The Three sisiters

in Deities and Demi gods Handbook

The Three Sisters are most often worshiped in a joint temple, called a triad. Some small shrines or chapels are dedicated to just one sister, but large temples always have three altars: one for each goddess. The clergy and holy warriors of the Three Sisters travel widely and pursue duties away from the triad. Thus, a peculiar power structure rules their faiths. The ruling cleric of a triad may follow one of the Sisters, but in her role as overseer, becomes a representative of all three goddesses.     This goddess’ three holy orders have been bound together for as long as the Three Sisters themselves, who awoke on the bank of a mythic river (theologians dispute its name and location) as siblings and boon companions from their first divine breaths. They squabble like all gods, but help each other in adventures across Creation, and in serving it through their holy purviews.   The Sisters’ awakening, and their eastward journey across the world, rests at the heart of triad philosophy. It’s a spiritual mystery that inspires the triad’s shared holy order: The Unity.   Triads are homes to the three faiths of the Sisters, each of which sets its own outlook and holy orders. Most triad visitors seek blessings from just one goddess. Nevertheless, each of the Sisters represents familial unity and cooperation and their clerics never omit mention of this, even while serving individual goddesses’ altars. Triad tapestries depict 3,333 tales of the Sisters’ journey to the East. Each represents one story, so triads constantly rustle as wind and passers-by disturb the many, many flowing tapestries.   The triad uses three intersecting rings as its symbol, arrayed in a triangle with one circle above the others. (At altars to individual sisters, the top circle is that of the relevant goddess; at places of collective worship, the sign is often designed to be spun in prayer, so no goddess is preeminent.) Each ring represents one of the Sisters’ crowns: a red circle for Canelle, a black circle for Naryne, and a gold circle for Thellyne. Every altar in a triad features this symbol, inscribed alongside with the sign of the Sister the altar honors.  

The Triads

of the Sisters Triads are places of quiet worship, infrequently visited. Their facilities are available to worshipers of any of the Three Sisters, but few laypeople worship them so fervently as to require a temple. Thus triads are usually found only in major population centers, such as capital cities, and other places where nobles congregate. The noble worshipers of Naryne keep the triads in operation, with generous donations that go to all three faiths. Some cultures which revere sport support large, popular triads where people pray for their favorite athletes. They donate to Canelle’s portion of the church. Barring these circumstances, the average mid-sized city has little need for a temple to Three Sisters.   Most worshipers resort to visiting the Great Church, which keeps adjoining altars to them. Triad clergy think of the Three Brothers as metaphors, not gods. In their recounting of the journey, they say the Sisters awoke by the river and there, confronted and rejected their evil halves.   . Thus, few scholars to believe the Brothers are truly gods. If anyone outside the faith learned their myths, further studies would tell them that the Brothers are nothing but symbols of the Sisters’ “shadow sides,” which they rejected.