Essie is the goddess of Loyalty, Nurses, Marriage, Children, and Compassion. She is Neutral Good aligned. She is very popular in Khalix, especially in Westlight. Royalty and their court often require oaths to her be spoken before important meetings and agreements, ensuring loyalty. Essie is one of two mortals who have ever ascended to godhood. The other being her husband, Ezlore. If life, Essie was the wife of Ezlore the King of Thimor, an ancient empire that stretched up the western coast of current day Khalix. King Ezlore was in the midst of a battle against the Kratheon Dynasty for the city of Thealuna when he was dealt a grevious wound. Try as they might his healers were not able to save him, only put him in a state of rest that his wife may have seen him one last time in life. Despite their best their best efforts they were not able to return the King to Westlight before he died from his wounds. Still leagues away from Westlight they made the difficult decision to bury him on the road. They picked a small depression in the vast plains, the Broken Expanse, between Westlight and the Hagfen River. The burial site is long lost to history, but popular legend states that the mountain, Sorg, now stands where he was laid to rest, ripped from the gound when he ascended to godhood. Upon news of her husband's death Essie became greif-stricken abandoning all of her responsibility as Queen and sole ruler of Thimor to her mourning. She spent years locked in her quarters mourning the death of her husband, leaving her young son to the many nurses and midwives in the castle. Eventually her greif grew too strong and she too followed her husband into the great beyond. Though unlike most her story did not end in death. So strong was her love and loyalty to her husband that she persisted even after her physical body gave out. Legend has it that in the weeks and months that followed her passing the entire continent was subject to torrential rain storms nearly every day. Rain so strong in some areas that it turned natural depressions in the land into new lakes and ponds. The torrential rains soon came to pass within a year of her passing, and all was quiet for a while. The Kingdom of Thimor contiuned on a little over a decade, in the hands of various regents until Essie's only son, Ellis, was old enough to take the throne. Though his parents were strong fair rulers, Ellis was not. Possibly due to the circumstances surrounding his upbringing, he was short-tempered, violent, and resentful. Under his rule, the once proud empire shrank year over year, until all that remained was Westlight itself. Thimor clung on to existence for many decades as just Westlight. Ellis and many in his court still enjoyed lavish lifestyles, while most under his rule suffered extreme poverty. Many children grew up homeless, rarely seeing their parents, as many adults had to travel to different cities to find work, and would send money back home to their children and elderly relatives. Around this time rumors of a new savior began to circulate around the more destitute areas for Westlight, The Mourning Lady. Whipserings of a woman with tear streaked robes offering food and blankets to needy families. Never requesting anything in return, never talking, and dissapearing as quickly as she would show up. Soon enough some of the elderly began to hear and see similarities between this mystery woman and their now long dead Queen, Essie. As more and more people began to whisper about her, she began to appear more, blessing more than just children now. She would take special interest in families, those that helped others, and those that stayed loyal, even when difficult. With growing apperances and rumors, word eventually reached the ears of Ellis. Upon hearing this, he became enraged, fore if this mystery woman really was the spirit of his mother, this would be the second time she has scorned him. If it were not her spirit, and merely someone using her memory for attention that would be equally enraging. Needing to know the truth he devised a plan to pose as a beggar family with members of his guard, hoping to catch the sure-to-be imposter off guard. Ellis waited many months, spending most nights pretending to be a beggar in hopes of finding the imposter to no avail. What he did find, was new knowledge of the people that he ruled over. Spending long nights sitting in the overflowing gutters, surrounded by the cried of the weak and dying changed something within him. Fewer parties were thrown, less was spent on entertainment and clothes. Many in his court attributed this to his ridiclious obession to finding the imposter. Most assumed that he has finally gone insane, but those closest to him realized what was really happening. He was changing. He was realizing what the people he ruled over lived like. He was realizing what he did. Eventually he brought fewer and fewer guards with him on his nightly trips, until one night he brough none. No one knows exactly what happened that night, but many believe that he finally met the Mourning Lady. Whatever happened that night finished the transformation that spending time in the streets started in Ellis. Gone were the balls, feasts, and parades of wealth. Instead he began to open up the walls of his keep to those of his city. Many were apprehensive at first, but then the Mourning Lady began appearing to them, for the first time speaking. She urged them to take his offer. The more astute of the beggars noticed, that while there were still tears, there was a smile and a happiness present that wasn't there before. It took a few weeks for the trust to build, but it eventually came, and many in the streets began to think of the keep as their second home. The Mourning Lady continued to appear and speak to the populace, now speaking openly, and not only to the poor.
It was a slow climb, but slowly under a seemingly reformed Ellis, Thimor slowly began to rebuild power, and reach. Never quite reaching the heights it had under his parents, but more respectable than it had been at its lowest. Rebuild all by Ellis, and desire to make sure that no one under him was suffering. Along with this growth and change in Ellis came more growth for Thimor. Never before had there been an offical religion of the kingdom, but Ellis changed that as well. Declaring that the patron goddess of The Kingdom of Thimor was Essie, his mother, the goddess of Loyalty. Many questioned this decision, and when asked, Ellis would get a wistful look in his eyes and say, "The Morning Lady came to me and revealed all I need to know about dieties." It was a slow adoption of the worship, but eventually it became the primary religion in Thimor. Essie's claims grew too, to include, Children, Nurses, Marriage, and Compassion after those that she helped so early on in both life, and in her early stages of godhood. Legend still states that if you are traveling through Westlight that you may catch a glimpse of a woman in the corners of the streets, not crying, but smiling and happy, often with a raven on her shoulder.
