World Background: Higher Powers

Aikeyz and Kaivé

(from World Background, Part 1: Aikeyz & Kaive)

For our purposes, this world has two deities, one male and one female, and several lesser powers. Many people ascribe to specific Lords or Ladies, but every doctrine recognizes the existence of the Creator and his Consort. Aikeyz and Kaivé have servants, called the Loyhalel (translate: "angels"). The Eshil Loyhalel ("eshil" means "high") assist on this world, and these are the ones many people follow.

(Pronunciation tips: "ai" should be pronoucned like the long "i" sound in "high" or "eye," both "é" and "ey" make the long "a" as in "they" or "may". But anglicized pronunciations would be appropriate, so feel free to pronounce it how it looks.)

Lord Creator Aikeyz

Aikeyz is generally revered as the Creator, but he is also associated with the sun and planets. As Creator, Aikeyz has both priests and priestesses. Most sects that do not worship through lesser "gods," focus on Lord Creator Aikeyz. "Sun Lord Aikeyz" is predominant in desert regions, and these groups tend to have male priests.

Moon Mistress Kaivé

Kaivé is the goddess of the moon, the stars, and space. She is equal to Aikeyz, and played some part in the creation of the world, but she was not the main Creator and she has fewer followers (she’s not in charge of planets, after all), who are usually represented by enclaves of priestesses. People generally associate Kaivé with mystery and magic. A common argument in theological circles revolves around whether Kaivé is Aikeyz’ consort, partner, sister, other half—or something else altogether. The first two are the most commonly held, but the debate continues.

In case you were wondering, Aikeyz dominates on this world not because he’s male, but because Kaivé’s dominions lie elsewhere.

The Eshil Loyhalel

(from World Background, Part 4: the Eshil Loyhalel)

The Eshil Loyhalel (that’s plural, "loyhale" is singular) are not gods, and they are hardly all-powerful. Aikeyz and Kaivé sent the Loyhalel who were interested to take care of the newly formed world. Each has his or her own domain, and domains occasionally overlap, with less powerful Loyhalel taking specific areas under another’s jurisdiction. Generally, each spreads his or her power over their particular realm—the Sea Lord’s power covers all seas, for example. The Lady of the Forest is an exception to this rule—her power is concentrated in the Forest of Shadows, which makes the entire wood magical. (The term "magical" is relative—a tree in the Forest has some of the Lady’s power, and a mountain has some of the Mountain Lord’s power, but the former has a higher concentration of power, so we call it magical.)

The interests of these beings do not generally go beyond their own area, whatever that may be. They are all incredibly ancient, and they do not think in the same terms we do. (For example, the Lady of the Forest spoke to the River Lady about a century ago, and they are in relatively close contact.)

The Sea Lord (Vrezhe) & the River Lady (Ivaité)

This father-daughter pair once (very briefly) shared the waters, but they agreed to split their domain into fresh and salt water because they don’t get along well in close contact with each other—both can be tempestuous and unpredictable. Ivaité is vastly calmer than her wild, boisterous father, and more inclined to nurturing and refreshment. The Sea Lord’s attendants tend to be male, and the River Lady’s tend to be female, but gendered divisions are otherwise not common among the followers of the Eshil Loyhalel.

The Mountain Lord (Ureyth)

As his title suggests, Ureyth is the Lord of the Mountains. (He may also be associated with deserts—it’s rather hard to tell, because desert peoples tend to be associated with Aikeyz directly.) He has a rather complicated personality. Although Ureyth is not specifically their patron—something most dwarves are thankful for—he is closely connected to them, as they tend to live in and around mountains. Some dwarven characteristics came from him (such as their secretiveness and interest in bargaining), but not all. Any dwarf would tell you that Ureyth doesn’t make a very convincing dwarf ("he's not serious enough"), but an outsider probably wouldn’t be able to see why.

The Lady of the Forest (Lizeyl)

It would be eminently sensible to assume that Lizeyl takes care of forests, but that isn’t actually the case (in fact, that particular position is still open). Instead, she is the patron of specifically magical creatures. (It is more precise than that, but that’s not really worth going into now.) The Forest is a haven for magical things. (Which explains why travelers keep running into cute talking animals, odd spells, and the like—they belong here.) People come and go, but, other than helping control magical gifts (something very much in the interests of magical creatures) and keeping travelers from trouble, the Lady does not take much note of them.

The Lady concluded (relatively) recently that current circumstances might merit a slightly more activist presence both in the Forest and in the lands around its borders, but change comes very slowly.

The Lady of the Harvest (Pralle)

Pralle is the Lady of Harvests and the patron of farmers everywhere. (Note that Pralle is not akin to a Mother Nature—she relates more closely to that which has been cultivated.) She is also associated with fertility, and sometimes health. Unsurprisingly, she is popular in rural areas and among peasants, although her connection with gardening and things that grow can bring her followers in surprising walks of life.

Rytasé, Lady of Information

Among the Eshil Loyhalel, only Rytasé—possibly the least powerful of the all—does not seem to have a particular domain. She has a small but intensely loyal group of followers, who are scholars and above all information-gatherers. One most often encounters Rytasen priests engaged in research or running libraries. Their rare schools are among the best in the world. Rytasé herself takes an unprecedented personal interest in her followers' lives, and, as a result, everyone knows better than to attempt to harm a Rytasen. Lizeyl is something of an enigma to her "colleagues"—Rytasé leaves them baffled and bemused.

Ral: Patron of Chance

Ral, the Eshil Loyhale of Chance, is neither male nor female. Instead, Ral has several randomly-circulating personas, each of which corners a distinct niche of the market on chance. Very few people (most of them scholars) have heard of Ral, though some of Ral's personalities are well known.

• Sasheylal, Lady Luck

  Sasheylal is the mistress of blind, willful randomness. Often depicted holding a blindfold over her own eyes, she is notoriously fickle and unpredictable, yet most people associate Sasheylal with only good luck. She manages to amass a following amoung thieves, who know better than to rely on their Lady.

• Reyl, Vengeance

  Reyl is vengeance personified, and the "avenging angel" of the Eshil Loyhalel. Because sometimes people really deserve bad luck. Reyl's followers might include the occassional fighter who would like Reyl to get his or her her enemies.

• Esek

  Esek is the persona that Ral most often uses to deal with the sort of really horrible luck that usually ends up with someone either dead or seriously maimed. For that reason, he is often associated with death, or perhaps more accurately, doom.

• Dashu, The Trickster

  Dashu is responsible for the sort of luck that may look good at first, but invariably ends up making you look silly in the end (or worse). Random mischief is his specialty.

• Zuraythé, Lady of Fortune

  The Lady of Fortune is the patron of luck that should happen, as a result of one's own actions, or perhaps as part of some larger pattern. One could say that Zuraythé delivers deserved luck. People tend to associate her solely with good luck, although she also brings petty bad luck. (Vengeance, after all, could hardly be expected to punish minor infractions.) People generally think they deserve good things, never mind that it really only occurs randomly, so Zuraythé has many followers among merchants and city-dwellers. The truly sincere among her priests and priestesses are forever trying to explain that she is ultimately a face of chance, but to little avail... possibly they do not quite accept this fact themselves.

The Lord and Lady of Renewal (Borik & Analeyn)

Together, Borik and Analeyn represent renewal: negative and positive, endings and beginnings. It is part of the cycle of life, which requires winter before there can be spring. Borik is often misinterpreted as a completely separate entity related to death and destruction. The typical division of the seasons (Analeyn gets spring and summer, while Borik gets fall and winter) is more reasonable, although not completely accurate.

Unlike the personas of Ral, the Lord and Lady of Renewal are two distinct Eshil Loyhalel, one male, one female. Occassionaly, people mix up their relative responsibilites, in which case Analeyn becomes Stelizan, and Borik becomes Leyva.

Magic and the Higher Powers

(from World Background, Part 1: Aikeyz & Kaive)

Magic comes from Aikeyz (I'm using him for the sake of simplicity), who so far transcends what we’d call "magic" that it seems insufficient to say it that way. He’s basically the source of all magic. Kaivé presumably has equal power, but he uses his power more for creation than than she does, so most of the inate magic in this world therefore comes from him.

The Loyhalel are also imbued with magic power. Even the lesser of them, though insignificant next to their master and mistress, are vastly more powerful than anything in this world.

When the Aikeyz formed this world, everything in it (from men all the way down to a speck of dirt), being made by him, had its own magic by association. Every creation, simply by existing, is a source of magic, albeit very small. Generally, the higher the creation, the more magic it possesses naturally. ("Higher" here is purely structural, and does not denote superiority.)

(Note than when discussing magic here I do not mean elemental magic, which is different.)

Illustrations

Forest Dolls by Sarah ~ Forest Dolls by Salli

The Eshil Loyhalel portraits are all by either myself, Salli, or Sarah, on a doll base created by Sarah. Visit our sites for more information and examples. :)

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