Zunairah the Hundred Mind Character in Zheng-Kitar | World Anvil

Zunairah the Hundred Mind

Saint of Invention, Craftsmen, Alchemy, and Engineering

Titles: The Hundred Mind, Zunairah the Mad, Fatalia Factoris, Mother Mayhem, Lady of the Anti-Life Engines, The Punished One, The Aenai Bane, Mistress of the Well, The Quillborn   Favored Weapon: Fatalis' Wheel(Exotic Two-Handed Wep, See GM for more details)   Alignment: Earth   Elemental Lord: Okmog, The Calcareous King   Obedience: Spend an hour writing down your current train of thought, goals, and objectives, and the events of the past day and what you hope to achieve the next. Keep it on you once finished in case you forget, lose your mind, or switch to a different personality. In absence of writing tools and parchment, inscribe the same upon your skin or any possible medium using any possible methods.   Effect: Your mind splits and fragments, compartmentalizing much like that of your saint Zunairah who invented the legendary engines of annihilation of ages past - you gain a +2 to resist all mind-affecting effects, and may 1/day roll such a check twice and take the better result. If you use this 1/day ability, you may become somewhat confused(Flavorwise, not the mechanical effect) and think you have a different name or personality as if you had multiple personalities- this is not a mechanical requirement, but merely a fun idea on how to Role-Play this obedience.

Divine Domains

Earth, Artifice, Madness, Knowledge, Magic(Alchemy and Rites Subdomains ONLY)

Holy Books & Codes

The Cauldron Compendium

Divine Symbols & Sigils

A 7-spoked wheel with the symbols of each of the schools of magic carved onto one of the spokes.

Tenets of Faith

Always forward, never back. No matter what, do not allow the symbols of progress be destroyed. Do not focus on the past except to learn from it, and take its teachings to heart to build a brighter future.
 
Share knowledge and foster the like-minded. Don't withhold or refuse to share knowledge, and let not others do the same. Seek out and foster the flames of curiosity, intellect, and invention.
 
Innovation must be absent of morality. Never allow a craftsman to be branded good or evil for his creations, and never allow a tool to be blamed for the actions of those who used them.
 
No shortcuts to success. In all you do, do it right - even if it takes more time, do not take shortcuts, cheats, or the like. The house built on hard work will stand eternal.
 
Push the envelope of what is and can be. Create for the sake of creation. Always push the boundaries of the society in which you live and challenge what is possible.
 
Do what needs be done. Always finish what you start, and never falter in carrying out what must be done no matter the consequences if you believe it right.

Divine Goals & Aspirations

To foster innovation and invention across the world, and push the boundaries of society and civilization.   To teach craftsman, innovators, alchemists, and more to be proud of what they make.   To foster progress and the will to do what must be done.

Followers & Priesthood

  As a saint in decline, Zunairah's followers are few and far between - though she is undisputably one of the saints aligned to the "Good" elemental lord of earth, Okmog, The Calcareous King, Zunairah's faith has taken an enormous blow in recent centuries and her followers have become somewhat rare - especially since public perception often sees those who worship her as evil, malicious inventors who were responsible for the greatest act of butchery in Zheng-Kitaran history(See The Dûlhralian Accords for more info).   Despite this, Zunairah maintains a small but highly dedicated and loyal followerbase - particularly among the Ezdhûl people, but is worshipped among many from several different walks of life. Typically, any inventors, engineers, craftsmen, scientists, or those who work their hands can be counted on to be at least familiar with Zunairah if not active worshippers of hers - and particularly in recent centuries since her faith has been declining, she has found a new home as a burgeoning matron saint of Philosophers and the Mentally Ill...which, to many, is a strange turn for the Saint's following to take but a solid one nonetheless.   Her followers once dressed in elaborate mechanized uniforms at the height of her faith - complete with glorious illusions projected off of their uniforms that displayed their rank, status, and placement within the faith. However, in the current day, the faithful of Zunairah prefer to remain anonymous and thus tend to avoid overt displays of faith such as uniforms or set colors. Instead, they tend to dress as appropriate for the region they exist in and accent this normal, unassuming dress with hidden symbology to their saint in places only other members of the faithful would recognize or think to look, such as faintly emblazoned on the lenses of goggles, inside the lining of a toolbelt, or on the head of a crafting hammer, with the seven-spoked wheel being the most common symbol used for this purpose. They tend to dress practically, typically wearing the clothes appropriate to their line of work as their "uniform" such as an apron and belt for a blacksmith or craftsman, goggles and a labcoat for a scientists or engineer, and so on.   To this end, they do not gather out in the open - the churches and cathedrals to Zunairah, though once proud and mighty mechanized Factories, have now been relegated to hidden hovels, underground churches, and other out of the way places members of the faithful can meet up and discuss matters concerning faith and craft, exchanging knowledge and techniques free of judgement or superstition from those who blindly view their faith with hostility. Oftentimes, it is common custom for the faithful to leave hints as to these meetings places in the libraries or centers of knowledge in a given city or population center, leaving hidden symbols and coded phrases within these knowledge centers such as in the margins of books, scratched onto shelves, and the like - places where only scholars of like minds would think or care to look. In places without such a center of knowledge, a main central crafting forge or crafting area can serve a similar purpose.   Only the mythical Armageddon Legion, last holdouts of the Zunairah faith from the height of her power who refused to turn in their advanced technology due to the terms of The Dûlhralian Accords, dare to openly worship her - though as they are now spoken of only in rumor as a mercenary legion who may or may not exist any longer, they are difficult to prove exist, let alone contact and learn from. However, their enormous mechanized "Warminds" that tower over the battlefield as metal gods of war, personal starplate combat suits, and powerful rifles are the last traces of what the faithful once achieved - sought after by many as a paradisical organization where any craftsman, innovator, or engineer can go to practice their craft free of restriction or judgement.  

Ethics

  Contrary to their reputation, members of the Zunarite faith do not have a code of ethics that demands they create horrific war machines and deadly engines of slaughter - instead, they follow a simple creed that demands simple but critical things of them. True to the code of their saint, they believe they must always finish what they start and accept the consequences for doing so - once they put their mind to a task they tend to dislike bouncing from thing to thing without completing them, instead preferring to stay focused on one thing and see it to completion come hell or high water...and if the pursuit of such a thing spells danger for themselves or others, they are expected to own up to it and accept the consequences of such a thing. They are also hard and honest workers who hold the simple creed of taking no shortcuts in their work or craft incredibly seriously, and often despise those constantly seek to find ways to cut corners, take shortcuts, or who try to downsize and improve something before it is even finished, which they tend to view as irresponsible craftsmanship and ignoring one's duties as a crafter, engineer, or the like. Instead, they believe in finish the job first and THEN, only once a thing has reached its "first iteration" and been completed once, can a craftsman properly figure out how to improve upon the design.   However, alongside these simple notions of always finishing what they start and doing whatever needs be done, the faithful also are ardent believers in several key ethical codes that are perhaps the reason why they are viewed with such disdain - members of the Zunarite faith often hold a strong dislike for applying morality or ethics to inventions or crafts, which they think is a fool's errand. To them, the tools created by those capable of making are morality and ethically agnostic - to call a blade or item or piece of technology "evil" is anathema to their entire faith, and one they see as short-sighted paranoia and fear of what they do not understand. The people should be blamed for what they do with the items they use or wield - and likewise, the crafter should not be blamed for what he creates just because it holds capacity or potential for wickedness. Supplementing these beliefs is a strong notion of wanting to push the boundaries of technology and craftsmanship - the faithful constantly believe in seeking new heights and fields, and that doing so is inherently just and beneficial to society as a whole, as seeking new means of healing, killing, or even quality of life things can all be of immense and overpowering benefit to society as a whole. To this end, they are always pushing boundaries and moving forward, and often look down on those who look to the past to strike down what lies in store for the future, or for anything beyond as lessons for the future - to be fearful of the past is fine, but when it infringes upon those trying to move forward and weighs them down like an iron chain around their neck, it has gone too far.   Finally, they also tend to be avid believers of the freedom and ease of access of information - they often see it as strange and morally unjust to restrict the flow of information on a large scale, and are thus often avid sharers of information especially among the ranks of the faith. Certain extremist sections of the faith might even go so far as to force the free flow of information in a given society or kingdom that might restrict such things, but these are the exception and not the rule...instead, all of the faith regardless of extremism always pride themselves on seeking out and fostering up and coming talent or like-minds, finding those who show potential to become crafters, inventors, or the like and giving them the tools on how to succeed or pursue their given career.   Especially fanatical or loyal members of the faith often seek to punish or in some way harm either the body or reputation of Kyra Aenai, killer of their Saint - or to bring destruction upon her country, the Kingdom of Raoulin. These followers often scar themselves beneath the left eye, symbolizing the wound dealt by their saint to the legendary Kyra Aenai in the moments before her death.  

History

  The history of Saint Zunairah is one shrouded in death and destruction - she began her life as a humble Ezdhûl woman born in the hold of Kal-Dûlhral, though records of her very early life are sketchy at best and nonexistant at worst. From what is known of this stage of her life, she was born to parents that either gave her up, abandoned her, or flat out died or somehow vanished from her life very early on after it became clear she suffered from an extreme case of Multiple Personality Disorder - it was said that by the time she reached her teens, the mentally ill Zunairah had developed over a dozen personas, each complete with backstories, names, and physical appearance and mannerism changes to handle different aspects of her life.   Throughout this initial stage of her life, she is known to have wandered the streets of Kal-Dûlhral, homeless and destitute, surviving off the generosity of craftsmen, forgemasters, and the like who would give her part time jobs in exchange for help in their forges or workshops, offering the young girl kindness when no others would. It was here, during her formative years, that Zunairah honed her craft - she took to crafting incredibly well, and took most to mechanical engineering and tinkering, building all manner of clockwork contraptions and, in one notable case, an entire simple automaton by the time she was thirteen. Regardless, she grew up drifting between the forges, workshops, laboratories, and the like and when the call was sounded by Thorgrom Blackgranite in the years leading up to the legendary War of Boiling Skies, calling for action from the Ezdhûl people as he made promises of reclaiming the glory of the Ezdhûl and Dwarven peoples after the fall of their capital Nan-Durgalihr, she happily joined up to better her country through her inventions.   The freshly matured Zunairah quickly made a name for herself in this golden age of Ezdhûl engineering, joining the war effort as all the workshops of the freshly born Empire spurred into motion, churning out all manner of weapons, armor, and the like for the future war effort. However, it was Zunairah herself that would forever change the face of the war that was to come - tinkering in the lab of her mentor at the time with some various chemicals, Zunairah stumbled upon and invented the terrifying weapons of slaughter known as "Boldahr-Y77", a poison gas of such weaponized lethality that it would boil and melt the lungs, veins, and capillaries of those who were inside the cloud in barely a minute or two. Presenting her new invention to her mentor, Zunairah was quickly recognized for what she was - a wunderkind of invention that was quickly given her own laboratory on orders of the High Thane...a laboratory that would, in time, become the first of the legendary "Factorums" that would churn out the terrifying weapons of war made during the War of Boiling Skies.   It was here, in this workshop, that Zunairah became the chief engineer for the Ezdhûlian Empire beneath Thorgrom Blackgranite - inventing the legendary poison gasses that melted the lungs and flesh of those caught inside, enormous earthquake generators capable of leveling cities, enormous metal ships that dominated the oceans, and even rudimentary flying machines wielding the-then crowning achievment of their people, the Dwarven Fire-spitter - able to fire metallic shells at speeds so fast that it could easily pierce through armor, using the force generated from a powder referred to as "Dwarven Blackpowder" pioneered by Zunairah herself. It was these terrifying weapons of industrialized mass-slaughter that earned her the nickname of "Mother Mayhem", among others, and which spelled her infamy that would go down in history.   However, despite her simple, innocent, and possible Naive outlook that, despite her fragmented mind that let her only find solace and unity in her psyche during invention and creation, she became the foremost villain of the enemies of the Ezdhûl Empire - villainized and envenomed by those who experienced the power of her terrifying inventions first hand. She was thus the target of countless assassination attempts over the course of the war, and even as her own people lauded her and heaped more and more praise upon their legendary wunderkind who invented not only slaughter machines but printing presses, steam-powered locomotives, and more, her detractors more and more sought her destruction. And that destruction came as the war turned against the Ezdhûl as the forces of the resistance, led by Kyra Aenai, beat back the forces of the Empire and pushed into their capital - and, as they conquered the Ezdhûl people and forced them into signing The Dûlhralian Accords to end the war, mercilessly found, tortured, and executed the young Zunairah as the "Mother Mayhem" that brought such death and suffering to others...though, the young inventress was able to use the last of her inventions to leave a wicked scar beneath the left eye of her killed, Kyra Aenai - which remains unhealed to this day.   After her death, her machines were universally destroyed(Both good ones and bad), and she was universally labeled as a villainous young girl, damaged and mentally insane, who greedily brought death and destruction unto the world - though nothing could be further from the truth. As a young girl whose mental issues and fractured psyche only let her find solace in her workshop as the soothing sounds of machinery soothed and unified her dozens upon dozens of personalities and let her be herself, her people cried out in protest against her unjust death, and even after she was accepted into the ranks of the saints of Okmog, The Calcareous King(Proving to many her innocence against the accusations levied against her) for her deeds in life, her followers viciously fought to keep her faith alive in the centuries afterward, turning the reverence for their chief engineer who they thought would lead them into a brighter tomorrow into faith for a Saint who lost her life at the hands of those who did not understand the wonders in the mind they robbed from the world.
Those bleedin' monsters. They butchered a young girl and call it justice, and then expect us to roll over and accept their occupation?   They used her as a scapegoat - awful convenient one too, to pin all the atrocities of the war on one broken little girl rather than on the sick bastards who used what she made and gave the orders to kill.   I'll never forgive 'em. None of us will. Not for what they did to her, and not for what they did to us.   We were gonna change the world. Cure diseases. Save lives. A shame that she won't be here to see it when we do.   We'll make her proud, though. Even if it kills us.
— Unknown member of the faithful
Divine Classification
Elemental Saint
Religions
Alignment
Children
Home
The Calcite Throne, The Elemental Plane of Earth
 
Areas of Concern
Alchemy, Crafting, Invention, Engineering, Philosophers, The Mentally Ill, Scientists, Craftsmen, Engineers, Etc.
 
Holy Animal
Giant Falcon
 
Holy Colors
Brown, White, Blue
 
Holy Number
2
 
Demonym
Zunarite

Example Divine Oaths

 
Oath of the Knowledge Spreader: Seek out those who would keep knowledge, crafting techniques, or the like to themselves or a select group and teach them the error of their ways. Always spread knowledge to those who need it, and teach those who show promise in the ways of their propsective craft.
 
Oath of the Disgraced Crafter: You cannot willingly craft an item whose primary purpose is to wound or take the life of another creature, or to directly assist in the injury or death of another.
 

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