The Divine Mother

Brief Description

Beliefs
The Moon Mother is not believed to be a Truer God in this religion, just a powerful one. She is all that is compassionate in the world and she provides her people with water to survive. This Lady may not bring light to the world, but she gives it the ability to survive.

In this religion, the Dawn Breaker is recognized and even cherished, but not nearly as much as the Moon Mother, for she is the ultimate ruler to all that natural world. To most non-humans, the natural world is one filled with magic and is filled with the light of the gods. The gods have been quiet for so long. There was a time where they would breathe their life down into the mortal plane and their presence was known... But now? Now there is a cold silence... But that doesn't stop the Divinity for believing that their Goddess will return to them.

The Moon Mother, or The Moon Goddess, is the creator of the sea and is often thanked for most, if not all, rains that do bless the kingdoms. During times of drought, even the most devote clerics will hiss the name of the Moon Mother to return their damned water.

How the Sea Came to Be
There once was a woman, who was like any other. She was beautiful, more beautiful than any had seen. She had skin as dark as night and hair the color of a raven's feathers. It wasn't long before this woman found herself a husband, one of the many warriors who had been set to prove himself to her. In the ancient kingdoms of Vylarus many of the men were shipped off to serve in wars. Many of these 'wars' ended as fast as they started. There were many tribes within the surrounding lands that caused great strife and destruction to the kingdom and its farmlands.

On the day her husband was to return, she did not see him on the horizon but instead, she saw a group of those barbarians making their way toward her home. She took her baby and she ran. The little mother ran through her fields, through the forests, and even to the nearby mountainscape. It didn't matter how far she ran because they still caught up to her.

They had found her near a shallow well of water, surrounded by chiseled blocks and strange carvings. She clutched her baby to her chest and begged for mercy. It fell of deaf ears, for these men were cruel and they found enjoyment in the suffering of others. They took the baby and drown them in the moonlight well of water while their mother screamed out into the night. After watching her baby die, she was also drowned in the pool... Soon to have her body defiled even in the afterlife.

No one had said life was perfect, no one had even said it would be kind. Though, hours after drowning, the woman woke in this pool of water with little clothing available to her body. Her had been bleached white by the moon and there was something different about her. She should have been dead. She had been dead.

She saw her baby... Tossed aside of the pool, face down and motionless. Her only baby boy. There had been no one to protect her, no husband, no gods, she couldn't even protect herself. So she wept, her tears overfilled the pool and the slide down the mountain side. There had never been an ocean before, only pockets of water and miles of never ending land... But... Her tears filled all the deep crevices of the earth and an ocean was born.

Her tears lapped at the edges of cities, it swallowed tribes that settled in shallow parts of the earth and it had created something destructive yet calm. Like any mother, the ocean proved to be ferocious as well as tender hearted.

After her many day cycles of crying, she walked aimlessly toward the towns she had once known as home. Magic has never been a practice looked well upon. Doors shut to her and people turned their heads. Cursed they called her. When she wandered back to her farm she found her husband, who was shocked she was even still alive. He was with another wife who was heavy with another child.

He accused her of being a witch and of using their son to give herself powers, as it was the only way to explain her appearance and evident lack of their baby. He attacked her and meant to kill her. Witches were treason and were a sign of the hells.

Both her husband and his new wife drowned. Water just poured from their mouths and did not stop until they were dead and face down in their own creation. Some say that's where Black Spring Lake was located and that's how it was formed. That night the moon whispered to her, no one is quite sure what it said but she walked into the waters of the ocean and never came out.

The Sun's Guardian
Before the Dawn Breaker, it is said that Moon Mother was the overseer of both the moon and the sun. A protector to make sure that no human could abuse the elements. With the power that had been granted to her by the moon, she took pieces of the sun to imbue into a single creature. Out of the molten flame came the world's very first dragons. They were sent to guard the highest tops of the world's mountain peaks, the closest places to the sun.

The Burning Peaks happened to be the closest to the sun and therefore the largest and most powerful of the Moon Mother's flock went to control that point... Years later, after many attempts, a group of men were able to destroy one of her children in an attempt to collect the sun's fire. Greedy was the human race and the Moon Mother was outraged.

Pushed by the guilt and sorrow of her fallen guardian, she promised their lands destroyed and that they would be swallowed inside the sea. This would not be the first time it would have happened, but they begged for their life. The leader, even having drank the blood of her dragon, begged for mercy. And like a storm in the midst of a raging sea, her anger eventually dissipated the calmer waters.

It turns out that her guardian had been with an egg... Their own baby. A baby that may never see the light of day. She gave this man, the same one who had slaughter it's mother and who had lived his life slaughtering things, one job. The egg was placed in his hands and she told him to hatch it with in the next four seasons. Dragon's eggs were have told to only be hatched to sun's fire, but the Goddess had feeling that he could complete this task if he could find compassion in his heart.

And with that, she left. It would be a lie to say that she didn't hope that egg hatched, because that would mean her flock would grow and her guardian would live on. Though, after endless moon cycles the goddess was left disappointed.

She came to him and... She had gotten attached to the man with all his effort. He had tried, he really did, but she had made a promise. And God's could not break promises. Before she could start her destruction, the man wept before her and the egg hatched. A true act of compassion for his country.

She accepted this and granted him the dragon as his own guardian,because she had made a choice. It had been many years, but she could see apart of herself in this broken man. With the dragon at his side, she also gifted him the power of the sun, to be it's sole protector and to shepherd those who wish to find it's warmth and passion.

While it is said that the Dawn Breaker has thus headed toward the realm of greed, as he was a human, it is unclear in the written stories of the Moon Mother. Their current relationship is not discussed heavily in any religion.

Views on Other Species
While there is a distaste for humans among those who follow the Moon Mother, because it is said she is the advocate for all species. Some even say that the Moon Mother was not born human and that she is actually the first of the Fae bloodline.

Rituals
Tears of the Goddess: There is a special garden that, some say, only a true priestess of the Moon can cultivate to produce special Moonlit lilies. Inside of the lilies forms a gelatin droplet shaped ball that is about the size of one's palm. The inside is filled with a sour liquid. It is used to ceremonies such as for a wedding (where all parties will take a bite), or for things such as preparing for a dangerous journey.

Trials of a Priestess: In order to become a full-fledged priestess for the Moon Mother, you must prove yourself to not only have capable knowledge but also physical resilience to the elements created by our mother. Many of the trials are menial and picked by the High Priestess, but the biggest trial is to swim across the Silver Lake in the dead of winter, while chunks of ice still float. You may forfeit anytime and may try as many times as you please, it is not an easy challenge, but becoming a great priestess must be proven and earned.

The Stars are Falling: Rain during the full moon is considered sacred and during a blood moon it is seen as incredibly sacred. Most people will put out buckets and drink the water to grant themselves good fortune and bless their families. Often parties will be thrown in these rains, and they are known as Starfall Festivals.

Recruitment
There is no recruitment, as they consider themselves not as cruel as the Clerics. They don't steal away orphans to manipulate. No no. Either you find this religion on your own, or the belief and teachings were passed down to you by family members. Rarely do you find humans worshipping the goddess, most of the time it is those who are shunned by the church of fire that find comfort in the Mother's arms.