The Many-Colored Goddess

Risidia is a theocracy. The Empire exists under the Many-Colored Goddess. This name actually comes from outside Risidia as outsiders see the empire with many sects that all worship the Empress. This, however, is far from the case.

Each sect in Risidia is distinct, ruled over by a Minister. Every sect believes the Empress is a representation of their goddess and not representative of the other sect’s goddess. Each sect performs an essential civic or governmental duty. So, while they may call each other blasphemous, the country could not exist without each sect.

The government is run by the Council of Ministers. Each Minister heads a sect, with the exception of the Minister of State, who coordinates all other Ministers and is considered the voice of the Empress. The Empress is never seen in public except on rare occassions from a distance. Otherwise only the Ministers see the Empress.

Normally this would not work without great fear. However, the difference is that magic works. Since dreamers cannot take each other's magic, there is little reason to fight over it.

Under the Ministers is the House of Lords. These nobles run the bureaucracies of the government. They never see the Empress.

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There is one thing the outsiders get right which Risidians would not accept nor believe. There is only one Goddess, who appears differently to each sect.
The last secret, which only the Ministers know and, of course, the Empress, is that the Empress is not the representation of the Goddess on Earth, but actually the Goddess and the only goddess.

Goddess-on-Earth

The current Empress is Giliana Risidia.

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In fact, she has been the only Empress, being thousands of years old. However, the Ministers claim the Empress, when she reaches a certain age, takes a lover and has a daughter. After a time, the Empress “dies” and the new Empress is crowned.

Many Risidians have paintings of the Empresses and their families.

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It is unknown where the lovers come from or who the children are in the paintings.

The Goddess does appear to her followers in the form of visions or travels to the Otherworld. Always dark, a place of mystery. Risidians believe they travel through this Otherworld to the world of the Dead. This world has many parts but is finite and much smaller than Eidmaharia proper. Some sects acknowledge that the Goddesses that live in this Otherworld are connected. Others do not.

Sects

Alabastru – Blue Goddess

This sect is responsible for securing the borders of Risidia. Blue robed dreamers are taught to give their own life energy to erect an invisible wall at the Risidian borders, and move the walls should Risidia gain or lose territory.

Being a blue priest is a death sentence. The dreamer gives of themselves until they disappear. New blue robes are not usually made but found and resused as the dreamer priest disappears. Also know as becoming the waters.

The wall keeps Dreamers from using the dream to spy on the country. Dream messages cannot be passed into the country. It serves as an aleart to the Empress that a person has entered the country. The Goddess doesn’t pay much attention to this unless she is activitly looking, a large force is coming, or an extremely powerful dreamer has entered the country. The wall supposedly covers the country as well.

Finally the wall extends the Goddesses power. She is limited in that she can only occupy a small space unless she these walls extend her power. She can reach to walls and no farther.

Blue priests see the Otherworld as a vast ocean. When they meditate they appear on a beach at sunset, backed by a forest. The Goddess, if she appears to them, appears as a woman made of water.

Blue Priests are not bothered by other sects and don’t interact with other sects much.

Ceresai – Amber Goddess

The Brown robes, as they are often referred, run hospitals, medical care centers, nurseries, orphanages, and other services. They are the most popular sect and employ much of the population who are not dreamers. Dreamers are taught to use their dreaming for healing, Something which dreamers in other countries claim cannot happen.

The Otherworld appears as a large cottage in a darkened wood. The Goddess appears as a robed and cowled woman carrying a lantern with a yellow glow.

The Gray Goddess – Surial and the Pure

The Gray Goddess has two sects to her name, both of which find other sects to be blasphemous. They tolerate the other sects for their uses but teach the Surial and the Pure to ask forgiveness for using services of another sect.

The Surial train dreamer warriors, as the main force of the Risidian Army. These warriors are forbidden to use the dreaming to touch another’s mind. Because of this they find other dreamers blasphemous in general. The body is considered sacred. Surial warriors are not allowed to manifest the dream, except through the Callous Sword, a bronzed sword given to each Surial. The Surial do manipulate the dream through this focus, however. Many people roll their eyes at this fine distinction. Surial take it very seriously.

While they are a religious order, they are not monks, not celibate. They do meditate to enter the Otherworld.

The Gray Goddess is more actively worshiped by this sect. She is a goddess of death, leading the dead down the Gray road with her herd of deer through a Gray wood. The dear are supposed to be the souls of the dead. The Otherworld appears only in grayscale. Surial talk of traveling the Gray Road, escorting the Goddess and the dead in their meditations. The Goddess walks the Gray Road, the twilight road between Dreams and the Awakened. "And by your leave I walk the Gray Road in your shadow, by your side and ahead in death."

Deer in Risidian culture are a symbol of death.

Surial train until they can pass several tests which show their combat skills, and dreamer skills. Once they pass they have a choice to make. Join the military proper, leaving to be stationed at a military base or sent to the front lines to fight against the Bentauran Empire.

The other choice is to join the Pure. These are the true monks. A Surial renounces the world, entering a vow of silence. They leave behind the abilities they learned, only allowed to meditate, but also allowed to make Glows. They contemplate the Gray Road, walk with the Goddess and write down her word.

The Pure never leave their monastery and are never seen except by their Voices, eight Surial appointed to the position who sets up for the initiation ceremony and arranges for the material needs of the monastery. They sponser new members to the Pure.

The Ceremony is held in a dark auditorium. The Pure come, only uttering a keening sound and holding Glows. The initiate renounces the world and their voice. Their head is shaved and then the Pure disappear. No one sees them come or go.

The Avatar

The Avatar of the Goddess is the voice of the Risidian Empire outside of the country. There has only been one Avatar appointed by the Empress, when Risidia was founded thousands of years ago.

Altars

Altars to the Goddess include a set of icons, small statues that represent the Goddess and her acoutrements such as Grey Goddess' herd of deer. A small bowl for water is used for blessing.

Curses & Prayers

• Bless this vibrant feast and nourish the dream.
• And by your leave I walk the Gray Road in your shadow, buy your side and ahead in death.
• Oh Gray Goddess watch over the road I now travel, for it is treacherous and I cannot see.
• May the Gray Goddess bar you from the path.