Mera
The All Mother, The Fire Tamer Mera Enosha (a.k.a. The Soft One)
Mera is the spiritual embodiment of positive femininity embodying the literary archetype of the benevolent mother. Sometimes Mera is referred to by the honorific title "The All Mother".
Mera's primary worshipers often call themselves "The Tenders of the Sacred Hearth". This commonly gets shortened to simply "the Tenders". Their detractors often say they are tender hearted and tender footed.
Mera is more often than not reacting to the actions of the rest of the the Nine rather than driving events herself and her mortal followers are in similar boat. Mera's temples and followers are popular targets by malevolent people and they often have to rely on Guardians, Lanterns, or secular governments for protection.
Accomplishments and Failures
by me with Midjourney
Based on household rituals and family prayers, Mera is the one of the most beloved and worshiped deities in Scarterra. The Tenders are one of the largest priesthoods in in terms of raw numbers of temples and clergy, and they are quite beloved by the people, especially the commoners.
On the other but they seldom have much politcal pull with kings and queens and they have relatively few holy warriors, though the holy warriors they have are often well-known folk heroes.
Divine Domains
Mera’s Portfolio includes but is not limited to: Sea travel, fishing, purification, drinking water, protection, community, peace, medicine, family, hearth fires, inter-group cooperation, gnomes, foe to the undead
Mera's primary Dominion is the sea. Mera also has an association with safe drinking water.
Mera's primary Gift to mortalkind is control over fire, especially hearthfires which are a major aspect of Mera's family and community oriented goals.
Mera's theurgists' favored spheres are Healing, Protection, and Purification
Artifacts
Mera's symbol of power and her Divine Trophy is a comb crafted from Turoch's liver.
It is common practice for some Mera's worshipers keep ceremonial combs in their pocket or in their hair as a sign of devotion.
Divine Symbols & Sigils
Like most of the Nine's holy symbols, Mera's holy symbols vary by region, culture and even individual but they commonly a mix of fire and water such as a hearth fire floating on the water or a flame enclosed by water.
They also frequently feature doves, dogs, combs, medicinal plants, and/or the color blue among other things
Tenets of Faith
-Cherish your family and community.
-Recognize that all beings are part of a greater community.
-Protect those who need it.
-Be generous to all, especially to those in great need.
-Water is essential to all life, ensure that is used well.
Holidays
Hearth Day on the 10th Day of the Month of Afternike is a simple but beloved tradition of sharing a meal with family and friends.
Mera's zodiac month roughly coincides with end of winter and start spring starting in the month of Horning and ending in the month of Stirring. Mera's Dawn, Mera's Zenith, and Mera's Solace representing the start, midway point, and end of her Zodiac Month.
Mera's Dawn is mostly unobserved by lay people and is primarily a holiday for Mera's priests and priestesses to take care of internal business. New acolytes takes their vows on this day and most promotions occur on this day. Mera's Solace is a day for Mera's Tenders and their friends and family to mourn their honored dead.
Mera's Zenith is a bigger deal with wider observance. There are usually large public rituals to invoke Mera's blessings and Mera's temples usually make a big drive for donations at this time. This holiday has many variations based on the needs the locals. A sailing community is going to ask Mera's blessings for safe voyages for the next year, a desert tribe is going to ask for Mera's blessing in finding abundant oases in the following year. Many ask for Mera's help in healing on this day.
Any or all of the Nine can be invoked at a wedding, but Mera is the most frequently featured goddess in wedding rituals. More than a few Scarterrans believe Mera's zodiac month is the best general time to schedule weddings though many prefer weddings to coincide harvest festivals so wedding feasts are easier to procure.
Frieze of a Medieval Wedding by Thomas Stothard
Divine Goals & Aspirations
Mera is deeply compassionate and cares for all living mortals, even those who are opposed to her. While she often is more reactive than proactive, she is constantly trying to direct her mortal and spirit servants to alleviate suffering and encourage peaceful communities whenever possible.
While she would never admit it, Mera does show favoritism to Mera worshipers such as gnomes and kalazotz.
Mera hopes to establish peace, community, and friendship as far as possible. To win a moral point, she especially likes to convert enemies into her followers and worshipers. The kalazotz represent her greatest success essentially flipping a large portion ofGreymoria monstrous children (the camazotz) towards the light.
Mera has managed to convert individuals and even whole clans of Greymoria's monstrous children towards a peaceful lifestyle but she has never succeeded on a large scale as with the kalazotz/camazotz conversion.
Comissioned art of Camazotz/Kalazotz comparison by Diana Rahfoth
Social
Contacts & Relations
Most of the Nine define their relationship to the other deities based on what they did during the Divine Rebellion against Turoch . Mera is no exception. During the Divine Rebellion she put almost all of her efforts towards shielding as many souls as possible from the fighting. These souls would later be what the Nine would draw on to repopulate Scarterra with new mortals later.
Hallisan and Zarthus are both romantic rivals for Mera’s affections. Mera shares a value of wanting to help good people in common with both of them, but she finds their zealousness to punish evil doers distasteful. Hallisan's and Zarthus' mortal minions often protect Mera’s mortal minions without being asked, and Mera finds this more than a little patronizing.
Korus and Mera usually get along. Like most of the goddesses, Mera secretly pines for Korus, but Korus doesn’t like her that way, at least not often. It is rumored that Mera is secretly Korus' favorite goddess, assuming Korus is able to even show this kind of favoritism at all. The biggest point of contention with him is that nature is often harsh and unforgiving, and so is Korus. Mera prefers a more pastoral peaceful wilderness and Korus does not always provide this embracing both the calm and harsh aspects of nature equally.
Khemra and Mera get along fairly well. Mera thought the the Compact gave the evil gods too much leeway, and that is the main point of contention between them. If evil succeeds when good people do nothing, Mera views Khemra as a divine embodiment of a good person doing nothing. Mera will probably not admit it, but she secretly appreciates the stability that Khemra strives for. Stability usually means safety and peace…usually.
Mera is somewhat envious of Nami's free spirited nature and appreciates the freedom and beauty she embodies. Much like Korus, Nami has a very harsh side to her personality as well as a kind side. Nami sometimes is pretty careless about spreading misery and pain unintentionally both through her chaotic followers and through random shifts in inclement weather.
Mera may value stability, but Phidas' version of stability is not something Mera appreciates. She finds his brand of order horrifying. She believes the greed and covetousness Phidas encourages among mortals to be a cause of much suffering.
It’s a very close race to see whether Mera dislikes Maylar more or dislikes Greymoria more. For her part, Greymoria certainly loathes Mera. In terms of sheer numbers, Mera has the most mortal worshippers and Greymoria has the fewest. Greymoria is bitter and jealous and lashes out at Mera’s followers at every opportunity. Whereas Greymoria wants to thwart Mera, Maylar's minions probably kill more of Mera’s followers than Greymoria's do. Maylar believes that the strong should dominate or destroy the weak and Maylar believes Mera’s followers are very weak.
Mera is a very compassionate entity. When another deity is helping make mortals’ lives better, Mera is on their side. When the other deities are spreading misery and pain, Mera is opposed to them. Mera has never stopped trying to protect mortals. She is pained by the loss of single life, the loss of a single soul. It is nearly impossible for Mera to willingly sacrifice one mortal to save a hundred. The rest of the Nine, even Hallisan and Zarthus, are generally okay with these sorts of caculation.
Composite Display of the Nine's portraits by Zeta Gardner
Mera in Scaraqua
In Scaraqua Mera is commonly referred to as Enosha. Enosha is one of the Seeyirah, the daughters/sisters of the Sea, one of the three primary deities in the lives of most Scaraquans. Enosha is a little bit more aggressive and proactive than Mera, but she still retains her benevolent nature. She wants to spread community, peace, and joy throughout the waters. Enosha is generally in favor of bringing Scarterrans and Scaraquans closer together through trade and fellowship. Much as Scarterrans view Mera as a benevolent but somewhat Pollyanna sea goddess, Scaraquans view Enosha as a benevolent but somewhat Polyanna land goddess. Enosha is associated commonly with sea mammals: whales, dolphins, seals, among others. Creatures that live in the sea but stick near the surface because they still breathe air. She is also associated with sea turtles and salmon, sea creatures that lay their eggs in Scarterra. The list is non-exhaustive. A wide variety of sea creatures are likely to be associated with Enosha. As far as Scarterrans know, all sea creatures are associated with Mera. Enosha is the most popular deity among most merfolk but most Merfolk hedge their bets and are staunch polytheists. Enosha is not particularly popular among karakhai or astakalians but these groups are rarely hostile to Enosha . Ojiongo are often hostile to Enosha, but they usually try to be subtle about it.
Divine Classification
goddess
Religions
Alignment
Neutral Good
Current Location
Realm
Church/Cult
Children
Sex
female
Aligned Organization
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