The
Elemental:
Portfolio: Earth, Air, Fire, Water,
Weather, The Sea, The Sky, Nature, Plants, Animals(managed portfolio of the
Beast), Balance.
It moves, it breathes, it flows, it burns. The Elemental exists with a pervasiveness that floods the universe with power, penetrating every facet of reality. While the Mother grants our life, and the Keeper escorts it away, the Elemental stands back from such trivial things and sees naught in our fleeting moments than one more vessel of potency, filled to the brim and slowly emptied. Its domain is the world we walk upon, the air we breathe, the water we drink, the fire that cradles our civilization, and as such It is also Lord of everything we are, everything we create, everything around us. Earth becomes our bones, the air our voice, the water our blood, and the fire our passions. Just as It brings the world warmth, life, shelter and breath, so too does It call forth the conflagrations, the tsunamis, the hurricanes and the earthquakes. It cares little for the affairs of mortals, unless they threaten the balance; The Elemental knows patience that borders on apathy, moving only when the time is correct for It, and resolving issues with all the subtlety of an erupting volcano. It is the beginning and the end, distant from our childlike souls, but fiercely protective of Its charge. Yet the Elemental in many ways appreciates Its devotees far more than any of the other Gods, for it is through them that It may move without disturbing the world significantly. Devotees of the Elemental often grow distant from their own kind, as they commune more closely with Its alien power, but they are infinitely closer to the mortal realm than It could ever be, and it is for this reason that the practitioners of Elemental Magic reap the most drastically visible set of powers: To serve the Elemental is to wield the power to change the very fabric of creation.
Common Representations: The Elemental is most often depicted as a sexless humanoid composed of stone, floating off the ground in a seated cross-legged position with twin serpents of fire and water entwined around It’s outspread arms. Other representations include anthropomorphic waves, stones, clouds and flames.
Holy Sites/Areas: The worshippers of the Elemental hold sacred countless groves, stone circles, and natural pools. The sighting of any one of these things that holds any remarkable quality likely means that the viewer has found a site holy to the Master of Nature. While the Elemental has temples in the cities, these civic constructions are in truth the outposts of Its faith, a foothold into the mortal domains of civilization. The majority of the most sacred of Its blessed sites are secrets of the priests, places where the clergy travel to commune with their God uninhibited by the presence of the uninitiated. The one well-known holy site of the Elemental is the gargantuan volcano of Mt. Phorabus, often referred to as “The Fevered Son”, a massive peak that has been active for as long as any record recalls. There has been a prophetic temple to the Elemental on the edge of the crater since time immemorial, wrought of obsidian and basalt, and protected from the destructive power of the magma and fumes by magic far beyond the power of man. Some priests claim that it was crafted by the first and greatest priest of the Elemental, whose name is lost to history but is said to have never died, instead becoming part of the very spirit of Nature; Others say that it was shaped as the volcano grew, formed by the will of the Elemental. Regardless of its origin, the temple is an enigma in that however it was created, it was done so on the lip of an active volcano that to this day has no safe route up its slopes. It is staffed by a small number of priests who are self-appointed: If a priest both successfully climbs the slope, and chooses to serve in the temple, he or she is accepted without question or contest. The deed itself proves their worthiness. Not only the devoted of the Elemental, but many others who seek to find answers there visit the Temple of the Fevered Son as well. The prophetic acolytes who serve within take turns sitting upon a pier of black glass that extends out over the crater of the volcano, exposed to lethal heat and fumes, yet protected from these elements by their faith. Here, they enter a trance in which whispers of the future enter their minds, giving them visions of events that might come to pass. Upon returning to the interior of the temple, the priests record these visions as diligently as they can, and archive them in the vaults beneath. The source of these visions is a matter of contention between the faithful: The majority claim that they are the wisdom of the Lord of the Skies, bestowed upon them so that they might more clearly know Its will. However, a small number believe that the source of the visions is something else, an unknown being bound to the volcano from eons past that fitfully sleeps in the depths below, sending its fevered dreams to the priests. This faction would have little potency within the clergy, were it not for two things: first, the colloquial name of the mountain, the origin of which is unknown but predates the “naming” of the peak in the Empire’s records; and second, the fact that the followers of this idea always produce the clearest, least difficult to interpret prophecies, all of which have inarguably come to pass.
Common Livery/Trappings: The holy vestments of the Master of Nature are garments of one of the four colors in the Elementals emblem, with the emblem then prominently depicted on the front. Priests outside of official ceremonies tend to wear greens and earth tones, taking advantage of these colors to better blend in with the surrounding world. Altars to the Elemental vary as widely as the priests who set them up, all of them blending nearly seamlessly into the surrounding areas. The exceptions to this are in the city temples, which make use of an ornate steel basin, filled with water, in which floats a ceramic vessel containing lamp oil that is set aflame during services.
Common Times/Circumstances of Worship: As the God of Nature, Weather, and the Elements, the Elemental is most often invoked in supplication for the manipulation of these areas. The farmer who prays for rain, the sailor who wishes for wind, the traveler desperate for water, all of these find themselves beseeching the Elemental for aid in their time of need. As the executor of the Beast’s animal portfolio, It is sometimes called upon by the faithful to bring marauding beasts to heel, though they do this only in true desperation, as such a request almost inevitably brings about storms and lightning to the area regardless of the outcome of the appeal. The Elemental loathes to make use of this portfolio, and never fails to remind Its followers of this.
Omens: Cold snaps and false summers are seen as omens of the Elemental, a vague but potent indication that something is out of balance. Lightning-struck trees are considered to be omens signifying the Elementals approval of a course of action, and the wood of these trees is always harvested and used in the creation of powerful implements of magic. There has only been one case of an omen in a city temple, occurring in 913 IR when Beast Cultists attempted to cross the threshold to the vestibule of the Khoptesh temple during services so as to take the worshippers by surprise. As the first of their feet touched sacred stone, the floating vessel of the altar spontaneously flared to life with such intensity that the surrounding water boiled nearly instantaneously and sundered the steel basin with the heat. As the cultists rounded the corner to the chapel, half were incinerated and the others frozen in stone with the looks of shock forever etched into their faces, as the Elementals forewarned faithful channeled Its outrage at the Beasts presence into deadly magic.
Strongholds of Worship: The Elemental is simultaneously distant and omnipresent, and Its clergy follows suit. The Elemental cannot be said to have any specific strongholds f worship; Its priests follow their instincts, and all those that are not already tied to a temple tend to wander until they are compelled by intuition to settle, trusting their Master to direct them to where the balance is most in need of restoration. As such, gatherings of Elementalists outside of holy festivals are rare, and usually signify the need for moderation or mediation in some circumstance.
Festivals/Holy Days: The Spring and Autumnal Equinoxes, the days in which the sun and moon, light and dark are in perfect balance, are the most holy of days for the Elemental. They are marked not only with revelry and worship, but also serve as the most potent days for Elemental rituals. Aside from these, Elementalist festivals vary by local custom, and in general are of little consequence to the distant God.
Notable Noble Houses: As the most recent acquisition of the Empire, Rhazin has been placed in the charge of House Agnika, a family only recently elevated to nobility in the last century. Duke Tyrrhus has done well so far, using his powers as a high-ranking Elementalist priest to assist in the transition to Imperial rule by personally bringing some of the greater monstrous threats in the province to heel. In a domain where might has made right for centuries, the Duke’s unflinching yet benevolent rule has won him wide support among both city-dwellers and nomads. © Copyright 2004
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