Asad the Patient
Saint of Freedom, Learning, Education, and Exploration
Titles: Saint Asad the Patient, Anchor Asad, The Fleeting Founder, Patron Saint of Watery Graves, Uncle Ustana, The Great Cartographer, Magna Magistera
Favored Weapon: Cutlass
Alignment: Water
Elemental Lord: Yrdil, The Rainstorm Duchess
Obedience: Spend one hour studying an academic subject that interests you, taking notes all the while. Once done, pace around your study area in smooth, even steps, reciting all you just learned from memory.
Effect: You gain a +4 all checks made to escape a grapple and on saves made versus any effect that would restrict your movement speed(Slow, Entangle, Etc). Choose one knowledge skill to gain as a knowledge skill, and you get 1 free rank in it.
Divine Domains
Water, Chaos, Knowledge, Liberation, Travel
Holy Books & Codes
The Anchor Manual, Teaching made easy: Introduction to Education(Volumes 1-6)
Divine Symbols & Sigils
A large bird in profile, with a scroll in its mouth
Tenets of Faith
Uphold the freedoms of the individual. Empower others to control their own fates instead of entrusting them to law or others.
Keep your eyes on the horizon. Look to the future, and always seek the next great adventure. He who settles down shall wither away.
Bring knowledge to the ignorant. Gift unto others the spark of curiosity and the light of knowledge, that you may teach a thousand students.
Seek knowledge without end. Your learning is never done - the master is, at the same time, a student. Always strive to learn new things, uncover new secrets, and lost lores.
Blaze the trails none have traveled. Peel back the veil of the unknown through exploration, and reveal to all what was hidden behind the mysterious. Go where none have gone before.
Divine Goals & Aspirations
To destroy ignorance and replace it with knowledge.
To watch over sailors everywhere, and guide the drowned and those tossed overboard at sea to their final resting place.
Followers & Priesthood
Asad's followers tend to come from many ethnic groups and regions of the world, but most commonly they tend to come from coastal areas, where the draw of the sea weighs heavy on their hearts - and the flame of adventure and freedom is a strong tug they cannot ignore forever. His followers are most commonly sailors, teachers, academics, professors, freedom fighters, explorers, and student, though this is by no means an exhaustive list. He is the patron saint of learning and teaching, as well as exploration and freedom - and his followers reflect this chaotic nature quite well. His followers do not tend to organize themselves into coherent organizations, and instead prefer to move around, exploring, following their hearts - though schools and academies are the one exception to this, and are one of the few places his followers are content to settle down for extended periods. Outside of places of learning, followers of Asad care little for organized hierarchy - they will recognize and pay respect to an experienced senior as someone to be learned from and whose wisdom should be respect, but do not give them any inherent obedience. The relationship between members of the faith is more akin to that of Teachers and Students, with more senior members happily taking in junior members when they chance upon each other, where they will often travel together, learning and exploring together before breaking apart to go alone, where they will in turn find other juniors or seniors to mentor or learn from in turn - thus continuing the ever-expanding cycle of growing Asad's faith and followerbase. In schools or places of learning, his followers do tend to follow a hierarchy, typically led by the most senior member of the faith who often sits as Headmaster or Magister of the given school or academy - with the rest organized into tiers based on experience, world-traveled-ness, and overall wisdom. Uniquely, there is one central leader of the faith all members of the faithful pay heed to and even obey - the Magister of the Ustanan Royal Academy, the grandest place of learning on the continent founded by Asad himself long ago - is commonly considered the "leader" of the faith, and holds sway over them all to give direction, advice, and guidance to them at his discretion. This figure holds the title of "Magna Magistera" to members of the faith, and while is owed obedience, is wont to lose that obedience should they abuse their position or overgive too many orders. Instead, they serve a role that often sees them put out notices to the faithful of new areas to explore, new academies opening up, job offers, locations of enslaved or those in need of freeing, and the like - acting like one enormous organized forum or bulletin board they can all use. His followers, as dedicated members of the open road, dress accordingly - large cloaks of simple colors are common, and they prefer to embroider his holy symbol into their cloaks of clothing instead of a pendant or item that could fall off or be stolen. Members who work or study at a school or place of learning dress fancier, with noble coats and dresses, with fancy cravats and jewelery as well.Ethics
The followers of Saint Asad are avid believers in teaching others - where they find ignorance they consider it their sacred duty to replace it with enlightenment and knowledge. They are often the emissaries sent out to barbaric tribes to try to teach them of the ways of civilization and knowledge, and are often found at academies and schools teaching others. Even if done in a small way, such as teaching a small group of children in a small village as they pass through it, the act is holy to them, and something to be desired. They believe that, so long as they foster the curiosity and burning drive to learn in those they teach, they have done their job - and that person will go on to learn and teach themselves and continue the cycle. And, while not an official tenet of the faith, many followers of Asad believing that generosity is one of the unspoken pillars of their faith - they believe that hoarding wealth corrupts the soul, and that acts of generosity, especially those involving money or wealth, are incredibly pious, and as such tend to be philanthropists that avidly support the arts, adventurers, and more. They are also avid travelers and explorers, and consider it their sacred duty to travel to place none have gone before - to fill in all the dark spots on a map, to find the unknown and make it known - both are duties the followers of Asad take very seriously. To this end, they are also hard to pin down, and move around often - even when settling down to study or teach in a school, they will not stay forever, and will prolong their stay only as long as they think they need to. The moment a place gets boring or lackluster to them, they are wont to move on - they believe that to stay in one place for too long is to wither both physically and spiritually - only by staying in motion, travelling, seeing the world, finding new people to teach and be taught by - that is the essence of life to a follower of Asad. Followers of Asad also highly treasure the freedoms of the individual - this can mean being an avid freedom fighter for the enslaved, or it can be as simple as believing that people should learn to be self-reliant and not rely on others to survive. So while some may take this belief to the extreme and go around freeing the enslaved and the oppressed to let them rely on none but themselves, plenty more happily stop for a bit during their constant travels to teach others to be self-reliant and independent.History
Though by no means is he a hero the likes of which the world has heard of such as Kazusada the Elite, Asad is known to have lived his life as a sailor grown up on the coastal shores of what is now the Ustanan Concord - the lands southwest of the Great Gyatsoshin Desert. He grew up and lived his life beneath the banner of a wealthy merchant family, and lived an adolescent and young adult life few can dream of, and many desire, but with which he was not satisfied in the slightest. As he turned the tender age of 19 and became an adult, he set off on his own, travelling the world and exploring its corners, making quite the name for himself as an intrepid go-getter, a great adventurer and explorer as well as a philanthropist who funded countless expeditions and adventures - he was even believed to have funded some of the final expeditions of Eurystheus the Boatman in the latter's later years of life. He was notorious for using his family's money as well as his own for others - he was an incredibly generous man, and was determined to die a penniless begger. He lived a life of grand adventure, from the jungles of the world uncovering secret temples and thwarting the plans of cultists, to exploring the reaches of the world's most distant oceans and making contact with distant continents in the name of the spirit kings. He did much during his life, and worked very closely with parts of the Gangtao migrant fleet - such was this relationship that, even long into his twilight years, the Migrant Fleet remained on excellent terms with him and his descendants and followers, and even became the central pillar of his faith decades later. His life was synonymous with excitement and adventure - and in his twilight years, he returned to his homeland of Ustana and founded the world's most prestigious place of learning entirely with his own money and power - the Ustanan Royal Academy. He refused to let any of the Ustanan Banker Clans help him construct his academy, for he despised the idea of the greedy Banking Clans having fingers in his greatest creation - and so to this day, the Ustanan Royal Academy is notoriously funded by donations only, and all knowledge in the halls of that hallowed institution was donated by Asad himself, as well as his followers who came after him. He is said to have died of old age, peacefully passing away in the city of Ustana in which he was born, too old and frail to adventure any longer with all his fortunes given away, dying in his bed surrounded by his family and friends - blind and infirm, he is said to have spoken the phrase "Thus begins my next adventure" before he died - an adventurer to the end. Thanks to his deeds and contributions to the fields of learning, exploration, and fostering freedom and independence, he was canonized into a saint in short order by an unexpected source - Yrdil, the evil elemental lord of water, who, for reasons unknown, snatched up the proud soul and enshrined him in her hallowed halls forever.
One! To uphold the flame of knowledge, and destroy the darkness of ignorance! Two! To go where none have gone before, and light the way for others to follow! Three! To break the shackles of others, that they might steer their own destinies! Four! To live a life in motion, free of stagnancy! Five! To live as he did, that we may die fulfilled!
Divine Classification
Elemental Saint
Religions
Alignment
Children
Example Divine Oaths
Oath of the Wanderer: Never stay in a population center(Village or larger) longer than a week unless a suitably dire task keeps you there. Always seek out new lands and experiences. Protect those in travel or transit at all costs, and always give help and advice to fellow adventurers or wanderers.
Oath of the Teacher: Wherever ignorance is found, replace it with knowledge. Teach others in need of enlightenment earnestly and without fail as much as you can, and do your best to foster in them a desire for learning and study and curiosity. Never turn down someone in need of knowledge or teaching, and do your best to ensure knowledge is open for all to access.
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