San Elijah

San Elijah is one of the Redemptive Saints of the Bastonian Pantheon, elevated to godhood by the Enemy and later redeemed by the Almighty in recognition of his overtures toward the side of good. Once a human from Bastonia, he was a mercenary commander in the service of the forces of the Enemy during the Battle of the First Wall, who was inspired by San Lukas's example and turned his unit against the enemy. In a sense, this makes him one of the oldest saints, and this conflict leads to most of the friction between him, San Lukas, and San Lauren. He is known by the epithet of the Sainted Captain, among others. If San Lukas is the patron saint of just wars, San Elijah is the patron saint of the chaos of war, of the average soldier and conscript, and the rising and falling of kingdoms held by use of force.

His symbol is the scythe, which is also his sacred weapon. Wasps, especially communal species of wasps, are his sacred animal, as the individual wasp is chiefly harmless, but swarms of wasps can destroy creatures many times their own size and strength.

History

Before the Battle of the First Wall, San Elijah was a Bastonian bandit, sellsword, and assassin living in southern Bastonia, in the edge of the wild lands that would eventually become the Frontier Counties. His alacrity and ruthlessness on the battlefield attracted the attention of the Enemy, who offered him a legion in exchange for his soul and the capture of Whiterock, immediately elevating him to divinity.

During the battle, San Elijah's troops were moving to reinforce the troops fell upon a breech in the First Wall defended by San Lukas. At the moment of San Lukas' elevation by the Almighty, San Elijah became inspired and turned his force against their former allies, losing the favour of the Enemy and dying in the attempt. He was resurrected and restored to divinity by the Almighty following the conclusion of the battle, creating the mandate among the Great Saints to reform and eventually convert his fellow Redemptive Saints, San Meteo and San Verus.

Relationships

Though a loyal follower of the Almighty, it would be wrong to describe San Elijah as fully devout to her teachings; she herself rarely grants audiences of any kind and he is otherwise largely "permitted, but socially unwelcome" within her realms of Heaven, due in part to his longstanding rivalries with San Lukas and San Lauren, who view him and each other with varying levels of annoyance, disgust, and pity. He is known to be fond of San Hera, who treats him well, and if he visits heaven at all he does so in her realm of the Highest Hearth.

San Elijah's patronage of war means he comes into frequent contact (and occasionally frequent conflict) with both San Meteo and San Verus. He views both with equal contempt and pity, often pitting his forces against them in extraplanar combats in order to thwart their ambitions and show they remain on the losing side.

As the First Traitor, he is an enemy of the Enemy and uses both his followers on Ahren and his servants in the outer planes to counter the Enemy's plans and ambitions.

Appearance

San Elijah is a hale and hearty human male with dark hair streaked grey at the temples, who bears the particular scars of the moment of his death in battle - his neck and his right wrist are ghostly impressions of their former selves, and his left eye bears a scar and has been replaced with faintly glowing moonstone. He has a thundering voice and a commanding presence and almost always appears in his golden armour, bearing his scythe.

Realm

San Elijah is nominally welcome in Heaven but rarely present there. It is the nature of the universe that he instead occupies a more-stable-than-average realm in Pandemonium known as the Plains of Battle, where he trains with his followers and servants for an event he prophesies known as the Battle of the Last Wall - a fabled distant-future battle between the Almighty and the Enemy.

Providence

While he is deeply associated with wars, it is rare that San Elijah is seen as the cause, since he is more accurately the patron of the tragedies of war rather than their glories. His providence is seen in the near-miss arrow, the blade that chips upon your shield, and the unexpected triumph of the lesser force. It is said that commanders of all rank who turn to him in preference to San Lukas occasionally hear his voice in their dreams or in the din of the enemy's horns, guiding them to victory.

Servants

As the most recognizable and anthropoid of the gods of Pandemonium, San Elijah is unique in that his servants, beyond those drawn from among the living of Ahren, are the relatively-comprehensible Azatas (whose service he gained from Elysium) and demons (some of whom remained loyal to him after his betrayal of the Enemy. He is served by a number of unique servants as well; war will use any tool it can find.

Unique Servants

The Harbinger of War

San Elijah's unique herald is the Harbinger of War, an agent of chaos whose physical form is as varied as the precursors for war itself.

The Tenth Circle

San Elijah's divine weapon, the Tenth Circle, is a Major Artifact in its own right, occasionally finding its way to Ahren and into the hands of mortals, follower and enemy alike. The powers it confers upon and levies against its weilder (as San Elijah's mood warrants) make its use by anyone other than the Saintly Captain a foolhardy prospect.

The Bastonian Church

The bastonian church is unified in the worship of The Almighty, which is observed by not just her direct followers, but even by those patronized by the other Saints of the Pantheon. The church teaches the performance of good works and the cultivation of compassion as the roadmap to ultimate salvation and an afterlife spent in Heaven.

Devotees of San Heather are known as the Heatherites, and form a religious order within the greater church.

Worshippers

All Bastonians worship the Almighty, and some further dedicate themselves to the saintly Architect, San Heather. San Elijah's clergy make up its own order within the Bastonian Church, the Elomites, who have a ranking structure similar to the hierarchy of the church at large.

The common soldier, especially those pressganged or conscripted into service, swell the formal ranks of his order. He is also worshipped informally and to varying degrees of superstition or true reverence by many who live by violent means, such as mercenaries, bandits, and some rogues.

Clergy

As what the Bastonian Church calls a religious order, San Elijah's clergy have their own manner of uniform dress, consisting of a black and grey scapular bearing his blazon and often worn over armour by both chaplain and devotee alike.

His clergy are ``always`` chaplains and never have a purely-pastoral duty of care, and are sometimes sought out in the aftermath or anticipation of war, for funerary rites or the blessing of departing soldiers.

Temples & Shrines

Like much the rest of Bastonian architecture, temples and shrines to the Almighty are often masterworks of masonry or stonework, which in wealthy communities are often further embellished with stained glass and frescos, depicting a popular saint in the region or scenes from the sacred texts. Such structures are usually subdivided internally, with an area for public ceremony and worship (which is frequent) and an area for the sole use of the clergy and those who serve the clergy in liturgical preparation, and temple complexes almost always include an outbuilding or suite of rooms known as the rectory, where the priests serving a particular temple have residence.

Holy Texts

In addition to the holy texts used in the worship of the Almighty, members of the Elomite order follow a document called the Law of War, which lies out a very limited code of moral conduct for soldiers, and advises the adherant to take whatever measure is necessary to ensure their survival and the survival of their compatriots, especially their subordinates. The book is small and lightweight, and while copies are relatively rare (owing to the lack of dedicated monastics and pastors within the order), it is designed to be quotable and memorable, and many phrases from the book are in common currency amongst soldiers of all kinds.

Church History

The church and the state are intimately connected within Bastonia, with the state relying on the church for its legitimacy and the church relying on the state's realpolitikal power to stay in rule. The Almighty's church is considered coterminous with those of all other saints and is the only legally-permitted form of open worship within the Kingdom.

Holidays

As a Redemptive Saint, San Elijah does not have a feast day. He is often invoked in ceremonies anticipating a battle or seige, and in celebrations of victory or the mourning of defeat. His rituals are unique in that he demands and accepts no sacrifices, knowing that many of his followers have paid for the favor of the surviving with their own lives.

Favoured Animals

Elijah's sacred animal are wasps, specially swarming varieties who live in community with one another. Just as a single man is harmless before a Demon Lord, a single wasp is an annoyance at best. Just as an army of sufficient size may fear no enemy, a hive can conquer whole cities.