Legends of Belariath
Lysabeth
My history is nothing special. I am not born of nobility, and I am not extraordinarily gifted. I am quite simply myself. My childhood was one filled with learning. I spent my days with the clerics in the small temple complex the village had. It housed shrines to deities of all the village’s races. Four caught my attention and interest more than others did Ishtar, Gaea, Kirva, and The Lady. I had also read tomes of Sheara and AdenVer, but none grabbed me like those four. My days were spent serving in small ways in all four-temple areas. I absorbed their languages, enriching my language base from just common. Sylvan, vulpine, and moriel had been learned. By the time my service as acolyte was finished I was fluent in four languages.
At the age of eleven, I was named a Cleric. Yet, none of the head priests knew which one would claim me. Neither of the four Goddesses were speaking up to take claim to me. Yet, it was more than clear that I was to serve at least ONE of them. I remained with the temples for seven years still serving the four Goddesses. On my eighteenth birthday, the four head priests summoned me to a meeting. They had come to a decision among themselves. I could no longer remain with the temple because my service was not tied to a single Goddess, but divided into four. This was not how it was to be done. They all wished hoped, and prayed that I would have been chosen by one Goddess by the time I turned eighteen, but no such feat had occurred.
All four of them prayed over me asking that I receive guidance and answers to the inquires of my heart in the matters of my faith. Most of all they prayed to their respective Goddesses that I would find peace in service to one of them. I laid a sacrificial offering before each Goddess and began on my journey of spiritual awakening and enlightenment. I had the beginnings of a plan. I would spend time in cities or towns or villages that the main deity was one that I was following.
I left the day after my meeting with the High Priests. My time would first be spent with the followers of Ishtar. She is patron Goddess to Emperor and Empire. I enjoyed the sensuality of serving such a deity, she was the light and dark of all things pleasureable in sex. She can be dominant and submissive, gentle and harsh, pleasurable and painful all in one breath. I spent two months serving her alone – being part of rituals and general service but it was simply not fitting into place yet.
My time was next spent with the Vulpine, learning more and more about the Lady. Four and a half months I spent pouring over tome after tome and indulging in hedonistic delights in the name of The Lady. Yet despite my knowledge, I was treated as an outcast. A human woman with such intimate knowledge of a Vulpani Goddess – how did she get such knowledge? I left the Vulpani village in the dark of night for it was better than being chased from the village because I’d proven to be almost as knowledgeable as their High Priest in the ways of her service. I was still unsettled. So far I did not fit with Ishtar, and now, The Lady.
My travels next took me to a small village two to four days travel from Nanthalion, Empire’s Epicenter. It would be here that I would spend time with a sect of Gaeans. I needed to spend time immersed in their temple, a flawless grove that was as wild as it was cultivated. I celebrated the spring equinox and it was then that I learned at this time that Gaea did not fit for me either. I stayed for another two weeks after the Equinox and was on my way again with the blessings of the Mother upon me.
My travels should have brought me to Nanthalion, but they did not. Instead, they brought me to the Gloom’s darkness. With blessings from the Dark Mother and her Priest, I was allowed to study and serve. All those I was serving knew my situation and all did their best to aid me. However, the realization soon dawned that I might be a lost cause. The Priestess of Kirva explained me the best and her words still remain with me to this day. She called me:”The cleric of None but an inspiration to all who have faith in a Goddess or God.” She had actually been shocked to learn that one such as I had not yet risen to the rank of High Priestess yet. I should be the shining jewel of any of the four I had been following, yet I was floundering. We parted on good company and my travels finally brought me to the cultural and spiritual epicenter of the Empire.
I was determined to find my place during my time in Nanthalion – little did I know that shortly into my stay a Goddess would make her claim upon my soul.