Monday Mytholgoy – Amaaran, Accursed of Grief
Amaaran, Accursed of Grief
Other Titles: The Laughing God, Bringer of Tears, The Dark Comfort
Alignment: NE
Weapon: Throwing Knives (Pain and Suffering)
Major Domains: Grief, Loss, Tragedy
Minor Domains: Comedy, Fear, Tears
Totem Animal/Warform: Black Cat/Panther ( The warform is made of crumbling earth and falling rocks, claws of onyx and obsidian)
Holy Symbol: A white candle with a black flame, often on a background of red
Favored Appearances: Amaaran, like most accursed, rarely takes to Kasan, and thus his favored appearances are fairly uncommon. When he walks, however, it is generally in the form of a weary human, often road worn and weeping. His clothing is tattered and dirty, and he shows the signs of a recent lack of food. His hair is shortcut and blonde, looking bedraggled and unkempt, but recently so. His unshod feet are bruised and bleeding most often, looking recently to have gone barefoot.
His Female form is a similar, wasting form of a woman, though she tends to be taller and slightly heavier-set, at least originally, and her hair is slightly longer, but could never be described as long. Both the forms have unnatural features from grief and lack of food, with their once round and joyous faces now sunken and shallow, with their angular bones starting to express themselves through the tightening skin. Both forms, as well, have the same dark grey eyes seemingly constantly clouded with tears.
Personality: Amaaran is a dark being, obsessed with the tragedy and folly of life, but also with the dark laughter and the eventual reprieve that comes from it, though he is one of the few beings, gods or accursed, left that truly take pleasure in the suffering of mortals. Being the bearer and harbinger of both grief and loss eventually eats at the compassion that once may have been there, but Amaaran shows no evidence of ever having had that compassion. His dark laughter and jokes, as well as the grief and sorrow he spreads are both merciless and unending. He spares no one, there is no reprieve, not from his dark glare.
Teachings: The philosophy of Amaaran is as dark as he is. There is no happieness that is not fleeting, there is no moment safe. Tragedy and loss strike all, and unequally. Some will have his dark gaze all their life, and others will have but a moment. There are no ways to avoid the troubles that Amaraan brings. What you can do, however, is absorb it, and let the grief and loss become part of you, weeping when needed, laughing when needed, and succumbing to the fear when needed. There is no escape, and succumbing to the grief and fear and pain is simply the final step in realizing that.
Abode: Amaaran lives in the Bleak Stronghold, sitting atop a rise of lead and rusted iron on the edges of the Accursed Territory. Its high, broken towers and thick brooding walls display the darkest of dread and most terrifying of sadness.
Cultists: In a strange twist of fate, many of the greatest playwrights and poets of Kasan are secret cultists of Amaaran, for they bring both comedy and tragedy to life in their words and through their actions. What greater way is there to spread both grief and comedy than through performances. Though they form an informal brotherhood and don’t speak often, when they do collaborate, they can write the most rending and powerful of plays. It has been said that one play that was written long ago by a cabal of Amaaran worshiper playwrights was so powerfully tragic that the first time it was performed, the entire city it was in went mad with grief and thousands took their own lives and the lives of others in a single night.
Clerical Attire/Colors: Followers of the faith wear dark grays, blacks and dull, pale whites, though they have no formal preference for robes, collars or other such formalities, they simply gravitate tot he colors of gloom and darkness. Often their entire wardrobe will be of those few tones, and they are drab and uninteresting to look at.
Followers: Poets, mostly, and playwrights. Authors and philosophers will also reach out and embrace the teachings quite readily. Warriors and rogue types have an exceptionally hard time understanding the tenants of the faith, as they encounter death of both their enemies and their friends often, and generally become inured to such grief and pain.
