Morad Nyh

Morad Nyh (a.k.a. "The Pirate Priest")

Morad Nyh, the Pirate-Priest, defies convention. After having rebelled against the many rules the Order of the Unceasing Tide places upon its Andokh Renar, it was feared that she would join the ranks of the Hand of Shadow, following in the footsteps of Dorakh Mul. Instead, she made herself their enemy, dedicating herself not to the service the The Empty Throne, but to the Heart Unceasing—challenging the Order's control over its worship for the first time in centuries.

— from To Rule The Waves: The Dokhar Diaspora, by Andoloros Bag Betelon

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Morad Nyh began life as the child of a family newly ascendant to the middle classes through the exceptional skill of her father in the working of bronze. From time to time, this brought her into contact with the priestly andokh renar of the Order of the Unceasing Tide, through whom she was exposed to the finer points of the Order's theology, which she found fascinating. With the encouragement of the Order, she was admitted to be trained in the andokh ren, and as a priest of the order.
She was took to their mystic arts with a rare degree of natural talent, but she regularly displayed an interest in those sections of it which had been denounced by the Order following the War of Shadow. This caused her instructors no small degree of concern, but she never crossed any actual lines, and thus went uncensured.
She retained her curiosity even after being fully inducted as a priest of the Order, pursuing the different forms of the andokh ren as far as doctrine would allow. Eventually, after discovering text of the original form of the fairy-story Quena And The Deep, which apparently described those methods and arts which the Order forbade, she pursued them in secret. She taught herself to know and change the rhythms of the body, she rediscovered the ancient rhythmic bladework of the Order from before the War, and she learned how to enforce her own will upon the sea. Though she was able to maintain her secrecy in these activities, she sought to share what she had learned, and though many of her students honored her secrecy, there was eventually one who betrayed her. The Order declared her, and all of her students they could identify, apostate and anathema. They was no longer welcome in those lands and waters controled by the Dokhar League, and fled for fear of death.
For a time, they found safe harbor with the League's rivals, the Kantirin, but she Moran realized it would not last. The doctrines she had violated were put in place to prevent the existence of another like the infamous Dorakh Mul from coming to be, making a comparison between him and she were natural, even if she found it dubious. Her students could return to the lives they had known by renouncing her and her teachings, and giving up what they knew about her, but she would be hunted down.
It was then that she was approached by a representative of the Hand of Shadow, the cult-syndicate dedicated to the worship of Vassar, The Empty Throne, which had been founded in part by Dorakh Mul himself. They wanted to make allies of her and her followers, asking only that they place the Empty Throne above the Heart Unceasing. She took great umbrage to this, and killed the representatives. To emphasize her point, she hunted down the priest which led the local temple, and with her followers she killed them to a man. Then she wiped out another Temple. And another.
When word reached the Order of the Unceasing Tide about these activities, they had mixed feelings. Though it was abundantly clear that she did not, and would never, consort with the ilk of Dorakh Mul, the Order's leadership believed itself the ultimate authority on matters regarding the Heart Unceasing, and her teachings were still apostasy to them. They refused to allow her and her followers reentry.
Enraged, she and her followers stole a Dokhar warship, and traveled across the Shimmering Sea, raiding ships belonging to the Dokhar League, and the the Hand of Shadow. As she wiped out the Hand's temples wherever she found them, and spread her teachings to whoever would listen. Her support grew, and she built up a small fleet that served under her. The Order and the League found it difficult the fight against this groundswell of support for her, as the religion of the masses began to shift out of their control.
The Hand found her activities odious and offensive. Eventually, Dorakh Mul himself, captaining his personal ship, the Eminent Depths, followed by a host of sea monsters under his control. It should have meant the deaths of the Morad and her followers. And yet.
Through the arts long abandoned by the Order, Morad and her followers slew the sea monsters under Dorakh's command, leaving the Eminent Depths along on the waters. He made to flee back into the Dreaming, but Morad, leading her own personal ship, long since renamed the Deep Mysteries, was in hot pursuit. Once in the Dreaming, The Deep Mysteries could not hope to capture the Eminent Depths, which knew the waters there far too well, but they found an unparalleled opportunity when the entered the Dreaming beside a ship which they caught by complete surprise. Morad gave the order to attack, and the ship was seized. Through use of their union with the Heart Unceasing, they pulled themselves,and their prize, back into the waking world. It was not until they had reemerged that Morad learned what they had captured: Dorakh Mul's treasure ship, containing the valuable and sacred artifacts which he had stolen during the War of Shadow.
Word reached the leadership of the Order, and they were deeply unnerved, as in defeating Dorakh Mul, Morad Nyh had accomplished something nobody, even one of their own, had done since the War of Shadow. They were incredibly confused, when a messaged arrived for Morad, saying that she would gladly return the stolen treasures, if only they would allow her to do so in person. And if they would speak to her, in the very bottom of the Abbey of the Unceasing Tide, the room containing the Pool of Sacrifice. Nevertheless, they agreed to rescind her status as apostate and anathema—this one time only. They decreed they would consider a permanent revocation pending the discussion.
She sailed to Myh Dokh, and was greeted as a conquering hero, the treasures following behind her in wagons, the rpoad before her laden with flowers and coins. She rode up to the Abbey as the image of serenity, without a word. Silently, she journeyed first through the winding halls beneath the Abbey, and then the Dark Rooms beyond them, the sacred treasures with her all the while. She entered the Room of Sacrifice, where they had been waiting for her, and the doors closed behind her.
The doors did not open for five days. When they did, she emerged alone, and with no treasures. She said that she had cast herself into the Pool, as a sacrifice to the Heart Unceasing. Then, she cast all other things in after her, making sacrifice of priest and treasure alike. All were accepted, but did not emerge.
Her work complete, she made her way to her parents' home, and spoke with them for a day and a night. Then, she boarded her ship, and sailed off into the blue.

Eyes

Blue

Hair

Black, Cropped Short

Height

1.65 m (5'5")

Weight

58 kg (128 lbs)

Related Myths

• Morad Nyh and the Hand of Shadow