The Cult of Ehla (Outline)

Description: Ehla is the Mother Goddess of Ehlaar.  She gave birth to all the native species and her wisest children, the Demon Princes, ruling benignly over all of creation.  Then Prince Vazo led his brothers and sisters in rebellion against their mother, imprisoning her in the Dreaming.  Ehla's thoughts of escape and vengeance warped the Dreaming, turning it into the Nightmare Realm.  She toiled in pain for thousands of years until, towards the end of the Time of the Outsiders, a Native hero named Shensta derived a plan to free her.  Aided by the faith of ten thousand natives, she entered the Nightmare Realm through the City of Flying Silkworms.  She freed Ehla, who exploded out of the Nightmare Realm and destroyed the City of Flying Silkworms, leaving a massive crater in her wake.  She moved faster then the eye could see to the stars, where she took her place as the brightest star in the sky.  Shensta founded the Queendom of Gla, which is the center of her cult as well as a political force.  Ehla sends her goodwill to her worshipers across the continent and has regained her place as the most prominent God in the world.  [Unbeknownst to most, Ehla has two aspects, Ehla the Creator and Ehla the Destroyer.]

Runes: Sky, Harmony and Fertility (Ehla the Destroyer has Darkness, Chaos and Death)

Mythos and History:  Ehla created the world from a thought, then walked upon it.  In the Valley of Gla, she lay down and birthed her twin firstborn, Prince Kazed and Princess Sarriad.  Then she birthed many more Princes, then Sorgith, the First Man, and Frozin, the First Woman, plus the Mother of Trolls and all the Native animals.  She reared them, as we rear our children and animals today, and brought life and joy wherever she trod.  But the Princes grew jealous.  Lord Vazo persuaded all his siblings that they should rise up and imprison their mother, so they could divide her power between them.  Kazed and Sarriad remained loyal to their mother, and were slain by Vazo.  The rebellious Princes dragged their mother through the world, creating the Pit of Lecrass, and imprisoned her in the Nightmare Realm, binding her four arms and two legs with links of each element (air, earth, fire, water, darkness and aether), such that everything had a stake in keeping her confined.

Central Myth: Shensta frees Ehla (Mythic Resonance 120%) - Ehla lay in the Nightmare Realm, bound by every element and able only to think. She thought of Shensta, who was born in the Valley of Gla.  Shensta raised herself, defeating all manner of creatures that sought to devour her. She grew to womanhood and took the memory of Ehla throughout the Outsider empire.  She converted ten thousand men and women, who gave their magic to Shensta, enabling her to enter the Nightmare Realm.  She journeyed through the Mountains of Falling and the Plain of Hate, defeating the Lady of Disdain and the Forgotten Child.  Eventually, she came across Ehla, and she talked to each of her bonds.  She persuaded Aether and Darkness to help, and they became part of Ehla.  She scared off Earth and forced Water to flee, while she fought Air and Fire, and defeated them.  Now Ehla was free, she took Shensta in her hand and revealed her truths to her, then forced her way out of the Nightmare Realm, destroying a large part of the land, and made her way to the sky.  Shensta woke once again in the Valley of Gla. Behaviors/Insights: Never surrender, conquer impossible odds, resist fear, conversion is the beginning of greatness.

Lesser Myths: Ehla confronts her Children (Mythic Resonance 80%) - Ehla realized her firstborn children had died, and went to find out why.  She found Vazo and the others clustered round the bodies of Kazed and Sarriad and asked what had happened.  All were cowed, and wept, and begged for forgiveness, all save Vazo of the Hard Heart.  Ehla slapped him, and he yelped, and slunk away.  The children laughed at him, but all the time they grew in hatred of Ehla, desiring her power.  Behavior/Insights: Defiance, impose authority, face down the Demon Princes, love is balanced by hate.

Ehlaar the Destroyer only: Ehla Rends the Soul of Prince Cathris (Mythic Resonance 60%) - The Queen of Gla conquered the City of Cathris, and forced Prince Cathris to manifest.  She and her followers bound the Prince, and sent his soul to Ehla the Destroyer.  She breathed her Chaos Breath on his soul, and it was made flesh.  Ehla ripped him with her claws and bit him with her fangs, swallowing the gobbets of his flesh and spilling his blood back as Blood Rain on to the city of Cathris.  What remained of his soul she bound to her service.

To be continued...