Created Thursday 10 November 2022
Gods and Goddesses can die. The Mother of the Gesash is a dead goddess who is also a ghost, and she has saints whom help local communities, but sometimes are more widespread. Gama-oma is the name I just made up for the Mother of the Gesash, it's Gesash for "Great Mother." They often call her Gama-oma Nusha, which literally translates to Mother-All Ours. One of her first saints is her First Son.
Engadrian/Engarian/Engadian is the protector god of humanity, and his sanctuary is a walled city that he has direct control over the layout of. This is important for later and also now. Seems I called him Engadian in chats with y'all before, but Engarian has been what I've said in my head for years. I want to try out "Engadrian"
Hundreds of years ago, Engadrian and Gama-oma were deep in a feud. Engadrian was paranoid about the Gesash spreading out from the Mother's Mountain, the Guhagama (home-mother). He and Gama-oma swore their children wouldn't build towards each other, because Engadrain saw the Gesash as innately dangerous. But Gama-oma wouldn't restrict their hunting nor their exploring, meaning the Gesash continued to go deeper and deeper into human land. This caused Engadrian to take his first conquest, attacking the Guhagama with force. Engadrian is a defender first and foremost, but he and his army were brutal in this war. The final fight was Gama-oma, her First Son, and Engadrian fighting halfway to the Mother's Temple at the top of Guhagama. Engadrian was injured horribly, and he gave Gama-oma a singular deep wound that never healed.
This lead to the first peace. Gama-oma and the Gesash went to recover, but Gama-oma's wound instead festered. Any of her blood that went near it would turn black with death, and after enough time so did the flesh. It didn't spread, however. But it did weaken her, and the effect on her power was clear. She couldn't look past her mountain and couldn't leave her temple for more than a few hours, and eventually she couldn't leave at all, too weak to walk. Engadrian however did heal, and returned and broke the peace. He fought all the way to the top of the Guhagama and attempted to kill Gama-oma, but she put up a very strong fight. He almost didn't win, even with her severely weakened. This is why you don't do offense on a goddess of war, even if you're a big strong protector god.
Wounded on the ground, bleeding and panting heavily, barely able to hold herself up, Gama-oma looked into Engadrian's eyes and swore to him that one day his kingdom would be destroyed and replaced with somewhere everyone was protected, not just his human subjects. Engadrain pierced her heart after refusing to respond. (Gama-oma has some degree of prescience).
The next few months were bad. Engadrian saw the now godless Gesash as more of a danger than the Gesash with their goddess, so he ordered them enslaved and imprisoned with the most influential leaders executed en masse. This time is called the Akahejan by the Gesash. The First Son got as many Gesash hidden as he could, serving as the first leader of their new society within the Guhagama, building a new family where theirs was once torn away. He then went on to leading various raiding expeditions to free as many of their brethren from bondage as he could. Quickly the Gesash started to develop improvisational hit and run tactics, usually focusing on confusing and distracting the enemy with a major force while a smaller force (or even single person) goes to finish a specific task, and when this is done they scatter.
He was horribly wounded during one of these raids by one of Engadrian's chosen knights, an elite force trained with enchanted weapons and armor. He died a few weeks later, but only after offering the remaining Gesash of the Guhagama words of encouragement alongside the mother's dying promise:
One day a chosen daughter would come. They would fight for the Gesash and love the Gesash with all their heart, they would sacrifice anything for them, they would protect them with her life. There is no prophecy beyond that, and many potential chosen children have failed. Most of them are now saints.