Veniathan's Spring

Veniathan's spring is a sacred natural spring located far beneath the ground at the root of a deep, long cave. Carved into the wall is a towering depiction of Veniathan, the goddess of time and memory, standing knee-deep in the water with her arms held out in front of her. Water flows from behind her, over her shoulders, down her arms and off the palms of her hands, cascading down into the pool below in an endless stream. A unique luminous algea grows within the pool and along the walls surrounding it, giving the cave a soft, pale blue-green glow, and making the water itself appear to emit light, with how it reflects off the streams from Veniathan's hands. Only that pool is visible, the rest of the spring flows under the earth and rock, deep underground, but it stretches all across the highlands throughout ancient Tirosanioth, and the rivers and lakes it feeds where it reemerges are considered holy sites in their own right.

The Amantoth people describe time as a vast, endless river, its currents along which all souls are carried. The entirety of that river is more a spiritual concept than a physical landmark, but Veniathan's spring is considered its headwaters all the same. The Menvetoth people consider Veniathan's spring the origin point of all memory, the vessel in which the earth's soul is contained, the place where it remembers most clearly. This spring is where Veniathan's presence is felt the strongest, and many Amantoth and Menvetoth journey there at least once in their lives to pray and to connect with their goddess. It is the most holy site of both peoples.

To pray at the spring, one kneels in the shallow edge of the pool and holds some of the luminous water in their cupped hands, raising them to eye-level and slowly letting the water trickle through the seams between their fingers as they recite the prayer. When all of the water has returned from their hands to the spring, the prayer is finished.

Though most worshippers of Veniathan, whether they be Amantoth or Menvetoth, only visit the spring once or a few times in their lives, Queen Anamaris journeyed there frequently to meditate. An Amantoth queen of Tirosanioth, she was an incredibly powerful TimeKeeper and cleric of Veniathan, known as the queen of light, and had an exceptionally strong bond with the goddess. She often prayed to her for wisdom and guidance, and did so regularly at Veniathan's spring. The spring is also where much of Siromsja's training in magic from Queen Anamaris was held.

Followers of Veniathan don't really believe in permanence as a general concept, as the nature of time and of memory is that it is constantly moving, constantly shifting and dancing and changing. They do not believe in finality. Time is endless, and memories are everlasting even when the minds, hearts and souls that created them are no longer as they once were on the mortal plane. Veniathan is the embodiment of eternal presence. As such, ironically, the headwaters of time and wellspring of memory are immortal in a way, the sacred spring appearing utterly untouched by the passage of time, unchanging even over many centuries. It is the root, the source, the birthplace of time, an essential part of the vast endless river, but it is also in a way a place separate from time, sheltered from the rest of the world, the mortal realm and all other realms above and below it.

When Queen Anamaris held fast the tether between Siromsja's body and soul, she knew it would take time for her to become whole again. She knew the one place where Siromsja could safely rest and recover would be Veniathan's spring, untouched by finality, true ending, or absence. It was Siromsja's father who carried her body there, and laid her down in the luminous pool within the deep, deep cave. He then conjured a wall of warding stone to seal the entrance to the cave from the outside, so she would be safe until it was time for her to reawaken. Veniathan's spring then stayed that way for nearly four hundred years, sheltered from The End's evil, and the destruction it and its forces wrought.

Alternative Name(s)

The Headwaters of Time, The Wellspring of Memory

Type

Cave