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brightshore:pantheon:olteus

Olteus

Pronunciation: Ull-TAY-uss

Primary Domains

Olteus is the god of Water, Spring, Growth, and Fertility.

Appearance

Olteus is often depicted as a muscular humanoid with a beard made of hoarfrost and bearing a twisted, wavy staff.

Traditional Interpretation

As the god of water, the blessings of Olteus are said to grant speedy recovery and bodily vigor. His priests are often celebratory in their worship of the god, thanking him for the bounty brought by rain, and the renewal of the world when the winter snows melt. The clergy of Olteus guide people to live for the present, placing their energy towards those tasks where they can be most productive; problems will flow away with time. Olteus is often associated with time and gradual changes.

Lay Practice

While most all clerics of the four have access to healing magic, people most often turn their prayers to Olteus for healing. People take their newborns to his temples for blessings of growth and good health. Fishermen pray to him to fill the seas with bountiful catch. It is common for people to make a sign to Olteus when confronted with an obstacle they cannot overcome, to give them the strength to move around it.

Temples

Most temples and shrines to Olteus are centered around a bubbling font or clear pool. Rituals often involve submersion in or anointment with the blessed water from these sources. During the winter, priests of Olteus slowly build and maintain a large block of ice by layering the snowfall on the temple grounds. When winter gives way to spring, the priests melt this ice block to refill and renew the central font of the temple.

Rituals

Spring is the sacred season of Olteus. Temples and shrines are often decorated with the fresh flowers of spring, but only by replanting, as the destruction of a flower before it can come to seed is an insulting sacrifice to the god of fertility. The most important ritual of the year is held on the vernal equinox. The rainwater that falls between the Melting Day celebration and the equinox is collected in a special vessel, usually as tall as an adult human. The worshipers then make sacrifices of wealth, fabric, and oaths carved into wooden blocks in order to raise the water level and overflow the vessel. The water is then used to anoint the fields, while the sacrifices are thrown into the sea or nearest large body of water.

Sects

brightshore/pantheon/olteus.txt · Last modified: 2019/11/26 21:58 by jude