The Center Cannot Hold: The Singer of the Song

Singer of the Song
Titles: The City Mother, Queen Trickster, the Storyteller, The Lady of Song
Areas of Concern: Cities, Songs, Entertainment, Luck
Favored Animals: Songbirds, Mice, Cats
Holy Symbol: Three Quarter Notes
Worshippers: Common people, Entertainers, Travelers
Domains: Charm, Trickery, Travel, Community, Void
Favored Weapon: Whip

Cities are at the heart of civilization.  But that does not mean that Cities are a creation of lawmakers, politicians or bureaucrats.  A law did not create the first city.  No, the First Cities were born of a Song.

The City Mother is the one who sang that Song.  Her priests tell her story, of how she made the first cities by crafting a song about them.  She tricked other Gods and Monsters of all types, often to better the lives of mortals.  She was the one to first let Shraxes come to the World, and she was the first to trick the Black Rose into letting a soul come back from the dead.

Most give her a prayer when seeking a blessing while traveling through or doing anything within a City.  Her voice has influence over money, traffic and all the other myriad things that come with cities.  Her devoted followers are entertainers, Bards, Illusionists and Alchemists.  Those who seek song, seek out her Priests and Temples- her Temples are always also Taverns, Inns or Theaters.

Perhaps, though, is who chooses to honor the City Mother with praise.  Never truly a god of nobles or royalty, commoners and the middle-class of all races honor her.  It isn't uncommon for a small statuette of her to find her place in house shrines along with larger edifices honoring other deities.  Ursyklon, Tengu, even some of the fabled Aether-blooded have been known to carry a symbol of her along with their other gods.

The City Mother is often depicted as a young human woman carrying a fiddle with very short hair.  Her hair color and other characteristics often change based who is asked.  More than a few Tengu claim she has black hair with raven's feathers.  Northern Ironfolk from Ainesia give her blond hair and blue eyes, while Saltfolk from the southern seas call her hair green, and say she is blind.  It varies, but no one seems to care if they differ, often believing that her myriad of appearances are just another part of her stories.

Sidebar: The Sisters Heresy

More than four hundred years ago, the Church of the Twins ordered a Inquisition against the City Mother.  A sect of the City Mother forwarded the claim that she was the Third Sister, and the Mother of the Twins.  Their Blasphemy combined all three goddesses into a theology of Birth, Song, and Death.  The Church would claim that the heretics had taken to performing wicked forms of sacrifice, and needed to be put down before calling forth horrors from their actions.

The Sisters Heresy was destroyed completely, a crusade that spread through most lands in and around Crux.  But it grew beyond just that heresy, some of the Crusaders became fervent, hunting down all priests of the City Mother and other gods.  It would take the Church of the Twins sixty years to repair the damage caused.  By then, the damage was done.  Often the Sisters Heresy is used by governments when they ban or outlaw practices of groups like the Eternal Order of the Eagle and the Crow.

Othebea, still devout loyalists to the Church, continue to fund the Order of the Crusade.  This order of Inquisitors and other warriors hunt down enemies of the Church, including Heretics that Othebea regards as enemies to the state.  These days, that has come to include foreign Gods and new philosophies, like the Kisian philosophy that overtook Ainesia not long ago.

The Divas

The Singer's chosen few, her champions, most think of the Divas as a group comprised entirely of women and singers.  That, is not true.  The Divas consider themselves to be her elite favored priests, and they devote themselves to all forms of entertainment, regardless of type.

But because they are considered performers by most, does not mean that the Divas can't defend themselves.  If anything, most seem to forget that they are Paladins after a fashion.  Just because they can act or perform, doesn't make them weak women that anyone can roll over.

Also, they do not limit their membership to women only.  Divas do require all their members to look feminine.  Maintaining the illusion that they are all lovely women performers is a cornerstone of how the Divas work.  They firmly believe that good entertainment, excellent stories and beautiful music are needed by everyone.  Divas fight evil ideas and thoughts through such things.

After all, a heart filled with music isn't a heart bound to do evil.  And evil things flee from their songs.  All good things have a song in their hearts, or so the Divas claim.

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