Portfolio: Healing, protection, hope, civilization, commerce, virtue

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Alignment: Lawful  Good

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Titles: The Hopemaiden, the Champion of the Gods, the Protector and Provider, the Healing Hand,

She Who Understands, Our Lady of Hope/Healing

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Domain: The Celestial City

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Holy Text: The Book of Virtues

Symbols: A shield with the Healing Hand or a cornucopia.

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Chosen Weapon: Shield & Mace

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Dogma: “There is no Wound that cannot be Healed, no Wrong that cannot be Righted, and no Place where there is not Hope. Hope cannot be dimmed, for goodness is destined to overcome all. Be implacable in the face of evil and unrelenting in pursuit of healing and protection of the innocent, for even if you fall, trust that another will rise up to challenge the darkness of the day eve as you enter the peace of the Celestial City.

                “Be always aware of the suffering of those around you. Learn the best methods to treat different illnesses and maladies, and never be afraid to seek a remedy far afield. Remember that a wounded minded is thrice the curse than a wounded body. Be generous in your care of others, that they may come to know you as a source of healing. Take thoughtful care of your own health, that you may ever be a source of healing rather than in need of it.

                “To gather together in communities is a holy act and will ever be blessed by my (Bes-Tera) hand. When the faithful gather together in accord, what they bring to their union grows. The practice of giving and receiving in trade creates trust and the desire to protect one another. Protect always those within your reach from harm, particularly those who cannot protect themselves. To see danger before it strikes is a form of foresight and a gift to aid you in your role as a protector, and to protect is a sacred act second only to healing.”

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Worshippers: The Adar, healers, guardians, merchants, settlers, the cursed and afflicted

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History: In the Year 55, when the Wasting Plague threatened to completely annihilate the Adar people, a golden light descended from the heavens to rest upon a high hill where the city of Leyer now stands. In its wake, the light left behind a beautiful maiden in a flowing robe of silver with voluminous white wings of gentle feathers. Her hair was a honey golden braid that rested over her shoulder and on her serene faced rested an expression of unsurpassed gentleness and divine determination. Bare of foot and hand, she strode purposefully down the avenues of the Adar communities walking through their field and even through their doors and walls, and everywhere her touch was felt, healing graced the people and the Wasting was driven away into memory.

 

As the first Hopemaiden walked, she spoke to the multitudes that followed in her wake, opening their minds to the haven that the Adar could build, a kingdom of light that would shine like a beacon to the Eastern Pinnacle of what men could achieve in partnership with the New Gods. The Divine March lasted exactly 15 days, during which She Who Understands walked all the breadth and depth of what is now the Republic and finally returned to the very hill upon which she appeared in the beginning. Surrounded by a multitude who had walked with her, they marveled that they had never hungered nor thirsted in her presence, and each had grown strong of health and strong of heart. From among the multitudes, the Goddess selected 6 women and 1 man to accompany her, and she returned to the celestial city.

 

Since that time, each of the Seven Who Were Taken, have appeared in time of crisis to champion or succor the Adar in time of peril, and each was named Saint by the first Lady Protector of the Church of Healing. Many disciples see one of the Seven in their dreams when Bes-tera has work for them, and even more claim to hear their voices in troubled times.

 

New Incarnation: In year 545, almost a half millennium since her covenant with the Adar people, the Goddess took on a new incarnation, shifting from her role of healer to an equal prominence as a warrior and protector. Bes-tera became, by decree of the Divine Assembly, the Champion of the Gods, the first defender against encroaching evil upon the Outer Gods and their worshippers. During this time, her former name was stricken from all written record and from the minds of mortals, and a host of new religious art was created or altered to her new image, an armored, angelic defender holding a silver shield and golden mace, crowned with a helm of astral stars.

 

Mother Annaomelia: During the Divine March, Bes-tera’s teachings and her covenant with the Adar were recorded by an elderly woman named Annaomelia, a mother who had lost all 7 of her children to the Wasting. Annaomelia became the first Lady Protector, founder of the Church of Healing and spiritual mother to the Seven Who Were Taken. It is said that she sits at Bes-teras side again, recording her words for mankind and teaching the Seven Saints the will of the goddess. The Holy Mother of Script spread the words of the Goddess far and wide and organized their scribing and binding into the Canticle of Sacred Wanderings, the most holy text of the church. From its teachings, Mother Annaomelia taught and anointed Protectors, male and female, to shepherd every congregation, and she imbued them with the holy power given her by the goddess for their defense.

 

The most famous story involving the Mother Saint is the tale of the Demon of Idralia, a demon that was slowly corrupting and possessing the people of a small fishing village on the coast. According to legend, the Divine Mother drove the possessing demon out of each member of the village using only the words of the Canticle of Wanderings before confronting the demon in its true form and slaying it with the power of Bes-tera.

 

When the time came for the Lady Protector to leave behind the mortal world, she called the Protectors into conclave and bid them decide amongst themselves which one of them Bes-tera favored most. During the debate that followed, Mother Annaomelia quietly disappeared. It wasn’t until they came to the consensus that none of them were worthy that Saint Annaomelia appeared in her new, glorified form and named her successor.

 

The Clergy of the Church of Healing: The Church of Healing is as much hospital as it is religious organization. The clergy spends much of its time nursing the ill, preparing medicines, teaching people how to safeguard their own health, and protecting those who cannot protect themselves. The church teaches self-reliance in all things, but it believes that mortalkind cannot learn to embrace virtue without the clergy first showing the way. As a result, Bes-Teran clerics and paladins can be found all throughout the world engaging in acts of service all kinds, wherever they are needed and wherever they feel guided to go. While each priest reports to a specific chapel under the watchful guidance of a Revered Protector, it is not uncommon for them to travel far afield of their flock in pursuit of some goodly cause. Clerics of Bes-Tera have a reputation for being somewhat pious but absolutely fearless in the defense of the innocent, goodly, and just.

The Church of Healing is one of the three pillars of the Adari Republic, the other two being the knighthood and the virtue of the people. The church fills many functions in the republic that are normally reserved for the government of other city-states in the Eastlands. They run all charitable institutions with the republic such the orphanages, soup kitchens, the arranging of apprenticeships, the care of widows, and alms for the poor. The church is often called upon by the knighthood to take in those who might otherwise face a more serious legal penalty for their actions either as a way of helping the individual to turn their life around or to provide more productive ways of paying for their crimes than languishing uselessly in a prison cell. In the rare event that an elected knight lord’s conduct is deemed by the people of his community to be in abuse of power, it is the church to which the people may turn to for redress. In this way, the church ensures that the government is free from corruption and the government can ensure that the church provides for the common good.

 

Universal Clerical Titles

Anointed (1st)

Sister/Brother (5th)

Hope Maiden/Master (8th)

Revered Protectors (11th)

High Priestess/Priest/Protector (15th)

Lady/Lord Protector (20th)

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Knight Titles

Anointed Squire (1st)

Shield Sister/Brother (5th)

Hope Seeker/Maiden (8th)

Lady/Sir (11th)

Guardian (15th)

High Guardian (20th)