As the goddess of mourning, Dolor is prayed to during times of despair and disaster. Depicted as a dark haired woman, whose calm, smooth face rests behind a thin black funeral veil, Dolor teaches her disciples how to deal with their grief. She reaches those who have been lost to sadness and woe, and teaches them to move forward, into the light of hope.
Dolor, unlike her brother
Trance, has large temples and cathedrals throughout the known world. They are mostly tall edifices, covered in spires and stained glass depicting famous acts of mourning and martyrdom throughout history, except in smaller or poorer communities, where they settle for smaller stone or wood structures. From within, the stained glass windows are covered with thin veils, to represent that sorrow is only a thin veil that stands in the way of hope and healing. In either case, they always have space put aside for the poor, sick, or grieving, always willing to take in plague victims or refugees in the worst of times.
The most famous temple to Dolor is the Cathedral of the Ephemeral Song, which towers over a surrounding neighborhood in eastern region of
Kingdom of Il Paraonde . This church of dizzying proportions and mounting spires is the home of the famed Harp of Heart’s Calling. The inside of this Cathedral is designed with the harp in mind, with clever engineering and magical augmentation delivering its notes to the farthest corners of the structure with perfect clarity. Played at all times by a trio of mysterious priestesses known as the “Sisters of Remembrance”, the harp’s songs are eagerly absorbed by throngs of mourners and pilgrim’s, who claim that through the harp’s song, they can almost hear the soothing words of friends or family long lost to them.
The clergy of the goddess Dolor are misunderstood by many, except for those who have need of their services. Dolor is the goddess of healing, grieving, and martyrdom. While many believe their faith to be sad, they happen to be a very peaceful and uplifting group of worshipers. The most common clergy members, the “Bleak Gatherers”, are present in nearly every city across the continent. Besides their temples, they are found in infirmaries, graveyards, and poor houses; anywhere the sorrowful gather. It is their task to gather up the sorrows of these downtrodden folk, and give them hope through council, healing, or simply listening to their plight.
The armed guard of the faith are called “Grey Guard”, and are trained in the protection of holy sights, and more discretely, in the dispersal of unclean spirits that can be found disturbing areas fraught with grief. The heads of the faith, called the “Hands of Martyrs”, are paragons of empathy, being some of the most skilled healers in the world, of whom some legends claim can literally absorb anothers wounds into themselves.
Tenets:
Find hope in darkness, and it will lead you back into the light.
Honor the memory of those no longer at your side, and their memory will live on inside you.
Nurture and promote joy, joy balms the wounded soul.
Defend the purity of Life, destruction of life is the greatest source of sorrow.
Example sins of Dolor include but are not limited too:
Ignoring the pain of others
