Gods of Cardia

Gods and Saints of Cardia Lord Anso, Nobility Only recently (in the last 10 years) have merchants and mercantile guilds risen to prominence, for the last 1,500 years, Cardia has been a feudal society. Cardians obsess over nobility. Average citizens, especially in The City, draw long lists tracing their bloodline back to ancient, obscure, and sometimes fictional nobility.
They follow the trends set by their noble lords and look up to their rulers in a way Vaslorians don’t and the Caelians didn’t. Vaslorians assume kings and queens and their line will be stable, and maintained over at least a few generations, but Cardians are all too familiar with the vagaries of fate and fortune. They expect nobles to be poised, betrayed, and the lists to be rewritten several times in any given generation.
Nobility is aspirational to the Cardians. Cardians believe anyone, through luck, chance, treachery, or patience, can become noble and though they don’t talk about it, they assume, that sooner or later, everyone gets their shot at it. Vaslorians believe every man has his place, but Cardians actually believe in upward mobility! In Vasloria, the only way a peasant can become a king, is to raise an army! And, indeed, this is how nobles change in Vasloria: war. But the noble list is often being rewritten in Cardia.
Saint Lucia (f) Charity Caring for the Sick and Poor
The Church of Saint Lucia the Meek is the most numerous church in Cardia, but not the most powerful. Many towns have small temples or shrines to the saint of humility. If there’s an itinerant priest, who tends to the sick, they are almost always a priest of Saint Lucia.
Saint Montanino, Duty
Saint Ysabella (f), Justice The most powerful church in Cardia and the patron saint of The City is the Church of Saint Ysabella, the Bright, the Just Handed, the Seeker.
Saint Bergo, Mercy
Saint Pellario Ambition The Church of Saint Pellario, the Aspirant sponsors the Knights of the Black Glove, the premier order of knights in The City.
Lady Donisa, Fate and Fortune Fortune, the wheel of fortune, the notion that whoever is up, will soon be down, and vice versa, plays a major part in the lives of your average Cardian. They do not believe this is mere chance, they believe the gods act to bring down the mighty and raise up the meek. And the gods are happy to oblige!
Cardians hope the gods for Fortune are watching them, but unless desperate they would never invoke the names of the gods of fortune for fear of abusing the privilege.
Tragedies feature prominently in Cardian plays and opera going back centuries. The notion of fate conspiring against our heroes and denying them their true love, is a classic Cardian trope.
Saint Bonagratia (f) Gambling & Risk Cardians like to gamble, they consider it a sort of virtue. They’re aware that some people overdo it, just as some people drink too much, but these are outliers.
The common decks of cards found across Orden comes from Cardia and originally was an oracular device used by priests of Saint Bonagratia.
This has a lot to do with the Cardian tradition of sailing to distant lands seeking wealth and fortune (through trade when possible, theft when necessary). Risk, is virtuous. The gods reward those who take bold chances. “Fortune Favors The Bold” is a popular saying throughout Orden, it comes from Cardia.
“Playing your cards right” is a common phrase and one that betrays the Cardian relationship between gambling, fate, and prosperity. The gods will reward you for winning the game, if you can play the hand you were dealt.
A Cardian hates a sure thing, doesn’t trust it, many plays and operas revolve around protagonists who deliberately stack the deck against themselves to curry favor with the gods of Fortune. Cardians like long odds.
Saint Amato, Travel & the Sea Cardians have a reputation as the greatest sailors in the world. Part of this comes from their geography. Cardia is a thin strip of scrubland running north/south on the western side of the Bale Sea. With nothing but mountains to the west, Cardians have little choice but to take to the sea.
Travel is more than a necessity though, Cardians love the risk and danger inherent in exploration. Not only finding new lands (little of Orden is unexplored in this age) but the risks involved in trade. Making outrageous deals with foreign potentates. And, of course, Piracy!
Many poor Cardians with little opportunity are taught by their parents that the best way upward is out. Out to sea. Young children, as young as nine, sign up to serve on the great Cardian galleons that dominate the sea lands. Both Vaslorians and Cardians expect young children to apprentice to craftsmen, but in Cardia this apprenticeship is usually expected to take place on a boat!
Cardians invented the triangular sail, allowing them to tack into the wind and while it’s been hundreds of years since they were the only people who understood this technique, and now everyone in Orden can sail anywhere they want, Cardians are still the masters of the sea.
Saint Bonola (f) Fools Fools are those who tempt fate, and push their luck and know their destiny but fight against it. Saint Vivanio Vanity Saint Baldassare Wealth & Poverty
Contessa Rosa, Love/Romance/Passion Among the most celebrated gods, featured in song, story, is the god of love and passion. Never chief among the gods, but always the source of conflict. The greatest plays on the Cardian stage are about lovers, and the trials and tribulations they go through.
Prior to the Age of Troubadours, love was something that developed slowly over time, starting with affection, between people who were already married. Marriage was a function of society. Not the individual. Everyone, including the husband and the wife, understood that marriage was a tool to strengthen the culture and men and women were expected to do their duty. Marriages were planned and organized for years between families and the wants and desires of the couple in question never entered into it.
Cardians invented the idea of romantic love. And specifically the idea of loving someone you’re not supposed to, of being smitten. Of love at first sight. Of unrequited love. Of love that breaks through class and culture.
The greatest heroes in Cardian art are lovers who spurned the expectations of society and followed their heart, often into tragedy. Cardian stories do not end with the lovers together, unless they tragically die shortly thereafter.
Living life authentically means following your bliss, following your heart, consequences be damned. But, the god of fortune is also the god of consequences. In the end, everyone gets what’s coming to them. No one here gets out alive.
The God of Passion is known to be in love with Lord Anso, and Lady Donisa knows it. All the gods know it. But they cannot be together.
Saint Bellamo, Revelry The Fall celebration of harvesting the grapes for wine is a time of revelry, celebration of life. Because much of Cardia is a Mediterranean climate, they do not celebrate rebirth and renewal in spring, but rather in Fall. “Your wine has soured.”
This is also the time for staging new works of art. The week of Vintage is a regional holiday during which no works get done, and much art is debuted, wine drunk, and food consumed.
Saint Demelza Rivalry (f) Obsession Saint
Selanda Lust (f) Summer, spontaneity
Saint Tuco, Sacrifice unrequited love
Saint Marco, Kinship
Lady Tasila, Violence/Bravery Spontaneous violence is virtuous. Follow your heart! Don’t think overmuch. If that man insulted you, take of your glove! Slap him! Draw your sword, sir, or by Tasila I will scar a coward.
Violence and bravery are close cousins in Cardia, two sides of the same coin. Rare is the opportunity for bravery without violence. Cardians understand the value of duty, and being true to your word, but they do not mythologize it overmuch the way Vaslorian and the Higara do.
A coward in Cardia is someone who thinks something, but does not say it. Who hides their meaning. A brave person is one who says what they think, damn the consequences.
It was Lady Tasila who saw the plotting scheming Vieri and exposed him, despite the cost to herself.
Cardians love heroic deaths, but unlike the Vanirmen who consider dying in battle the greatest honor, Cardians prefer dramatic, flamboyant deaths. Violence, battle are common to both, but Cardians prefer an audience, and a solo performance. Whereas the Vanirmen expect to die in battle among their clansmen.
Saint Flora (f) Dueling & Blades Saint Paula (f) Honesty Saint Enzio, Blood, Scars, Wounds Saint Baldovino, Cheating Saint Lucia (f), Death
Count Causulo, Art Art is an end unto itself. Pursuing it is a noble virtue. The noble class are expected to be artists, and often are not! This is where patronage comes from. If you’re a noble, you better either be a great artist, or the sponsor of great artists.
Cardians assume that a great artist is someone blessed by the gods! A success artist is one who makes great art, not one who makes money. Money is considered déclassé. Art costs money, it doesn’t make money. You put money in, you get art out.
Artist are, dramatically, expected to die penniless. An artist who died wealthy would be considered a failure because he abandoned art, and pursued commerce.
Saint Galindo, Theater and Actors and Performance Spontaneity
Saint Diamentia (f), Music and Poetry and Writing Inspiration
Saint Yça, Magic, Lore and Knowledge Craft
Saint Alvar, Language
Saint Elana (f) Truth
Baron Vieri, Treachery Deceit, scheming. Planning! Cardians hate planning, they hate administration and bureaucracy and outlines! A writer is expected to sit down and write until the play is over! Don’t plan it out, follow your muse! Discover the work, see where it leads.
People who plan overmuch are suspicious. The assassin’s guild is very well organized, an assassination must be planned. It is a (metaphorically) bloodless act. As opposed to murder! Which happens spontaneously and is highly romanticized.
Vieri, Anso’s brother and the Cardian God of Treachery, planned an elaborate scheme to replace Lord Anso, and assume his identity. And be the husband to Lady Donisa.
Cardians believe Vieri was exposed because of the extent of his planning. His scheme involved so many other people and layers, that it was easy to unravel. If Vieri had be acting in the moment, out of passion, he might have been the hero.
The proper life is lived in the moment, in passion, with conviction. The inauthentic life is planned and scheduled.
Saint Orsino, The Diplomat (Secrets & Lies) Saint Umberto, Conspiracy Saint Giana (f) Patience Saint Ridolfo, Blackmail Saint Alfieri (f) Envy + Jealousy
Ragilo, Cowardice Violence is natural result of conflict in Cardia, even squabbling over the bill at a restaurant can erupt into swordplay. “That tip was ungenerous, Franco.” “You call me a miser, sir? Produce your steel!”
The coward is the person who does not back up with words with action. Who shirks from violence and fears the sight of their own blood. How many scars do you have I see none on you. Are you a coward, lady?
The coward is the man who needs a crowd watching to do the right thing. A good Cardian acts, and relies on his wits, even when no one is watching.
The God of Cowardice knew what the right thing to do was, and didn’t act. A great tragic event took place because this god was afraid of getting hurt, and so did not act.
Saint Corbella (f) Poisons Saint Vieri, Fear Saint Nero, Silence Saint Paolo, The Lawyer (Hiding/Shadows) “The Law is a shadow.” Saint Cambio, Sloth