General Information/Religion/Nyvaella

From Westaven

[edit] Nyvaella

Epithets: The Barren Lady, Divine Nurturer, Patron of the Midwife, Patron of the Helpless, Queen of Deceased Infants

Portfolio/Spheres: Protection, warning, soothing, and dead infants (both human and animal) [Formerly Protection and Soothing]
Manifestations: A rubenesque forty-something midwife with a maudlin expression. Her face in deeply lined about about the eyes, and mouth. She wears a long gown, sleeveless tunic, and a wimple with veil and circlet in muted browns and greys. What hair can be glimpsed is a deep brown, copiously streaked with grey.
Symbols: Depiction of her symbol is often very minimalistic using three lines. One straight and two curved. A short, vertical line represenative of a neck A small curved line next to it that stretches down slightly to represent the pendulous breasts, and a convex line just below representing the swollen belly. Idolic symbols have recently been popularized in the last twenty years. Followers of Nyvaella Idolatry will often carry a small idol charm carved from wood, ivory, or bone that depicts the torso of a very pregnant woman with swollen belly and large pendulous breasts. Since one of the tenents of Nyvaella's faith states that no depiction of her is to display the goddess as pregnant, this sort of idolatry is frowned upon in some areas, as they feel it comes too close to depicting the goddess as pregnant.
Animals: The crane ... though the Nyvaella idol sect have adopted her old symbol, the butterfly to represent the change in the goddess.
Power Centers: Scattered throughout Westaven.
Sacrifices: Birds of many kinds or valuables of any kind, the umbilical cord and or placenta of an animal (or human) is also considered a proper sacrifice.
Temples: Cloistered buildings, often very secluded places focusing on privacy. Young women (those not able to marry) are often sent to Temples of Nyvaella to practice this faith. Next to their rules against depictions of a pregnant goddess, Chastity and virginity are their most stringent rules. Chastity is a must for those practicing the faith, and virginity is a must for those seeking to raise above the rank of Initiate. Non-virginal initiates may never have clerical investment.
Priestly Rainment: Cloaked in grey and brown, a gown with sleeveless tunic. Wimple, veil and circlet are dependent upon station – Wimple for initiates, Wimple and veil for acolytes, and wimple, veil and circlet for priestess and above, and chastity belts for priestesses are a rule. Men are restricted from joining this temple, but the temple turns away no one in need provided they give the proper sacrifices or tithe at some time.
Affiliated Groups: Nyvaella Idolatrists

[edit] Background

Nyvaella is an older deity, originally holding sway over birth and protection. She was represented by the butterfly, and her portfolio encouranged procreation and sexual freedom A pregnant priestess was seen as a boon to the temple. Nyvaella is no longer the bright, happy woman she once was. Formerly depicted as perpetually pregnant, she would consort with a lover in the summer, become pregnant by fall, swell with child in winter and give birth with the coming spring, to repeat her process again with a new lover in the summer.

Nyvaella came into being during The Aenean City States era, lasting through the First Empire where she became associated with the new goddess Hornueatica as that goddesses' fraternal twin sister. This incarnation changed radically at the beginning of the Fall of Aenean era. Visions of Nyvaella showed the familiar rubenesque woman beaten and bloody, her belly torn open, dead infants spilling out upon her feet. Visitations by the goddess were rife. Rape, infant mortality rates (both human and animal) and miscarriges were said to be unnaturally high. Suicide and madness among Nyvaella worshipers were rampant.

Nyvaella's name became something only to whipser, and rumour was the goddess had gone insane. The goddess briefly came to be referred to as the Lady of Madness or the Lady of Rape. Slowly the visions began to change into finally what came to be know as her current incarnation, now known in the vernacular as the Barren Lady. She appeared as an older woman in her late forty's, far older then her fraternal twin, with a maudelin expression. Her brightly colored, flowing gowns, and circlets of flowers were are gone, replaced by stern, cloistered dresses, wimple, veil, and circlet in deep browns and greys.

Nyvaella's followers slowly recovered through the Fall of Aenean era, but with a new, grim core of believers. Nyvaella's worshipers reordered their temples, abandoning their old ones and building new places of worship and sacrifice. Typically the buildings are structured more like military forts with a strong bent towards protection and safety. Stone, and heavy timbers are common. The insides of the temples are cloistered and spartan spaces with very few windows, often simply candle lit. Temples open their doors mainly to victims of rape, and those women who have chosen to forsake motherhood and ritually sacrifice their virginity to Nyvaella, by remaining virginal, in order to serve the Barren Woman and those seeking her favor. A marked change from the old, promiscuous behaviors of her worshippers.

Nyvaella, much like her compatriots, does not give her favors freely. This is especially important for her worshipers who claim her harsh and maudelin demeanor is amplified by the fact that her own rape and murder went unbroken and her cries for deliverance from her fate fell upon the deaf ears of not only her killer but her fellow deities. Nyvaella has not an ounce of altruism within her.

Nyvaella's older temples might still be found here and there, but crumbling, or long since dismantled for building materials. They were often airy places with many sunlight windows, usually situated near greenery or with greenery inside them. Sweet scents, and loving priestesses were commonplace with copious amounts of soft pillows, bedding and sleeping mats. They were places of mirth and laughter, such things that are now only shadows of the past in the ancient, dead temples that manage to stand against the passage of time. Her old symbol and animal were done away with, a new one put in place. The new faitful have a fierce adversion to any depiction of their goddess as pregnant considering it an afront to Nyvaella.

When Nyvaella is depicted she appears as a rubenesque forty-something midwife with a maudaulin expression. Her face in deeply lined about about the eyes, and mouth. She wears a long gown, sleeveless tunic, and a wimple with veil and circlet in muted browns and greys. What hair can be glimpsed is a deep brown, copiously streaked with grey. Nyvaella's temples only accept females into their ranks. Later depictions showed the Woman with the obvious outline of a chastity belt under her dress, something which has become a standard in any depiction of her.

No official reason is to be understood for Nyvaella's change so long ago, but it is a widely accepted dogma that she was brutally raped and murdered by another god sometime during the start of the Fall of Aanean era, only to rise again as The Barren Woman. Some blame Gharv, others the Lognian sea god named, oddly enough, Altuth. Longia regards the claim of their sea god as the rapist of Nyvallea to be a deep insult, and insist that she was and is a willing consort of the sea god, and even now resides with him, their passions often causing violent storms that endangers travel. Lognia does not recognize the current incarnation of Nyvaella and regards it as a twisted goddess with no relation to their goddess. Others insist that the god in unknown and will always remain so due to the pain the Barren Woman still feels over her rape and the loss of her unborn child.

[edit] Game Details

• Prayer-Spells: Protection and Warning college spells; and the following Healing college spells: Final Rest, Lend Energy, Lend Vitality, Share Energy, Recover Energy, Share Vitality, Relieve Sickness, and Cleansing.
• Prerequisites: Vow, minor (Remain Chaste) [-5; B161]
• Links: See Character Creation for additional requirements