Elwynn (Goddess)

Elwynn is a Goddess who originally hails from the Treesian pantheon. The Goddess Elwynn is typically regarded as being the Matron of the the eponymous river and the lands enclosed by its two convergent branches. She is also referred to as the White Orchid Goddess or the White Orchid Lady.

Depiction and characterisation

The Goddess Elwynn was traditionally considered to be the manifestation of the good, the virtuous, and the life-giving. She was depicted as a being of selfless motivation and kindheartedness who, from the very moment of Her creation, embodied everything which is right and just, good and fair.

The Lady Divine Elwynn is sometimes portrayed as tall and slim with snow-white hair and skin. The Lady Elwynn used is almost always depicted completely clad in white garments which emulate the form of a white orchid.

The White Orchid is the most important symbol of the Goddess Elwynn. The sacred volcano called Mount Yaanek and the holy river which bears Her name are also associated with the Lady Elwynn.

In subsequent years, particularly under the growing influence of the Holodomatic School, Elwynn began to be associated with the incarnations of Holy Wisdom. Where Holodomatic teaching has become fused with Zurvanite folk-belief (that all refracted facets of the universe, including divinities and spirits, are a manifestation of the highest divinity - Zurvan) Elwynn has become Ushas-Eluin, the goddess of the waters, of the dawn, and of the implacable cosmic vengeance that washes away all obstacles and burns the unrighteous to ashes. The cult of Ushas-Eluin appears to have grown up in opposition to the Kalgachi heresy known as Ketherism.

In the year 1662, to celebrate the second anniversary of the liberation of Nackholm, a statue dedicated to Ushas-Eluin was installed on the pedestal of the Monument to Siyachi Motherhood in Minyan Tiflis. The hollow statue, forged from kossar sabres and Neo-Batavian rifles melted down in the Nackholm Foundry, standing at 15 metres, atop of a 30 metre pedestal, depicted a female nude, whose long flowing hair is woven with orchid flowers, with archonic wings, wearing a four-tiered horned crown, holding the flaming sword in her right hand and the distaff in her left. The world serpent - Jörmungandr - coils, sensually, around her legs, whilst her feet tramples the prostrate, mangled and lifeless forms of a Jing, a Voortrekker, a Paliscian, and a Vanic priestess. The base of the monument was defaced, with the original reliefs chiselled away and in their place was bolted on a series of moulded lead friezes in bas-relief - depicting scenes from the Shirerithian conquest of Inner-Benacia alternating with depictions of anthropomorphic representations of the subject nations carrying cornucopias to lay before the Young Kaiser (identified by the halo, aureole and the entourage of prostrate eunuchs surrounding the Imperial Personage).

The Goddess has traditionally been considered to have her principle shrine in one of the following places: Mount Yaanek and Araxion Tower. The tension between the two claims to primacy reflects itself in the tension between the traditionalist and reformist branches of the Church of Elwynn to this day.

Eschatological significance

In most Treesianoid and Elwynnese religions Elwynn is believed to be the twin sister of Lest who is generally considered to be the antithesis of the virtues that she represents. Furthermore, the certain extreme religious groups believe that Lest will eventually hunt down his sister and have carnal knowledge of her; an event which will have the slightly unfortunate consequence of triggering an apocalypse akin to the one that destroyed Treesia itself. A cheery prospect that sits high on the watch-list for the Vigiles Arcani.

Daemonic worship of Elwynn

Worship of the Lady Divine Elwynn by the Froyalanish Vanafolk commenced in the Ducal Reign of Duke Harald of Froyalan (1533-1542). Elwynn as a Vanic deity is no longer recognised in the Elwynnese Union. A number of sanctuaries and shrines had to be ritually purified to rid them of the pollution, spiritual and literal, left by the pornographic intensity of Vanic worship during the era of the Daemonic Vanic State.