The Mother:
Portfolio: Life, Love, Healing,
Family (especially wives and children), Light, Compassion
The Mother is the Lady of Life, the mother of the universe. All who live and draw breath are her children; all who would threaten her children are her enemies. Her worship is found in the cry of the newborn child, in the harvest of crops, in the love and friendship between mortals. She is benevolent, giving, incapable of denying her children that which they desire if it will not hurt them. The Mother cares little for counted worshippers, for all who eat, breathe, and procreate pay homage to her in action, if not in word. In all ways, she is kind, loving, and beautiful. But woe to those who would threaten the Mother’s children, who would make her cry out in pain, for the Wailing Mother represents all that an angered parent can be: Wrathful, ferocious, taking back her gift of life from those who would take the lives of innocents. Do not mistake the worshippers of the Mother for weak-hearted pacifists; while they value life above all things, they understand that life is a gift, and that those who would extinguish the flame of another are not necessarily deserving of that gift.
Common Representations: The Mother is primarily depicted as a comely, hearty woman of middle years in white clothing appropriate to the region, often holding a baby. A much more rare and often hidden representation of the Mother is in her role as the Wailing Mother, the incarnation of the Mother’s wrath at the loss or endangerment of her children. In this form, she is seen as a gaunt, alabaster-skinned woman of indeterminate age, clothed only in a draped bearskin, with long, matted hair and three-inch fangs protruding from her screaming mouth.
Holy Sites/Areas: The Mother holds all hearths and nurseries as sacred. In the springtime, orchards, vineyards and crop fields are considered to be favored sites of hers as well, for as long as they bear fruit. One particular holy site that draws pilgrims perennially is the Grove of Springs Embrace, a tiny apple orchard in the northernmost of the Northern Isles, which blooms and bears fruit all year, never knowing the touch of winter. It’s rumored that the Mother’s magical golden apples are borne from these trees, one apple every 100 generations, which are then picked and offered to the Mother on her altar in thanks for her blessings on the harvest.
Common Livery/Trappings: The Mother’s priests and dedicated worshippers dress in primarily white, and female priests tend to emulate the depiction of the Mother predominant in their region. Every temple to the Mother holds a sacred fire at its heart, tended continually by priestesses, the hearth of which serves as an altar. For smaller shrines and private chapels, it is traditional for a small cradle of ash wood to serve as an altar.
Common Times/Circumstances of Worship: As the Goddess of Life and Love, the Mother is invoked at births, weddings, and on the days preceding planting and harvest. She is also commonly invoked by young lovers who wish to win the affections of another, and parents with sick children, who pray for the Mothers intervention for better health. The Mother is also invoked (in the form of the Wailing Mother) by parents who have lost children to circumstances beyond their control, particularly to violence. Their prayers beseech the Mother to avenge their loss, to take back her gift of life from those who would steal the life of an innocent.
Omens: The most common events viewed as omens of the Mother’s attention are the sudden dying of the communal or hearth fire from a healthy blaze, signifying her disapproval, and the unprovoked laughter of a child, indicating her pleasure. Bears are also sacred to the Mother, and the sighting of one is considered fortuitous.
Strongholds of Worship: As with all of the Gods, the Mother has a central temple in New Rukh, but two other centers of worship bear notice. The first, in the Northern Isles, is the Temple of Springs Embrace, the shrine that stands guard at the Grove of Springs Embrace and ministers to the pilgrims that arrive and depart in a steady stream to behold the miracle of the grove. The significance of this temple is shown every one hundred generations, when one of the trees in the groves bears a single golden apple, which is then ceremonially prepared and presented as an offering to the Mother in the Festival of Renewal. The second temple is in the relatively new Citadel of the Bear outside of the City of Hurat, a fortress dedicated to the memory of Ursula Ogreslayer, a priestess of the Mother who was said to have hunted down and killed an entire tribe of ogres who had killed her children in a raid. The Temple of the Mother is but one of three temples in the Citadel, built for the purpose of providing sanctuary against raids from the Orc Lands to the north.
Festivals/Holy Days: The Spring Equinox and the first day of the calendar year are sacred to the Mother as occasions of the renewal of life. The third Saturday in the second month of the calendar is the Festival of Ora, the Lady of Love, during which time worshippers are encouraged to express love to all in all its myriad forms.
Notable Noble Houses: House Aderevoss of New Rukh claims direct ancestry to Ora, the Lady of Love, by way of a son whom they claim as their first patriarch. While many, even the majority of the noble houses affiliated with the Mother claim ancestry to Ora, House Aderevoss is alone among them in possessing a true relic of the Scion, a silk girdle that purportedly allows the wearer to gain the amorous affections of any male who views them. This relic has lent the house significant prestige and authority within the nobility, allowing Aderevoss to have maintained a powerful influence over several centuries.
One other house of note is House Panaflax, nominal rulers of the Duchy of Lutha, and one of the uncommon noble houses who claim ancestry to Escalion, the Patron of Medicine. Panaflax is noteworthy primarily because of their nearly redundant position in Lutha, where the Pontifex Maximus holds the true power. Duke Arda is seen as little more than an impotent placeholder, more concerned with appearances and personal opulence than with the actual affairs of the duchy, leaving the true governance to the servants of the Pontifex. While by necessity, the nobles of House Panaflax are treated with respect and deference when they are received by others, quite often, their haughty attitudes rarely earn them anything more than ceremonial appreciation. © Copyright 2004
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