Tern Saint
Patron of Safe Passage
All things must end. The Cycle of the Saints has its own ending, and the Tern Saint brings it with laughter.
- a Marinastan proverb
The tern is a symbol of kindness and mercy? I must have been born under the wrong Saint sign, then.
- Zoraida
In Marinasta, the Tern Saint marks the closing of the current Saint Cycle. Characterized by safe passage, the Tern Saint as the final Saint symbolizes the successful completion of the Cycle, and if the Tern Saint is prevented from accomplishing their duties, the current Cycle is unable to close properly, which means the next Cycle will open with an unfavorable Albatross Saint, rather than a favorable one.
Defining Features
The Tern Saint is compassionate, intuitive, and tends to be wise beyond their years or lived experience. They are also exceedingly gentle people who draw great joy from solitude and excel at music. When pressured or mistreated, they can become overly fearful, develop victim complexes, and their first move when unhappy tends to be escaping either physically or mentally. They despise criticism, and nothing brings out their own cruelty like seeing cruelty perpetrated by others.
Saint Tasa of the Hills-With-Teeth by Midjourney
Common Symbols
The Tern Saint is represented by a tern or tern feathers, and the most recent person to embody the Tern Saint will have tattoos patterned after that person's story--for example, Saint Rosia helped thousands of Renanim and Judaeans escape from a dying planet and find safety on Mauretania, and she did so by channelling solar power though herself when the solar sails on the ship were inoperable. For this reason, Rosia is often represented by a sun symbol.
I Spoke as Tasa must have: facing a death so tall and hot it nearly broke me upon its fists. But I was heard--by whom, I don't know, I don't dare say--and my words were manifest, and the sun came to me with such fury and friendship that I can never again know darkness.
The Final Saint
The Tern Saint's position as the final Saint in the Cycle means that this Saint becomes a target for anyone intending to sabotage the next Cycle. If the Tern Saint is able to complete their task, the Albatross Saint will represent the innocence side of its nature. However, if the Tern Saint fails to complete their task, the Albatross Saint will represent the revenge side, likely generating a Saint Cycle that is steeped in warfare and blood. Some scholars of Marinasta posit that Saint Tasa did not complete her task, as Saint Ulia was the Albatross Saint following Saint Tasa, and Ulia is considered one of the most violent Saints in the recorded history of Marinasta.
Comparable Mythologies:
Renanel
Those born under the time of the Tern Saint are also born under the Renanel sign of Dagim, which is represented by a setting sun or a person seen from behind, and carries the meaning of completion or looking back on past accomplishments.
Immunes
The draconarius immunes class connects strongly to the Tern Saint because their EMP artillery is intended for a non-destructive solution to wartime problems, which they understand as providing safe passage for their fellow legionnaires, as well as whoever their enemy is.
The Tern Saint is nearly always depicted as two birds or two people.
Related People
Saint Tasa
Saint Rosia
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