San Meteo

San Meteo is one of the Redemptive Saints of the Bastonian Pantheon, elevated to godhood by the Enemy to stand in opposition to the Great Saints of the Almighty. Once a human from Bastonia, he was a magistrate in the city of Whiterock during the Battle of the First Wall, and is said to have sold the secret of the flaw in the wall that lead to the event known as San Lukas' Breach. Of the two Redemptive Saints who remain in the service of evil, he is seen as the most easily redeemed, as he is not so much loyal to the Enemy as much as he is capitalizing on the Enemy's beneficence. In secret, many corrupt officials, especially magistrates, judges, ministers, and plutocratic nobles worship him and follow his example.

His symbol is an open palm with two platinum coins, and his sacred weapon is the dagger. His sacred animal is the fox, a creature revered for its patience and cunning.

History

Before the Battle of the First Wall, San Meteo was a magistrate in Whiterock. Tempted by greed and promises of personal advancement, he sold his secret observations of the First Wall to the Enemy in exchange for divinity and two platinum coins to The Enemy, and fled the city before its siege and the battle itself, spending the entirety of the conflict in the relative safety of Hell.

After the battle and the redemption of San Elijah, San Meteo began to be receptive to overtures from the Almighty and her servants to turn away from the Enemy, though he plays his cards too close to his chest to be considered an ally of the Almighty or a true traitor to the Enemy.

He is said to have been imprisoned by the Enemy on more than one occasion, though he always returns to strength and prestige. For this reason, he is also seen as the patron of just and unjust punishments.

Relationships

San Meteo's first loyalty is to himself and his continued survival and divinity, a fact he often reminds the Great Saints of - in the sway of the Enemy and with his soul to the bargain, he doesn't have much choice - Elijah's continued survival even after the same betrayal notwithstanding. He gets along best with San Marino, who respect each other's drive and steadfast ambition, but see each other as morally scewed.

His greatest enemies among the Great Saints are San Heather, San Lukas, and San Sylvester. San Heather continues to resent him for his betrayal of her trust, and would gladly have paid him for the same report, no doubt saving much heartache along the way. San Lukas and San Meteo view each other as worthy opponents, alike in capability, with San Meteo seeing San Lukas as self-righteous to the point of danger to others. San Sylvester and San Meteo are diametrically opposed in almost every way, coming into conflict frequently along axiomatic or moral lines. Their debates are the stuff of oratorical legend and San Elijah has been known to prompt them if the three of them are ever in Heaven at the same time, for his own amusement.

San Meteo serves the Enemy but does not trust the Enemy, and does not have the Enemy's trust in return. His overtures to the Great Saints and vaguely-redemptorist noises occasionally result in actual losses to the Enemy's side. Further, he has no trust whatsoever for San Verus, who seems to enjoy death and destruction for its own sake (rather than San Meteo, who prefers death and destruction as the necessary evils for his own sake).

Appearance

San Meteo has the physical features of a man about the age of 35, with cunning eyes, who dresses in the fine robes of a high-ranking magistrate or judge. His officious bearing is reinforced by divine impression, and he rarely attempts to pass himself off as mortal.

Realm

San Elijah is nominally welcome in Heaven, but only by invitation. Perhaps because of his ambitions to one day escape the Enemy, he too occupies Hell and maintains his own realm there ,The Infernal City, under the shadow of the Lowest Seat, the Enemy's personal domain.

Providence

Sudden gossip useful in the furtherance of a plot, an opportunity to advance one's station through the manipulation of existing dynamics, and other sudden improvements are seen as marks of his providence, though his followers far more look for signs of his displeasure in others; sudden bankruptcies, career-limiting scandals, and exposure as charlatains. It is extremely rare that he contacts his followers directly, as they are both few and rarely in a position to benefit him.

Servants

Several castes of Devils populate his realm of Hell, along with their own mortal servants and devotees of his own from Ahren who occasionally earn themselves and afterlife in Hell. Tellingly, he maintains few unique servants - either his own court is too volatile to support the practice, or he finds his followers sufficiently distasteful to usually represent himself in his own affairs.

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 Metics, and are a heretical sect of belief, whose public observance is illegal in Bastonia.

Worshippers

Evil or avaricious Bastonians whose fealty to the Almighty is mere lip service but who nonetheless find the Enemy too distasteful occasionally find themselves among the followers of San Meteo, who loves to court the attentions of the usefully-corruptable, from lowly town magistrates to officials at Royal Court, and even (it is whispered) Monarchs, on occasion. Though public worship is illegal, of all the evil dieties in the Pantheon, followers of San Meteo are the most numerous, as the path he calls upon his faithful to walk is tastefully decorated and lined with golden promises.

Clergy

Owing to the need to practice their religion in secret, the clergy of San Meteo are rarely clergymen in the main Bastonian Church, and show no immediate or obvious signs of their divine providence. On the occasion that small sects or cults begin to organize around Meteo's worship, the marks of their allegience are usually concealed in minor details of dress or jewelry, in secret handshakes and peculiar turns of phrase.

San Meteo is known to partially corrupt clerics of San Marino's order, who adhere to their normal standard of dress and operation but pray to him in secret.

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.

San Meteo is rarely depicted among these saints, usually only by way of allegory to San Heather, who is closely tied to his own legend. Shrines and temples that depict this allegory are often occasionally subverted for San Meteo's purpose, though the purpose of shameless advancement and the self-improvement of the Heatherites can also lead to conflict, and these become the places where a sect of San Meteo is most likely to make itself inadvertantly known.

Holy Texts

San Meteo's followers are usually individuals of wealth or station, and so would have copies, unused, of the normal works of the Bastonian Church. However, a few of his writings have made it into mortal hands as well, usually disguised as innocent manuals on finance, clerkly duties, or other guides to the life of an official. These documents often whisper of the morality of self-advancement and occasionally include explicit guidance on managing one's affairs, evading the exposure of one's own scandals, and the utility of ruthlessness.

Church History

The churches of San Meteo have been as numerous as have scandals throughout Bastonian History. Few ever leave behind enough documentation to think of them as official churches in the public eye.

Holidays

As a Redemptive Saint, San Meteo does not have a feast day. He is often invoked in ceremonies by faithful of the Almighty as an example of the ongoing need to come to common understanding and redemption. Among his own followers, feasts are held in his honour at various occasions, wherein offerings of luxurious goods or straight coin are made to attempt to curry his fickle and expensive favour.

Favoured Animals

Foxes are sacred to San Meteo, explicitly so, and his writings often use allegorical depictions of foxes to make moral points. The wearing of Fox Fur is often a sign of great personal wealth and so is occasionally a subtle expression of wink-nod allegiance to him among his upper-class followers.