Vestrivissia the Mocking Canticle
The Lord of Arrogant Whimsy
Worshipers: Adventurers, gamblers, thieves
Domains: Luck, Glory, Travel, Trickery
Favored Energy: Positive
Favored Weapon: Rapier
Favored Creature: Mockingbird
Legend
If ever there was a living avatar of deceit, its smile would resemble that of Vestrivissia the Mocking Canticle. During the early days of the Calling, the self-titled Lord of Arrogant Whimsy first manifested in the very presence of an avatar of the Elemental Lord Drothos. A great feathered serpent with the wings of a butterfly, glittering with tourmaline colors, it bowed and introduced itself as one-not-of-this-place-yet-never-distant-and-here-I-am-to-help. With the arrogance to personally address one of the greatest Elemental Lords and offer its aid, professing itself a kindred spirit to Drothos’s chaotic flames, the protean lord preemptively distanced itself from its own kindred even as they undermined the Lava-Caller’s fellows.
Initially aiding Drothos against Deist forces and gaining a measure of trust despite its own alien nature, Vestrivissia and his followers wormed their way into places and positions that would otherwise have been barred to any others not bound to the Elemental Lord itself. Of course, the Mocking Canticle betrayed them all. A whispered word of warning here, a rumor fed to a high priest, a subversive song penned in the name of another and distributed to the masses, all of these corrupted the Elemental Lord’s base of power from within, sowing the seeds of distrust within his ranks even as the Mocking Canticle fed information to his enemies. Ultimately without a drop of spilt blood, Vestrivissia whispered into Drothos’s ear and initiated the Elemental Lord’s betrayal of Ice-Tyrant. Having irrevocably fractured one of the greatest alliances among the Elementals, the Mocking Canticle vanished, leaving behind a cult embedded in Elemental and Deist ranks alike like bits of cancer strewn through unknowing flesh, and all the while cackling with laughter at what it had done.
Church
The Mocking Canticle’s followers make the churches of other gods their own, entering by stealth and conducting their own illicit ceremonies, or penning their own prayers into the liturgies of other faiths. Like theological cuckoos, their only permanent churches are the abandoned chapels and shrines of other gods. They rarely gather in groups numbering more than a handful, and these small intimate gatherings often meet in back rooms of inns, brothels, and even caves – places already common for adventurers who make up the vast bulk of Vestrivissia’s flock.
Spell Preparation Ritual
Whisper a prayer to the Mocking Canticle while holding a stolen object of veneration belonging to another faith. Recite prayers to Vestrivissia penned into the margins of a prayer book of another god, fully aware of the taunting, blessed blasphemy the act engenders.
See Also