Zalan

The Blue Mother

Identity

  • Title(s) – Goddess of Luck and Thievery, the Blue Mother
  • Influence – Lucky, Thievery, Games, Chance, Chicanery
  • Appearance – Common woman in a dark blue cloak, often depicted with eyes hidden

Attributions

  • Symbol – Three crossed stick-dice
  • Focus – None, Zalànyr consider themselves armed by their wits
  • Color – Brown and Blue
  • Element – Water
  • Animal – Desert rat or fish

Cult

  • Center of Worship – Kyrm Oryzálan, Æzàlar
  • Scriptures –
  • Leader – Prydyrim Gor, …
  • Priesthood – Gor Ordus Zàlan, Zalanites
  • Orders – The Great Family (laity), Children of the Blue Mother (clergy), Order of Skardàlðir (assassins), The Shadow Order (thieves), Order of the Black Dagger (thieves), The Watchmen (scouts & thieves), The Night Walkers (spies), Shemùlāe (bandits & thieves)
  • Aspects – Nyd the Trickster, Semàtir the Stalker
  • Touched – Vdr. Æphàja of Takir, Vdr. Damra the Nomad, Vdr. Horom of the Ghosts, Vdr. Irzàla the Martyr
  • Holy Days – Feast of Martyrs (1 Orid), Feast of the Appearance (13 Flald), Feast of the Letting (6 Vulūne), Feast of Ruin (2 Orol)
  • Friends – All Dekàli Cults and Orders, possibly excepting the followers of Zyrr
  • Enemies – The Cult has no stance on alliances or enemies outside the Dekàli pantheon
  • Sayings – “Behind fear hides opportunity”, “A coin left behind invites more to the fold”, “Kindness is returned in kind”

Introduction

A young Azàli girl name Irzàla ran through the village streets of Kūpan (days south of Shiráddam) yelling at the tops of her lungs. She claimed to have seen and heard the words of the spirit of Zalan while sitting on the stones of an old spring outside the village. Villagers raced to the dried spring and found the spirit sitting there for all to see. The spirit, unseen since the spring dried a hundred years passed, told the people that a great army was coming to Azal but not to fear, for in their defeat they would become part of the greatest empire the world had known and their wealth would be unrivaled. Word of the message quickly spread through the region but the spirit did not reappear to visitors. In the months that followed, a contingent of soldiers and Ajmìralan priests came to Kūpan to verify the story. The girl Irzàla was taken to the dried spring to make the spirit appear again. When the girl could not summon the spirit from the sand and rock she was thrown to the ground and a sword was drawn to behead her for her false prophecies. At that point, the blue-cloaked spirit appeared before her accusers and told them to stay the sword, for the girl was the first of her priests in a century’s time. To the consternation of the Ajmìralan priests, the soldiers refused to kill a spirit priest. Instead, they took the girl to the Capital of Azal where she was imprisoned for many years.

During Irzàla’s imprisonment word spread throughout the region of the spirit’s prophecy and the young priestess rotting away in the dungeons of Azal. There are many legends about what transpired in the old dungeon, most popular of which were that the villagers from Kūpan brought her a sitting stone from the spring of Zalan to comfort her in the dark cell. The stone they brought contained the spirit Zalan who kept the young woman company for many years, teaching the young priestess all she would need to know, day-in and day-out until her release. By the time Dekàli forces landed at points along the Azàli coast, the fortune of Zalan had been re-told innumerable times through Azal and the neighboring Lands of the Nirzil. Because of this, the invading forces found only spotty resistance during their campaign. When they marched on Shiráddam, Irzala was summoned from the dungeons by the Azàli rulers to explain again what the rulers must do to survive. Irzàla explained to them that they must discard their trappings of wealth and rule and take to the streets as urchins and thieves, only then would the god-spirit Zalan protect them. This they did. To this day it is rumored that one of the thieves of Æzàlar is the true heir to the Azali throne. The word of Irzàla also spread into the southern Lands of the Nirzil, who also followed the instructions of spirit priestess.

By the time of the Dekàli occupation and the admission of Æzàlar as a city-state of the Empire in 1 HK, the Cult of Zalan was already spreading. Dissatisfied with the Cult of Ajmìralan, many priests began preaching about the Blue Mother. Soon, the streets were running with blood as priests were being executed for their heresy. These murders did little to stop these heresies, and in many cases rallied the clergy against the Cult of Ajmìralan. What followed is remembered as the Zalanite Rebellion of 5 AR. More priests joined the Zalanite cause and those who clung to Ajmìralan were stripped of their vestments and often killed. When the Dekàlyr took over in two years later, they found that establishment of a state-religion in the region (i.e., Zalan) was almost complete before they arrived.

To complete the process, soldiers were sent throughout the land to raze the Ajmìralan shrines. As a final stage of recognizing the Cult of the Blue Mother as part of the Dekàli pantheon, the High Priestess Irzàla and a contingent of priests were invited to Tor Trèmendūm for the “Letting”. There Irzàla’s own priests would be commanded to ritually stabbed her to death before the High King. Irzala’s followers refused to do this until she explained that the Letting would “deliver our people”. Each of the priests of this contingent, bathed in the blood of the First Priest, returned to Æzàlar and established new temples enshrining their blood-drenched robe reliquaries. This was the founding of the fourth Cult. The High Temple in Æzàlar was built around the Sitting Stone of Irzàla, on the ruins of the old prison.

Er’māyal lowered himself into the crack between two fallen pillars. He dropped to the sand below and peered into the shadows with only the light of his taper. Rats stirred in the darkness beyond the candlelight. Er’māyal had never ventured this deep into the ruins. He didn’t believe the stories of the undead guardians or the great and deadly traps. It was just another fallen building he told himself. He repeated that now. What did it matter that this was once a temple. The goddess was dead. Why would she let her temple fall if she was not? As Er’māyal crept deeper into the darkness, his bare feet light upon the sand, a hundred rats watched him hungrily, waiting for his candle to go out.

Zalan is depicted as a commoner woman in a dark blue cloak. She is never depicted in fine clothes for the fact that she emerged as a village spring spirit is not forgotten. It is uncertain whether the cloak was always part of her image, but is believed to also stem from her origin as a water spirit. Over the centuries pieces of her legends have evolved and fashioned her into the goddess of luck and thieves. This interpretation of the goddess is probably a distortion of the instructions she gave her people to lay down the weapons of war and accept the impending conquest. During this period the city-state was plundered and left destitute. Crime levels rocketed throughout the region until the ports were reopened and trade could be re-established. Much of Zalan’s image is a reflection on the successes and indiscretions of the City of Æzàlar which has remained the largest and busiest port in Teréth End for many centuries.

The Cult

Much of the worship of Zalan is directly related to the spirit religion of the ancient Azàli. Although Zalan legend tells that at one time she was one of many spirits of the land, she is now revered as a mother spirit, above the other land spirits. In remote areas of the Esh and coastal mountains, spirit worship continues in the same manner than it did 2000 years ago.

Currently, the Cult of Zalan is centered in the port City of Æzàlar on the western coast of the continent Tassèrus. Though the high temple Kyrm Oryzalan lies in ruins, the center of the Temple of the Blue Mother still resides in the sandy city.

The Priesthood

Zalàni priests have no overall formal raiment, though individual temples, orders, and regions sometimes do. Reputation and evidence of deeds done translate to esteem within the Orders and eventual advancement within the Cult.

Daily Activities

Zalan requires few daily observances from her faithful. Priests of the spirit-goddess are required to pray with each rise of the morning sun for new promise and opportunity. Spellcasting priests receive their daily spells at this same time.

Although many seek the goddess of thievery in hopes of expanding their wealth, few of the faithful are truly wealthy. The spirit-goddess is a patron of poor and desperate people seeking opportunities to better their lives. The wealthy and the established often become the target of the faithful’s goals. Many in Zalan favored regions are very careful to hide evidence of their wealth, unless they can afford to protect it and themselves. It is customary for followers of Zalan to “give back” a portion of their earnings for all things in which they asked Zalan’s favor. Giving-back usually consists of leaving a small pile of coins or some item of value in a place where it may be found by some “lucky” individual of the spirit-goddess’s choosing.

Holy Days and Rituals

There are many minor holy days through the year. There are four major days, the placement of which were arbitrarily set in years past:

  • Feast of Martyrs (1st of Orid) commemorates the Zalanite Rebellion of 5 AR, when the Ajmìralan priests rejected the Caphàri temple in favor of Zalan
  • Feast of the Appearance (13th of Flald) is the second holiday of the year, commemorating the appearance of Zalan to Irzàla the Martyr at the spring near Kūpan
  • Feast of the Letting (6th of Vulūne) commemorates the sacrifice of Irzàla the Martyr before the High King, allowing for the ascension of Zalan into the Dekàli pantheon
  • Feast of Ruin (2nd of Orol) commemorates the razing of the High Temple at Æzàlar and the prayers of promise to rebuild Zalan’s “house” in the years to come

During each of these days the faithful of Zalan go among the people of Æzàlar (and some few other places) and grant the blessing of the goddess for free. Following the Feast of the Letting, faithful wishing to enter into the goddess’s service may petition the priests for admission into the Great Family.

Places of Worship

The center of worship within the Cult of the Blue Mother was the Kyrm Oryzalan, built upon the Sitting Stone of Irzàla the Martyr before its destruction during the Second Acèntyra-Dekàli War. The ruins of the great temple still attract many faithful who come to pray for guidance and good fortune among the crumbling stones. The Sitting Stone is believed to still sit somewhere beneath the great ruin but rumors have circulated over the years that the stone was removed.

The second most holy site in Æzàlar is the Town of Kūpan where the spirit-goddess Zalan is believed to have first appeared to the High Priestess Irzala. Kupan is a much larger place than it once was, due primarily to business related to the regular pilgrimages to the site.

Other major temples were constructed at each location where the apostles of Irzala settled with their blood-stained robes. The eight Temples of the Blood stand at Balar (Shrine of the Golden Chest), Damràdaa (Shrine of Damra), Hadìkar (Shrine), Mandàrim (Shrine of Bones), Nîl (Shrine of Horom), Shaybayad (Shrine), Shiráddam (Shrine of the Goat-Mother) and Takir (Shrine of Æphàja).

Nomenclature: Zalan Dekàlic: Zalan (aspect), Zalàni (pertaining to), Zalànyn (follower), Zalànyr (followers), Pryn Zàlan (priest), Pryr Zàlan (priests)