Heralds of Obeah

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The Heralds of Obeah

Description of the Faith

The benevolent theocracy of the Heralds of Obeah, founded by the powerful Prophetess Rania Eastersand JeVondair, is a religious order of priests and scholars dedicated to the study of magic using that acquired knowledge to deliver mankind to the safety of their namesake patron's embrace and protection. The faith is situated in Keffa, chiefest city of the Holy Duchy of Amen Keffa and shining capital of Sacred Obia'Syela. Due to what they know of Obeah, the Heralds prize magical scrolls. Adventurers can expect to receive a minimum of not less than 50/gold per scroll or a negotiable package deal for multiples when selling to the Heralds.


New adherents to the faith often look to The sermons of the Herlads to gain a deeper understanding of the first mysteries of the Veiled Goddess.

The Founding

Ete City: Southeastern Beluaterra

April 26, 2017

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair
Message sent to everyone in the region Ete City (18 recipients)
The Felheralds of Obeah, with Rania at their center, sprinted through the dark of Ete City. They'd tried to infiltrate the beleaguered fortress at sunset, the better to avoid unwanted attention from human thralls and sentries that willingly served the Daimons, but they were spotted. In the ensuing ambush, 3 of her special forces were killed outright. Another 8 were wounded, but still mobile. It was a minor miracle that they were able to make it over the walls and into the guts of the city itself.

Dominorum patrols prowled the main thoroughfares, forcing her small contingent to keep moving. The netherworld stench tainted the Jade capital. Rania knew it intimately. She'd been in Reeds when the Daishi made their stand, she'd even been captured before, and she'd had the misfortune to meet Daimon Lords face to face. If she lived a thousand years, she felt she'd never be rid of the smell.

The Felheralds ran and hid, ran and hid, all through the night, narrowly avoided detection and spiraling further and further away from the infernal forces that had cordoned off the rest of the army. Knowing that the enemy was just waiting for them to make the mistake of trying to sneak through. Instead, Rania did what they would not expect, leading her troops deeper into the city, to wear the burning, ionized ozone reek of the netherworld was strongest, the seat of their power. Unable to reach refuge with their comrades, the Felheralds of Obeah would switched from prey to predator.

Akkan was in the city...and Rania would find him before he found her...
Rania Eastersand JeVondair


Battle with the Archdaimon

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair
Message sent to everyone in the region Ete City (18 recipients)
Akkan had eluded her. In fact, Rania was starting to nurse the opinion that the Daimon Lord was fully aware of her presence and lead her on a marry chase through the dangerous city, firing eldritch spells as he went. Luring her deeper, running her to exhaustion. It was only by a fortunate turn of fate the Heralds encountered a squad of Imperial scouts. Knowing her hunt had grown futile, Rania allowed them to direct her to where the army was setting up their lines. And not a moment too soon. As she arrived, the sun set beyond the horizon. Howls rose to greet the coming darkness, laced by soul-shriving laughter and the deep drums of human traitors.

The battle was swift and brutal. Human thralls through themselves at the Imperial lines and were cut down in droves like cattle. Though the men of the Vales were forced back that night, it was with the knowledge that with the coming down came the chance of victory.

Marshal Ehrich found Rania after the fight to offer magical healing . Despite her wearied condition, she command the strongest Imperial contingent left in the city, and he wanted her Heralds in best form for the dawn assault. Rania accepted, and as the spell took shape, she delighted in the rejuvenating energies that washed her exhaustion away. She stretched as the magic settled, slowly going through her old dueling forms as she contemplated the coming dawn. Everything was coming together, just as her visions had foretold. She could feel it reverberating through her very bones that tomorrow would be a Day of Destiny, where the deliverance she had been promised would finally come.

She smiled. Despite the miasma of daimonic energy and wounded men and women all around her, she smiled.
Rania Eastersand JeVondair


Roleplay from Akkan Jarbosh
Message sent to everyone in the region Ete City (18 recipients)
The battles for Ete were lost, with the soldiers of the Shattered Vales all but wiped out, bleeding out and dying even as the great Daimon Lord Jomorosh razed their homes in Fheuvenem and Creasur; monsters and undead literally ate their way through the Empire's poor villages and poorer defenses.

Striding confidently across the killing field, Akkan's body brimmed with the power of his spellcasting. Strands of magic crackled around his hideous form, blackening the earth where he stomped. Where Jomorosh had just drained Ete City of its magic, the Vales' usage of scrolls had brought it back, drawing Akkan towards Ete City and strengthening his power. The Daimon Supreme Commander was a horror to behold, but one emotion was clear across his infernal visage: pleasure. The delight he took in the dead and dying was palpable, as he fed upon them. Any who had the misfortune of finding themselves in his way had the very life snatched from them as Akkan wandered, searching, hunting for something...special.

Rania was there, shoulders square, with her expression frozen between intense pain and determination. Behind her, humans scattered, ruled by their terror. "Ah my dear Rania," the Daimon couched his voice into an intimate croon, as though they were lovers on a picnic rather than enemies on a battlefield, "You look well, considering-" He gestured at a bleeding pile of eviscerated corpses, whose eyes flashed open and mouths curled into macabre smiles. Huddled humans behind Rania reacted with further fright. "Have you considered my offer? Serve me, and the deliverance you crave will be yours, your struggles will end. Even your daughter will be safe..."

Though Rania did not move, a nerve had obviously been struck.

"Ah yes", he continued, "we know about her...as we do about your 'visions'." Akkan chuckled, the sound as if a bull were being choked to death, "You are strong, for a mortal, but you could be powerful, a Queen. Don't make me destroy you for something so stupid."

Rania said nothing, but she appeared diminished, as though Akkan's revelations had drained her of her last remaining Hope. But there was something else within her that helped her steady her breath and draw her useless sword against him. Akkan's nostrils flared wide open, his pupils whitened, his vision shifting to beyond mortal sight, and he saw what it was; the woman was drained, save for one golden thread that held her up.

Her faith.

Akkan's proboscis-like tongue uncoiled from deep within his body and began flicking the air to detect regional measurements. Sprinkling some of Scherzer's ashes upon the Scintillating Staff of the Doomed, Akkan raised the staff and tongue-flicked an ancient daimonic language upon the air. An astute listener might have even heard a faint whistle, if not for the thud of feet, crackling fires, and collapsing buildings. Akkan paid no mind to Rania and the Heralds rushing him with mortal weapons extended.

Slamming the Scintillating Staff onto the ground, the ashes poofed into the air, and a blue-ish light exploded from Akkan in the following instant. When that instant ceased, the ground, buildings, and numerous bodies lay charred and smoking in a 100-foot radius where the explosive light had reached. Yet the magic that crackled throughout the city was drained again.
Akkan Jarbosh

Revelation

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair
Message sent to the Rulers of Beluaterra (9 recipients)
The Daimon Lord’s power roared forth, a black cyclone of unbridled power and rage of such strength that its casting drained Ete city of magical energy. There was nowhere for Rania to run from this, nothing for her to do save to meet her doom like a sandborn. She resigned herself, relaxing her shoulders, lowering the point of her sword to the ground. If this was the fate that Obeah had led her to, then so be it.

“Obeah, deliver me to sit with you in Obia'Syela” she quickly whispered, and then the infernal wave was upon her, burning, freezing, tearing, and constricting her body and soul all at once, shredding armor, clothes, and flesh alike. In the space of a blink, she experienced a lifetime of pain that was shared, she knew, by the remaining Heralds that stood behind her. She could feel Akkan consuming their souls one by one until on she remained, herself at the brink of death and her body reduced to barely more than a skeleton with skin. “DELIVER ME!” She managed one final scream, yearning for heaven as the Netherworld’s blackness disintegrated her body, the force of the Daimon’s spell exploding the ground around. As Akkan drew her soul from her flayed body, Rania’s last thoughts were of her daughter Stheno, safe in Creasur...

Suddenly, a burst of brilliant power burst around her, bathing her in an intense, calming blue. Scintillating magical energy crackled, rebuilding her body and strengthening her spirit, slamming her soul back where it belonged. The energy of the Daimon Lord’s attack was captured, redirected, and transformed into…something else. Rania had one moment to register Akkan’s scream of rage and denial before losing consciousness.
Rania Eastersand JeVondair


Mysterious Lights
Message sent to to everyone on Beluaterra
It is said that as one, daimons across the continent keened and screeched. Mystics and Sages alike collapsed to the ground as a colossal conflagration of eldritch energies exploded over the skies of Ete City and Keffa. Clouds of pitch black so dark they were visible even against the night sky swirled over both, thrumming with thunderous power that shook window panes throughout Beluaterra, and pierced by a shaft of radiant blue light. And then there was nothing, gone as soon as it began.


Keffa: Northwest Beluaterra

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair
Message sent to the Rulers of Beluaterra (9 recipients)
Rania awoke, blinking back memories of pain and storms. Stars twinkled above her, their cold light competing with the ruddy glow of torches, which was confusing. Not just because it was only sunset a moment ago, but because it was quiet.

That and she was fairly confident that a Daimon Lord had just blasted her into oblivion.

Was this the afterlife? A gentle breeze caressed the skin of her breasts and stomach, so now, on top of all this weirdness, apparently she was naked, too. Maybe she was in heaven? She tried to move, groaning loudly as her sore, but intact, body protested. Never in all her years of training had her muscles hurt so. Every centimeter of her was an epicenter of hurt. Maybe she was in hell.

“SHE’S AWAKE!” A disembodied voice shouted. Rania heard the sound of shuffling over gravel and rania sighed, disappointed that apparently she was still on Earth. Naked. With who knew how many people gaping at her. With a determination that was characteristic of her bloodline, she sat up, abs and buttocks screaming in protest. She shut her eyes against the effort and through her arms behind her with the intent to prop herself up, but her hands connected with something solid. Not that Rania cared, anything would do. With a grunt, she dragged herself backwards and up. The effort took a small eternity to complete, but once she settled on her makeshift chair, she sighed in relief and open her eyes, tracking from the sky downward. For a long moment, absolutely nothing of what she saw made any sense. That the sun and changed places with the moon was the least of it. She sat in the center of a crater that must have been 100 ft. wide and ringed by the stonework buildings of a city, some of the buildings were bisected into perfect cross-sections where the crater began as though someone had taken a glass pane to an anthill for study. Save that all the glass windows she could make out were shattered. She even thought she could make out a fully clothed leg hanging from one of the upper rooms. The crater was surrounded by hastily erected torches. Between the moonlight and the firelight, she could clearly see dozens, hundreds of humans gathered around the edges, staring fearfully at her. Waiting.

Given the circumstances, Rania supposed she could understand that fear, but even that sharpened into crystal clarity as she switched her focus from beyond the crater to within it. Rania had been a General in her time, she could take in numbers at a glance. Aside from her naked form, Rania shared the space with no less than ten dozen daimons. One of which she’d decided to sit on.

It is possible that someone, somewhere, might have found it amusing to watch as a naked noblewoman who’d literally exploded on the scene leap a meter into the air as though her rear-end were on fire, but that person was nowhere near the crater. Rania didn’t scram so much as she screeched in shock. In reaction, all the townsfolk ringing the crater screamed as well. Rania’s pain was forgotten as adrenalin flooded her system, and she managed to land without connecting with another one of the infernal beings, but it didn’t move, none of them moved. It seemed as though they were…sleeping?

Rania was a strong woman, all the women of her line were, but this was getting to be too much. Maybe this was neither heaven nor hell nor earth, maybe she’d just gone insane. Regardless, she was who she was, and that meant setting priorities. She twisted around, the muscles in her chest and neck objecting as she inspected her rear for any offense the slumbering daimon might have caused. Thankfully, there was nothing but the imprint of gravel and reptilian scales. She took stock of the rest of her, everything seemed intact. Amazing, considering that she could distinctly remember being torn apart in Ete when Akkan-

Rania’s spine straightened as though struck by lightning, memories flooding her mind. The defeat in Ete, confronting Akkan, her prayer for deliverance, the strange blue power, the explosion…Obeah!

Obeah had saved her, delivered her. It was the only explanation. She’d been torn apart, a Lord of the Netherworld was literally ripping out her soul with all the magical energy of Ete at his behest, what power could resist save one not of this world?

Rania fell to her knees, not even noticing the new scrapes the sharp rock inflicted as she closed her eyes sang a prayer for her patron. Rania’s voice rose and fell like the wind. It was not perfect, and her voice was hoarse and pained like the rest of her, but her melody was strong, golden and genuine as she repeated her last prayer, “Obeah deliver me. Deliver me to Obia’Syela. Bring me to your heaven...”

As if in answer, her pain receded further and a calm like she had never known descended upon her. Her song crooned to a halt as she stood. She breathed deeply, centering herself, clothing herself in nothing but her faith. Again, she heard the shifting of gravel, this time much closer and accompanied by a rumbling through the earth that she felt through her bare feet. When she opened her eyes, she stood face-to-maw with a very awake Daimon, surrounded by 119 of its very awake kin, no too were alike save for their frightful presence and otherworldy stillness, their attention rapt upon her. Some wen’t on two legs, others on four, some had none at all, and yet there was no doubt as to their infernal origin. But Rania knew no fear. She reached out to the creature and it bowed before her, as did the rest. They did not bear Akkan’s mark, nor were they marked by recent fighting, which told Rania that they did not come from Ete. They must have been here, wherever here was, when the blast heralding her arrival rocked this place. Rania, like the rest of the humans of Beluaterra, had been fighting Daimons for years, she’d seen them up close, she killed them and suffered at their claws. She’d seen eyes of black and gold and hellish tones of orange and red. But never, in all her years, had she seen eyes of cobalt-blue. The very same hue and shade as the power that had saved her.

Obeah’s power.

Her power. A gift for her faith. These were her creatures now, taken by Obeah and made to serve.

Rania stepped, and the Daimons melted away, forming a path for her towards the waiting humans. The people of this place were rooted, paralyzed by fear and awe as any sane person might be, given the surrealistic situation. Rania looked around, feeling better and stronger with every moment, and her gaze met the eyes of a child hiding behind her mother’s skirts. Rania approached, whatever spell her presence wove keeping the mother frozen as Rania stopped before her and looked down at her little girl. “Child” Rania said, her vocal cords still dry and hoarse. “What place is this?”

“Keffa” the girl replied after some hesitation, and Rania smiled.

“Not anymore, child. Not anymore…” Rania raised her voice. “THIS IS OBIA’SYELA! OBEAH’S HEAVEN! I AM RANIA, AND AM LIVING PROOF THAT THE FUTURE OF MAN BEGINS HERE. AND. IT. IS. PROTECTED!” Her shout had taken on the tone of celebration and resolute challenge. “ON THIS SACRED GROUND I WILL BUILD A TEMPLE TO OBEAH!”

“KNEEL!” This came from behind her, the surprising sound of a Daimon’s voice was jarring after Rania’s own, but everyone, Daimon and mortal alike, dropped to their knees and prostrated themselves before the Herald of Obeah.
Rania Eastersand JeVondair



On the Nature of Obeah

To date, all knowledge of Obeah stems from the only mortal to have encountered it, First Heraldania, the First Herald. According to her, Obeah is a powerful entity not native to the material plane. A goddess of magic that was called to this world by the magics released during the Seventh Daimonic invasion of Beluaterra. She chose Rania as her agent presumably because of the First Herald's prior mastery of sorcerous energies and even intervened directly on Rania's behalf during her showdown worth the Archdaimon Akkan. Although it is possible that Obeah's unseen influence extended to a period even before that.


Obeah is a being of magic who, though currently unable to enter physically into the material plane, draws strength from the energies given off in the casting of magic. In this way, the Daimon's superfluous use of their powers inadvertently summoned the very instrument of their doom. It has also been revealed that Obeah can draw upon the mystical energies expended by the praise of her followers in their worship and devotion. This ability is unique to humans, and so Obeah first took notice of them. Of all natures creatures, the Heralds believe that humans have a unique power of their own, their human soul, which grants every human the potential to cast powerful magic. This is a blessing that even the Daimons do not possess as only the greatest among them can cast magic. For this reason, the Heralds believe that Obeah was convinced to favor humans, thus her interceding on Rania's behalf. Therefore the Heralds believe that every human life is sacred.


As yet, Obeah lacks the strength to pierce the veil between her plane and our own, but through the spread of the Faith and the use of magics, her eventual arrival proceeds apace. She will draw power from the faithful as a seedling draws strength from the sun and will one day stand tall, mighty, and firmly rooted in the magic-leaden soil of Beluaterra.

Goals

The Heralds are driven by one goal: Directing the mystical energy of prayer, faith, and magic to Obeah, granting her the strength to enter the material plane. Whereupon she would use her full power to end the threat of additional Daimonic Invasions. By expanding their faith and increasing the number of worshipers, the Heralds believe that will direct more and more power for Obeah to gather.


After the order was forced to flee Keffa by the Daimon Overlord Jomorosh and his horde of gibbering, bloodthirsty daimons, the Oracle lead the heralds on [{The Great Pilgrimage]] from Keffa to Rines, a once-grand city on the far side of the continent and hundreds of leagues away from the Seventh Daimonic Invasion. There, the Sacred Realm reformed around a new capital and The Templars organized themselves into an effective fighting force that eventually conquered the entire peninsula for the Duchy of Amen Keffa with plans to expand even further to form secondary duchies and eventually kingdoms under the auspices of the Veiled Goddess.

Beliefs

Obeah is a real entity that dwells somewhere beyond the mortal plane and deals in magical energy. Spells, faith, prayers, all mystical power is of use and interest. If directed to her or cast in her name, the Heralds believe she will be able to collect that energy and feed on it to fuel her eventual arrival to save the Mortal Plane from the Netherworld.

Religion Titles/Ranks

Founder = Oracle

High Priest (Elder) = Grand Herald (Serves the Oracle, commands and advises High Templar)

Noble (Edler Rank-Secular) = High Templar (Leads Templar in his/her domain)

Priest (Full Rank) = Herald (Responsible for preaching and collecting/researching magic)

Noble (Full Rank-Secular) = Templar (all Obia'Syelan Knights are warded this rank immdeiately)

Noble Follower (non-full member) = Scholar Adept (Non-Obian Knights who must show commitment to the Veiled Goddess to reach the rank of Templar)

Common Follower (adventurer rank) = Adept

Views on Other Religions

The Heralds are a brand new order. not enough time has passed for them to form opinions or policies on other human faiths. The one certainty is that anything Daimonic is anathema to them.

Sermons

Here are the collected writings of the Oracle and the Heralds that serve as her priests concerning the nature of Obeah, their faith, and more.