Ponder
Speaker of Heaven Ponder Destined-for-Glory Of-Sun-Path-West
Ponder of Shirpatra was the greatest Life Cleric in the history of the world- they were a true prodigy, attaining power known only to the eldermost clerics at a surprisingly young age. They were exceptionally observant and ab analytical genius, a true demonstration of what a solar can achieve when given an education and a lifetime dedication. They are remembered as a nigh-mythical figure among solars, though the younger races have largely forgotten them (rolling their accomplishments into those of Haru ).
Ponder is a saint-like figure in Ayshanism: apprentice of Haru, foundation philosopher, and personal assistant to the sun goddess Aysha herself. Their death defending Aysha against invaders has made them a martyr for the religion, a figure representing the injustice inflicted upon the true believers by heathen barbarians. Ayshans that make it to Paradise after death often make pilgrimages to Ponder's glade, to assist the dead saint in saving the damned from Purgatory.
While Ponder has been dead for over one thousand years, they have miraculously remained sentient and independent in the afterlife. They are a curious figure in heavenly politics, accumulating knowledge and souls while occasionally intervening strategically in the endless intrigue of the Lunar Pantheon. For the most part, they align with the Lunar Gods Haru and Agamine the Lost (who they help with soul-saving), but they have been known to involve themselves in the drama of the rest of the pantheon. Their goals in this are unknown.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Ponder was born to the solar scholar Divine, the solar merchant Cheer, and the solar cleric Wonder in 590 ME. Their parents were all ambitious, curious, and friends of the Immortal Demigod Aysha and Ponder was named "Destined-for-Glory". Expectations were high for this child, who was blessed not long after birth and cherished by their nomadic band. But at age 13 (middle childhood for solars), two of Ponder's parents vanished from their life: Cheer and Wonder were attacked by bandits during trade negotiations, and while Wonder's body was never discovered both were presumed dead. Ponder's third parent, Divine, took this grieving very badly and ultimately fled the tribe and abandoned Ponder entirely. For the next few years, the Of-Sun-Path-West band raised Ponder the best they could, but it soon became clear that Ponder needed more than they could offer educationally and emotionally.
In 605, Ponder was given to the clerical community of Aysha at the shining city of Suwirsha, capital city of Aysha's Empire of Shirpatra. While this alien setting did not help Ponder much emotionally, it did provide an intense day-to-day schedule to try and push the grief away. While the community was warm and welcoming to the orphan solar, Ponder didn't truly open up or embrace their studies until one fateful day in late 606 when they visited a fortune teller and mystic on the outskirts of Suwirsha. This mystic wowed Ponder with their seemingly-magical understanding of Ponder's emotions and situation, and promised something truly amazing: that Ponder was destined to become a powerful cleric and healer and that when that happened, the parent that abandoned them would return with love and they would be able to mend their lost family. Ponder had been raised with high expectations and carried destiny in their name. This new development made sense to them and bolstered their faith. They returned many times to fortune tellers to talk through their problems and make sense of the world, giving them a reputation among their peers as eccentric and superstitious (Suwirshan solars being largely skeptical and hostile towards mystics and divination). Nonetheless Ponder excelled as a cleric and a philosopher, earning themselves the name Ponder in 620.
From 620 to 640, they worked as a cleric and writer in Suwirsha. They became known as a philosophical deviant of sorts, as they attempted multiple ethical defenses of Halycon and the Architects as well as determinism and fate. Despite being outside the norm in many ways, Ponder still worked diligently as a clerk and a healer and was accepted despite their quirks into the Suwirshan lower elite. This was a happy period where Ponder finally began to make meaningful friendships, but they were never satisfied with lower management. In 640 ME they jumped on the opportunity to venture East to the land of Keshet, which had recently become independent from the crumbling Aynevan Empire, to provide aid and healing to those hurt by the war. What Ponder found in Keshet was worse than anticipated: not only were the war-torn towns in dire need of assistance, but regions within Keshet seemed to be in terrible famine while others prospered. Upon closer investigation, Ponder discovered someone within the kingdom was specifically overtaxing and starving out certain areas. Ponder decided to enter palace intrigue and, after a failed assassination attempt, discovered that the culprit was none other than the rising power-behind-the-throne: Iluna, a Pratasa/Areto priest-lord that was undermining their political opponents and building up their own lands through draconian manipulation of policy. Ponder spent the next decade undermining and fighting Iluna, and helped organize a rebellion against her in 648 after she openly crowned themselves priest-monarch of Keshet. Iluna was finally driven out of Keshet entirely in 650 by the rebels. Ponder returned a hero to Suwirsha and was offered the opportunity of a lifetime: to be the apprentice of the Wandering God Haru.
From 650 to 675, Ponder studied diligently under Haru's tutelage. They rose in power and status rapidly, a young star among Western Solars. In 675 it was time to apply that knowledge and power again, as Haru prepared a venture across the world to Stildane. There were reports of a great and terrible empire of dark magic there that had risen while Haru was focusing on Samvara, and Aysha's inner circle worried that it might be the Cosmic Threat the Architects had warned Aysha and Haru about. From 675 to 685, Ponder and Haru journeyed in the East.
It quickly became clear after a year in Stildane that the Empire of Dark Magic was not a cosmic evil, and the expedition set about trying to understand and potentially find a "counter" to the magical material that enabled this dark magic: Ederstone. They began establishing a research facility in Northern Suneka, with the help of a Sunekan Pangolin Sorcerer-Warlord by the name of Akuzo. For years, they studied Ederstone and gathered knowledge of Suneka and Stildane, but they never did find a convenient way to easily and ethically neutralize Ederstone. Their plans to overthrow that Kivish Empire were also cut short by a sudden discovery: a strange creature in Northern Suneka that was also investigating Ederstone, that seemed to have unusually accurate knowledge of Haru and Ponder. Distracted entirely by this discovery, they rushed home with their findings without ever actually undoing the evils they had found. Ponder did maintain a long-distance magical line of communication with Akuzo, though. Despite being radically different personalities, they remained close friends until Akuzo's death in 710 ME.
Returning to Samvara, Ponder was brought fully into Aysha and Haru's inner circle. While Ponder was still a determinist with a strong sense of faith in the divine, their experiences in Keshet and Stildane had undermined their belief in the goodness of the Architects. After their return to the West, they began crafting a new theology that bridged the gap between their old faith and their new experiences. They never did fully reject Halcyon, but instead asserted that Halcyon's good aspects were divinely inspired by an even higher divine source of goodness. While the Architects and their world were evil, those good aspects of their creation were still to be cherished.
When Aysha "ascended" to godhood in 700 ME, Ponder was at her side. In their new religion Ponder organized the traditionalist solar clerics into the Order of Solar Mystics, who would practice Ayshanism under Ponder's new cosmology. This mystical branch of Ayshanism would become its own long-standing faction within the Ayshan church that remains to this day.
As a representative of Aysha, Ponder went on to help negotiate religious peace in the Southwest in 739. As a symbol of Samvaran peace and unity, Ponder helped construct a grand cathedral in the city of Miepur. This cathedral was to be shared between the faiths and would act as the Western headquarters for The Healing Church in its mission to provide healing potions and medicine. Not long after construction of the main chamber of the cathedral was finished in 745, Ponder was given a new mission by Aysha and Haru: head eastward to meet with the immortal demigod Mavara (sister of Aysha), to act as Aysha's ambassador and agent in the East.
From 745 to 880, Ponder lived in Inahng as Aysha and Haru's representative. This was almost a new life for Ponder: away from their old friends and connections, entirely isolated in yet another alien world. But again Ponder built a life from scratch. They entered a relationship with Kivish Kobold exile and explorer Okerta Degenora, settled into Mavara's circle of friends, and became friends with a number of elder clerics of the Eastern solar tribes. Life slowed down for Ponder during this time. Plans to destroy the Kivish Empire were delayed again and again and simply never came to pass. More and more time was spent meddling in the affairs of the massive and magical Empire of Calazen instead, as Mavara increasingly delegated her own affairs with the Empire to Ponder. The Empire's endless intrigue and politics occupied much of Ponder's time, as did Ponder's family with Okerta. Of their two children, the eldest had the misfortune of being born a Solar. While they were blessed by Mavara to not need to migrate (as Aysha had to Ponder long ago), they soon found themselves the victim of impossible expectations. Trained as a cleric and a scholar, this child took the name Harmony in 785 ME. Harmony was above average to skilled in administration, magic, and scholarship, but was constantly plagued by crippling anxiety and self-destructive tendencies. While their relationship was positive for Harmony's childhood, Ponder increasingly micromanaged their early career. Their relationship quickly soured. Ponder's sharp disapproval of Okerta and Kazala (their second child, born a Half-Prism) receiving "over-generous" blessings from Mavara further drove a wedge between Ponder and the rest of the family. While Aysha had very strict limitations on the magical interventions she would perform, Mavara was much more generous with those she favored- offering vast extensions of lifespans and dangerously powerful boons. Ponder saw such blessings as dangerous meddlings with destiny and "the natural order". This sowed many fights and disagreements, eventually leading to a mostly-friendly end of Okerta and Ponder's marriage in 831. The prior year, Harmony had been sent out to act as Aysha and Mavara's agent and representative among the nomadic Eastern solars, and Kazala had joined Mavara's temple guard.
Distance actually improved Harmony and Ponder's relationship, though it never fully recovered. In 880, Ponder was recalled to the West. Religious war was ablaze again in Samvara, the Selkie empire known as The Khilaia was gathering an army, and Haru was getting ready to help raise a child of their own. Ponder left Inahng with many regrets: they had quietly been supporting the newly founded religion of Nedira and had great plans to influence its dogma and structure; reforms in Kizen had produced a long-awaited opportunity to intervene in Stildane; there was much yet to be done in Suneka. All of these things were left to Harmony instead, as Ponder left for Samvara permanently.
By the time Ponder arrived in Shirpatra and re-adjusted to their old home, the selkies had begun their conquests. Instead of diving into the empire to destroy it, Ponder took a careful approach of building up Shirpatra's military and alliances. In Keshet, where Ponder was still revered as a legendary hero, they personally saw to it that the kingdom converted to Ayshanism and pledged full military support to protecting Aysha. When the conquering Selkie general Milen finally arrived to attack Shirpatra in 931, Ponder was ready. While Aysha and Suwirsha were protected, Ponder underestimated the selkie fleet and personally descended upon their fleet. After expending much magical energy, they spotted Milen's ship and descended upon him to destroy this nuisance once and for all. But Milen was clever, and had lured Ponder into a trap: the ship was primed to explode and forces waited beneath the waves to drag Ponder down. Ponder, exhausted and surprised for the first time in decades, was dragged to their death beneath the waves.
The selkie fleet was also destroyed, and Milen was slain. Ponder's preparations had worked. But the devastation and chaos was enough to delay Ponder's resurrection by Haru. In Paradise, waiting to be revived, Ponder encountered their parents. To them, this was the fulfillment of the prophecy that had begun their career: their chance to meet and understand their parents. When Haru finally performed the spell to resurrect Ponder a week after their death, Ponder refused to come back. They were not going to fight against destiny.
It took many years and much more wandering for Ponder to finally find happiness in the afterlife. And that happiness has never been complete, as Ponder has never stopped working. Many strange figures have made company with the cleric in heaven: not just their family and friends, but Milen, their killer.
Gender Identity
Gender-fluid
Relationships
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments