Navya

The Hero of Progress

Navya was a Mamman priestess of Janus, most notable for helping usher the world from the Ancient Era to the Modern Era by helping to create the Age of Heroes. She is herladed as a hero for her progressive actions and mindset.

History

Born a boy in the mercantile city-state of Ruzrugh, much of Navya's early childhood is known only through her own stories of it. Due to this, the name she was born with is not known. Many credit her with the creation of the phrase "dead name" as she said of her past self:

"The one in this body that went by any other name died, and while I carry a piece of him with me, there is no need for his story or name to grace the ears of you folks. I carry him with me, and that is all he would want. That moniker shares the same fate as the boy: it is a dead name."

—

Shared Stories

What is known, however, is that she was not happy as a child. Her family were poor, her father employed to clean local castles and her mother a chef for a popular restaurant near the docks.

Janus by Jarhed

She suffered the brunt of her parents frustrations when they got home, and often sought to be somewhere else. Her hatred of her body only grew as her parents grew more violent and distant, as she began to think it was her fault and sought an escape.
And one day, that escape came to her: a door.
The God of Change, Transition, and Opportunity stood before her, as he stands before all people at a major turning point in their lives, and he offered her a simple choice.
A choice of what path she'd walk. A choice of who she would be. A choice that was, for her, between life and death.
And she chose death.

Life

45 AE 78 ME 123 years old

Birthplace

Ruzrugh

Place of Death

Nerodil

Pronouns

She/Her

Gender

Woman

Eyes

Black iris, red eyeball and pupil (left), red iris, black eyeball and pupil (right).

Hair

Split soft hair, white (left) and black (right), divided down the middle.

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Split leathery skin, gray (left) and white (right), divided down the middle.

Height

6'0"

Belief/Deity

Janus

Aligned Organization

The Two-Faced Cult

"You are at a crossroads, [REDACTED], and now two doors lie before you. The first is a door that leads you down the path you walk today, a path of pain and suffering, but a path of life nonetheless, with family and shelter. That door lies behind you.
But in front of you stands the door of death, of opportunity. The person you are now, living your pained existence, will perish. From their body, a new life will come. One that is more you than you are.
It will not be without pain. Transitions come with great suffering, but I ask you this: with the pain you experience every day, is a moment of hurt worse than daily agony?
If that offer tantalizes you, then all you need to do is leave that door, and when the time is ready, you may use this to complete your metamorphosis. To become the person you want to be. But that is not my choice to make. It is yours."

— Janus

He tossed a dagger on the ground and waited for her decision. It did not take long, and one of the many morals of that story that she posits is:

"Change happens in an instant, the result of years of waiting. One can remain in place for centuries and in the blink of an eye the world will be different."

— Navya

She took the dagger, a Split Dagger of Janus, and fled her home, going through the door of death before her. Navya never told anyone what happened next, though one can assume she lived on the street and eventually performed the Splitting of the Self ritual to transition fully into a woman. She not only is known to have done this, but she spoke extensively about the ritual's significance and what it does, and of course she was known for representing transitions in the church, so it is only right to assume she did this.
After that, she finally became Navya, being taken in by the Two-Faced Cult of Janus.

Priestess of Change

When she grew to be an adult, Navya was offered to be a priestess of Janus. She accepted, happy to help people as Janus once helped her. Everywhere she went, she carried the Split Dagger of Janus that was gifted to her on the day Janus appeared to her, and she used it and her experience to help people all over the world.

Guldin Nerifir by Jarhed

At the age of 24, Navya was promoted to Archpriestess of Transition, with the new duty of helping ease people through transition periods of their lives. Her focus was always on moving forward, acknowledging what came before but knowing that it is gone and that the future is worth more than the past ever could be. She spoke out against discrimination and oppression around the world and championed social issues as a voice for the unrepresented people in various monarchies around the world.
Her most unpopular position was her firm anti-monarchy stance. Navya was outspoken in talking about how the monarchies around the world only contributed to keeping the people oppressed. She used the example of her own family, suffering in the monarchy system of Ruzrugh and how the violence and oppression the upper class used against the poor was then used against her by her poor parents.

"Violence is a cycle perpetrated by those with unlimited power. It is our duty, our obligation, to change it."

— Navya

The Hero King of the Elves, Guldin Nerifir, was one of Navya's most outspoken critics, constantly saying that if she believed this so fiercely, she should battle him. Navya refused his challenges, and it is said that the only world leader she ever faced in combat was the battle hungry Draconian Perzita Theldrar. This was not a willing act on Navya's part, but simply something she needed to do to satiate the seasoned warrior's appetite for battle. Of Navya's skills in combat, Theldrar said she was "unimpressive. She seems to think that blade of hers is not meant for killing. That will do her no good in the struggles to come."

Head Priestess

Eventually, at the age of 45, Navya was promoted to Head Priestiess of Janus. This placed her in charge of the Two-Faced Cult and made her the most powerful figure in the religion, the mouthpiece of Janus himself.

Amukk by Jarhed

She was promoted just in time for the ascension of Amukk, the Orc that became a God. Navya had been asked to be part of his United Holy Front, but denied it for multiple reasons.

1. She was not a fighter. Killing a God was not something she believed she could do.


2. As a priest, it was not her place to intervene in the affairs of others Gods or to favor the claim of a mortal over that of the divine. She was an envoy of heaven, not its enemy.


3. There was no reason to believe Amukk truly meant well when it came to the will of the people. He was a Tribal Chief of the Orcs, a ruler with absolute power. What separated him from a King?

Amukk did not need her help, and yet still he did what he could to convince her of his cause. For a month, he lived with her and the priests of Janus, showing them his plans and telling them why he was doing what he was doing. Navya still did not join him, but when she heard news of his ascension to godhood, she is known to have celebrated.
This celebration, however, was one that was in tandem with one for her own ascension to Head Priestess.

"One of us becomes a God and the other becomes the mouthpiece of a Heavenly realm so far removed that we may never speak again. It is a sad existence, his and mine, for two who could have called each other friends."

— Navya

Age of Heroes

Amara by Yumedatchi

These two events are two of many that heralded in a new future for the world, and in the year that followed, a clear shift happened. There had been feelings of something big coming, and a countdown set by an ancient mage had finally run out.
The burden, then, fell onto Navya. She was the one who was tasked with determining what this meant, as change was her specialty, and a period of transition needed the priest of transition to determine what would come next.
She did not work alone. She had the aid of her other priests of Janus, as well as head priests of other Gods such as Izanagi the God of Time, Selene the Goddess of the Moon, and Sia the Goddess of Knowledge, as well as the representatives of the World Court,
Together, they decided that it was time for change. Not just a change in the age, as many ages had come and gone, but an official united global calendar that began that very day. One that counted up, not down as the ancient mage's calendar had done, and which could change ages officially when the time came.
It was Navya's to call, and she was the one to make the final decisions and announce to the world that they were now in the Modern Era, and that everything that had come before was the Ancient Era now. Her address to the world read as follows:

"Change is not something we are all willing to accept. It can be difficult to face transition from the known to the unknown, and yet I speak to you now as someone who can guarantee you that the temporary pain of adapting to changed circumstances is nothing compared to the prolonged pain of living in unaccomodating circumstances.

Perzita Theldrar by Jarhed

The circumstances of the world have not accomodated its people until today. Today, change takes hold.
People of Totania, this is a historic day, one that will go down as the foundation of a new world. The ancient times of days past are gone, and now we have entered a modern era.
A time of great joy is coming, and it has been ushered in by powerful, inspiring, and monumental figures, from holy Amukk to mighty Perzita Theldrar and tyrannical Guldin Nerifir, from righteous Gellark Lionrage to the crafty Dalman.
And so, we name this new age, the start of our modern era, thusly.
Welcome to the Modern Era.
Welcome to the Age of Heroes."

— Navya

Navya's decision had been informed by her past experiences, with her parents, the Two-Faced Cult, and the people of the world. She knew it had to be her, and devoted much of the years following this to helping people around the world deal with the changing times.
The new calendar was considered the child of Navya, and for this she was given major credit and blame for it. But she did not focus solely on that. She used her new prominence to push for progressive policies around the world (such as equality for all people and an end to slavery), which clashed heavily with the World Court's more conservative stance on law. Things were the way they were, and they existed for that.

Entropy by genuinetrickster

Navya, on the other hand, was their enemy, just as she was the enemy of Guldin Nerifir and all other royals. This new judicial group was amassing power beyond what they needed, and she tried to push back against this. Her verbal battles against World Court representatives are included by many in lists of the greatest conflicts of the Age of Heroes, as she was a phenomenal orator and spoke with ease and clarity about how she thought things needed to change to make the world a better place.
Many historical narratives have tried to paint her as a villain for opposing the World Court and their justice, and for some time these were popular, but as time passed people began looking more favorably upon Navya's progressive ideas, which were slowly adopted.
She is now considered well ahead of her time, and a hero in all senses of the word. The Hero of Progress.

Successors

She could not maintain her position forever. She received much hate for her ideas and people tried to kill her often. And so, she needed to find a successor.
The clear choice was the Archpriest of Duality, the Devil known as Entropy. He was a hero who saved the city of Nerodil and became known as one of the Divine Heroes early on in the Age of Heroes. He was a perfect successor.
Except for the fact that he was a menace to the world. He was a chaotic figure who, despite his heroics, was not above murder, torture, and other relatively evil practices to get his way.
Navya appreciated what he did for the world, but was not appreciative of Entropy's methods. Due to this, she spited him and did not name him her successor. Instead, she named the Archpriest of Doors at the time, the Dwarf known as Pietur, to be her successor.

Count Toll by Jarhed

Entropy was enraged, and often lashed out against Navya and Pietur for this. But Navya did not change her mind, instead doubling down.
It did not work out well, in the end, as Pietur was not suited to leading, and ultimately all the momentum that Navya gained towards her ideals becoming a reality fell apart in the hands of Pietur. But Navya was not around for this.

Death

Navya had been traveling the world, still helping people adjust to the calendar and teaching them about what she wanted the world to be like, spreading the good word, when she was assaulted. The figures were masked and their identities concealed, but there was something notable about them: their weapons were newly forged. While initial claims about them from authorities suggested they were poor rapscallions that attacked someone they thought to be an enemy with little idea of who she was, this suggests otherwise.
This suggests an orchestrated attack, and there were many people that could have been behind it, from Guldin Nerifir to really any other monarch in the world. Some say it was the Judges of the World Court, who detested her for speaking out against them with the authority they had given her. It could have been a priest from a rival religion that sent the assassins, and some rumors even suggest that Entropy himself hired them to get back at her for removing him from the line of succession.

Judge Beta by Jarhed

There is even a belief that a local lord or gang boss sought her head instead, wanting to make a name for themselves but losing out in a war of information when it came to revealing they had done it. Multiple crime lords, including the great villain of Vitroveil Count Toll, claimed this to be their doing, but aside from Count Toll, few were even given a hint of belief.
The storm that followed her death, and Pietur's inability to build off of Navya's ideals and teachings, led to a collapse of the Two-Faced Cult. Few attended Navya's funerals, as ships headed from Elone to Udai for the ceremony were blockaded by the World Court and the Mammen navies, and the ceremony itself had Orcs trying to raid the hall, spurred on by Korvian monarchists lying that they would be there.
Navya's funeral was attended only by Janus, Pietur, Entropy, and the few other priests that were able to make it. Her legacy for much of history was lost to those final years, to her controversies and the mystery surrounding her death.
In a strange way, this change fit her philosophy well, as much of who she was for her life was lost in a period of transition, one from life to true death. Her change in her youth had not prepared her for this change, and that period of transition that led to her death was one that only tore down the support she had. She became lost in the Age of Heroes she created, a small name surrounded by giant figures of great historical importance. And the only credit she ever got was for the calendar.
Whatever the case of her murder was, Perzita Theldar's words had rung true. Navya's refusal to learn to fight with her blade, using it instead as an instrument for global and personal change, meant she could not help herself when danger arrived, and she was killed in an act of seeming gang violence.