------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deity Name: Lanira Deity Status: Demi-Goddess Elemental Affiliation: Water Relative Age: Young Known Titles: One of Fullness, Whisperer of Wisdom, the Innate Divine, Description and History: Not all the gods, goddesses, and beings otherwise deified always existed; some were born. Some came about between the relations of gods, and a scant few of these prime spirits were born when a goddess, one of light, and life fell in love with a lesser, sentient being; in this case, a man. Such acts are not the norm in the circle of the infinite; and so, a being was born, but without access to the physical world. Her mother, henceforth known as A-Drel'niona, had come to love, in the early days of the world, a man, a scholar, a mage. The reasons of this partnership are not known, as of yet. Though Niona was a mother, she was also a Goddess, one withdrawn from the affairs of mortal men. And so, after a brief (in the terms of the divine) period of communion with her daughter, she withdrew outward into the Veil, where other beings of her kind were. Lanira, of nature neither goddess fully, nor human fully, desired a place among men, since as of yet, no other deity had sought her out. She had been hovering on the Edge of Creation for several hundred years, watching the times pass and the seasons churn in a cycle, like a wave that ever returns to its source. The only way this one could come to interact in this world is if she had an agent -- someone to sustain and connect her power to the physical realm. Without one, she found that the most she was able to do with every ounce of her ability was to send a small message -- a beacon. That person she did find, eventually, in a young female mage she saw one evening -- a woman of raven black hair and gemstone hazel eyes, of emerald and amber, seated by a stream. She hummed slightly, and chanted a small prayer, a request in magickal terms for Wisdom. The request given, Lanira was able to respond to the woman: an answer, but also a request. The answer she gave in a parable, a vision of the mind: waves beating against a shoreline on a moonlit night, and returning to the ocean. "All things return to their sources," the demi-divine whispered to the woman. A final word was added to that answer, also in a vision, that of a distant moon coming closer. "Call to me." The young adept mage was astonished at what a revelation she'd had, and indeed desired more, from her heart. She spoke another request to Lanira, "How?" And the One responded. She had indeed found one who could bring her from the Edge of Creation to its Center, one of heart and one of mind, in a single soul. So Lanira taught the woman in belabored visions, of the rituals required, the symbols to be cast, the necessary means for the connection to be opened. It required different elements, sigils, scripts, all of which Lanira had in her innately, and so she tutored her. The woman did as she was requested, and added the final bit, the primal element that Lanira decided to bind herself to -- Water: for that is where she had met her first servant in the realm. The ritual completed, and the words, containers of power, spoken, Lanira entered the realm, weakly at first, seemingly a ghost in front of her servant. "Well done," she whispered to her, "I will be with you continuing," she said, in a vague manner. The Avatar of Lanira, a white-skinned woman with blue hair and sapphire eyes, disappeared. Her connection to the world existed, but needed to become stronger over time, and that was all the manifestation she could manage at first. Over the years, her strength in the world grew, and her relationship with her first servant. Lanira was a very personal divine, keeping herself to the Few, over the Many. She became the divine of the now-aged woman's household and followed her people through the bloodline of that first mage, Adalel. As the years passed, there were wars, and struggles, and strifes, but none to be remembered in the history of the world such as the one to come. Lanira had always sought to link herself to one person, through which she would channel her strength, her authority, and her loyalty. This was not the best thing though, a product of her human side, and affinity -- to connect. In a war between two neighboring states, her current Connected, Selra, fell in the throes of war. A mage with an affinity of water, just as most of her previous Connected had been, in the original line she had followed through the years. Lanira acted on her behalf in the end, as the Assassin of the offending side drew his blade and thrust it into the heart of Selra, her Avatar appeared, and, bearing her human nature, she from the side grasped his throat and proclaimed, "No more shall you harm this one," and he slid down, killed merely by the impact of her words. A rash decision, though, made in her anger. She had used up the force provided by the link between her and her Connected, and was again fading away to the Edge. In a hurried, last-moment thought, she created her own ley line, dedicated to the element of Water, merged it to the center of all ley lines, and established physical water to spread the ley line's energy. She at least sealed her Single Awareness into the ley line, and fell dormant, hoping for one of intuition and mind to arise, call, and reawaken her. Areas of Influence: Dualism (Mind & Intuition) Nature: Because she is part human, and part divine, she appears to have two conflicting natures. On one side, she appears to be passionate, and involved, and yet, on another, she is withdrawn and seems drawn to the "subconscious" factors of life. This is seen in her affinity for innate knowledge, or intuition, abilities one is born with. As far as her element that she has bound herself to in the ley line, and taken on some of its nature, she is somewhat like the consistencies of air, ephemeral, gossamer, and yet with a heaviness in her personality that the element of Air lacks. Both of these show at alternating points in her mind and divinity. (No, she does not quite have split personality disorder.) Abilities: Vaguely, she's a goddess concerned with the primal element of Water, and so any aspects applied to it such as healing, intuition, intellect, fertility and prosperity, she falls under. Her abilities are limited because she is only a Demi Divine, and is subject to the link she has between the Ether and the Natural realm. This connection is procured most importantly through her leyline, but her awareness is awakened through the connection she has with her followers, and through the rituals they perform. She has a strong relation with the element of air, and is vehement against fire. And as such, her devoted followers, which share indirectly in her divinity, also take on these aspects. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MagicApp for: Vardigon [Insert Last Name to Come, Here] Vardigon's source of innate elemental ability lies in the fact that he was born in a house which was situated on an intersection of elemental ley lines, Fire, Earth, Water, and Air. As he was born, his spirit was entwined with the ley lines, and filled with some unconscious knowledge (later to be activated) of the elements, their correspondences, conflicts, etc. The limits to this method of magick is that the primal energies that are used for the spells /must/ be drawn into the individual, or to an object that they have themselves empowered (think of it as a signature that vibrates on a certain frequency, with four layers that mesh together that create the vibration of it). To do anything beyond rudimentary cantrips, the mage must engage in a sort of communion with these primal elements, using a written portion and spoken portion that combine together to increase the capacity for the mage to bear the elements in his system. These effects wear off, so the mage must continually restore himself. The words are the containers of speech, which is the container of power. It is possible to store a spell in a person's system for a short time so that the words needn't be spoken -- this is done through a smaller communion that inserts the vibrational frequency specific to that spell into the mage's energy system -- but he can only hold so many frequencies, or harmonies, apart before they collide, collapse, and perhaps cause the mage to explode (or maybe implode)! Because of Vardigon's aspiring communion with the Demi-Goddess Lanira, his abilities to work and weave elements and spells dealing with Fire are nearly shut off to ZERO. But over time, with his connection to Lanira, his abilities with the element of Water are amplified. An example spell using his abilities would be to participate in a ritual through the element water, and through the Demi-Goddess Lanira, and store a frequency in himself that would enable, for a short length of time, a sort of immediate precognition in the face of danger. It's a one time-only spell, though. When it is used, it must be recast. This spell also plays into the concept of Lanira's abilities and identity -- innate, intuition, unconscious knowledge. Think of it also as the deity participating in this act, warding over the mage.