Jiren, Kinslayer

Name:

Jiren

Domains:

Murder, Rebellion, and Defiance

Identity*:

Female presenting

Alignment:

Low

Story:

The story says that when the first Pantheon was raised, the Father-god Talon touched each god in turn and gave them their domains. Next to Jiran was Brean, who was announced as the god of Walls, Order, and Law. The idea of such an order existing in the world incensed Jiren and, before the Father-god could bestow any official position on her, she reached over and slit Brean’s throat. Thus was she defined not by her fellow gods, but by her defiance of Talon and the murder of her brother. She then turned on Talon and slashed at him as well, but was banished from the city of the gods for her rebellion.

Glyph:

Jiren’s glyph is two of Brean’s arcs, one over the other. Two slashes are then added, one across the top arc to represent the cutting of Brean’s throat and another from top-left to bottom-right to represent the wild slash made at Talon.

Appearance:

When Jiren manifests, it is almost always as a woman in torn and burnt sackcloth. Her shaved head stubble is marred by significant burns across her face and body. She tends to swagger and lounge in manners most likely to annoy anyone with a sense of decorum and is almost always seen with the great triangular blade of metal called Slitter. The metal is more akin to a giant piece of shrapnel than a proper blade, although a burned-through hole near the base provides a handle of sorts.

Theology:

Jiren and her followers generally avoid any discussion of theology, seeing thier relationship in more pragmatic terms. Certain writings of former champions claim that the god is one of the monotheist members of the pantheon, but if so, Jiren pays no lip service to the Mono-God and certainly doesn’t follow the monotheist tenets.

Patronage:

Jiren does not stand on ceremony when she appears and rarely makes use of the temple induction. Instead, she prefers to appear before those about to die an unjust (to them) death and offer a simple deal: The power to kill thier oppressors in exchange for a lifetime of service. Its no idle offer. Like most champions, Jiren halts aging in most of her champions, preferring that they only die from committing their bloody deeds. Only a handful manage more than a few decades of service before dying either in the commission of her work, or at the hand of some judge for their many crimes.

Most of those in her service are champions, as Jiren holds no temples. These individuals are noted for their obsessive nature, their instinctive defiance of authority, and thier ‘tastes’, the particular type of mortal they prefer to kill. Second in number to the champions are the murder-witches, who serve as her foot troops and sometimes army. These are dozens of women who suffered oppression under terrible men. Like the winners, they were given the same offer of slitting the man’s throat in exchange for service, but instead of the solitary life of a champion, they drew together in covens dedicated to Jiren’s service. These covens live in the wild seas and sometimes in Jiren’s domain directly, unleashed where Jiren needs a more direct hand. Jiren often provides little to no direction to these covens outside of her needs, and many turn to banditry or blood-murder to pass the time.

A handful are picked directly from the ranks of traditional murderers, not to serve as champions but as heralds. Despite the name, these are positions more of bureaucracy than worship. Heralds serve as messengers, dealmakers, and service personnel to the champions. It's not clear what deal is cut with Jiren for this eternity of service, but those in service do seem to abstain from the murderous regins they performed in life, although they may encourage champions to do so.

Missions from Jiren are generally focused on dismantling power structures. Bandit lords, city-state lords seeking to add to their domain, and even overly successful priests of other temples may draw her ire. Theological experts believe that her purpose is to prevent any one social structure from gaining too much influence or becoming too stratified. She also assigns missions to dismantle systems of oppression that her high-aligned siblings may be ignoring.

When it comes to rewarding her champions, Jiren often offers little to those whose ‘taste’ is already aligned to the target; she instead frames these as favors to the champion instead of a favor to her. Other rewards consist of new weapons, blood-coin (which represents favors), and information on where targets more to the champions ‘taste may be. A mage killer may be assigned to take on a local robber-baron, with a promised reward of the location of a local mercenary wizard and a couple of blood coins.

Retirement:

Jiren does offer ‘retirement’ like the other gods, but she handles it more like a bet. A champion can stay retired so long as they don’t kill. She then promises the champion that they won’t be able to resist the call to violence, which most do not. Only one person has ever lasted the hundred years of abstinence in order to earn a real retirement, which ended in a mortal passing of old age. All the rest have died in the violence of their trade.

Favors:

As mentioned, favors to the god are measured in blood coins. These are metal coins enameled in red and with the god’s glyph embossed in precious metal (usually copper or gold). There is no denominations of currency however, and the coins disappear to Jiren’s ‘bank’ when not called for.

Each blood coin is worth 10gp or 1 bag of coin when exchanged for goods with the heralds and can often be traded for potions, weapons, and other tools of the trade. A coin can also be exchanged with a herald for help avoiding the law, usually for someone to either plant contradictory evidence or remove small pieces like footprints from a crime scene. Bigger misdirections can be bargained for at the cost of more blood coins. Finally, a substantial number of blood coins can sometimes be exchanged for the god’s direct intervention - usually a coven of blood-witches sent to create a distraction or to remove an obstacle in a particularly brutal manner

Antihesis:

Jiren holds Talon and Brean as her anti-thesis. These gods focus on increasing order and structure, which she tears down.