The Seed of St. Kathrenne

Listen thee well, and my song shall unwind

The tale of St Kathrenne's kin left behind

For on the eve of Her sainted rebirth

A son yet survived her, born mortal on earth

The son of St Kathrenne had five of his own

And each left their father to wander alone

In low deserts dry and high mountains cold

Each one did have children, and each did grow old

Hence ten generations who carried Kathrenne's name

Were sought out by zealots and put to the flame

The others who lived did silence their claims

And sought anonymity, deprived of their fame

The seed of St Kathrenne divine was to be

Godhead and an afterlife to humanity

But nine hundred years her line did obscure

To honor her bloodline not one could refer

An underworld creature so dark and so dour

The Dark Elf Savasna did covet Kathrenne's power

From deep beneath Theamor she tallied the line

Our Goddesses' scions rich blood to confine

She toiled in darkness to assemble them there

Til only one claimant breathed of open air

He entered her clutches in search of his love

And brought a great peril to all living above

The agents of goodness did breach Savasna's lair

And many grave dangers did they brave and bear

Great evils and monsters gave chase and did fight

The wealth of St. Kathrenne to keep from the light

Through great gloomy caverns the heroes did toil

And rescued the claimant, Savasna's plan to foil

There found they great relics of St. Kathrenne's might

Anointed by fortune, they set the world aright

Thereafter great wizards of that ancient land

With clerics and sages of Theamor at hand

For seventeen years they rallied their strength

And crafted a codex of infinite length

The blood of St. Kathrenne now dwells on its page

And never shall fade though the mortal world does age

The grace of her miracles and names of her breed

Now write themselves down there for any man to read

The light of our goddess shall never dim or fade

In life and in death does She offer her aid

So read thee with care those pages of old

For the seed of St. Kathrenne is worth more than gold

"The Seed of St Kathrenne"
as recounted in song by Kevhynn the Blue
to the court of King Viridian the Great, 712 PE

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Summary

The myth, presented here in the form of a Bard's Epic, concerns the mortal children and reliquary of the ascended Human Goddess, St. Kathrenne. Apparently, some time after her attainment of the Godhead, persecution of her followers led to most of her descendants being forced underground.
In the time that followed, as this knowledge became lost to humanity, an underground being (usually referred to as a Dark Elf) known as Savasna kept track of her descendants in keeping with some kind of plan to attain her own godhood. Of course this did not happen, and her plan was foiled by a small band of warriors, who retrieved her artifacts and rescued the last living descendent of the Goddess. Presumably, he continued her line and the descendants of St. Kathrenne walk Granthea to this day.
After these events, a group of devotees and magical users created a self-writing book of infinite capacity to keep track of her bloodline (and possibly of her interventions in Granthea). Some variations of the myth contain information on how this was lost as well, but there is so little commonality among them that no meaningful addition can be made to the definitive form of the myth.

Historical Basis

"St Kathrenne was a human being that existed at least 4000 years ago, when Humanity was confined to the continent of Theamor and before its transition into a lifeless wasteland. She did ascend to godhood after a life of healing others. This we know from our clerics' divine communion with her and from the independent understanding and reverence of Her divine person by beings that have never had contact with humans such as the Sergal, the Snow Elves, and the populations of Morgranth.
However, this is the limit of our confirmed historical understanding of this myth. Very little in the way of facts and information has survived from that era. However, several commonalities stand out among the tellings of this myth that are too compelling not to consider on a critical level.
Firstly, the fact that St. Kathrenne had exactly one son, and that son had five sons. These numbers are consistent and are thus believed to predate the myth's arrival with humanity on Granmor and could well be founded in historical fact. If the universal agreement of myths can be said to represent a fact, this does indeed mean the descendants of St. Kathrenne walk among us to this very day. It is possible that thousands of St. Kathrenne's relatives exist even now, with hundreds of generations having followed her time on Granthea. Exactly how many that might be is impossible to determine, and the lack of agreement of the myths on a subsequent point do not make this any easier. The myths do not yield any consensus on whether only one individual survived Savasna's plotting or whether that number was much higher. The popular retelling cited above is vague and seems to indicate that she was keeping captive multiple humans bearing relation to St. Kathrenne, but only one seems to have escaped. Some do not mention any specific individual being freed, but that her "bloodline" or her "seed" (curiously masculine terms) were saved.
Secondly, the persecution of the descendants of St. Kathrenne. A notable detail that is common about this part of the myth is that all of them specifically mention St. Kathrenne's descendants (and sometimes her worshippers) being executed by burning. Some believe that this represents an overlap with the myth of the Balrog. However, from our understandings gleaned from that myth, we generally believe that the Balrog came into existence toward the end of Humanity's dominance of Theamor which was by all accounts a time of uninterrupted decline. The frequent references to a time of peace or even a golden age after the return of St. Kathrenne's reliquary to humanity generally seems to refute that theory. It is instead the opinion of scholars that this was the work of a generally closed minded religious community enacting gruesome punishments on the followers of a new Goddess out of general disbelief. These were more likely followers of Volis or Solon, who were known in the time before Ecumenical Pantheonism to be quite severe in their punishment of worshippers of banned Gods and heretics.
Thirdly, there is the character of Savasna. Some myths go into much more detail about Savasna and the band of heroes who defeated her, but not enough commonalities exist to make any sense of it. We do get a general sense that Savasna was after Godhood and somehow sought to use the worldly remnants of the Goddess in their totality to mimic her ascension. Much more curious, though, are the nearly ubiquitous references to Savasna as a "Dark Elf". We know for a fact that there are no elves on Theamor, both expeditions back to the continent and the myths from that time confirm this. However all the stories are specific in labelling her this way. Some have been led to speculate that there was some other troglodytic Elf variant or a similar species that was reinterpreted as a "Dark Elf" by the Humans who arrived in Granmor. Others are led to believe that some system of caverns exist allowing the Dark Elves to traverse beneath the oceans of Granthea. If this is the case, the Dark Elves could be far more numerous than we currently estimate.
Finally there is the book containing St. Kathrenne's lineage, the fabled "Kathrennic Codex". Each myth mentions an infinitely long, self writing book that contains the deeds and relations of St. Kathrenne. One has to note that books are a great theme across myths and rites referencing St. Kathrenne, including the many that hold that she writes down the names, genealogy, and deeds of those who she allows to cross into the afterlife in a similar way to the Codex in this myth. Is there really a book that contains all the knowledge and the entire family tree of the Goddess of the Afterlife? Is it out there somewhere, waiting for her progeny to find it and see their own names written in that great and divine book? If so, it has been lost to history, much like the rest of our knowledge of Theamorean history."
— exerpt from "St. Kathrenne: Myth and Reality" by Equuis Florino (Imperial University of Enviridian)

Variations & Mutation

• Savasna is infrequently referred to as a "demon" or a "dweller of the depths". However many of these are longer and more florid works which describe her in a similar way to a Dark Elf, and most reference her as one directly.
• Many do not refer to a single individual, but a bloodline being saved.
• Some say St. Kathrenne herself fought against, rather than aided, the heroes of the middle part of the myth in their fight against Savasna. Why she would help Savasna is a mystery and never explained in these myths.
• Some, many originating in the Gonewald, say that the Kathrennic Codex was brought to Granmor by humans either when they were fleeing Balrog before the continent was settled, or during the main settlement of Granmore.

Cultural Reception

"The Seed of St. Kathrenne" is known throughout Human civilization. It is a bedtime story that parents often tell to children to make them feel special, with the conclusion of the story being an admonition that the child themself may be related to a Goddess, and so should behave in a moral way that is respectful of their own potential divinity. Ecumenical Pantheonist priests, paladins, druids, and clerics use the song in their sermons to teach a similar message about divinity, but in a more metaphorical way. It is also espoused, in more extreme and exaggerated forms, by many more radical Verdonese Imperialists who believe that the story proves the superiority and divinity of the Human species.
Other species know of St. Kathrenne but they do not seem to be concerned with any story of humans who are related to her. An exception to this is the Snow Elves, who frequently refer to Humans as "the children of St. Kathrenne" (Kallarennesissen).
Curiously, the Dark Elves do not seem to be aware of this myth or have their own version, despite a Dark Elf figuring prominently in the myth. They see St. Kathrenne as one of what they call "the weak gods", and downplay her powers and importance.

Related Ethnicities

• Verdonese Human

Related Organizations

• Ecumenical Pantheonism