Heralds of Obeah/Sermons

The Veiled Goddess and the Oracle

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair

Message sent to everyone in the region Keffa (8 recipients)

"Obeah is a goddess of Magic. The Heralds believe that life itself is magic, and that humans, unique in all Creation, can channel the power that is their very existence to other planes, and draw power from these planes, in the form of magic. Even among Daimonkind, only their greatest are able to cast even the least of spells, with the rest of their souless legions being little better than the more common 'destroyers' that have walked the earth since time immemorial. Magic in nature though they are, they lack the potential that humanity represents. It is this uniqueness, we believe, that is why the Daimon Lords of the Netherworld so covet our death or devotion, our very souls. Every single one of you represents a source of great power, through the power of your faith, your prayers can channel that power. This is why the Daimon priests have worked so hard to foster and foist the false faith of the Portal everywhere they go. It is how they regenerate their strength and power so quickly. The Herlad's mission, first and foremost, is to serve humanity by eliminating the Worship of the Portal altogether, thus significantly weakening the Daimons of this plane by cutting off a large source of their power, making them easier to destroy once and for all. We we believe that by directing the power of our faith to Obeah, our patron will draw strength enough from us to maybe, one day, enter this plane in physical form. A living mother goddess of Light and Magic who will use her powers to safeguard humanity from Jomorosh, Akkan, and their ilk. "I am Obeah's Oracle. I have been tasked with interpreting the Goddess's will through signs and visions. It was one such vision that lead me to confront the Daimon Lord Akkan in Ete City not so long ago. In the ultimate test of my faith, I faced down certain death. but the thin golden thread of devotion that linked me to Obeah was enough to safeguard my soul and summon Humanity's protector. Through magic the likes of which we have never seen before, and may never see again, Keffa, and I, were delivered from the depths of evil. The City is protected, divinely so. Obeah's power made manifest in the Daimons you see guarding the city. her magic binds them, forcing them to serve and protect. Fear them for what they are, Daimons, but rejoice in what they represent: That a greater power can command and defeat them. A power that is fueled by you, the good people whose faith is the root of Goodness." "Obia'Syela, Obeah's Heaven, is to be made a place of worship and faith, of magic and study, a refuge to all from war and terror, and a second chance for many. From here, we will wage war of holy ideals against the Portal. I name the people of the Daishi as brothers and sisters in this fight. And all those who join us as allies. Through study and through Faith, may we find victory against the Infernal Darkness."

Rania Eastersand JeVondair

The Nature of the Daimon

Daimons are not native to this plane, but to the Netherworld. The Veil between our world and theirs is thinest here on Beluaterra. Thin enough, on occasion, to be pierced. These are what we refer to as invasions, and this is not the first. Their coming is proceeded by monstrous hordes without end, beasts and undead ariae from the muck in their hundreds of thousands, laying waist to human kingdoms. Take the Shattered Vales, for example: A moniker adopted when those hearty people were very nearly wiped out and are only now beginning to recover. Furher, Whenever The daimons return, they construct shrines and Temples to their fell worship, called The Portal.

Daimons draw great power from suffering and death, but their lifesouce stems from mystical energy. Thier home plane roils with it, if thier is any truth to their words. However, they cannot sustain their physical form through their Netherworld link alone. They must feed on the faith, bodies, and souls of man. They feed on our flesh to nourish their bodies. They consume the magical power generated from the faith of their worshippers. They exchange mortal souls to the Netherworld like coins, making dark pacts in exchange for reinforcements. We Heralds must understand that every mortal we convert is a soul spared and a Daimon weakened. But every one we kill before we can save is just one more soul for daimons to pass and consume. One of the primary purposes of the Inquisition is to root out these heretics and purify their souls so that they may be saved and sustenance denied to the Netherworld. The Heralds redirect the mystical power of faith from the darkness of evil to the light of Obeah instead.

Through this war and my journeys within it, I have encountered three kinds. The first and weakest of these are the Lesser Daimons: chittering tyrants little better than beasts and just as widely varied. Some skitter like Beatles or fly like gargoyals, others swim or slither like great snakes. Their only unifying feature besides their rage and thirst to inflict human suffering are their eyes which bien like twin sunsets; some say a mirror reflecting the evil light of their infernal home plane. These wretched feed more on flesh than faith, thief small intellect requires leadership lest they swarm over friend and for alike. They do not discriminate and attack in their hundreds, every one of them being as strong as two men at least.

The second type is the Greater Daimons. These creatures are less bestial than their lesser counterparts, often humanoid and even adopting human affectations like clothes and weapons. Each is half again and more as tall as a man, their bones wrapped thick with muscl and their forms enriched by the pathetic faith of the conquered. They form distinct troupes of rarely more than a score, and I have seen ONE of these troupes through back entire armies of humans. Rather than fight with their claws, Greater Daemons often fight from the rear of their armies, lobbing globes of elemental force to decimate their foes, though I pity those who go sword to claw with them. Peasants die in their thousands.

The highest caste in the hierarchy of the netherworld are the Daimon Lords. These are their commanders, their priests, and their sorcerers, and their ruling councilors. These are the mighty that whisper promises onto the ears of weak mortal kings to seduce them with power. These are the ones who can create and cast scrolls seemingly from nowhere. Worse, the more magic that human mages cast in a region, the more the Daimon lord can draw from the miasma of power that we ourselves unleashed. An invasion is only ended when all the Daimon lords are killed. Thanks to the valiant efforts of the mainlanders, most of whome were Daishi, there is only one Daimon Lord left, the strongest, their Overlord Jomorosh.

I have fought Daimon lords spell for spell. I have rotted in their dungeons and suffered their tortures. The unspeakable things they did to me would have destroyed my will to live. My fight was personal, and it was how I first came to know Obeah. Without Her, I would surely have fallen. Through the grace of our Goddess, I have enslaved and commanded both greater and lessor daimons and pitted them 'gainst their own kind. And so it is that Jomorosh hates us with a special intensity, but stays far from the borders of the Sacred Realm.

Finally, there is one entity that I have yet to mention. It is rumored that the daomons have a queen, Demons, who it is said once walked this world long before my time, but was thankfully banished and chained to prevent her return. I suspect the Daimon lords direct the mystical energy of faith from their Portal worshippers as part of a Grand Rite to fuel her unholy return. Which is why we Templars must destroy them even at the cost of their souls to prevent her return, if she is real.

There is no weapon or magic I know of that can kill a daimon lord. Their bodies are too closely tied to their font of power: the Netherworld. Daimon Lords are the most difficult of all to slay, but are most susceptible to ambush and capture during the rising and setting of the sun. We do not yet know why this is, but every daimon lord that has ever been captured has been in human lands during these times. Therefore the surest way i know of to slay a daimonlord is to lure them into human lands and hope they make the mistake of greeting the sun at the wrong time. Though I have never witnessed it, but I know what must be done. They must be taken by surprize or wounded in battle, outnumbered, and arrested. Priests subject their mortal forms to holy rituals to ensure that once executed, they stay dead. I have heard rumors that they can be killed in battle, but this has not happened in my lifetime.The last to be destroyed in this manner was the Daimon Lord Akkan when he was captured by soldiers of Ar-Agyr. The entire continent felt Jomorosh's wrath when his brother daimon was executed.

– The Oracle

Letter from Jarra Bennet (21 minutes ago)

message to all nobles of Obia'Syela

Fellow nobles, brothers in faith,

Whatever would happen to a nobleman captured by netherworld? Has anyone in our realm suffered such fate and has a tale to share?

Jarra Bennet Steward of Athol Margos

=

Letter from Rania Eastersand JeVondair all nobles of Obia'Syela Yes, Steward Jarra. I have.

It was years ago, before my daughter was born. I came to this continent after the death of my twin sister, the Silk General Mavia Eastersand who defended the Ivory Vales until she was betrayed and killed in a duel. I tracked her killer to Nothoi and confronted him. He is no more. It was on my return journey from Nothoi to the now-Shattered Vales that I was captured.

I did not believe in hell before the week I spent in the clutches of Daimons.

The Daimonlord Akkan was my personal torturer, and he visited horrors upon my body and spirit that I will not repeat. My whole world, every breath, held a thousand stories of pain writ in blood. I was bound and suspended with chains of magic that burned flesh and spirit alike. My screams were his music, my tears were his water and my lifeblood was his wine. Had his attentions not been disrupted by the war, I might have died there alone and forgotten, never knowing that I was pregnant at the time. It was in my greatest suffering, however, at my lowest point that I was graced with a vision of serenity and deliverance that allowed me to escape. Akkan and I never stopped hunting one another after that, battling several times. It was with great joy and relief that I learned of his death.

From all accounts, Overlord Jomorosh is even worse. But he has not strayed toward Obia'Syela since we've grown in our power. I hope that none of you ever have to go through what i did and, if you do, I pray that Obeah grants you the strength she granted me.

I pray that this captured knight is spared the woes of those that have preceded him.

Under Her Eye,

The Oracle of Obeah

– Rania Eastersand JeVondair to Jarra Bennet

Discovering Obeah=

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair

Message sent to Maya Tandaros, Empress of the Shattered Vales, Wolf Queen of Melhed

You answer to the invitation and deliver the sermon to Maya Tandaros, Empress of Shattered Vales, Royal of Shattered Vales, Ambassador of Shattered Vales, Duchess of Wohdichil Forest, Margravine of Fheuvenem in private. How vast is the whole of creation? From the great Seas to the expansive Sky, to the tress and mountains whose roots grasp the bones of the Earth. From Ant to Eagle to all the things large and small on Earth, Under heaven, and beneath the Sea are millions of miracles at working, coexisting in natural balance. But of all the beings of creation on this earth, none are so marvelous, so miraculous as man. For alone and above all, it is man that possesses the very spark of divinity within: The Soul. That animating lifeforce born beyond the Veil. Tis what sets us apart and lifts us above the natural beasts of the world, for with that sacred spark lies the very font of magic. Alone in all the world, we humans are able to cast and control the forces of magic. No Lich or Dragon can compare, Such is the strength of the light within us all. It is no wonder then that daimons, infernal beings outside natural creation, covet our souls with such vigor, seeking to steal our power to enhance their own. They gather their strength for years to pierce the Veil and pour forth as a scourge upon the land, forcing the weak to worship them. And so the Heralds of Obeah study magic, the better to know themselves and to glimpse the unknowable beyond. In my war against daimonkind, I’ve cast many magics and studied deep secrets. I learned while in the service of the Shattered Vales that Daimons are not alone in the infinity beyond the Veil. Nor are they alone in recognizing the significance of man. In that deep vastness dwell other beings of incalculable power: Gods. Not just the nameless, impotent Armored Gods of the Daishi, but more beyond scope or comprehension. Our faith strengthens them, draws them near, and in exchange for our faith, the covenant is that when our spirits again return from whence they came, we are not doomed to wander and dwell alone, but are instead guided and safeguarded as a shepherded does a flock. Obeah, the Veiled Goddess, is one of these celestial powers. But no god is closer to man then she. Did we not see her power when she interceded in the Battle of Ete City against the Daimon Lord Akkan? Did she not manifest herself by dominating every daimon in Keffa and wresting the city from the Netherworld’s control? Did she not empower me, her servant, to clear Wudenkin of daimons and rogues with powerful magics alone? Did she not, in her wisdom, pave the way for her faithful to inherit the City of Moonlight and grant dominion over this corner of the world to the primacy of her Temple? I can name no God, no Titan, no Hero of Old or new to have every so powerfully interceded on behalf of her own. And so I worship her with all my heart, in hopes that the strength of our faith will grant her the strength to continue to guide and protect us. And, one day, to cross the Veil and walk the land with us, ending daimonic invasions for all time. There is no cause more worthy than that, no goal that is higher or more noble, for in her worship do we drive toward the very salvation of all mankind, regardless of class or creed. I am the Oracle of Obeah, but she does not speak to me as I to you. She speaks to all of us from beyond the Veil with hints, like a weaver on a tapestry of fate does she tie strands of destiny and magic and moonlight together to show us the way. She did not tell me to go to Rines, she worked through others to show me the Path. She did not tell me that she was Good, twas the hatred of Jomorsh towards her acts and her people that showed me thus. She did not deliver knights to serve as Templars and Inquisitors in her name, but inspired me to in turn inspire their service and loyalty. Look upon Obia’Syela, a thousand miles from the nearest trade routes, alone and cut off amidst a sea of monsters and undead. Impoverished, starving. With nothing more than a sliver of hope and our unbroken faith in Her did we build this Sacred realm. Without her, none of these things, not of these miracles would be possible. She has done more for us, for humanity, than any other. But to affect things from beyond the Veil comes at the price of great energy. It falls to us to spread the faith while she convalesces, the better to strengthen her and hasten her arrival. When a million voices cry out her name, only then will she be returned to her strength. Through hard work and dedication and righteous action will we prove ourselves worthy of her coming. Every day, we must prove our devotion. For when the day comes that she’s empowered enough to come through the veil herself, she will weigh our acts against our sins. If we have proven worthy, then peace, prosperity, and salvation everlasting will be our eternal reward. Empress Maya shows some interests in your words and further invites you to stay for a dinner. You accept her hospitality, hoping to see if she will talk about converting into your religion on the dining table. And remember: both of you need to remain in Rines for this to continue.

Rania Eastersand JeVondair