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Maza-Etri is a Goddess and loyal member of Zulin's Heavenly Court. She is considered a "maiden" Goddess, as she has no spouse, though the word "maiden" only technically applies. She is a valid Goddess and any Hesayan can pray to her, though she is not well known outside of her land, the Kingdom of Canvar.
Maza-Etri is most often depicted as a six-armed woman with the lower body of a massive serpent. She is usually beautiful and bare-breasted, though sometimes a strategically placed necklace of flowers keeps her technically modest. In her hands she holds a sword, a staff with a serpent wrapped around it, an infant in swaddling clothes, a younger child usually riding on her back or being pressed to her sides, a bow and arrow and a small pair of finger cymbals.
These are all symbols that represent her six domains, Sex, Pregnancy, Motherhood, Hunting, Medicine and War. She is also associated with the colors red and white and with her favored animal, the sacred serpents, white snakes with red eyes.
Her Red Priestess and her Crimson Knights:
Maza-Etri's priests are all women and mothers. Only fertile women with children can become her priestesses- as part of their training, priestesses will marry and try to conceive. Those who can do so are permitted along, while those who cannot are expelled from the order. This is not known to happen often though, as it is said that the Priestesses of Maza-Etri possess many secrets to aid in women's fertility.
Her priestesses do have a hierarchy and part of this hierarchy is linked to the number of children a Priestess can produce. The Priestesses are very public about this fact, to them a woman's glory is only fully realized when she is surrounded by her children. Similarly, all who have attained the rank of Grand Priestess have many children- the average is ten, though some have produced even more.
In the past, the priestess of Maza-Etri were said to take multiple husbands, perform wild sex rituals and have intercourse with animals, monsters and demons, though officially all of these policies have ended. Today the Grand Priestess and the Temple of Maza-Etri have accepted Hesayan Law that marriage is one man and one woman, along with the other restrictions placed on the sacrament by the Church.
Men in Canvar are not permitted to be priests of Maza-Etri, but they can join the Knights of Crimson Mercy. This organization is considered the brother organization of the Temple of Maza-Etri and acts unofficially as the militant arm of the religion. The Knights of Crimson Mercy are known for their red plate mail, as well as for being equally well-trained in war as they are in medicine. They are also trained by midwives, enabling them to help deliver children. For this reason, initiates to their order are often called half-husbands.
In the past, the Knights of Crimson Mercy were known as the Red Star Knights and they ruled Canvar with an iron hand, answering to no one but the Grand Priestess and their Goddess herself. The leader of their order often ruled Canvar as King and was commonly one of the husbands of the Grand Priestess. Red Star Knights were granted wide latitude, able to execute people for any reason. Bumping into one in the street could result in a death sentence, if the Knight wanted to kill someone.
The Knights of Crimson Mercy have done their best to ignore that part of their history and now work as ministers to the people and protectors of the realm. Canvar now has a separate royal family and the order's leader, the First Physician, has vowed that he and his successors will never attempt to take the throne or rule over Canvar as they did in the past.
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Sacraments of Maza-Etri:
The Temple of Maza-Etri recognizes 6 sacraments, one for each of their Goddesses' hands and domains.
Rising from the Pool: This sacrament is a celebration of birth, thrown for children who have managed to survive the first three years of life. As many children die young, for the first years of life, they are given "milk-names", a false name. This is not to be their true name. A child that survives to three is then taken to a Priestess, who anoints him or her in his mother's blood and then presents him to Maza-Etri.
She will then immerses him in water. Then she lifts the child out of the water and proclaims to those who gather that a new life has been born. At this point, the parents will announce the child's true name. This sacrament is designed to echo the divine birth of Maza-Etri, who emerged from a pool of blood and water fully grown.
After the Rising, there is usually a celebration and a feast thrown for the child and his or her parents. In smaller or poorer communities, families may combine these ceremonies, celebrating multiple Risings at the same time and throwing a party collectively for all the children involved. For wealthier families, this is rarely done, with the Noble and powerful merchant families trying to outdo each other with elaborate banquets and celebrations.
Boon: A child who undergoes a Rising is under the protection of Maza-Etri, who sends her Angels to defend them. This takes the form of the child's parents being able to sense the presence of their children and if they are in any danger. This sense of awareness will slowly fade over time, diminishing until it fully ends at the age of 12.
Additionally, if Maza-Etri is displeased by a child or with his or her parents, she may refuse to grant her protections to them. Until such parents mend their relationship with their Goddess, they will receive no power to protect their children. In extreme cases, Maza-Etri may even send nightmares to the child or serpents to bite him or his parents.
Marriage: Marriage in Canvar before the coming of the Church was actually quite similar to Hesayan Marriage, except that marrying one's cousin was permitted. Additionally, polygamy was permitted with special permission, though it was uncommon. This mostly took the form of polyandry for the Priestess of Maza-Etri, each one permitted to take up to six husbands, depending on her rank. As such, when the Church came, it was a fairly simple change to make.
The only difference in the modern era are the expectations of what marriage brings. In Canvar, your spouse has rights and if you are not fulfilling them, they can take you to a Priestess and demand restitution. For example, when two people are married in Canvar, it is forbidden to hide money or possessions from your spouse, both are considered to own all things equally.
Secondly, it is forbidden to deny your spouse the right to visit their family or spend time with their friends. Thirdly, it is forbidden to deny your spouse their conjugal rights. If a spouse wants to be physically intimate with you and you do not, if you do not acquiesce over a long enough period you could be found to be in violation of their spousal rights.
Common restitutions for minor offenses include being ordered to buy your spouse gifts, participate in special activities with them or being ordered to go to the Red Temple to be instructed in the ways of love, emotional or physical, by the Priestesses of the Red Temple.
In more extreme cases, spouses may be forced to allow their spouse to have relations with others, especially if conjugal rights are being denied, or can face whippings and beatings administered by Priestesses or their assistants. For this reason, most married couples do their best to solve their own problems and not permit things to escalate to such a point where the Priestesses need to be involved.
Finally, divorce is not considered an option. Even before the Hesayan Church came, divorce was looked down upon and only permitted in extreme cases. The only times it was ever permitted was when one spouse was a physical or moral threat to the other or in cases of (non-legal) infidelity. However, as adulterers and adulteresses were sometimes killed, sometimes it was not necessary.
Yet even when both parts of the couple remained alive, sometimes divorce would still be denied, depending on whether the Priestesses felt that the marriage could be saved. Sometimes an adulterer could get off with a beating, while other times he would be injected with snake venom, tied to a stake and left in the public square to die in agony.
Boon: If you are married and take a long rest with your spouse, you can reroll the amount of HP recovered and take the higher result, regardless of comfort level. (This does not mean you have to have sex, of course. If you want rules for that, write them yourself, or even better, try to be normal for once.)
Dance of the Shining Scales: Maza-Etri is a Goddess of War, and so when warriors go off to battle, they can request a Priestess come and before the Dance of the Shining Scales for them. The Priestess will come with her assistants and they will play music. The Priestess will then dance for the warriors and as she does, younger acolytes will douse her a mixture of water and wine. She does this to invoke the spirit of battle and to symbolically retell the watchers of the foes their Goddess has fought.
Depending on the number of warriors who need to be blessed, it may be one Priestess or many. Certain men are also trained to participate in this sacrament, wearing ghoulish masks to represent the demons Maza-Etri destroyed. If she performs the dance properly, the water and wine will pour off her and form into red scales that will litter the dance floor. If a warrior consumes one of these, it is said Maza-Etri will grant that warrior her strength.
Boon: When one of these Scale is eaten, it grants the eater +2 to Atk and damage for 10 minutes. For the duration, he also doesn't feel pain and any Horrible Wound that does not cripple him immediately or kill him outright can be ignored for the duration.
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Milk of the Maiden: This is a ritual performed exclusively for married couples and women looking to concede. The Priestesses will gather the fluids of all those participating and mix them with blood and venom from the sacred white serpents that live on the grounds of the Red Temple and bless it. Then, if the ceremony has been done right, the mixture will transform into a sweet and sticky mixture the color of blood with the consistency of pudding. Officially called 'Concentrated Essence', it is more commonly referred to as 'Maza's Milk'.
Couples will then be fed a spoonful of this and have designs painted on their skin with the Milk. At this point, the couples are all dismissed and sent off to their rooms, tents or pavilions. In the past, it was common to simply let all those who had ingested the Milk strip and run naked through one of the many public parks in the city, but since this often led to orgies and other sexual acts that the Church forbids, now couples are strictly segregated to prevent such misconduct.
Boon: Those who ingest the Milk of the Maiden will be driven into a frenzy of sexual desire and must save or mate with anything nearby and available. Among evil creatures, this can result in non-consensual acts. Additionally, any creature who ingests the Milk will have their fertility increased to 25% of conception. If both partners have partaken, the chance of conception is 50%. For each partner a female has past the first, she increases her chance of conception by 10% per partner (though this is obviously against Hesayan Law).
The Healing Bite: Maza-Etri is a Goddess of War, but her scriptures tell of how she rules over all sorts of conflicts, not merely the clash of flesh and metal. For example, women giving birth are considered warriors as well, for they struggle against their own bodies. The sick are also considered warriors, fighting to repel invasions of the most intimate kind. For this reason, Maza-Etri considers doctors and healers to be among her most favored mortals, for they save those who cannot overcome sickness themselves.
Her Priestesses have a sacrament specifically for this. The sick are brought before them and anointed with special oils. Then a specially raised snake is brought out and after being blessed, is allowed to bite the sick person. IF the ceremony was done well and Maza-Etri does not wish for the illness to remain for her own reasons, the sick can be aided or cured.
Boon: The bite of the snake absorbs one poison, disease or negative physical condition, such as being blinded, deafened or lame. The snake absorbs this and usually dies. When it does, the Priestesses will take it, mourn it's loss and then give it an honorable burial.
Breaking his Fangs/Driving Back Death: The people of Canvar have curious views about death. They do not regard death as an inevitability or a part of life, rather they think of it as an enemy to be fought. The people of Canvar fight for life, even onto their last breath. To kill yourself or even to fail to take care of yourself are both considered dereliction of your duty to live on, both are considered shameful. Those who do not struggle mightily against death are regarded as failing in their duties as a man or woman of Canvar.
When someone is old, weak or in danger of dying, the Priestesses of Maza-Etri will bless that person and paint snake scales onto their faces, necks or arms. This is meant to represent the immortality of the serpent and of their Goddess. They will then bless her and feed them a mixture of milk, honey and a drop of liquor.
Boon: Those who gain the effect of this sacrament will have the pains and infirmities of old age lessened or removed entirely, depending on their physical condition. The especially strong will even experience extended lives, living well into their eighties or nineties. High-ranking Priestesses are said to often receive this sacrament, that is why they live so long, maintaining youth and beauty for much longer than most women as well as living well into the hundreds.
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