Goddess of Orcas
Orcas, hunting, navigation, family bonds, athletes and sports men
The ocean, sports equipment, seals, the moon, beach glass
The
Dance of Blood, although not a holiday in her name, is one that the Goddess is a proponent of and actively encourages, despite its legality or lack there of in many areas.
In a similar vein to
Soliairs Taeyang, Novi completely changed the way her cult worships her and opened up the cult to not just to those with access to valuable offerings, and allowed for just about anyone to worship her. This greatly expanded her cult and power. One of her biggest goals has been to push her cult to better themselves through whatever form that takes, be it winning sports competitions or personal improvement, and she takes a role as a guide to her followers to allow them to do such. Progress, no matter how small or trivial, is greatly awarded and failures taken as lessons to be learned from. Her framing of failure and seeming impossibilities as mere challenges has done much to change the cult's culture into one of intense drive to always be moving forward, as she says "to be carried on the current".
Physical Description
Novi became a goddess in the prime of her life, and continues to appear as a woman in her late 20s or early 30s, heavy set, and often wears a reddish purple and white eyeshadow as her
Divine Paint, often mimicking the eye spots on orcas.
Though she is a goddess, Novi continues to wear mortal clothing, most often sportswear topped with fur or leather coats. It is unknown if she inherited the traditional garb of the previous orca god, or where it is and its condition.
Mental characteristics
Novi was born a mortal Inuit woman, with a relatively peaceful life among her village. She had always been a lover of sports, and in her childhood was known to always carry a radio playing a live feed of many sporting events. She often would participate in boat races and swimming competitions when she had the opportunity, gaining a small amount of fame locally as a long distance swimmer and free diver in even the coldest of waters. In all manners, no one had ever expected her to one day become a god, but often it is the most unexpected people to rise.
The previous god of orcas had a long reign, and growing bored, had beached himself in an attempt to die on an iceberg. Novi stumbled across the dying god by chance while fishing, and although it is unknown what they talked about, it is known the two had a long conversation before Novi speared him, putting him out of his misery and finally allowing the god to be released to the afterlife. In his final moments, the god named Novi as his heir and she replaced him, becoming the Goddess she is now today.
Novi maintains her cult closely, though not as strict as many other gods, seeking to drive her followers to aim for higher goals, to push their ambitions, and make progress, but does not punish failures. Her presence within the cult is that of a guiding figure that awards those that strive even if they do not succeed. Not long after her reign began, Novi enacted a symbolic war with
Sekhmet, Goddess of Lions as way of pushing to this goal of encouraging their respective followers through competition and friendly rivalry.
Before her reign as a goddess, Novi was a championship long distance swimmer training for competition in the Olympic Circuit with many awards under her belt for diving, free swimming, and distance swims. Her specialty was in cold water swimming, often training in icy Arctic waters. The competition she specialized in, the Alaskan Summer Distance Challenge, has since become strongly associated with her and her cult, often functioning as a holiday in her honor, where in winners are often given boons and blessings by her personally for their accomplishments.
Many swimming and surfing brands have also aligned themselves with her cult since her reign began, with many of their competitions, contests, and prize funds being hosted or directly funded by Novi personally. These brands are almost always marked as such by the cult's logo to differentiate themselves from those using orcas as mere decoration. Distinct from companies and brands sponsored by Novi and her cult, a great many more often use her and the cult's image as decoration and branding, oftentimes in limited time or limited edition runs of certain products. This is most prevalent with swimwear and watersport equipment brands.
Social
It is not uncommon for Novi to attend a wide array of sports competitions herself as a guest or commentator, even in fields she has little experience or connection to. Her wide array of connections allows for her and her cult to act as sponsors to many, including individual athletes. Novi has also created and funded many outreach programs, sporting halls, and training programs for underfunded communities and diasporas around the world, mainly focusing her efforts on women's youth programs. These are also in tandem with programs run or funded by
Sekhmet, Goddess of Lions as well.
Her home Utqiagvik, Alaska maintains close ties with her cult and has become a hub for her followers, though Novi does not maintain one main temple, the city is oftentimes considered such.
Outgoing, friendly, and unabashedly confident are all traits associated with Novi and her followers, and ones she deeply embodies to her core. Rarely is she aggressive or domineering, maintaining a cherry attitude and demeanor to others, even when dealing with those technically hostile to her.
Friendly Rival (At War)
Towards Sekhmet, Goddess of Lions
Friendly Rival (At War)
Towards Novi, The Goddess of Orcas
Relationship Reasoning
Sekhmet and Novi are both gods associated with sportsmanship and athletes, and such, much of their cults share similar ideals and symbols. Although they are technically at war with one another, both gods view it more symbolic and get along quite well. Much of their rivalry seeks to whip their respective cults into competition with one another, feeding their drives to be better, stronger, and more effective because of one another rather than despite it.
Commonalities & Shared Interests
Both prior to becoming goddesses were quite popular athletes, Novi a talented swimmer and diver, and Sekhmet a championship boxer. They share a strong love of sports and good sportsmanship, and share many of the same ideals.
prey (Vital)
Towards Novi, The Goddess of Orcas
hunter (Important)
Towards Ryoma, God of Tuna
Relationship Reasoning
Novi is known to harass Ryoma when they both attend Meetings of the Gods, often saying that she will someday catch him and turn him into sashimi. It is unknown when or why the two became rivals, but likely arose due to tuna being a favored meal of killer whales. The two gods have never come to blows, but Ryoma is known for making his displeasure at her overly-familiar but aggressive attitude tword him known.
Rival (Trivial)
Towards Novi, The Goddess of Orcas
Relationship Reasoning
Novi and Olrath have never gotten along all that well and likely never will, a well known fact among the gods. Both view each other as out of touch with their respective duties and as hypocrites.
Their mutual disdain for one another is well known and frequently voiced whenever they are within earshot of each other.
Ally (Important)
Towards Novi, The Goddess of Orcas
Ally (Trivial)
Towards John de Luminarie, Goddess of Fireflies
History
JL and his cult tend to participate in, support, and host many types of competitions that are not only a way to gain popularity but prove your worth or skill. JL tends to be fond of champions, and winning many competitions is considered an effective way to gain JL’s favor. Plus, the competitions and arguments between Sekhmet and Novi as well as their cults entertain John greatly. JL is also greatly inspired by the way Novi completely changed the way her cult worships her and opened up the cult to not just to those with access to valuable offerings, and allowed for just about anyone to worship her and is known to take inspiration from Novi and Soliairs’ system.
distant ally
Towards Novi, The Goddess of Orcas
Relationship Reasoning
As both are gods of the sea, Soliairs and Novi maintain a steady allegiance with one another, though both goddesses typically do not interact or aid one another often. It is more a relationship of convenience, that should one ever need aid of the other, they already have precedence for doing so without breaking ties with other groups.
Comments