Materna, the First-Mother

Materna
The First-Mother

Of all the worshipped entities, Materna is the oldest. Even the other gods have only ever known her as an elderly figure, dispensing wisdom and compassion as they grew into their godhoods. She is the quintessential mother, worshipped since the earliest tribal days as divine matriarch. Through her providing, comforting and protecting civilization was possible. It was she who gave all primitive societies agriculture, hunting, domestication, fire, and the ideas of family and community. She is what separates the races from the beasts.

She is the supreme female entity, a mother who has spent eons nursing the fledgling races up until and including modern times. She will always strive to nurture her children’s growth and prosperity by providing whatever and wherever she can. It isn’t so hard to imagine her divine influence inspiring an innkeeper to supply an extra cot or nudging someone to offer a much-needed shoulder to cry on. She is the warmth in every hug and the love in a parent’s smile.

Because of Materna’s sheltering nature, she manifests in enclosed spaces: the home, the garden, the courtyard, the womb, the cave. It is even rumored her personal plane is a simple one-room cottage complete with chairs enough for company before a roaring fire. She is said to have a great love of tea and tobacco, two of her sacred plants, and offers them freely whenever hosting company.


Aspects
Being a primordial deity, celebrated at the outset of every race and civilization, she is seen in a variety of different lights, and worshipped just as diversely. No mortal can rightly say which of these aspects is true, if any. Among the aspects most widely observed are:

Mother of Gods
This version holds Materna as the mother of all Aetherians, Aeterians and Planetars. Like with the races, she raised the gods, and, despite their conflicts, loves and provides for them in equal fervor.

First Woman
Many primitive and barbarian tribes hold Materna as the first woman of their people. In this case, her more cosmic undertones are dimmed and she is depicted as a deity of flesh and blood who physically birthed the first generation of the tribe. She then returned from whence she came to watch over her chosen offspring throughout the ages.

Blood Drinker
The early eras of civilization were hard and usually bloody, as primitive cultures collided. This version of Materna is a goddess of favors, who drinks the blood of vanquished enemies and is offered sacrifices by shaman and heathen priests for her protection.

Spirit of Civilization
Some believe Materna to be the spirit of civilization itself, slowly aging with the races. Her depiction is usually a wild maiden during the nomadic phase, a mother in the agricultural stage, an aging widow in the time of city-states, and a crone within a unified empire or government.

The All-Mother
In this incarnation, Materna is not only a mother to gods and races, but everything in the multiverse. To her favored children, she bestowed dominion over all creation. Gods received entire divine portfolios, the races dominion over the planet, and so on.

Slave
Orcs and goblins, in their cruel beliefs, see Materna as a bound and captive prisoner who they rape, pillage and plunder what they will from. They take delight in thinking themselves hurting some greater being while they pillage and plunder communities.

The Mothermind
Perhaps the strangest concept of Materna comes in a psychological guise. This version of the planetar is believed to be the collective unconscious of all Mothers on Telath, manifesting as a planetar with the pervading ideals of comfort, provision, sacrifice, and protection that all mothers share for their children.

Church of Faith’s Prerogative:
Unfortunately for Materna, the most popular idea of her throughout the empire isn’t very much at all, thanks to the widespread teachings of The Church of Faith. Worship of all planetars is discouraged in favor of Aetherian praise. The First-Mother is barely acknowledged as a deity, and if so is often used as a base comparison to the glory and power of the Aetherian pantheon. However, being so ingrained from the out start of civilization, the church has found it near impossible to totally erase Materna from the minds and methods of her children.


Church and Followers
Materna's church is a very domestic one. She was never a vast organized religion and holds no great temples or governing sects. Instead she is a part of every family, a cellular worship of all races and communities that, in some aspect, pay heed and thanks to her. She provides what sustains life and no matter good or evil, everything owe her for their existence.

Among those who might offer a daily prayer or devote themselves entirely include: Farmers, Midwives, Matriarchs and Patriarchs, Shepherds, Miners, Fisherman, Hunters, Carpenters, Architects, Nannies, Teachers, Gardeners, Bee Keepers, Foragers, Milk Maids, Lumberjacks, Cooks and Cleaners, and Rangers and Druids.

There are few clerics that devote themselves entirely to Materna, but they do exist. Their numbers are nothing like what they were at the dawn of civilization, but, like a sturdy home, she endures whether blue skies or storms. Some are cult priests of neo-planetar sects, still others barbaric shaman adhering to old tradition, and still others on personal religious quests that have invariably led them back to Mother.

A mother’s love is unbiased and boundless, and her priests can be good, evil, or neutral. No matter the aspect they believe Materna to be, they still receive favors, quite an arguing point should two Maternan priests of different aspects meet. However, the basic statute that Materna is an ancient goddess who provides what is necessary for families, communities, and society as a whole to exist is universal.

Another universal are Materna’s sacred things, believed to represent the planetar and be under her will and protection:
serpents (keepers of her ancient mysteries)
bulls (virile animals)
pigs (providers of food)
hens (egg-keepers)
bees (pollinators)
beavers (industrious animal)
mandrake (child-like roots)
tea and tobacco (creature comforts)
milk and rainwater (sustenance)
hearths (hearts of the home)
homes (shelter)
courtyards (private enclosures)
caves (secret places in the earth)
families: mothers and grandmothers, fathers and grandfathers, children


Worship
Worship of Materna is as varied as her aspects. Some followers offer blood sacrifice, others simple hearth shrines or a prayer. Depending on the race, region and person, a follower can have a very formal prayer list (below), prefer to make their own, or not pray at all.

Under the neo-planetar religions, there are several coined prayers that reflect more modern churches but are worshipping the most-ancient goddess in all the pantheons:

Grace is said before consumption, preferably in the home and gathered with family and friends. It is a short, simple prayer that is universal throughout the empire, with minor variations.

Grace

O’ Selfless Provider, we thank you for these gifts of food and drink. And we thank you for the company in which we share them. In your name, all hail.

Hail, Materna is a common prayer for those seeking to invoke the first-mother. It is often spoken whenever a child is born, a house built, a barn raised or on the completion of any endeavor worthy of her.

Hail, Materna

Hail, Mother Nature, broad-bosomed Materna, selfless and giving. Blessed are you who provide for the world and blessed is the bounty of your wisdom. For you have empowered all peoples. All hail.

The Prayer for Help is a more serious invocation asking Materna for something that, as of yet, has not been provided. This list of provisions is as varied as man’s wants, but usually deals with things in and of her elements, like a healthy child. It can also address matters of familial judgment, when answers are needed and a matriarch or patriarch is at their wits’ end.

Prayer for Help

O Mother, I seek help! With the greatest of needs I address you and implore your aid. You have brought us fire. You have taught us the ways of the field and the wood. You have sustained the yearning masses. O Mother, you desire our salvation more than we do ourselves. I do not trust in mine own judgments, but in your divine intercession. For the sake of your child in need, I ask for your favor and grace. All hail.

The Prayer of Protection is used only in the most serious of situations when all chance of mortal defense has diminished. Materna is said to take all of these prayers to heart, and if the need be dire enough, act on them. However, using such a call when it is not needed often proves hazardous. It is equally unwise to use it selfishly in the preservation of one’s own flesh. Those who have used it and swore to its effectiveness include families trapped in burning homes, miners caught in a cave-in, and those seeking to shelter children.

Prayer of Protection

We fly to your open arms, O Mother Materna. In our moment of need, deliver us from danger, for you alone are the Provider, the Comforter, and the Protector. May your love become a shield to bear the brunt of doom. All hail.

Of course, as with most things, Materna is not picky on formality. The prayers listed are just a primer, even for neo-planetar believers. Messages sent to Materna are as varied as all her bounty. More than complete sentences or rhythmic verse, most believe Materna requires genuine feeling, and often finds those prayers born of true love and praise best.

Other prayers include:

The World Moan
Orcs and goblins sometimes use this commanding chant when sacking villages and shaman use it to demand Materna’s power. It often involves howling, stomping, and making bold threats against the goddess they believe bound and defenseless.


Under most Maternan aspects, there is also a prevalent method of worship known as the icon corner: The Icon Corner is a corner of the house dedicated to Materna, often marked with a table or stand with which to display small icons or sacred objects. Being the planetar of hearth and home, Materna does not require golden statues of gemmed idols. Often things displayed and prayed over include a bowl of milk or rainwater; a basket of wheat, flowers, or eggs; rough carvings of stone or wood (even better rocks, roots or branches that naturally look like a mother figure); something children have made; the hair, bones or ashes of a beloved family member or pet; family heirlooms; even a cabinet storing everyday household tools like whisks, rollers and pairing knives that help make the home function. Materna appreciates creativity in her worship and accepts nearly anything to be prayed over as long as it somehow reflects her aspects to the worshipper.


Holidays and Holy Sites
When Materna’s worship was at its peak, tribes held celebrations and offering ceremonies each cycle. However, as the faith base of Materna has steadily shrunk, more and more of the old holidays have been forgotten, same too with holy sites.

One that seems to have endured among her darker worshippers is Hordicidia, held every first brightening of summer. Gathered at a holy site, usually an enclosed, rural area, followers sacrifice pregnant cows, burning the fetuses and devouring the rest. This event is usually conducted by the highest shaman or Maternan priest available, overlooked by a team of virgins who are then spoiled in rejoice of fertility and abundance. The revelry is quite bloody.


Minions
Those counted among Materna’s loyal servants and heralds are considered her children, three sisters and three brothers.

The Sisters
Kikiel, Angel of Daughters
This spectacular angel looks like the most beautiful of maidens with a lithe frame and hawk’s brown wings. Those who look upon her and have daughters will see her face shift to resemble their child. It is said she appears over favored births, in times when chosen daughters are in need of protection, and at the moment of the first blossom of every spring. She is supposedly a fiery type, quick to defend the innocent, and brandishes an enchanted mace.

Floriel, Angel of Wives
This angel looks like a regal middle-aged woman with wisdom and understanding written across her calm visage. She is usually dressed in brilliant white garb and carries an enchanted quarterstaff reflecting the current season by either bare, budding or blooming sprigs along its length. She is the guardian of wives, offering strength and guidance wherever she can. Despite her temperate demeanor, it is said she takes special delight in harassing abusive husbands or misbehaved children.

Megalena, Angel of the Elderly
Perhaps the strangest of the three sisters, Megalena is a bowed crone with large crow wings. Her favored weapon is Strawbite, a gnarled old broom enchanted with the most powerful of druidic spells. She is the keeper of the elderly, and like her wards can sometimes be rude, sullen, stubborn, or wise. She revels in puzzles and torturing those disrespectful to their elders. Megalena also has a softer side, and often comforts those widows and widowers who’ve lost their other half to the sands of time.

The Brothers
Briar, Elder Root Elemental
Eldest of the brothers, Briar is a root elemental that spans every garden, courtyard and cave. He is Materna’s chief informer and messenger because of his vast network. Despite his advanced age, nearly as old as Materna herself, he is a humorous persona that will often joke and quip. Age seems not to have dulled his mind, either, and he’s proven incredibly knowledgeable on all manner of history, craft and arcana.

Cottus, The Living Swarm
Cottus, the second brother, is a sentient swarm of honey bees. He takes the shape of a giant head when speaking, or the form of a man when he chooses to lift something or wield a weapon. He is the protector of the industrious, those who use Materna’s gifts wisely, and is said to live in a massive hive somewhere on Telath. He is very quick to anger if he or his wards are provoked.

Gyges the Bull
Youngest of the brothers is Gyges, a cruel and angry avatar with the head of a bull and the body of a mighty giant. He is often found attending to Materna’s darker and more blood-thirsty followers, which has earned him the enmity of his siblings. However, whenever caught embroiled in evil plots Materna sees fit to pardon him. He despises Aetherians and constantly badgers his mother to act against them, pleas that fall on deaf ears. He is said to have an enchanted armory of every weapon the races ever developed, but prefers his horns and massive fists.

Materna also relies on her two pets, which for the most part are constantly at her side within the hearth plane. They are:

Marro the First-Hound
Marro is Materna’s faithful hound, an ancient creature, sometimes rumored the very first dog. He appears as any in the long list of breeds depending on his mood or the task assigned him. He’s most often used to lead would-be guests to Materna’s cottage or, in rare cases, to defend her most devote followers. Marro’s greatest pleasure, besides pleasing his mistress, is curling up at her feet and napping in the warmth of the fire.

Fezinka of the Lap
Fezinka is Materna’s cat, an aloof creature that often spends her time teasing Marro or napping in her mistress’s lap. It’s rumored she can speak any language and cast an impressive array of spells. She also, if the need requires, can shift into any cat form, be it tabby or tiger. Materna often asks Fezinka to enter Telath and tutor the chosen of the faith in ways of divine and arcane magic, as well as general knowledge of the planetars and Materna herself.