The Sect of Viresca, the Verdant Daughter

Overview

The Sect of Viresca is a widespread, deeply-rooted spiritual tradition devoted to the nurturing face of divine light—one that coaxes life from the soil, sustains villages through winter, and celebrates the sacred rhythm of growth and harvest. It is a powerful branch of Lumenor’s broader faith, yet, unlike her father, Viresca is not a distant deity, but an intimate presence in everyday life. To invoke her name is to pray for food, fertility, stability, and survival.

Symbols

A radiant sheaf of wheat, a golden sickle wrapped in ivy, or a rising sun behind a plowed field

Worship and Cultural Role

Viresca's worship most commonly takes place within the Temples of Lumenor as does that of her youngest sister, Meliora. Their worship is always connected to his, but localized, intimate, and focused on preservation rather than purity. In many temples of Lumenor, their shrines are located in niches or annexes near the sanctuary flame, with separate ritual calendars but shared festivals. Some believe that Meliora and Viresca’s prayers rise first to Lumenor’s ears, softening his decrees with love and memory.
However Viresca also has devoted temples with their own aesthetics, rules and festivals.

Temples

Her temples are open-air shrines, often circular and surrounded by groves, vineyards, grain fields, orchards or gardens. Sometimes, her temples take the form of pilgrim Farms—communal living-spaces where crops are tended in her honor. The central altar is a stone bowl filled with sacred soil, refreshed each year from a pilgrimage to a “First Furrow”—a holy, ever-fruitful valley said to be where Viresca first sowed grain. Vessels of fresh grain, and icons made from woven straw or preserved flowers are commonly found in her temples as offerings.

Clergy

Called Earthsisters (or Sunsons, in rare male-led communities), and are both spiritual leaders and agricultural experts. Her clergy wear robes dyed in wheat-gold, moss green, and soil-brown, adorned with seasonal tokens like dried corn husks, grape leaves, or flower pins. The usually adorn hats woven from straw and golden thread. The Earthsisters bless seeds before planting, lead harvest rites, and provide counsel on farming cycles, weather signs, and land stewardship. Lay worshippers participate heavily in seasonal rites, bringing first fruits, baking sacred loaves, and praying at sunrise on planting days.

Festivals

Springtide Blessing

Marks the beginning of planting season. Seeds are sanctified, blessed by the clergy, and sown in patterns that mimic divine symbols.

Summer’s Fulfillment

A midsummer celebration of growth and fertility, often marked by dancing, feasts, and flower garlands. A time for handfastings and romantic courtship.

Golden Reap (Harvest Festival)

The largest celebration in her honor. The first fruits of the harvest are offered to her altar. Food is distributed to the poor, and a “Breadmother” is crowned to represent Viresca for the day.

The Sleeping Field (Late Autumn)

A solemn rite that gives thanks to the earth before the frost. The fields are ritually “put to rest” and winter offerings are made to ensure next year’s bounty.

Miracles

Her clerics are known to restore withered crops, purify blighted fields, and bring fertility to land and livestock with whispered prayers and sacred touch.

Political and Social Role

• In rural and agricultural regions, Viresca’s clergy often wield considerable influence, acting as village elders, advisors, and record-keepers.


• They mediate land disputes, bless new homes, and serve as moral arbiters in matters of fairness and food distribution.


• Some kingdoms even appoint Virescan Chaplains to oversee food stores, emergency rations, and communal agriculture during war or famine.

Sacred Tools and Relics

• Sickle of the First Furrow: Said to be forged from a meteorite that fell on the first day of planting.


• The Everseed: A mythical, undying grain said to have been gifted directly from Viresca's hands.


• The Soilmother’s Mantle: A ceremonial cloak worn by the high priestess, woven of grasses and enchanted to never rot.

Spiritual Philosophy

Viresca’s followers believe that duty to the land is sacred—to till, to tend, and to share. While Lumenor’s law may govern cities, Viresca’s law is lived through seasons, sweat, and generosity. Hoarding, wastefulness, and dishonoring the land’s cycles are seen as moral failings. There is also a belief that the earth "remembers". Every step, every harvest, every prayer sown into the soil leaves a mark. The faithful speak of “tilled souls”—those whose lives nourish generations beyond their own.

Relationship to Lumenor

Though Viresca is a Daughter of the Sun, she is worshipped with a much warmer familiarity than her father. To the common folk, Lumenor judges, but Viresca provides. They are never opposed—but where Lumenor represents cosmic order and divine judgment, Viresca reflects earthly balance and divine mercy.

Ethics

The land is alive—a gift from the divine and a responsibility of mortals.
Labor is sacred—to till the soil is to enter into divine rhythm with the earth.
Share what grows—greed and hoarding insult Viresca’s bounty.
All things move in season—nothing blooms forever; each cycle has its time.
Viresca’s faith emphasizes patience, community, and reverence for the natural world. Her followers are taught to listen to the soil, to respect the cycle, and to live close to the land, physically and spiritually.

Sow in faith, reap in grace.

Type

Religious, Sect

Ruling Organization

The Faith of Lumenor, the Lord of Light

Deities

• Viresca, the Verdant Daughter

Divines

• Viresca, the Verdant Daughter