#askminervae

Patience: Lyre (lulls listeners into a trance)

Hope: Flute (invigorates listeners)

Gratitude: Spoon (anything eaten from it gains healing properties)

Charity: Scissors (can cut any material as long as it fits between the blades, including wood and metal. But they will not cut flesh.)

Honesty: Bullhorn (magically projects her voice anywhere)

Justice: Carving blade (anything carved with it comes to life as a golem, but there can only be one active golem at a time. The golem is obedient only to its creator.)

Mercy: Pen (Its ink is permanent, waterproof, fireproof, acid-proof, basically cannot be erased or destroyed. It can also write on any material.)

Prudence: Sewing needle (any thread fed through its eye gains near-indestructible properties)

Destiny: Telescope (can magnify infinitely)

Courage: Surfboard (allows the user to teleport and surf between celestial realms)

Curiosity: Hammer (it can drive a nail into any material with one strike, regardless of strength or effort. She used it to drive the iron spike into her own head...)

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

(Translated via Google Translate)

"Question: seeing how a maenad turns into a Minerva, why does Karenza have that ability? Is there another divine with an ability like that?"

Someone asked this question a while back, you can read the answer here! <---

This ability is not unique to Karenza, technically any mage can do it. But no one can do it exactly the way she does, she has her own "style" just like any artist. Another mage's minervae would turn out a little differently than hers.

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Questions/Comments?

This was just retconned recently: Karenza transforms a maenad's magical amphora into a Tome of Infinity. (More info in the maenad/minervae article)

I think the amphoras already have some natural property that the Tomes of Infinity require.

Karenza also gives her minervae a magical creative tool, which she makes at an enchanted forge. They are always made from silver.

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

I figured this must be a reference to something, so I Googled it and apparently it's from something called Disco Elysium. I'm not familiar with this at all, but I skimmed a wiki page and he seems to be an obscenely rich guy who lives cheaply and believes money isn't all that important?

I think the closest character to that in Looming Gaia would be Austerity. Dude makes hella money, but because he's a devout follower of Karenza, he rejects wealth and distributes that money to communities who need it most. A lot of the minervae in Karenza's Circle do the same, including his wife, Prudence. They choose to live humble lives, even though they could afford extravagance if they wanted it.

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

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Allmother wishes these kids were in her custody! But because she is actively forging monsters, she is in violation of World Law. The World Athenaeum considers her ineligible for this reason and won't give her custody of the divine children (Even though she probably would do a decent job taking care of them!)

I think the divine children would most likely end up in a minervae's care. The minervae are immortal, benevolent by nature, and have all served the Divine of Love at some point which gives them a great reputation. Almost all minervae are in good standing with the World Athenaeum.

The question is, which minervae? One we haven't been introduced to yet, I would think. Her sole duty would be to raise these special kids for all eternity.

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

Good question! Spellcrafting is as much of an art as it is a science. Every mage has their own little techniques that make the outcome each spell highly individual.

One doesn't necessarily have to be a divine to turn maenads into minervae, they just have to be extremely skilled in transmutation magic. Any mage could technically do what Karenza does to the maenads, but here's the thing...it would be like trying to recreate a master's painting.

The general idea might be there, but it will never be an exact copy, because the original is made up of thousands of the master's individual brush strokes. Not even the master themself could recreate the painting exactly; every version would be a little different. Just a few little brush strokes can change the vibe of the whole painting dramatically.

This is why there are differences between even Karenza's own minervae. You have some who can see into the future, some who can't, and some who can see so far into eternity that it drove them insane. Some have pinkish hair and features while others are more purplish. Each minervae turns out a bit different. There are inconsistencies between individuals, but you can still tell they were crafted by Karenza because they have her signature "style". Minervae are like living pieces of art.

Knowing this, imagine how different another mage's minervae would be from Karenza's. No mage can perfectly replicate Karenza's "brush strokes".

What I'm trying to say is: if minervae were crafted by someone else, they probably wouldn't resemble the minervae we know at all. They would be very different creatures.

For example, look at this picture showing the Mona Lisa painted by different artists:

They're all paintings of the same woman, but since each artist has their own style and technique, they have all turned out quite different from eachother, some to the point of being almost unrecognizable.

Likewise, each mage's minervae might be the same creature in spirit and intention, but they will probably take vastly different forms.

It's a hard concept for me to explain, but I hope that makes sense!

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Questions/Comments?

Most minervae have sworn loyalty to Karenza, the Divine of Love, and have set out into the world to make it a better place with their powers. They work tirelessly to do this, pouring literal blood, sweat, and tears into their efforts.

Dr. Asha was once a very prominent figure in Matuzu Kingdom, known then by her minervae name, Charity. She became famous during a horrific plague that ripped through the Midlands long ago, and her efforts to fight this plague likely saved the kingdom from collapse. Statues were built in her honor. Matuzans adored her. Soon she gained global notoriety and was summoned to all kinds of catastrophic events worldwide. She was summon to war zones, plagued cities, and polluted villages with poisoned residents.

It seemed the suffering was never-ending, and as soon as she cleaned up one area, two more would need her help. She would often visit the same locations over and over, disappointed that conditions had not improved and citizens were still falling ill or injured. She pleaded with leaders to help their people, to stop the wars and improve sanitation, but her pleas fell on deaf ears, for they preferred to continue their corrupt ways and summon her to clean up their messes instead.

Charity could see the writing on the wall. She was being used as a political pawn, a tool to make these leaders look like they were making an effort, but they had no intention of actually helping their people be well or helping her make the world a better place. She felt very alone in her cause, like she was pushing against an immovable force.

Then one day, without warning, Charity seemed to disappear. She was not responding to her summons and no one could find her. She was presumed dead until she resurfaced centuries later, operating under her old maenad name "Asha". By this point she had mostly fallen out of the public consciousness. She was remembered only as old statues that stood in front of a few hospitals, and their features had worn with time, no longer even resembling her.

Dr. Asha was tired of hiding away and doing nothing. She wanted to help allkind again, but she felt like a failure because she realized she could not save the entire world like Karenza wanted. She just didn't seem to have the strength and resilience her sisters had to keep up her efforts. Asha could have sought the support of her sisters, but she was too ashamed of her perceived failures and couldn't bear to face them.

So, she decided to return to her home city of Uekoro. She used to be a harem lady for the royal family, but ran away to become a minervae. The royal family accepted her back into their lives, this time not as a slave, but as their personal physician.

Dr. Asha hasn't set foot outside the Uekoran palace since. Some say she's hiding from the world, afraid that she will be summoned to an endless stream of catastrophe for all eternity. It's possible that she has lost hope in allkind, and she's afraid that if continues subjecting herself to its mass dysfunction, she may just lose hope too.

I think it's safe to say that she suffers from some level of depression. Burnout is common among minervae, but they usual counsel eachother through it. In Asha's case, she was too ashamed/stubborn to seek help.

She is the type of person who will break her back taking care of everyone around her, but can't lift a finger to take care of herself.

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Questions/Comments?

Prudence and Austerity are two ancient minervae who served the Divine of Love together. I imagine her temple is where they met, fell in love, and married. They are among the very few minervae who helped construct the Trial of Titans and know what secret treasure lies within it.

Both of these minervae spend half the year travelling to help the world be a better place. Prudence goes wherever she is needed to dispel undead, and Austerity travels to different Houses of Love and Light to aid the poor.

After 6 months of non-stop work, they return to their home in Matuzu Kingdom to spend time together. They have similar personalities in that they're both somewhat reserved and don't talk much, so I imagine a lot of their communication is done through actions rather than words.

Though they seem prude and austere to outsiders, they're very sweet and affectionate towards eachother in the privacy of their own home. They like to take long hikes together in the Midland Jungle, visit tropical Matuzan beaches, and camp under the stars. They're both avid readers and like to discuss books they read (Prudence likes horror novels and Austerity prefers mystery). They visit old forgotten historical sights they remember from their youth many centuries ago. They like to go out to eat at restaurants even though they don't need to eat.

Basically old power-couple stuff. :) What you won't catch them doing is attending wild parties, drinking alcohol, or being in huge crowds. Whatever they do, they prefer to do it with eachother and no one else. They probably get tired of dealing with people so much for half the year and want to be left alone for the other half.

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Questions/Comments?