When Comes the Dawn: Worldbuilding #6
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“And so they stand at a fork in the dirt-trodden road; man and god, mortal and divine. The God of A Thousand Faces spoke: ‘Chooseth, then, the path of your Destiny. Or shall you stay, rooted to spot, and let time runneth its course?” --The Aelied
The Raian Pantheon: Vithail |
The god of Destiny, Crossroads, and Change, Vithail is the second of the Trinity. They were said to have been born from the transfiguration from star to stardust, signifying the transition from one state to another.
Unlike Meidther and Aphel, Vithail is portrayed as having no assigned gender. This is largely due to the diety’s moniker as the God of a Thousand Faces. This has the effect of producing wild varieties of artistic interpretations of the god, with the most popular either giving Vithail a blank mask, or artists testing their skills in creating androgynous features.
Myths often portray Vithail as a god who dons different faces and personas to interact with heroes and move stories along in a certain direction (as their due as the god of fates), and literary works often allude to Vithail during times of important decisions, either referring to them by name or simply by epithets such as Fate or Destiny.
“Here, at the crossroads of my destiny, Fate gives me a choice” - Stalwart as the Stars by Allemandian Author Lilith Kreitzel.
Vithail has no temple of their own, for that would imply worshipping them separately to their siblings. However, Vithail is largely prayed to or called on during moments of great change. Birthdays, Weddings, and Ascensions (1) being the most prolific; kings and soldiers also pray to Vithail before great battles in hopes of Destiny being on their side.
“All knowing-weaver, master of fate,
Let the destinies of these two souls be ever intertwined
And let their paths forever converge to one.
Let the red chord that binds two hearts
Stay strong and true forever and evermore”
— An excerpt from an old Raian marriage vow
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(1) Ascensions | Among the aristocracy, this is a crucial point in time where a child reaches his/her majority (18) and is now able to participate in politics, marriage, managing household duties, etc. Essentially, they are considered an adult in the eyes of the law.
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