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====== Xoriah, the Flame Goddess ======

"If it can burn, it will."

{{:gaeleth:divinities:xoriah.jpg?200|}}

**Symbol:**  candle's flame

**Alignment:**  Chaotic Good

**Portfolio:**  fire, fury, hope

**Worshippers:**  druids, mages

**Cleric Alignments:**  CG, NG, CN

**Domains:**  fire, war, healing, luck

**Favored Weapon:** punching dagger

**Animal Totems:**  phoenix, fire beetle, salamander

====== Dogma ======

The followers of Xoriah have a love of fire, and believe that so long as one ember remains, in all the world, then the power of fire -- and the power of Xoriah -- is not lost.  Her followers are furious over the injustices done to the Flame Goddess, and keep a slow-burning fire in their souls because of those injustices.  The church of Xoriah is still rather small, but its views, hopes, and passion are slowly spreading.

====== Physical Description ======
The Flame Goddess' few surviving depictions show a short , slight woman with fiery red hair that reaches to the ground in one massive braid. Her eyes are the same red color as her hair, and seem to burn with an inner light. Her skin is a burnt color, as though pale flesh had been tortured in the sun. Dressed in flaming, red and white tight-fitting leathers, she is depicted as ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. Full of energy and vitality, Xoriah gives the appearance of a very young goddess, though she is actually wise beyond mortal ken.

====== History ======

During the Prism Wars, as panic and mayhem spread, the druids and the mages called upon nature and the elements to defend themselves. The Relic of Xoriah was found at the same time as three others, and their fates were intertwined -- Earth, Air, Fire, and Water given god-like form. The four Disciples worked in harmony, for the most part, establishing churches and converting members who would worship all four as a single pantheon. The elemental pantheon grew slowly but steadily, graining converts and power, until it reached its peak during the Shaping Wars, five millennia after the Prism Wars.

The Chosen of Xoriah during the Shaping Wars was also the Chosen of the other three elements -- in effect, he was a pure elementalist of incomparable power on Gaeleth. Adding to his formidability was his sorcerous aptitude for elemental magic. The One, as he was called, led the Four -- four elemental wizards that were second only to the One in power, but specialized in either earth, air, fire, or water. The Sixty-Four was an elite group of elementalists controlled by the Four, and together they ruled a nation side by side with the theocratic elemental churches. As the Shaping Wars erupted into full swing, The One and his minions scoured the globe for elemental artifacts to secure their nation from interlopers, and at the same time, sought to hide the artifacts that the other nations and peoples searched for. During the ensuing chaos, an outside power discovered the God Slayer, Giran Howell. As the Shaping Wars escalated, all sides found themselves targeted at least once by the God Slayer, and the elemental pantheon was devastated by the loss of Tromth, the Earth God. Enraged by this loss, The One went literally insane, forcing a confrontation between the other three elemental gods and the wielder of the God Slayer. The nation of Elementis was destroyed that day, as the God Slayer destroyed Ayelin and Blervoncara, the gods of water and air, respectively. Xoriah escaped destruction by a last, sane sacrifice of The One -- but with the destruction of Elementis, and the loss of so many of the Sixty-Four, most people assumed she was killed as well.

Xoriah and her followers crept away to lick their wounds, and never quite recovered from the devastating loss of the other three elemental gods. Angry and furious at her turn of events, Xoriah granted no prayers for nearly a millennium -- long enough to isolate or lose most of her remaining worshippers. When the prophet Angre Kilgaris finally roused the goddess from her fiery state, it was almost too late. The next four millennia would pass but slowly, as only a few followers remained faithful to the goddess.

Sensing the evil Nathel was conjuring, Xoriah sought to strengthen her position, and save her followers, by forging an alliance with Galgiran, the dwarven God of Smithing. Galgiran, for whatever reasons, refused; some say at the behest of Brigain. Angry and desperate, Xoriah turned to the newly awakened god Infierne and his people. She learned too late, though, of Infierne's massive arms shipments to Nathel; embittered, Xoriah silenced the fiery forges of the God of Weaponsmithing. Enraged at the loss of his ability to forge, Infierne's people hired mercenaries, and together, they sought to wipe out every last living follower of Xoriah. The Flame Goddess' people were being slaughtered, and she turned once again to Galgiran for aid.

Some say that Galgiran's answer was a direct rebuttal of Brigain, but whatever the reason, he forged twin sais for Xoriah that were a rival for anything Infierne could make. Calling in old debts, Galgiran convinced Rahne to send a warrior capable of wielding the blades, and Agincoth to send a guide to advise the wielder. He also convinced Elinthar and K'Tath to send whatever forces they could, to defend Xoriah's people.

As the Storm Wars raged on, the Battle of Sky Fire began.  Unbeknownst to either party, Nathel had learned of Infierne's inability to forge new weapons. Simon Luminar, wielding the God Slayer, killed Infierne as the Battle of Sky Fire raged on; the ensuing chaos allowed the followers of Xoriah to escape, even though two armies of Elinthar and K'Tath were wiped out, sacrificing themselves for the passionate Flame Goddess. The wielder of the sai blades left them behind in the battle, as a warning to all would cross the Goddess of Fury, and then disappeared with the rest of Xoriah's followers.

As the Inquisition began to backtrack mages and sorcerers through the histories of the Storm Wars, they learned of the Battle of Sky Fire. One investigating Inquisitor was a priest and mage of Lul, who kept his knowledge of magic a closely-guarded secret. He discovered the special sai blades, and secreted them in a special place. Finding no followers of Xoriah, and no bodies of any of her followers, the priest-mage and the other Inquisitors were forced to report that Xoriah might be alive, but the evidence indicated her complete destruction. Years later, the priest-mage of Lul would return to recover the sai blades, and turn them and all of the information he'd gathered on Xoriah to the returning hero of Rahne that had originally wielded the blades -- and then neither man was ever seen again.

Currently, the Chosen of Xoriah is Saranella, the descendant of the original bearers of the sai blades. Armed with the legendary weapons, she wanders the world in search of the last city of Xoriah, making converts and spreading the knowledge that Xoriah is not dead.

====== Relic ======

Xoriah's Relic was bonded to her sai blades, such that only those two weapons can find the long lost Relic. One day, one of the followers of Xoriah will unlock the secret of the twin sai blades, and lead the way to the lost city of the Goddess of Flame.

====== Church ======

The Church of Xoriah is tiny, with barely a hundred priests that have been converted by its Chosen. Exposed and dependent upon aid, the church only knows that the search must continue for the last city of Xoriah, if it still exists. For the last five centuries after the Storm Wars, the hero of Rahne and his descendants kept the faith, but no other contact was ever made with the lost city.

Currently, there are only two temples of Xoriah; one is maintained in Kashin in Rakore by the Chosen, and the other is maintained in the fallen city of Tyven. The death knight Vaskiss rules the fallen drow city in the fashion of his master, Lord Elistan. There, undead have flocked by the legions, yet the burning flames of the temple of Xoriah, there, keep the undead out. Other ruined temples to Xoriah exist, as indicated by the libraries of Lul, but searching them for clues takes time, and the followers of Xoriah are too few. The church's faith is extraordinarily strong, however, for they know they are the last, unless they find others willing to share their faith. In the meantime, Xoriah's Chosen rules from the Temple of Fire on the outskirts of Kashin, directing a search that she knows might take her entire lifetime, with but one Disciple -- an elf by the name of Aust.
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