Reflections on Saint Marsenen

 

Reflections on Saint Mersenen

By Bishop Iotha of Tawn

“When a raindrop falls the world is brought into sudden realization, a horizon crystallizing into reality. Regardless of where the drop strikes the inexorable downward pull calls it into streaming motion. Joining with others rivulets, collective drops now form a single thread as they race to their destination. For some this journey may be down a rock to a forest puddle, while many will join greater and greater threads until the individual is a mote in the roaring river. Though these paths may vary, eventually all drops will reach their sea.

Our Lady calls each of us down from the skies above, her heart yearning to love each of us. She is the river which bears us, and the calm seas to embrace us. Each drop has a destiny, a moment upon which the inevitable rest greets them. We only know the valley unto which we are called, though even the whole shape of just the valley can never be grasped.

Fear must not consume the heart, trust in our Lady for the journey she has set you upon. Take comfort that in the end we will all know Her and greet Her, and She will deliver us unto the quiet halls and eternal rewards.”

Excerpt from The Frost Sermons, Saint Mersenen

Saint Mersenen the confessor humbles each of us on our path through the world, reminding us of the journey we must each undertake upon the river that our Monarch has placed us upon. It is he who places us each upon our course, and through the love of the Mother Current we are born aloft her back. Mersenen reminds us that the gods are with us always, for The Seer looks ahead to guide us on our course, while Our Lady awaits us with open arms upon our arrival at her sea to return us to the arms of her family.

The saint is perhaps most well known through her oratory work, The Frost Sermons, though her life is well documented within the Green Song [1]. For many her role and teachings are heard through Miserations, which relegate her role to a simple attendant to the passing Echalia. How little we see the depths of her acceptance and absolute forgiveness, the charity of her love even to the one who executed the Winter Sister.

It is said that Saint Mersenen spent seven years with the dwindling Echalia, giving her comfort and council as the goddess passed beyond the veil. The Winter Sister held dearly to life as all living things do, grieving for her sister and followers that she would leave behind. Mersenen councils acceptance of this loss; that of material will not pass into spirit.

“Frost was born unto this world as a tear, shimmering and singing ice that bore a requiem of preservation. Would the world stop for her a moment she would hold eternity in her grasp and within it all she held dear. Yet her companion Mersenen spoke, reminding her that even the blooming rose shall wither, even the finest sculpture is worn down and chip.”

Frost Sermons 3:21

Saint Mersenen reminds us that a fear of death is a natural reaction, to stare into the absolute fact of our oblivion unscathed is beyond all but the most strongly willed. Yet our time on this river is but a brief moment of our eternity, for it is behind this final curtain that our true existence awaits us in the arms of our just fate. Nothing that passes beyond is out of reach forever, for even in death our love is not diminished and in time we will too shall pass to see them once more, born aloft by the currents of love by those we leave behind.

[1] For those studying St Mersenen the holy text of Arthea give the most detailed accounting of this period, particularly the works of Hernen The Lesser.

GLOGtober '23 - 2: She Who Sings in Reed and Rush

GLOGtober '23 prompts can be found here.

 

She Who Sings in Reed and Rush

Lake Dallieun is caught in the minds the people of Poltan, sitting right next to the modern capital of Sarcens. Many a painting captures the glimmering surface of lake, appearing in the backgrounds of royal portraits across generations of Poltanish Kings. Numerous castles and villages line the shores, and stories across the world frame the lake as places that heroes rise and villains are slain. Perhaps most famous is The Cathedral Mireaus (Mir-os), dedicated to The Mother Current, Vasobus. Her priests claim Dallieun as her respite, a blessing to mortals for their faith.

Few however remember the old faith that claims the glimmering waters, She Who Sings in Reed & Rush. Her followers are scattered around Lake Dallieun, but are a small faith compared to the churches of the land. While they are often not rooted out and slain, they are a patchwork faith. Many teach of forgiveness and acceptance, and often hold an oath of non-violence. Others teach of the cycles of life, one that one cannot escape no matter how strongly they fight it. Followers can are often found in those whole live on the lake shore, but also in doctors and wise-folk.

1d12 Events & Rumors:

1. A mother has recently lost her son in battle and can’t get over her grief. She needs reeds gathered to weave a basket to carry his sword and helmet into the lake, however bandits are said to patrol the lake’s edge.

2. A bard challenged The Songstress, claiming they were a better singer. When their boat returned from the fog all that was found was a broken violin and a dog sized cricket.

3. This is the third time in a month a fisher has been found hung from a tree, suspended by a long bone hook through their neck. Locals whisper of the vengeance of The Songstress.

4. Rush lamps are the new craze among nobility wanting “to live a simple life, just like the peasants”. Already old beds along Lake Dallieun are being yanked up to fill this need. Followers whisper than unless this stops soon She Who Sings will have her vengeance.

5. A local priest has declared that She Who Sings is but a misinterpretation of The Mother Current and has begun tearing down shrines. This isn’t the first time this has happened, but tensions are already mounting quickly.

6. The village elder has begun to preach that the afterlife The Churches promise is a lie, that all flow on the endless river that circles the cosmos, returning to the world each time born anew. This particular heresy is too much for The Churches to tolerate.

7. A child was found floating in a basket among the reeds. Was this the fault of loveless parents, or the next prophet of The Songstress?

8. They say that if you can catch She Who Sings she will take a memory too painful for you, in exchange for bearing the memory of another.

9. Rumors have spread that if you wander the reeds alone in the dark under the light of the full moon then The Songstress will guide your love from a past life, to reunite again and again. Seems like an easy way to get people out and alone in the dark.

10. After the loss of all seven of his sons in a single battle their father was seen weeping on the lake shore each night, begging for them to come back to him. A week ago a rogue wave suddenly spewed a literal swarm of fish onto shore all around him, worth a small fortune. Now everyone who has ever suffered even a minor inconvenience is down by the water, begging for restitution.

11. A small conclave has formed up, nicknamed The Water Bearers by the locals. Having taken a vow of poverty and non-violence this community works to produce and give out holy water made from the lake in an effort to fight undead.

12. The palace of She Who Sings sits at the bottom of Lake Dallieun, but should one of pure heart sail the lake it shall rise from the deep to greet them.