âim in a fucky mood and need to write and inspired by @worldhammerer so...â
Folk etymology holds that the town of FALCREST derives from âfalconâs restâ or âfalconâs crestâ, and the name of the god from that. In fact, Falcrest lent her divine name to the fledgling village in the first place. A mere saint at the time, patron of raptors and hunters, she became -- through those peculiar coincidences that seem to rule history -- particularly beloved in a remote trapping outpost. The hunters who wintered there erected a shrine to her, unskilfully but lovingly made, and raised hunting hawks in her honor. As the villageâs status grew, so did the godâs; they began to tell stories of Falcrestâs role in the divine war, seeking and slaying agents of chaos in darkness, and the rights granted to raptors (and the noble house of Falcrest) on her behalf. Later still the people of that place fought for and won their independence, accrediting it partially to her favor; so the little god of great things became the great god of a small city.Â
Falcrest retains her raptorial imagery; it is custom to depict her with the head of a falon, the wings of an eagle, the legs of an osprey, and the body of a knight in scale-mail. She is less of a god than a heraldic device to the people of her town, but there are those who still believe, especially in the divine gifts she supposedly granted her nobles (who were driven extinct in the second-to-last war). Nevertheless, even the least devout consider it blasphemous to portray her with any weapon in hand; Falcrest was a hunter, not a soldier, though stories tell of her ferocity; the people of Falcrest seek many things, but war is not among them.