Abora, the growing balance

Name:

Abora, the growing balance

Domains:

Farming, Ecosystem Management, Forestry

Alignment:

High

Story:

There are no great epics or stories about Abora like there is for their sibling gods, but she is involved in almost all of them. However, most stories of great conflicts between gods end with the comforting epilogue, and then Abora healed the land, and peace returned. Abora also has the largest following, one of the few to dwarf Talon and the coinlord. This is because she has both the domains of agriculture, an important profession in such an agrarian society, and that of regrowth, important to those who rely on the bounties of the forests and plains instead. It is said that she blesses balance that benefits society, rather than approving a single use of any given piece of land. Farmers who seek her favor will plant trees at the edges of their fields or declare some parcels, designated by a priest, to stay wild and not be harmed. In exchange, it is said she works as an advocate with the other gods, seeking calmer and more productive weather patterns or dissuading war from her followers.

Another important factor is that Abora is the only pacifist in the pantheon. Even Sanctuary has her militarized champions, but champions of Abora seek conflict as a last resort, only when a peaceful solution has been tried first. She prefers that a mutual balance between opposing forces be sought, where each person can get what they need and maybe some of what they want.

Very few farmholds dont have at least a shrine to Abora, if not a full temple. Abora's priests double as repositories of farming knowledge and assist in spreading knowledge of crop rotations, fertilizers, and warding off vermin. Offerings to the goddess are often a portion of a given crop or food stores, which are kept for the poor and hungry, as well as for the maintenance of the priests. It is often a joke that the fatness of the local Aboran priest is the first sign of a town's prosperity.

Glyph:

Abora's Glyph is two circles on a stylized balance. Many farmers will place this mark above the doorways to silos and barns, hoping to remind the goddess that while the wilds may claim the occasional crop or beast, it is in her nature to ensure that predation doesn't starve them.

Appearance:

Abora most often appears as a middle-aged woman with a prosperous build, but whose feet disappear in a wave of vines, flowers, and roots that slowly roll out from here like an undulating wave. Her skin is a deep green like mature plants, with her hair the dark brown of well-nourished roots. Some of her champions are marked with her favor by being given this same skin and hair tones in place of their original ones.

Theology:

To be a serious follower of Abora is to be steeped in the knowledge of your god's righteousness. While Talon may lead and others may display greater martial might, all gods must bend to Abora's reclaiming growth in the end. No matter how dark or wondrous an event, the ending is always Abora's peace. This can make her priests seem haughty to their other-god worshipping peers, but it is restricted in that Abora doesn't generally seek to interfere with the other god's actions. It's better to let a Low god do their work and reclaim the land afterwards, unless the situation threatens too much destruction than peaceful Abora can bear.

Temples to Abora are stone or wood edifices with deep trenches and cutouts that are filled with soil from the surrounding land. This soil is then used to grow a wide variarty of plants to please the goddess. The central chamber contains the expected altar for ceremonies, but also several bookshelves along the back, where copies of Aboran treaties on farming, land management, and ecological science are kept. Followers are not usually permitted to read these directly, but the priests will spend at least two hours each day reading and refreshing their knowledge so they can answer questions.

Patronage:

Abora's champions are often druids or clerics charged with tracking and advising on environmental stresses or outright disasters. They also serve in diplomatic roles between certain larger governments, as Abora is seen as not favoring anything other than balance between the party's disputants. This means a champion often spends more time expected to seek solutions outside of combat than even Sancturary's chosen. When not directly serving the goddess, her champions can often be found traveling, taking samples, and surveying unknown lands for the benefit of her priests and monks who try to keep the temple's knowledge of every place as accurate as possible.

This is not to say conflict is unheard of. Famously, the Seven Heroes contained an Aboran Paladin, who intervened directly when the open warfare between the city-states could have devastated the surrounding lands for generations.

Retirement:

Most who reach the end of their direct service to the goddess settle to serving one of the temples as a priest or monk. A few of the longer lived species have become famous for simply exploring the world, dropping off pages of ecological information at a temple every few years. This life of peaceful exploration is seen as a reward of its own, and the goddess will eventually welcome each of her champions in an unmarked gravesite, covered with ivy and native plants.

Favors:

Abora doesn't offer coins or tokens, as she almost exclusively prefers to reward her people directly and immediately, and prefers to reward entire communities rather than individuals. A champion may be told that the local town's crops will grow even greater than usual or that the goddess has gotten another god to agree for a foretold flooding to be redirected away from the community. The temples, by contrast, can often arrange for a wide variety of services and favors, from food to negotiating with other temples and local governments on the champion's behalf.

Antithesis:

Macken, the wild growth is Abora's Low god opposite. Where Abora believes in the slow coming of ecological balance, Macken's jungle chokes out people and animals alike to bring about his own jungle at the expense of all else, which means that what few martial resources Abora has are often focused on opposing Macken.