Artemis
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| Artemis, the Great Wrath | |
| Realm | Cataclysm |
| Symbols | A yew tree, split by a bolt of lightning |
| Relatives | None |
| Allies | Gaia |
| Enemies | None |
| Order Name | The Tribe Anachaine |
| Temples | Dun Valley |
Artemis, the Great Wrath was the Lady of the Cataclysm, expressed in often volatile events caused by nature. These included avalanches, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, flash floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, meteor strikes, land- or mudslides, and blizzards.
History
Artemis came to be in 437 AF, amongst a score of continent-wide disasters. Mysterious earthquakes and unexplained storms ravaged Sapience while dreams of burning trees and strange prophecies and chants possessed those empathic to nature, including Titania. At her urging, adventurers followed clues to awaken the nine forest spirits which had slept within the elder trees of their forests since the Eternal Night. Once freed, the woodland apparitions converged on the Temple of Gaia where adventurers found Caladriendra singing to the earth. The old dryad teacher spoke of a secret yew seed once planted there by Makali, the Goddess of Destruction years prior which had been awakened by the energies of recent cataclysmic events. Joined by the tenth forest spirit, the exiled Propasia, the spirits caused the seed to sprout into a fully grown yew with ritual chant. Propasia merged with the tree before a bolt of lightning split it in two. From the centre arose a new being who rose into the sky and braved the onslaught of the ongoing cataclysms. The raging storms quieted. In the silence the being pronounced herself: Artemis, Goddess of the Cataclysm.
Artemis went on to share patronage of Eleusis with Her fellow Nature deities. She garnered a tribe of loyal followers about Herself called the Anachaine. Her realm was a syncretic one, once which fused the cosmic destructive forces of Her beginnings with the terrestrial provisions of Nature to express the living ferocity of the natural world. When she was not overseeing affairs of the forestal village, Dun Mountain became Her favoured resting place. She hallowed its pyroclastic flows and established Her temple at its base. When the terror of Bal'met swept the Pantheon, Artemis was most often seen in company of Lupus and Melantha, but also Vastar who shared Her love of the unbridled storm. After the coma of Lupus and the death of Melantha, Gaia arose anew, and it was arguably in the sisterhood of the Earthmother and the Great Wrath that Nature truly flourished in the post-Worldreaver years.
When Lupus awakened after a two hundred year slumber, the knowledge of Selene's death sent him into a months-long rampage across Achaea. With Gaia's support, Artemis moved to contain Lupus, culminating in a duel to the death between Hunter and Huntress upon the distant plane of Anachai. The cosmos became rent with natural catastrophe as each God brought their full powers to bear. When Lupus launched a final, furious charge upon the Anachaine Goddess, She braced with Her spears with all of Her might. Artemis was successful; clarity returned to the Wild God as He died, though Artemis perished from Her wounds soon after.
The Tribe Anachaine
Followers of Artemis belonged to the great Tribe Anachaine, renown for its esteemed warriors and devoted ritualists.
Sarathai El'Rian bore the torrid mantle of the Cataclysm as Her first avatar.
Divine Symbols
Artemis took the yew tree, split by a bolt of lightning, as Her divine symbol.
Her favoured weapons were the Spear of Catastrophe and the Scourge of Calamity.