Thesridan, the Soulmender

Thesridan (/θɛzɻɪdaːn/) is the god of healing, hospice, sickness, compassion, and life. He is worshiped by most mortals, but is particularly revered by healers. This includes healers of all kinds, regardless of whether their area of concern is the body, the mind, or the soul.

History

The Age of Twilight

During the many eons of time before Time began, Vimeri wove her four children out of the Ether she'd gathered from the tails of the Primordial Spirits which she herself had been born of. Thesridan, the youngest son of Vimeri, was woven from the unused end of the thread which was used to weave his elder brother, Lanush. The brothers share a bond, in no small part due to their shared origin, which is stronger than the bonds of any mortal.
A good long while after his birth- an amount of time which cannot be determined by any sage or scholar- Vimeri crafter the last of her four children, the goddess Niginni. Niginni shared her mother's penchant for creation, and sculpted the shape of a world and a hundred thousand creatures to inhabit it. This world would become Thesilae, given life and death by Thesridan and Lanush as a gift to their beloved sister.

The Age of Dawn

The first age of Thesilae has little in the way of records, and much of what is known could just as easily be legend as reality. It was this age when many of the lesser gods gained their divinity. These mortals-turned-gods became known as the Ascended Gods. It is of great scholarly interest that the one named champion of Thesridan from this time, Nondra, is the only known member of her family who did not ascend to godhood. Instead, she pledged herself to the eternal service of Lanush, and became the first willing undead creature in Thesilae.

The Age of the Sun

During mortalkind's longest span of prosperity, the Age of the Sun, Thesridan became so moved by the efforts of some mortals to heal the sick and provide guidance to the spiritually lost that he created Zhaelith. The dragon was to be the embodiment of all the knowledge of healing which Thesridan could provide. Still, the gods are known to test their followers before granting them their boons, and so the shrine of Zhaelith was built into the side of a snow-blasted mountain at the heart of the world.

Description

Appearance

Thesridan is typically depicted as a bronze-skinned man with long black hair tied back at the nape of his neck, and warm brown eyes lined with kohl. His manner of dress is similar to the archetypal knight: he wears a set of bronze plate, though the helm is said to have been lost during a battle with an enemy. However, Thesridan carries no weapon. Instead, he wears a bandolier of silver bells, each of which is said to heal a different form of illness.

Personality

Compassion is Thesridan's most highly-regarded characteristic. Those who show genuine compassion to others may count themselves among his favorite creatures. On the other hand, Thesridan is not known to punish mortals for their wrongdoings, leaving such actions up to other gods.

Worshipers

The average person in Thesilae is also a worshiper of Thesridan, in one form or another. Mortals turn to him at the birth of their children, or when a loved on falls ill, or when they themselves are unwell.
Thesridan's priests perform a wide variety of life-welcoming ceremonies, the details of which depend on the culture they are serving within. In some cases, this means remaining with a family throughout the entire course of a pregnancy. In others, it means completing a short ritual immediately following a child's birth. In any case, the priests carry out the least dangerous of Thesridan's commands, while his champions perform the more dangerous tasks of confronting the undead, cleansing corrupt holy sites, and wading into the dens of illness and disease to cut them down at their source.
The temples of Lanush and Thesridan have become so intermingled though the years that they are virtually indistinguishable from one another. When a prospective new member of either priesthood arrives at such a temple, they are paired with a member who intends to serve the opposite god. This is a lifelong partnership, which will see them connected spiritually until the day one or both return to the Ether. At the end of their training, these prospective champions of life and death must pass the Rite of the Bell in order to earn a place among the temple's clerics and paladins.

Clergy

Clerics of Thesridan are known as Soulguides, as it is their primary responsibility to guide souls from the Ether into the world of the living. In practice, this more often means pulling a soul back from the Ether when it has passed on too soon than it does welcoming a new soul into the world (which is more the domain of Thesridan's priests than his clerics).
Thesridan's clerics share their title with the clerics of Lanush, who they are partnered with, and whose responsibility is to guide the deceaseds' souls back into the Ether. Since their partnership sometimes takes them into dangerous lands or sees them battle dangerous foes, it is the Soulguide of Thesridan's secondary responsibility to heal and revive their fallen companions.

Paladins

As the paladins of Thesridan (called Soulbrands) are responsible for locating the source of illness or undead, they are nearly always traveling with their Lanushan counterpart. They rarely, if ever, settle in one place until they or their partner have perished in the line of duty.

Edicts and Anathema

Edicts

• Provide aid to the sick and wounded

• Protect the living

• Destroy the unwilling undead

• Celebrate life through festivities and rituals

Anathema

• Murder innocents

• Intentionally spread illness and disease with the aim of killing innocents

• Create unwilling undead

• Refuse to aid the dying

Artifacts

• The Soothsayer's Helm: A silver helm adorned with engravings reminiscent of Ether swimming in the vast expanse of the Void. It was crafted by Agren, the smith of the gods.

Places of Worship and Holy Sites

Deity Information

Titles
The Soulmender
The Medicant
Classification
Ethereal God
Portfolio
Compassion, Healing, Hospice, Sickness, Life
Symbols
A silver bell with fine engravings around the lip
Divine Realm
-
Alignment
Neutral Good
Gender
None¹
Presentation
Masculine
Pronouns
He/Him

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Worship

Worshipers
Common folk, healers
Holy Days
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Major Temples and Holy Sites
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1. Gender is a mortal concept, which the Ethereal Gods, being immortal beings with no experience of mortality, do not adhere to.