The Champions think poorly of Lielqan's insistence on resurrecting anyone regardless of their moral character and refuse Lielqani applicants, and Lielqan herself would brook no follower of Hers attempting to join the Shunned, patronized by the Dragon Itself as that dread House is. More casual associations are wholly permissible on all sides. Bards, assassins, water scholars and templars are common among her followers, and she has an unusual care for ethron students of Void, who stand so close to the brink themselves. All followers, regardless of alignment, are expected to stand firm against the corruption of the undead.

Relationships

Lielqan has few true allies. Her relationships with the other ethron deities are strained\; Elar does not appreciate Her meddling with the ethron, and Nariel resents that Lielqan once thwarted a bold plan to steal death itself from the jaws of the Dragon. Despite this, they are frequently depicted together, and countless mythologies are sung in ethron clanhouses across the world. Otherwise, most gods appreciate that She allows their followers a chance to persist, and are willing to deal with the fact that She does the same for their enemies. Rveyelhi thinks very little of Her willingness to raise the chaotic, and hardly thinks it worth the gain, but even He reaps the benefits. Jolinn at least tacitly approves of Lielqan's thumb to the eye of the dragon\; surely He could stop her if he so chose, and His priestess Falcia was one of the very first non-Lielqani to learn the rites. If she has a direct ally at all, she is often directly linked with Chadraln, who has similar scholarly interests. Those faithful to the aelin deities are often known to appreciate Her, finding Her tragedies deeply aesthetically appealing.

She has a particular distaste for Sitheus, architect of necromancy, and charges Her followers to strike out against His works at every opportunity. The Forsaken one seems little concerned by this\; She is not a particular source of His ire, for the moment at least. Enirra is likely Her greatest direct enemy: the Herald of Reversal considers Lielqan's refusal to consider greater implications to Her intercessions to be an absolute perversion of the balance. Lielqan, predictably, does not care. Above all other gods, Lielqan despises Ashur, the cause of all death. What It thinks of Her is unknowable, but not even She can keep the Dragon from getting its due in the end. All she can do is stave off the inevitable.

Shrines, Sigils, and Mobs

Rooms

Somewhere (vnum x)

Sigils

Tier 1 - Something (vnum x)

• AC 0/0/0/0

Mobs

Someone (vnum x) -

God Mark

You notice... something.

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