K'Tyr

k’Tyr

Background and History

k’Tyr is believed to be one of the oldest of Dragon’s religions, going back at least to the Time of Titans (nothing of Dragon’s history is known before the Time of Titans, but k’Tyr seems to pre-date both Il’Bleu and Draggoneth). Tyr is in fact a central figure in the Time of Titans; with her wish-granting power she ruled over it all, and kept granting the wishes in such a way as to insure the fighting and destruction would continue. To most people, Tyr is a Dark Goddess, the Goddess of Destruction and Strife. She is also known as the Queen of Vipers, and is the eternal rival of Bleu, Goddess of Wisdom and Justice. To her followers, though, Tyr is the Goddess of Plenty, a highly sexualized loving figure who will fulfill all your needs if you just do what she asks. Unlike some ‘evil’ religion, k’Tyr had the luxury of being ‘above ground’ for much of its history. The Tyr Temples were brothels, opium dens, and generally dens of sin. Anything you wanted could be had—for a price. The price could be anything, from baking a cake to murdering your family. The price wasn't always commiserate with the wish; Tyr made the Titans powerful beings essentially because she wanted to be rid of the Dragons. Some Scandish Tsars (and some other rulers in Dragon) believed that the worship of Tyr was an essential component in their rule by keeping the people somewhat placated with what they want. Some Tsars openly followed Tyr, and some probably even got to be Tsar by wishing it. Sometimes Tsar who followed Bleu would make an effort to clamp down, only to find that wiping out the largest source of entertainment and pleasure in your country is extremely difficult. K'Tyr was never as prevalent in the Draggonethi regimes of Dragon. The Sultanate of Aradia considered holy struggle against Tyr a religious duty, and sometimes they were even willing to align with il'Bleu to do so. Of course, the modern [{Scandian League]] has done its best to completely wipe out the religion, with characteristic efficiency, Tyr's followers were much weakened by the Great War. She was brought back to life again with the power of Sai Krolis in the Great War, but, like all evil deities, was banished to the Place Which Is No More. As for her religion, it is the most zealously and brutally oppressed religion in Scande. There are no temples to Tyr left in the Web, and what Tyranids survive live in very free or very chaotic places, like Tasnica and Kupopolis.

Main Figures

Tyr, Goddess of Destruction and Desire, aka the Queen of Vipers, aka Goddess of Plenty. She appears just the way you would want her, but is most often portrayed as either a young (early teens) girl, or a giant, fearsome Dragon.

Tyr also had chimeras to use as servants, hounds, messengers, or guardians.

Beliefs and Tenets

Unlike some of the other Dark Gods, Tyr basically likes mortalkind. She loves their desires, their hopes, their wants, and she loves seeing what they're willing to do to get them. Without them, she would lose her greatest power, indeed, her very reason for being. Nothing a mortal could have a desire for is above or beneath nourishing. The temples kept logs of wishes, and the mix of the banal with the outlandish is striking: "I wish my cheating wife would grow fat and ugly," or "I wish to have a wealthy crop this year," are right alongside "I wish for father's teeth to be filed off by a black-scaled Priman, and then be locked into a gorgeous palace with a succulent feast, where he will be unable to eat anything and starve to death."

Tyr preaches not so much any morality as gratification. You want wealth and power? Why shouldn't you have it? And immortality, too? Not a problem...there's just something I need for you to do for me...

K’Tyr is unusual among the religions of Dragon in that it encourages people to promote and use magic. In fact, the close association of Tyr and magic is why Dragon's native magical traditions are now extremely rare.

Clergy and Places of Worship

The places of worship were dens for all manner of sin; no longer are any standing in the Web. The clergy, like k”Tyr’s ‘light’ counterpart il’Bleu, is dominated by women. This is largely because men in ancient Dragon were always being used as fodder in some war or another. A priestess to Tyr is called a Tyranid, and were generally selected (sometimes, abducted) at puberty; they were almost as always chosen for their beauty. (Tyr found her work of dissension-sowing easy with beautiful women at her disposal). They spent several years going through Initiation Rites; of the rites, little is known, but what is known is that the full-fledged Tyranid emerged with strange powers. Perhaps the best-known of this is the Tyranids’ association with acid; a tyranid can not only spit acid, she has acid for blood (this is part of why the Red Stars’ weapon of choice was a blunt weapon). They were also noted for their seductiveness, leading modern researchers to conclude they had some degree of pheromone control. Tyranids also had a hotline to Tyr’s wish-granting power; they never could have their own wishes granted, but they were intermediaries between the goddess and her supplicants. (Since Tyr has been banished, this power no longer seems to function.) The Tyranids were Tyr’s machinators, they could call upon other minions when brute force was needed. The most famous of these was the Warrior of Dischord. A Tyranid would take an insane person (or make someone insane) and twist his lunacy inward, until all the Warrior of Discord wished to do was kill. Warriors of Dischord were also physically altered; they gained height and muscle mass, and spikes began to protrude from their skin. Their pain receptors no longer function. In wars the servants of Tyr would use the Warriors of Discord as living battering rams. Some of the most favored Tyranids would ascend to Gorgons, or Medusae, women with lizard lower halves and snakes for hair known for their ability to turn people into stone. Gorgons were Tyr’s high-level servitors; none are believed to still be alive.