Ericerbic, the Croaking Mother. Part of the Primordial Green, a wild goddess, she is the patron of the Grung and Bullywugs, goddess of reproduction, water, floods and rejuvination.
A bizarre goddess that seemed to exist purely for the sake of doing so, also known as the Sleeping Goddess for her perpetual lethargy, her power slowly decreasing over the span of the millennia.
Church of Ericerbic
Worshippers
More of a cult than a grand following of worshippers - she is mostly worshipped by druids, all Grung and Bullywugs. She once had other worshippers, Ericerbic was eventually only left with bullywugs and grung. She lacked clerics and her shamans were weak and simplistic. Fortunately, Ericerbic's poor support of her people were offset by the few duties of her shamans, who were required only to assist their tribal chiefs, likely relatives, and regularly partake in plant alkaloids.
They fetishized the summoning of immensely powerful monsters, often well-beyond their control.
Sometimes, worshippers would revere creatures known as Froghemoths, in the visage of Ericerbic. They would come across a creature, lure it to their den, paying it in tribute in the form of food and protection. The froghemoth would kill and eat a number of bullywugs, before they could successfully communicate their intentions. They would also protect and raise any eggs the froghemoth would hatch, which was good, as they tended to eat their eggs in the wild.
Orders
Temples & Shrines
Her shrines remain in only the natural places of the world, in wetlands, swamps and in crystal-clear pools. Usually in naturally protected groves nearby water sources or rivers. Her temples were nothing but forgotten ruins amid deep jungles and atop lowly plateaus, with great statues of her and her open mouth awaiting sacrifices dominating open areas. Aside from powerful gate magic, only by performing ancient rituals in such abandoned areas could avatars be called.
Realm
Her body resides in the 53rd layer of the Abyss, known as
Urae-Naas.
Divine Domains
Life - Nature - Peace - Tempest
Holy Books & Codes
Ericerbic holds no holy texts or books, all her teachings are passed down orally through her shamans... though in the decline of her worship, she has lost many of her teachings to her own people.
Divine Symbol
A multicoloured frog sitting on a lily-pad with water-flowers blossoming around it.
Tenets of Faith
- Reproduce as often as you can, for your children are the future.
- Take pleasure in the quiet waters of the world.
- Do not sully the birth of a newborn, and do not corrupt the waters of the world of their purity, or risk the wrath of the flood.
Dogma
Divine Goals & Aspirations
Personal History
As part of one of the Wild Gods that came about with the rise of the Primordial Green in combat against the Titans and the Linnorms.
During the arrival of the gods in the Great Founding, and in the event known as the
Golden Spring of Many Legacies - the Primordial Green followed in tandem with the giving of their life essence to populate the world in the aftermath of the Great War.
Ericerbic, unlike the other deities, sought a deed greater than the other Green - and beseeched the aid of Eostara the Spring Maiden. She wished to be mother to many children, wishing to fill the waters of the land, and the wetlands itself with her spawn. She sired first, the little Grung, beautiful, tiny and protected by a venomous substance that could prove fatal to any that touched them.
Then came the long Divine War - she sought to bring more life to foster the balance, and bring nature her beautiful bounty - sacrificing more of her essence - though Eostara was fearful of this attempt and unsure of its consequences, no deity had attempted to grant life to more than one race; it succeeded, but came to spawn the Bullywugs, a larger spawn - this had greatly dismayed Ericerbic and held her in a great lethargy for the rest of her life. A tragic consequence, but her life was filled with the love of two of her mortal children.
When the Cataclysm came, she was too weakened and lethargic to participate, and was assaulted by the Cloaked Serpent. The blow poisoned her form, but she was still resolute and rejuvinating, healing herself slowly - but she could do nothing else. Leading to the decline of her children, worried for their mother - Bwom'Sambdi, the Duke of Decay, saw that she would not last long in this world, and this poison was corrupting her. It was poisoning the lands around her body, and thus, he banished her form to the Abyss, as he had done so to all that threatened the balance, and threaten nature itself.
Her thoughtless pleasure seeking had led to her decline, her power and standing having deteriorated alongside that of her worshippers.
Her self-destructive behaviour proved fatal and her corpse was used to create a new Abyssal layer by Urae-Naas in which to gave life to corrupted creatures, creating
slaad tadpoles. Those that escaped the Abyss made their home in the Outer Plane of Limbo. Her entrails were repurposed and used to form the tunnel system and interment facility that was the
Phage Breeding Grounds, the relatively small but nonetheless grotesque 53rd layer of the Abyss.
Physical Appearance
A multi-coloured rainbow haired woman of olive-skin, wide hips and a stout obese body and bosom. Seemingly glistening across her skin. Wearing an unflattering tribal dress, a golden blossom-headress and sweeping transluscent blue-robes that fall like waterfalls.
