Piotus, The all and final Word

Name

Piotus

Domains

Knowledge, Truth, Research, Learning

Alignment

High

Story

Piotus, who manages language and the writen word, is the Patron of a vast number of Library-Temples across Dia. The story goes that the gift of language first belonged to Talon, who spoke to his brothers and sisters at the dawn of time. When Talon tod Pious that he would have the domain of language howeve, a light left Talon's beak and entered Piotus, who became the guardian of patron of all forms of language and the written word.

Many stories of Piotus speak of his suppor of those who are passionaite for learning for its own sake and who does not take words at their face value or meaning. The parabales of Piotus are often full of double entredes and similies, often featuring the careful use of words that can contain double meaning. When Piotus speaks, he often addresses his champions and priests in a number of tounges, which they are gifted to understand but ust study carefully to truly understand. To this end, all priests of his order carry a tablet of either slate or stacked paper so that if they recieve a message from either their god or a messenger, it can be written down and studied carefully before any action is taken.

This careful study of even casual directions from the gods and higher priests mean that nothing Piotus does is performed in haste. Instead, he often appears to move slowly, encouraging the priests to parse their actions and his directives carefully.

Champions of the god tend to be just as cautious and its said that each one had to answer a complex riddle that could have had two answers - having only proved worthy when they apply the context of the riddle to their own life to the riddle to determine the correct answer

Glyph

Piotus's glyh is two line with twin curves between them, resembling an open book. In the center of the glyph is a symbol of two looping circles connected by a line, considered to be a universal letter that represents Piotus and only Piotus.

Appearance

Piotus is often depicted as a tall elf, covered in long white hair and a matching beard. He wears the same white robes as his priests, including a looped slate tablet over his chest, usually marked with his symbol in chalk. When recruiting, he often appears as a traveling merchant or vagabond. His physcial appearence is disquigsed but it is generally accepted that he will appear to be an older member of whatever speices he chooses to appear in.

Theology

Worshippers of Piotus focus on learning the truth in all things and this often means diving deep not only into the entomolyogy of words, but in the study of langugages both dead and alive. The Lbraries of Pioutus also contain significant amounts of historial references and what little the gods permit the people of the Iatrus collective to know of their pre-god past is often guarded inside the temple-libraries. Piotus also encourages education not just in the priests but in the lay eople and even the small shrines will often have a priest who oversees those who would study the works kept within and provide instuction. In wealthier city-states, there may even be scholars trained in the temples to serve as higher educators.

In addition to the usual temples and shrines, Pioutus's order maintains 'outposts' in areas known to have archaelogical value or little-known cultures and natural phenomena. These outposts are staffed by seekers, a type of monk that is dedicated to finding and preserving lost knowledge. They both serve as repositories for esoteric knowledge not yet transcribed for the library-temples and as resting places for Champion and Seeker alike to restore themselves before continuing on their missions.

Finally, it is impossible to describe Piotus and his church without mentioning the God Tongue. This is said to be an approximation of the actual language used by the gods, but slowed down so mortals may speak it. The God's tonuge is supposedly built on a beautiful use of mathematics in language a well as to form a basis for both mortal math and languages. Of all the knowledge in the world, only the word of the God-Tongue is forbidden to write down and study. Instead the god oly bestows a single word on his greatest champions, who in uterring something so sacred may change the world around them in a shallow mirror of the gods tehmselves. It takes even the champions years to train themselves to utter the word they ar given, but the effects can be devastating in the right moment.

Patonage

Piotus often recruits from those whose interst in learning exceeds the ability of their environment to provide for their passion. The ability to rise above such difficulties and to still learn is seen as a foundational feature of any Piotus champion. Such people are often approached by an itinerant stranger, who asks them for an answer to a riddle. The words of the riddle often contain a double-meaning, so that only a person who can apply the context of their experiences can identify the right answer. If the answer is correct, the god will appear in his true form and reward the individudal before recruiting them into his cause.

An interesting note about Piotus is that his champions feature far more women than men, something only Jiren can claim as well. Scholars propose that this is because mos of Dia's cultures expect women to excel in scholarlary pursuits and thus women from rural areas are more likely to encounter the frustration of limited learning that births a champion of Pioutus.

Whatever their reason for being a champion, they do make an impression. Of particular note is Godwin and Fult, two champions believed to still be alive and fighting for his cause today. Godwin, whose was bestowed a word of finding, is most famous for leading the assault on Helitcor tower being one of less than a dozen survivors who faced the demon-born weapons of Helitcor and walked away. It is said that Pioutus only trusts her with the tome she took from the place and the priests have ha to satisfy themselves with her summary of the text. By contrast, Fult is a reckless brusque man whose intelligence is hidden behind an uttely oafish personality. Its not known exactly what word was gift to Fult, but it is said to be a word in the God-Tounge so foul and offensive that to hear it, his enemies are often struck dumb and without vitality in the moment the profane word leaves his lips.

Retirement

Priests and champions of Piotus retire in much the same manner as their scholarly kin. Once their service is done, many champions will spend their remaining years documenting the results of their fieldwork and writing down the stories of their adventures. Such records are considered to be holy to the order and some biographies are kept solely for the use of the order and no outsiders

Favors

Piotus himself doesn't seem to deal in any marks of favor like his kin, but his temple does. In reward for obtaining rare or sacred knowledge a temple will often hand over one or more tokens as a sign of respect. Each one is a stone circle with a single word carved into it. Those serious in their workship of Piotus will keep these tokens and study them carefully, seeking knowledge or omens in that single word. Wethe or not the god manipulates the words on the tokens is unkown. A holder of such tokens can give them back to the temple for access to the archives not nromally een by the public, a trade of 'knowledge for knowledge' as well as supplies.

Antithesis

Saradege is the antithesis of Piotus, although its not a strong rivalry. Both orders keep at least some of their knowledge secret from outsiders and focus on internal application of knowledge. Still, they have been known to raid each others temples and cache for this same hidden knowledge, creating a sort of rivalry between the orders and their gods.