Lands of Tyranny
Day 17 of The Centaur, Year 416
The Weaver
The Pure Mother, The Keeper of the Veil, Keeper of Perfection, Arachnea The Great Weaver, The Mother of the Ilthir.
Goddess of purity, crystals, absolutes, symmetry, perfection.
Symbols: Crystals, symmetric objects or patterns and animals that can naturally produce them.
The Weaver, worshiped almost exclusively by Ilthir and Quathili, is the deity of absolutes. Everything either exists or does not exist. What exists can be clearly identified and separated into single, pure components, concepts, and essences. The mixing, blending, and contamination of materials and concepts, or ideas, blood, and races, generates and serves the destructive forces of chaos and entropy, the great enemy that lurks beyond the Veil, constantly threatening to destroy our reality.
The Keeper of Perfection sits at the polar opposite of these concepts, dividing the world into black and white, surface and depths, fire and water, just and unjust, separating each material in its purest components, such as ores or crystals. These same concepts are applicable in everyday life and the behavior of living beings, which all occupy a specific place in the natural order of things: a habitat, a niche, a duty. Those who deviate from this 'natural order,' from the position they are most fit to occupy, risk creating dangerous imbalances in society, nature, and ultimately in the existence as we know it.
The Mother of the Great Abyss is said to reside in the darkest abysses and can be heard via the blackest darkness. She can never be seen, however, as the darkness of where she resides is so impenetrable that nobody can look at her, or better, as her form is pure perfection and therefore unable to be captured in a simple form conceivable by mortals. Those animals and sentient creatures gifted with the ability to produce works of great perfection, visible in their geometric patterns, smooth surfaces, or even just achievements in life, are said to be able to feel her closer.
Spiders, but also several other insects that are able to create pure geometrical forms, are by some said to be able to see her, as well as to see the world beyond, where the spirits of the passed away live together with a multitude of otherworldly monsters, always lurking beyond the Black Veil, trying to reach to every living soul to consume them of their essence, corrupt them with the pure chaos that animates them.
The Keeper of the Veil protects the world from being burned and melted by the forces of chaos and destruction that twist and boil at the other side of the Black Veil, that constantly risk piercing through and pouring into our reality.
The Sun is seen by her followers as the most tangible reminder of these destructive forces, something that can’t be looked at, that burns even from infinitely far away, that only the Veil manages to keep from corrupting our reality and the few pure things that reside in it. Indeed, most Ilthir and Quathili would agree that those that live under the Sun, to indicate generically those races and creatures belonging to the surface, are irredeemably ‘tainted’.
However, there is also certainly still some debate about the matters within the members of the Church, or the followers of The Weaver: the more extremist ones would argue for an active role in ‘purging’ the surface from these races, or at least, of their worst and most corrupt elements, while others would instead argue that there are for instance certain insects capable of perfect enough creation.
The debate in the society of the Underworld about slavery is situated in a similar axis, which sees at the two extremes a faction that would want all surface slaves and animals entirely removed from the Depths, while another accepting of slavery, justifying it as making use of the corrupted ones as a resource, or even to try and decrease their ‘taint’. The struggle of Weaver is in any case constant and immense, and she needs the contribution of her followers to keep Chaos from taking over the world, and physically entering our reality.
It is said that every sacrifice makes Arachnea able to fix these areas where the Veil is thinner, to generate new symmetries in the world, frequently thanks to some of the creatures sacred to her, that can see where the Veil becomes weaker, at risk of being pierced: this is especially true with spiders, said by to weave their webs to 'repair' and 'reinforce' it, aiding The Keeper of the Veil to keep the otherworld from pouring in our reality, but also with other arachnids or insects and organisms able to produce intricate geometrical patterns such as shells.
Spiders are also rumored to be blessed and burdened with the ability to see the souls that now live on the other side of the Veil, and that struggle and hide from the myriad of deformed, twisted shapes that hunt that region. Indeed, it is not an uncommon occupation for Ilthir to grow specific species of spiders, selected for their ability to produce the most perfect webs, and similarly, certain Quathili would grow large, ornate seashells.
However, arts and crafts, especially sculpture, jewelry, architecture, but also weaving, painting, and playing music, are thought to be bringing a person closer to the Goddess, and to have, when done according to her ways, a beneficial effect on the world. Similarly, it is the conviction of every Ilthir, or at least the vast majority that are fervent followers of The Pure Mother, that they should all strive to achieve the best they can in their jobs, skills, or activities, and also one of the reasons why the Church so often sponsors colleges of arts.
Souls of the living reach the Veil the moment that death comes. When that happens, the Weaver spiders that reside there at the border between realities will cover the soul with their silk, easing them into a cocoon, readying them for the new life into another side that is even more scary and dangerous.
Weak bodies and souls don't manage to evolve in their new form once in the cocoon, and as everything that is not pure, not uncontaminated, Ilthir of weak blood, or sick, ugly, malformed, or otherwise unfit, will not be recognized by the Weavers. For this reason, Ilthir strive for racial purity, or their entire race will be negated The Passage forever.
Author: Rashan