she is the fortunate one

We are all the first woman of our lives.

basic info

name: Ara Vana (both given names, no family name) age: mid-20's gender: cis female occupation: priestess, initiated to the Mountain Mother sexuality: lesbian residence: Doana, the Empire of Edon place of birth: the city of Avana, south-western regions of Edon status: unmarried romantic interest: n/a

setting

The Empire of Edon is a fictional nation, located around the Jordan Valley. Its territories spanned as wide as Iran and Pakistan. It existed until about 2000 years BC. The Edonians were a prosperous, culturally rich people, their society heterogenous and open towards the surrounding world. Collectively, the worship of the goddess, Isun, was what held this diverse empire together and the Mountain Mother religion was the only accepted faith in all territories under Edonian rule. Its cult was led by priestesses, the high priestess - known as the Companion - head of the temples for a period of one decade exactly after which she was expected to sacrifice herself ritually, so that the Mountain Mother would not get lonely, and a new Companion could be selected from among the other priestesses. The center of the Edonian world is regarded as being Mount Quarantine.

history

Ara Vana was only ten years old when her parents handed her over to the temple in the capital city of Edon, Doana - modern day Jericho, as a gift that should relieve them of temple tax debt. She was the youngest among her seven siblings, so she was the one chosen. As such, she has grown into a woman among the priestesses and until she chose to become a priestess herself, she worked as a servant, keeping the palace grounds clean and serving the priestesses and priests as well as important guests food and drink, plus working as a scribe for the temple archives, once she'd learned to read and write. Doana is her hometown, Isun's great temple there, her home. She initially decided to serve as a priestess because it was the only way to free herself from servitude and she was ambitious about it, hoping and aiming to become Companion one day, but as she became initiated in the mysteries and wisdom surrounding the Mountain Mother, Ara Vana became a believer, also. She became a devotée. When she gave her vows, it was with faith filling her heart. At that time, she was 16.

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The first test to her newfound devotion was when she met the fellow priestess, Gharan, with whom she fell in love. There were no prohibitions against a relationship between them and for a year, they lived in great bliss together, but their closeness was being noted by the higher-ranking priestesses and it was decided that Gharan should be sent to the temple in one of the eastern cities to develop her talent as a musician. Losing the other girl was Ara Vana's first time questioning her belief in the total fairness of the Mountain Mother. While it was a loss she grieved, she eventually moved past it.

Now, almost ten years later, the most recent Companion, Igana, has - in response to what she insists was a dream from the Goddess - done away with the laws regarding the Companion's ritual suicide/sacrifice and instated herself as the permanent high priestess for the Mountain Mother with all privileges and every power this position holds, contrary to centuries worth of traditional customs. As time goes by, the weather gets harsher and the natural phenomena around them more extreme, what Ara Vana interprets to be the Goddess' wrath, but as she tries to raise question about the high priestess' intentions, she is threatened with a ban from the temple grounds.

It thereby becomes Ara Vana's job to quietly observe and chronicle what happens to Edon in the last years of its existence, as the Mountain Mother abandons the children who abandoned her sacred rules first and finally leaves the empire to fall.

personality

Before all else, Ara Vana is devoted. She is devoted to her goddess, she is devoted to the temple, she is devoted to the meaning she believes both things give the world she is part of and, serving them, she is devoted to the people who inhabit this world with her.

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She is also serious of disposition and intelligent, going about her duties and her pastimes with a quiet, focused mind and thinking philosophical thoughts about her religion, enough to write them down for perpetuity when Igana begins steering the centralized worship off course. As well as playing the hand drum, she can read and write, which is rare at the time, even for priestesses, and chronicles all the main legends and myths relating to the Mountain Mother as part of both her official work and her work against Igana behind the scenes.

She is kind and helpful, and having grown up in servitude herself, she shows a special appreciation and compassion for slaves and servants whom she considers in need of the Mountain Mother's blessing even more than others. She meets the general Edonian who comes to the temple with openness and understanding and shares the wisdom she has gained from her work willingly with everybody, not only those who can pay.

But she is also too loyal to her beliefs and the institution of the temple to openly fight Igana or challenge the new direction that she brings about in the temple practices. More a thinker than a fighter, she becomes passive where perhaps Edon needed her to actively take a stance, though she does what she can from her seat.

ooc permissions

contact: pm to this journal active times/pace: active sporadically throughout the day, most often online in the evening. slow to medium pace. brackets/prose: brackets pref, but will match, just note i'm slower with prose. offensive subjects/triggers: n/a.

ic permissions

physical affection: accepting. physical violence: please don't. relationships: n/a, f/f if shipping. offensive subjects/triggers: her universe deals a lot with (fictional/pagan) religion and religious government, so if that's not your thing, let me know and i'll avoid you.