The Maiden is a complex goddess, with two major aspects to her. As the love goddess, her portfolio is love, purity and beauty. She is envisioned as a fair-skinned, golden-haired, young woman, wearing a simple blue dress, similar to what a peasant woman would wear. In her avenger aspect, her portfolio includes protection and vengeance, and her skin turns jet black.
Her symbol is a flower surrounded by a circle woven of thorny stalks. A stylized form, a spiral within a circle, is also used.
She carries the Heartlance, an ornate spear decorated with ribbons and pearls. It heals the wounds of the innocent, and it will always strike the heart of an evildoer.
Her exarch is a beautiful, raven-haired woman, with twisted horns and black claws. She has no name known to mortals, and is simply called Maiden’s Daughter.
Backstory
The Maiden is a mortal woman who became a goddess. As a mortal, she was beautiful, pure of heart, and with more love in her than ever seen before or after in a mortal. These attributes caught the eye of the Powers, and it was decided she would be given the divine spark and become the goddess of love.
However, the moon goddess disagreed with the Powers’ decision. She had long been grooming her daughter for a similar position, and she now feared her daughter would never ascend to godhood, instead being doomed to a mortal life that could only end in oblivion. Gods may be difficult beings to kill, but mortals are not, and so the moon goddess decided to solve the problem before the young woman could ascend.
The moon goddess made a deal with the lord of demons. As everyone knows, demons are hard to control, and should not be trusted, but for this purpose they would be perfect. The moon goddess would open a portal to the mortal realm, letting a score of demons through, and all they had to do in return was doing as they please with a small village near the portal…
As the agent of the Powers descended upon the village, he was met with an awful sight. The village had been burned to the ground, the men torn limb from limb, the children eaten, and the women worse. He assumed, then, that the woman had been lost, but in the fields outside the city he found her. Still alive, bruised but mostly unharmed, and looking peaceful. Immidiately he healed her, and announced his task. She responded with nothing but a serene smile. He assumed she was pleased, and she was given the divine spark.
It took only a moment for the agent to realize his mistake. The being that arose was not a sweet love goddess, but an awesome vision of vengeance. Still wearing her simple dress, her golden hair still flowing, but her eyes turned to fire, and her skin black as charred wood, she created her weapon, Heartlance, and walked the earth in search of the demons.
As mortals watched the new goddess walk their realm, destroying the loose demons as she found them, their belief, and thus her power, grew quickly. Even before the last demon had fallen, her first temple was being built, and people prayed to her out of fear.
For a long time, she was revered as the terrible goddess of vengeance, and for a while her fury expanded her portfolio to include war, with many long and bloody wars being fought in her name. But slowly, slowly the angry fires in her heart grew colder, and she became the person she once was, taking on the role was she was intended.
Today she is the calm and kind goddess of love. However, seeing strong creatures taking advantage of the weak angers her, and the sight of demons doing so will turn her into the goddess of vengeance once more.
Teachings
- There can be beauty in everything. Creating beauty for it’s own sake is admirable; working to make something beautiful as well as useful is even better.
- Never be afraid to love. Love is the only wealth all living beings can have. Even a single kind word at the right time can make an amazing difference.
- Protect those who are too weak to protect themselves. Those who seek to exploit others merely because they can are not worthy of your kindness. Never let a transgression go unpunished.
Dominion
The realm of the Maiden appears much as an idealized version of the mortal realm. The landscape is dominated by rolling green hills, and is dotted with idyllic villages. The natives all appear to be eternally young and beautiful. In the center stands a tall ivory tower, which is the Maiden’s official home, and where she receives visitors.
When the Maiden enters her vengeance aspect, her realm changes along with her. The ground turns black and burnt, the rivers run red with blood, the villages become nothing more than smoking ruins, and the inhabitants grow horns and claws. They follow the Maiden if she leaves her realm, wading into battle armed with spears.
Clergy
There are two main castes within the church of the Maiden. They are both predominantly female — males are rarely called to the Maiden’s service — and wear simple clothing, and they never have permanent markings such as tattoos.
Priestesses belong to the caste known as Heart of the Maiden. They wear white and blue, and usually live and work within a community. Many study healing magic, and unlike the magic performed by priests of other faiths, their magic will remove scars when healing. The Heart rarely preach or hold sermons, preferring to spread their faith through actions rather than words. For this reason, many priestesses make their living as crafters or minstrels, making beautiful everyday items or singing beautiful songs.
The other caste is called Hand of the Maiden, and is a caste of warrior nuns. They wear black and blue, and usually shave and paint their heads. They lead a daily life of rigorous training, and are a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. They can be hired for a very low price, but are very picky about the tasks they take on. They will happily protect a village harassed by trolls for nothing but what they require for supplies — and will work for free if demons are involved — but will never take the coin of a king seeking to quell the rebellion among the people he’s exploited.
Tags: deity
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