Field Marshal
The Knight of Petals; The Sword Saint; God of Aid and Sacrifice
The Field Marshal is the Ascendant, Material God of leadership, protection, strategy, charity and martyrdom.
He is a tired but compassionate entity, abundant in patience but quick to his sword hand if there is an opportunity to slay the unredeemable. His likely origin is the mythical Hanabira-no-Kishi or Hanaviri-no-Kishiki ("The Knight of Petals"), an old monk and former assassin who lead a successful series of victories against the mighty armies of Iyō, lead by the Lichlord and Colonial demigod Io'a in the First Age.
The Field Marshal's alignment is Lawful Good.Appearance & Heraldry
See also: The Field Marshal & Oathbearers Image Gallery (External)Foreigners to vanity, portrayals by the Sword Saint's church are usually simple paintings based on his alleged appearance in life: short-statured but athletic, with a bald head and varied facial hair. He is usually portrayed carrying his famed katana, the Himetsuruichimonji.
Worship
Adherents of the Knight of Petals generally become paladins, though his churches are staffed with clerics. Paladins are usually called Oathbearers, while his clerics are called Absolvers.
His clergy perform many of the usual holy duties of good-aligned gods like healing and couseling, but his adherents are especially well known for helping oppressed peoples organize militias against their oppressors, or directing infrastructure projects for communities in need. In good-leaning societies, it is common for retired soldiers and mercenaries to become clergy.
The Field Marshal is usually included in The Pantheon of the People, a circle of gods most directly concerned with the well-being of Material cultures and therefore most commonly worshipped. He is also often included in the pantheon of the Insurgent Gods; though he is not a founding member, his leadership lead to the eventual defeat of one of the great Kelpeater Lichlords, Io'a, representing one of the great victories for the Insurgents.
An unusual but heavily referenced story of the Knight of Petals describes divine rays of holy moonlight reflecting off his bald head and blinding his enemies. Largely as a consequence of this popular tale, it is common for monks and paladins of the Field Marshal to shave their heads bald.Domains
The Field Marshal's primary Domain is Protection. His secondary domains are Community, Cities, Duty, Might and Kung Fu.Divine Weapon
The Sword Saint's divine weapons are the katana and unarmed/kung fu. His Relic katana is Himetsuruichimonji.
His divine martial art is known as Voidmind Style kung fu, also known as Empty Mind (Munoken in Lowlands Marai, Karumi in the Heartlands and Taiji in Highlands) or sometimes "Crane Style", due the graceful but relatively brainless manner of its namesake bird. Voidmind teaches that once material desires are overcome, one sees the world (including one’s opponent) in a calm and unbiased manner, allowing practicioners to predict outcomes accurately and respond appropriately. Practicioners aim, if possible, not to kill their opponents, and fight in a way that instructs rather than punishes.
While the physical techniques are obviously important in Voidmind, there is an even greater focus on the meditative aspects, in particular to achieve a mindstate the Knight of Petals described as "Karumi": the complete stripping away of one's own ego, to observe one's surroundings completely divorced from personal desires and biases, thus achieving a state of "pure observation" or "pure empathy". A common practice in achieving this is writing poetry: disciples are charged with using short-form poems to capture the feeling of a scene using as few elements as possible. In hand-to-hand combat, they view their opponents similarly.History
Even outside the reach of the Insurgent demigods, other heroes would rise to challenge the theo-military empires of the Kelpeaters. The Kingdom of Iyō, behind the quiet and indomitable march of Lichlord Io'a, spread north from the towering cities of Alanthan'aravaut through the Emerald Expanse, eventually facing a tenacious resistance from the native Umeki and Naru peoples of what is now modern Marai. Under the leadership of an old, one-eyed monk and former assassin bearing the title Hanaviri-no-Kishiki ("The Knight of Petals"), Iyō faced its first major string of defeats, eventually even causing Io’a to be abandoned by his master, the God-Emperor Ina'ut himself.
Things only turned around for the aggressors due to a betrayal by an equally brilliant, equally skilled young Umeki warrior, who defeated Hanaviri-no-Kishiki in a duel and thus assimilated some fraction of the resistance into his own army. It is said his only reason for doing this was to test his strength, by being on the losing side. The Betrayer and the Knight of Petals would both eventually Ascend, becoming the Field Marshal and the Crimson Serenity respectively.
As for Lichlord Io’a, he was eventually defeated by Insurgent God Emeliat Reis and her Wardens, and the human-arakh remnants of Iyō would eventually make up much of midland Marai. The Naru and Umeki still exist, but only as tiny, reclusive clans in The Skylands and Emerald Expanse, respectively. The war, as well as Hanaviri-no-Kishiki's heroic sacrifice, features strongly in their beliefs.
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