Ghi

"The Champagne Goddess" Didon di Lentorias CE 712

**Ghi** was a dragon and daughter of Mim Kapal that arrived before the Eras of Bronze in Prace, and brought the cult of Mim Kapal to the ancient Hellastians. She is responsible for killing Orgeus, as well as becoming the River Ghine in *Ludor* after enduring a conflict with the Leviathan and perishing from her injuries.

Ghi is sometimes called the Champagne Goddess or the Dragon of Songs, and is believed to have given elves the ability to sing and match notes.

In the cult of Mim Kapal, Ghi represents the elements of destruction and order. She was the first dragon to make her presence known deliberately to the Hellastians, and brought with her incineration of Orgeus the laws of the cult and the end to all other religious mysteries in Prace.

## Religious significance

### Worship

Ghi is the third daughter of Mim Kapal, whose father was the planet Saturn. She represents *transmutation* magic, the ceramic terracotta, the summer solstice, and the element of earth.

She is celebrated in two major holidays: one on the summer solstice, where communities come together and enjoy banquets, plays, and lighting of ceremonial fires. Pottery is also made and traded on this day.

The second holiday is *limlygale*, in which her repelling of the Leviathan and her subsequent demise is honored through abstaining from work and fasting of food and water, as a method of respecting what Ghi was able to do for elves thanks to her selfless defense of Prace.

Many elven wind chimes feature three ceramic chimes stylized as dragon's heads in honor of Ghi. These chimes are also crafted in such a way that they make a sharp whistling sound when a fierce storm is approaching.

### Mystery cults

Specific worship of Ghi is most common in the regions near the River Ghine, with the capitol Ghine being the central place of worship and radiating in every direction in Ludor and beyond. Many elves who live along rivers also praise Ghi for good harvests and fair weather.

## Theology

### Descent into Prace

Ghi first appears in Hellastian history when she erupted sometime during Hellastian Epoch. At that time, Orgeus was the most commonly worshiped deity, though wars were still quite frequent between city-states. King Elemorya's renunciation of his throne after sparing the dragon Jiryu led to Ghi erupting from the earth itself, proclaiming Elemorya's canonization as a saint and laying claim over all of Prace. The goddess Orgeus was quickly dispatched in a show of power, and her worship came to an end; thereafter, only the cult of Mim Kapal was permitted.

### Theocratic rule and worship

   Ghi was charged with ensuring stable rule in Prace, notably choosing every successor to Elemorya thereafter based on kings or queens known for their reverence and wisdom. Throughout this period, Ghi was universally unchallenged, though there were indeed attempts to enter Prace by the non-elves. Ghi had no problems nor qualms eliminating threats to the sacred land of Prace.

Though Ghi did not rule directly, she was responsible for multiple elements of rule, with the aforementioned selection of heirs, protection of Prace, and gilding of laws. Trade between Prace and other civilizations was limited; elves at this time did not often leave Prace, as they relied on Ghi for protection and had relinquished their weapons to her at the outset of her killing of Orgeus.

### Conflict with the Leviathan

At the onset of the Eras of Bronze, harsh monsoons swept across Prace, flooding the regions and taking untold amounts of life. Ghi was able to use her great winds to create winds to repel smaller storms, but these mighty typhoons were too great for her to handle with this tactic alone. Soon, the culprit revealed itself: the Leviathan, who demanded that the Hellastians worship him, or he would he sink Prace beneath the sea.

Ghi fought for ninety-nine years, though this number is contested, with the Leviathan, before they each struck a decisive blow on one another. One of Ghi's heads was torn from her body, and flung into the sea; at the same time, Ghi poured lightning into the mouth of the Leviathan, permanently causing searing pain throughout its body. The Leviathan retreated into the Astoric Ocean to the north, and Ghi laid down to her final resting place on the western coast of Prace, where her body disintegrated and became the Ghine river.

Some cults to Ghi claim that on especially fierce storms, the Leviathan is attempting to come back; however, Ghi's head that was flung into the sea continues to pour lightning from her mouth and repels him every time.

### Aftermath and legacy

The defeat of the Leviathan Preliturgy has become a symbol of elven superiority and divine right, and many aspiring elven leaders will often invoke Ghi's name or adorn themselves with her symbols as a means of expressing their beliefs in a united Prace and in elven strength. This was especially prominent during the Ionian Wars, in which many Ludorian soldiers would inscribe Ghi's symbols into their shields, and terracotta soldiers were crafted as wards against siege.

Ghi's sacrifice is held as proof that the elves are favored among Mim Kapal's devout. Her death is sometimes associated with the introduction of bronze and thus the Ghinec Wars that would define the Eras of Bronze for the Hellastians. Though the time period between the two periods is not clear, they did follow one another closely based on what little was recovered from the Wayfinders of Espios.