Cult of Saint Cosmiana
Divine Origins
The Lord of the Universe created everything, and then rested. As he exhaled hard in his exertion, he breathed life into twelve beings that were first formed as cosmic wind, which pushed the planets and other galactic bodies into their chosen places.
Upon the overcrowded cities of Bithynia, a great plague settled and took life after life. The people fled the cities to the countrysides and took the plague with them, and the valleys were heavy with the smoke of funeral pyres.
A healer in the city, Cosmiana, attended to the sick and dying, never resting or slowing even when the plague reached its zenith. In her exhaustion and despair, a Saint blew into her, and Cosmiana found the strength to continue her ministrations. The Saint spoke to her in dreams, and told her how to extract a tincture from a certain flower, and was awoken from her dream by a chough on her windowsill. The chough led her to a flowering plant in her garden from which she followed the Saint's instructions, and upon administering this tincture to her patients, they were cured.
Cosmiana took the cure to every clinic, every hospital, every temple, every plague-struck home, and cured her city entirely. She traveled her nation, curing town after town, and spread the recipe for the tincture to healers, herbalists, and doctors. Everywhere she went, the chough came, settling on her shoulder and on occasion warning her away from danger.
In an isolated town deep in the mountains, trapped by a vicious blizzard, Cosmiana fell ill with plague. With a single dose of the tincture left and no way to get more, she gave it up to an ill young boy who went on to become the great physician Damios. Cosmiana used the last of her strength to climb the tallest peak, putting herself away from others so she would not spread the plague, and she died in the snow with the chough in her arms.
Her body remains, frozen and mummified, in the shrine built around her atop the mountain.
Tenets of Faith
No one is infirm if they follow the Lord of the Universe.
The industrious are the most blessed.
Prayers that carry the furthest are those spoken with the hands.
Worship
Tattoos
The most popular tattoo of the Cult of Saint Cosmiana is the Cosmia flower, the flower from which her plague cure was extracted. Following that, the outline of a chough, and following that, the chough's feather done in red ink. Those in the Cult of Saint Cosmiana generally locate their tattoos on the backs of their hands, their forearms, or their wrists.Prayers
Saint Cosmiana, guide my mind. Saint Cosmiana, help me persevere. Saint Cosmiana, bring him/her/them health.
Talismans
The chough remains a common and sacred bird on Bithynia, existing in great flocks along the planet's shorelines. Talismans with their feathers and preserved red feet are common and inexpensive. The chough that traveled with Saint Cosmiana is still mummified with her in her shrine, and prior to the shrine being guarded, some pilgrims took the chough's feathers for talismans. These talismans still exist and are considered panaceas, curing any illness or injury. The talisman is laid on the ill person's chest, head, abdomen, or wherever the illness stems from, and the healer prays to Saint Cosmiana until the patient is cured.Sects
Type
Religious, Cult
Parent Organization
Subsidiary Organizations
Deities
Location
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