Myala

Along with her companions Paich and Ofelim, Myala is one of the Gnomish Automaths, responsible for creating and Awakening the Gnomes on the First Day.   A skilled magician and artificer with dark skin and a stunning coif of vibrant purple hair, the stories tell that Myala strode forth from the Wondrous Mansion on the First Day, gazing on in quiet contemplation while her companions built the first Gnomes, using Paich's illusory patterns and the ore that Ofelim had mined from Yorth. When they had completed the forms of the Gnomes and woven the magick of nature into their bodies, Myala set to work with her devices and magick to animate the bodies of the Gnomes, bringing them to life in The Cradle.   Had the story stopped there, Myala might well be a respected member of the pantheon of Automaths within The Union. However, the story continues that, in the process of gifting the Gnomes knowledge, Myala also told them that the Gnomish Automaths themselves were the creation of beings called The Archfey, and that other Gnomes still lived there, subject to the whims of the enigmatic Archfey. This tossed a monkey wrench into all of Awakened theology, for all of the other tales of Awakening placed the Automaths as divine beings, the first of their kind, who all created and awakened the various peoples on the First Day.   When the cultures of the Awakened first started living among one another, this story spread from Gnomish lips to Awakened ears, and began sowing seeds of doubt and crises of faith within the various Awakened peoples. This heresy was considered most dangerous, and as The Pious Union of the Awakened was formed, Myala was essentially excommunicated from the Awakened pantheon, and worship of her was banned. Instead, The Union adopted an alternate version of events focusing entirely on the contributions of Paich and Ofelim.   The result of this was known as the Gnomish schism. Followers of Myala refused to accept this version of their story, and thus left the regions of The Union and founded their own nation to the south, beyond the southern reaches of the Cloudscrapers at the head of Aislingean Bay. The vast majority of followers of Myala went with them, as did the bulk of devout of Paich and Ofelim, in solidarity. Also with them went followers of the other Dissidents, who were unwelcome in The Union and were looking for more tolerant shores to call home.   The inquisitive Rock Gnomes are said to be modeled after Myala. Priests and clerics of Myala practice the domains of Arcana, Knowledge, Light, and Order.