Gods (TUTBAD)

The six gods are a powerful force in the world of This Used To Be About Dungeons. Each has their own clerics, holy book, temples (or shrines, sections in shared temples, etc), hand-sign to honour and ward against them,  organized church, chosen, and holy city.[*citation needed*]

The gods do not have genders; although some people refer to them with gendered terms, there is little agreement on how to do so. They are not particularly human.

## Garos, God of Symmetry

Full name is Garos Orag (naturally), although this is rarely used in story. Sometimes called the God of Order (although this is arguably misleading).

Represented in animal form as a stag with fractal antlers.[*citation needed*]

### Blessings

Garos' clerics can mirror the shape of things with a touch in some respect; this is often used for healing or repair, mirroring the undamaged portions, but can also be used offensively to duplicate injuries. Advanced clerics can perform the "false mirror technique", matching an injured person with an uninjured one to heal almost any injury.[*citation needed*] Lesser clerics of Garos struggle to heal broken bones. They are considered one of the best clerics at healing, and extremely useful for dungeons.

#### Hexes

Garos is considered the second-weakest god offensively, after Qymmos.

One of the simplest offensive techniques for a Cleric of Garos is to mirror existing injuries on a target with a touch, effectively doubling the damage.

It's possible for a Cleric of Garos to mirror someone's internal organs which were never meant to be mirrored, with fatal results, drawing on the essential bilateral symmetry of the body. Mirroring the guts is fairly easy, results in a slow, messy death, and is generally incurable (even to the highest clerics of Oeyr.) Mirroring the heart is more difficult (as it presents a smaller target), and immediately fatal.

### Teachings

* ‘Let those who shirk their endings be beset by the costs of continuance’ - Book of Garam Ashar, section eight, verse six
* To "*know* yourself and the world around you" - the "third section command"
* "It is the self that is most equipped for its own examination, and [sadly,] most often fails at that task." "Sadly" is a later addition to the scriptures.

### Relationships

Garos is associated with same-sex relationships.[*citation needed*]

Clerics of Garos are generally the least inclined towards dungeoneering of any of the gods.

Hannah, one of the main cast members of TUTBAD, is a cleric of Garos.

The other, and original, cleric of Garos in Pucklechurch is Lemmel.

## Xuphin, God of Infinity

Sometimes described as the God of Increase.

Represented in animal form as a snake eating it's own tail, looped into the symbol of infinity.

### Blessings

They are capable of some forms of healing - for example, granting new eyes to someone who has been blinded.

Clerics of Xuphin freqently enlarge themselves beyond normal limits. This can lead to them being considerably in excess of seven feet tall - although this can begin to present both practical lifestyle issues, and eventually biological issues from the square-cube law. However, it's worth noting that it's implied the Church of Kesbin does something similar with entads, so it's not clear whether this is actually done using clerical magic.

#### Hexes

Offensively, Clerics of Xuphin can inflict cancer.

### Teachings

* ‘Increase is not always without limits’ - book of Xu Phinnas, volume nine, verse thirteen

### Relationships

The teachings of Xuphin's clerics are in some ways the opposite of Kesbin's; they deal with overcoming obstacles and filling absences, whereas Kesbin focuses on acceptance. Personality-wise, Xuphin is associated with expansive, outgoing personalities.

Xuphin "was thought to take many partners, in keeping with her nature".

Most clerics of Xuphin are male, and some regard the enhanced stature of female clerics of Xuphin as grotesque.

The Pucklechurch Cleric of Xuphin is Pan, a seven-foot-tall statuesque woman that Alfric is somewhat taken with. Hannah agrees that she's "pretty". She is, however, married, and neither of them is apparently interested in the possibility of polyamory.

The philosophy of Xuphin is probably Alfric's favourite among the gods.

Verity is a Chosen of Xuphin.[*citation needed*]

## Qymmos, God of Sets

Sometimes called the God of Information or God of Categories.

Their animal form is traditionally an octopus, but they are represented in Pucklechurch as a many-armed man holding many different tools.

### Blessings

The ability of Clerics of Qymmos to provide detailed understandings of entads, given a lengthy examination, is highly prized.

Clerics of Qymmos have relatively little ability to affect the physical, and may or may not possess any offensive capabilities.

### Relationships

The Church of Qymmos tends to champion order and tradition.

In terms of personality or philosophy, Qymmos is associated with pinning things down into neat categories, but also with seeking new things. It is this aspect of exploration - something not much valued by the other gods - that most appeals to Alfric.

Doctrine of the Church is that numbers which are mathematical combinations of 6s are auspicious, while numbers which merely happen to contain several sixes due to counting in base ten (e.g. 66) are less so. Not everyone agrees with this, however. Some members of the Church view dungeons as a blessing, bringing a limitless number of things to categorize, while others view them as a mockery for the same reason.

The representative of Qymmos in Pucklechurch is Filera Bosc, head of the temple there.

Hannah feels that Qymmos has little to offer humans in terms of guidance, disliking their conservative tendencies.

## Bixzotl, God of Copies

Sometimes called the God of Repetition, God of Sameness, or God of Conformity.

Represented in animal form as twin wolves.

### Blessings

Clerics of Bixzotl can remove or relocate scars by cloning one part of the skin onto another.

#### Hexes

Offensively, a Cleric of Bixzotl can temporarily copy organs or bodily fluids, with generally fatal results.

### Teachings

* "The kind of history that sits there in the past, informing the present.” - from the Zotl Bixium

### Relationships

Clerics of Bixzotl generally deal with parishioners who are struggling the sameness and repetition of their lives. They talk a lot about the patterns of the seasons and the human life, and making peace with the more pedestrian and ordinary parts of your life.

Bixzotl is heavily favoured by wizards, as their work involves a great deal of repetition.

The cleric of Bixzotl in Pucklechurch is Obbrech; a handsome, clean-shaven, fastidious man slightly older than Hannah. His hair is sandy, his cheeks dimpled, and his face tanned. He is frequently irritated by a rotation of his younger female parishioners finding excuses to question him.

Hannah swore by Bixzotl after the party encountered a dangerous self-duplicating monster.

## Kesbin, God of Nothing

Sometimes called the “God of Loss”, “God of Lacking”, or “God of Making Do With Not Having Enough”.

### Blessings

Clerics of Kesbin are the only ones who can cure hangovers or internal bleeding.

Offensively, they can remove body parts. An archbishop of Kesbin could make someone vanish entirely.

"Division into parts" is within the domain of Kesbin, and a cleric of Kesbin can - with some time and effort - create precise cuts in an object.

### Relationships

Kesbin's church focuses on dealing and coming to terms with lacking or losing things - in terms of acceptance, specifically. However, this sort of thing isn't actually covered in Kesbin's scriptures. Personality-wise, Kesbin is associated with austerity and restraint.

Kesbin's is the only Church to preach chastity as a virtue.

Clerics of Kesbin are often extremely small. Kesbin's church would be interested in entads which allow you to shrink a person.

There is no cleric of Kesbin in Pucklechurch.

A prominent cleric of Kesbin visited Pucklechurch for Bethany's wedding. He was around four and a half feet tall, with a sonorous, carrying voice. He gave a sermon about letting go of attatchments and restraints that was not-so-subtly aimed at the bride, and made an embarrassing pass at her on one of Alfric's undone days, which he agreed to have Alfric warn him not to repeat.

## Oeyr, God of Emergence

Also called the God of Chaos,[*citation needed*] God of Disorder, or God of Asymmetry, but these are not necessarily accurate. Oeyr's domain is rules with complex, unexpected consequences.

### Blessings

Oeyr Clerics have the ability to accelerate the body's natural healing, as it is a highly complex, emergent property of the body. One downside of this form of healing is that it deplete's the body's natural resources. Another downside is that it leaves scars, although clerics of other gods can then remove them. Clerics of Oeyr would often be the preferred choice for fixing the eyes of someone who had been blinded. They are the most helpful type of cleric for healing gut wounds.

#### Hexes

Offensively, they can shatter bones and tear muscles, including the heart. A cleric of Oeyr can fracture a tree into pieces.

### Teachings

There are two full sections of the Oeya Ashar devoted to ‘defects’, but only two.

### Relationships

The cleric of Oeyr in Pucklechurch is Lin. Mizuki tends to ignore his sermons, to his annoyance, leaving her somewhat ignorant about Oeyr.

"The Hand of Oeyr" is a common metanym for the tendency of over-complicated systems to grow beyond human understanding and collapse.

## References

1. ↑ “We have the gods in Tarbin,” said Isra. “I have the six holy books in my home. I’ve read them.” - Chapter 18: The Next Day's Weather
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Alfric took a moment to make the signs of the six gods, a quick motion for each, both honoring them and warding against them. In Dondrian, each of the gods had their own temple, one devoted wholly to each particular god, with a whole host of clerics, and services that the devout attended weekly. His parents had done what many did, rotating temples each week, which allowed a deeper, fuller understanding of each god and their existence, for good and ill. - Chapter 3: Venison and Honey
3. ↑ “It was my understanding that for a town the size of Pucklechurch, there should be shrines instead, with maybe a small room of worship for those that had a cleric,” said Alfric. - Chapter 3: Venison and Honey
4. ↑ The gods did not have genders, as such, but many people referred to them as though they did, often with some disagreement. For Hannah, it largely depended upon her mood. - Chapter 20: Temple Politics
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 “If you ask me, she doesn’t really seem like the Xuphin type, you know?”

“And what’s the Xuphin type?” asked Hannah.

“Well, I don’t know,” said Mizuki. “Big? Like, not *physically* big, though that too, but someone who takes up a lot of, um, emotional space? Or mental space, I guess.”

“Well, I’d agree with you there,” said Hannah. “She’s more of Kesbin, if anything.”

“Really?” asked Mizuki.

“With the focus on austerity and restraint … I can see it,” said Alfric. “But she doesn’t *enjoy* that, it’s just how she was raised.”

“Ah,” nodded Hannah. “True, true, she behaves in a way that *comports* with Kesbin, but does not *possess* Kesbin-nature.”

Mizuki pursed her lips. “Maybe, and this is just a thought, but *maybe* the gods aren’t human enough that we can slot people into easy categories using their philosophies.”

“Nonsense!” Hannah laughed. “What would Qymmos say, if he heard you talkin’ that way?” - Chapter 64: Outside Help
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 By his reckoning, clerics were one of the most useful professions you could have with you in a dungeon, depending on which god they followed, but they were also one of the hardest to convince to go in. Hannah was a devotee of Garos Orag, one of the best gods for healing, and also one whose clerics were typically the least inclined toward dungeons. - Chapter 1: The Fig and Gristle
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Qymmos was right out, naturally, even if it *hadn’t* been Filera. In Hannah’s opinion, Qymmos was the least useful of the gods, insofar as it came to giving advice to people. People thought of Garos as being the God of Order, but that was largely on the surface level. The Church of Garos had *nothing* on the Church of Qymmos when it came to liking things to be just so and championing order and tradition. - Chapter 71: Hair of the Dog
8. ↑ Hannah touched Mizuki lightly, placing the burn in the span between her thumb and forefinger. She pressed against the skin and blew lightly on the wound. Within a second, it had faded away to nothing.

“Neat,” said Mizuki. “Thank you.”

“Just try not to break any bones,” said Hannah. “I can’t do much about that yet. And don’t lose too much blood either.” - Chapter 3: Venison and Honey
9. ↑ “What’s a hex?” asked Isra. These were decidedly *not* in the holy books.

“It means six,” said Alfric. Isra had known this. “But in this context, a ‘hex’ is a godly curse of some kind, administered by a cleric of the six gods.”

“What does it do?” asked Isra. She had been eating away at her sandwich as the others talked, and was now almost finished.

“Varies by the gods,” said Hannah. “They’re not really used anymore, except in dungeons, and Garos has the weakest of the lot, aside from Qymmos. Might be better to think of a hex as the opposite of a miracle, or blessin’, or whatever you want to call the things that a cleric like me can do.” - Chapter 18: The Next Day's Weather
10. ↑ “Well,” said Hannah. “The first method of attack, for a cleric of Garos, and again, I can’t say that I’d fare too well if I tried, not in combat, but I s’pose it’s somethin’ that’ll get tested sooner than later — the first method is easy and clean. It’s just the reverse of symmetrical healin’, isn’t it? You find a wound on their body, and mirror it on the other side. One slash across their skin becomes two, a puncture gets doubled and they bleed out twice as fast. Now, obviously it’s not great, because you have to be touchin’ them, and they have to already be hurt, but I could manage it, if I had to.” - Chapter 18: The Next Day's Weather
11. ↑ “Well, the body isn’t all symmetrical, as a sad matter of fact,” said Hannah. “Even leavin’ aside the ways that arms, legs, skin, and so on are different if you’re not symmetricalized, there are places where we’re just plain squiggly.” She patted her stomach. “And yes, that includes the guts. The guts weave back and forth inside the body like a drunkard on his way home. And since the body is so otherwise symmetrical, a cleric like me could lay hands on someone and make the guts suddenly mirror themselves.” She shook her head. “Nasty way to die, because it’s not fast. Usually with symmetrical guts you bleed out before you can starve. And there’s no way to fix it, because that kind of thing is beyond even the highest cleric of Oeyr.”

“Welp,” said Mizuki. “Definitely glad I finished *before* you said that.”

“The heart isn’t symmetrical either,” said Isra.

“No, it’s not,” said Hannah. “And you could kill someone that way too, it would just be a smaller target, harder to do, and a killin’ hex from Garos, well, the point isn’t just in the killin’, if you catch me.” - Chapter 18: The Next Day's Weather
12. ↑ “I’m a cleric of Garos, we don’t like to leave danglin’ threads, for it is said, ‘Let those who shirk their endings be beset by the costs of continuance’, the Book of Garam Ashar, section eight, verse six.” She gave a small bow on finishing. - Chapter 3: Venison and Honey
13. ↑ “You do good work,” said Lemmel. “You *know* that you do good work. You know that you have strong faith, that you’re *physically* strong, that you’re capable. You’re very aware of your strengths, and you’re proud of them.”

A bit of scripture came to Hannah’s tongue, the third section command to *know* yourself and the world around you, but she bit it back. - Chapter 71: Hair of the Dog
14. ↑ “‘It is the self that is most equipped for its own examination, and sadly, most often fails at that task.’”

“The ‘sadly’ part was added later,” said Hannah.

“You never did like those additions,” said Lemmel with a chuckle. “The scholars were only trying to express the grief they felt at that phrase. But I do think that it would be good for you to take some time to look inside yourself, and if you come up with no answers, I’ll be here to talk to.”

- Chapter 71: Hair of the Dog
15. ↑ She turned to Hannah. “And you? Leaving Lemmel all alone?”

“Is he broken up about it?” asked Hannah. “Cryin’ his eyes out every day I’m gone?”

Pann laughed. “Not in the least, but I did think he liked your breads. I miss the smell of it in the mornings.”

“Och, all you had to do was ask, I’ll bring some by tomorrow, and praise be to Xuphin,” said Hannah. - Chapter 20: Temple Politics
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 She was seven feet tall, and rather than being lanky, as some tall people were, she had a statuesque quality to her. Xuphin *was* the God of Infinity, sometimes labeled as the God of Increase, seeing as infinity was rarely achievable in the real world, and enlarging themselves was something many of her clerics did. - Chapter 20: Temple Politics
17. ↑ They went first to the section of the temple devoted to Xuphin, who was represented by the twisted ouroboros, a snake eating its own tail, looped to make the symbol for infinity. - Chapter 20: Temple Politics
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 “And where are you from?”

“Dondrian,” said Alfric.

“Ah,” said Pann, clucking her tongue. “But they come much bigger than me there, don’t they?”

“They do,” said Alfric. “But they’re mostly men, and from the pews in the back of the temple, some of the, um, effect is lost.” He was still looking up at her.

“Too large *does* start to create some problems,” said Pann. “‘Increase is not always without limits’, from the book of Xu Phinnas, volume nine, verse thirteen. There are obviously the practical considerations, like the length of your bed or how much you want to keep bumping into doorways, and there are physical considerations, like whether your heart can pump the blood it needs to, or your muscles can support your bones.” She said this with the practiced tones of someone who had said it all before. It was common, among clerics, to explain their particulars over and over again to the laity. “At any rate, if you’re concerned about healing, I can go over what you need to know before coming to me.”

“I know it all,” said Alfric. “I’m well-prepared. I thought it would be better to have an introduction now than when I come to you blinded and needing new eyes.”

“Oeyr is often better with that sort of thing,” Pann nodded. “But I take your meaning.” - Chapter 20: Temple Politics
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 “Though I think there are a few more since the last time I was through here. If you want a better disguise you could also be a little bit shorter. Off the top of my head, would you rather be proportionally smaller or have a chunk taken out of your legs?”

Mizuki laughed, though Verity didn’t think that it had been a joke. Alfric was giving her an earnest look.

“Proportionally smaller, please,” said Verity.

“Of Kesbin, I’d expect?” asked Hannah. “Seems a thing they’d like to have.”

“Oh, we’ve given lots of things away,” said Alfric as he moved down the hall of entads. “I have to imagine that the more pronounced effects are the ones that have found their way into the hands of commerce or the clergy.” He took a bangle down from a peg and handed it to Verity. “This should let you be as short as Mizuki.” - Chapter 56: The Family Vault
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Then there’s Kesbin, God of Nothing, and Xuphin, God of Infinity. Kesbin is easy, you just get somethin’ removed, and at its worst, from an archbishop or the like, the whole of you just vanishes. For Xuphin, it’s usually cancer. - Chapter 18: The Next Day's Weather
21. ↑ Xuphin was, in some way, the opposite, dealing with similar problems, but giving wholly different advice. Hannah had, on occasion, heard people say that the difference was between fixable and irreconcilable deficiencies, but in practice, it seemed to be more about different personalities and where people were in their life. If you went to Kesbin and said that you didn’t have a girlfriend, the cleric might say, ‘well, we must all make peace with not having a girlfriend’, and if you visited a cleric of Xuphin, they might say, ‘well, let’s talk about how to get you a girlfriend, in fact, let’s figure out how to get you two girlfriends’. - Chapter 71: Hair of the Dog
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 “Got a thing for tall women?” she asked, keeping her voice low as they crossed the temple.

“There’s something striking about her,” said Alfric. “Not just the size though.”

“Pretty, I agree,” said Hannah. “Married, unfortunately for you, though I suppose Xuphin herself was thought to take many partners, in keeping with her nature.”

“I wasn’t thinking of that,” said Alfric.

“Well, I wouldn’t judge, of course,” said Hannah.

- Chapter 20: Temple Politics
23. ↑ “The pleasure is mine,” said Alfric, who was at least keeping his composure. “I apologize for any awkwardness on my part, it’s been some time since I’ve seen a cleric of Xuphin this close up.”

“And what do you think?” asked Pann, gesturing to her body. “Some find it grotesque, especially on a woman.”

“That was the furthest thing from my mind,” said Alfric.

- Chapter 20: Temple Politics
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 “Which god do you follow most closely?” asked Filera.

“Xuphin’s philosophy has always appealed to me,” said Alfric. “Though … I can see the appeal of Qymmos as well, so long as I look at it from a certain angle.” - Chapter 20: Temple Politics
25. ↑ “Qymmos is sometimes called the God of Information,” she said. “But I’ve always thought, if she needed to be called the god of something other than Sets, she should have been called the God of Categories.” - Chapter 20: Temple Politics
26. ↑ I don’t think that Qymmos, God of Sets, has a hex, but to tell you the truth, I may be wrong and shouldn’t have spoken with such authority earlier. Handy people, but not so good at the physical. - Chapter 18: The Next Day's Weather
27. ↑ “I don’t particularly like to organize things into sets or categories,” said Alfric. “But it *is* useful. Where I think I’m on the same page as Qymmos is in seeking new things. The philosophies of the others don’t have as much of the same appeal toward seeking. But I can’t say that I would have made a good acolyte of Qymmos, because once everything is pinned in place, I start to lose interest.”

Filera nodded. “Seekers are often of Qymmos, but a seeker, once they’ve found what they sought, can become something different altogether.” - Chapter 20: Temple Politics
28. ↑ “Sixty-six times a day,” Filera said into the silence.

“An auspicious number,” said Alfric.

“Less than you’d think,” said Filera. “Sixty-six is eleven sets of six. It only has two sixes in the number because of how we choose to count. Better would be seventy-two, which is twice six sets of six. Thirty-six is particularly auspicious, as it’s six sets of six.”

“Okay,” said Alfric. He rubbed his chin. “As a matter of doctrine, or preference?”

“Doctrine,” said Filera. “But as with all matters of doctrine, there are detractors.” - Chapter 39: Holy Numbers
29. ↑ “Clerics of Qymmos are of two minds when it comes to dungeons,” said Filera. “I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a schism, but it’s emblematic of two very different approaches to our god. For some, the dungeons are an endless source of new things to categorize, a paean to our god. For others, they’re a mockery of that same desire to categorize and systematize.” - Chapter 39: Holy Numbers
30. ↑ The statue of Qymmos, God of Sets, was a many-armed man, with each hand holding a different implement. *Traditionally* Qymmos was supposed to be represented by an octopus, and it was the only one of the six statues in the large central room that wasn’t an animal, which irked Hannah to no end. They should have either been all people, or all animals, but not this awkward mix. Of course, she’d talked to the head of the temple, which was Filera, and she’d laid out the costs involved in commissioning a new one, and that had been the end of that conversation, because there was nowhere for the money to come from, and Hannah seemed to be the only one bothered.

“Filera Bosc,” said Hannah as she entered the room. Filera was sitting with her plants, as usual, and reading a book, also as usual. “This is Alfric Overguard. He’s a member of my dungeoneering party, here to make some introductions, because there’s a good chance we’ll want your services.”

Filera got up from her chair, rising slowly and setting her book to the side. She was a shorter woman, with blonde hair that she wore tied back. Her dress went down to her ankles and covered her arms to her wrists, and there was something incredibly and deliberately severe about her.

“I charge for entad identifications,” said Filera as she took Alfric’s hand. That's what she said, by way of greeting, and immediately Hannah felt herself irked. - Chapter 20: Temple Politics
31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Bixzotl was God of Copies, but traditionally, at least so far as his social role went, he was God of Repetition, or God of Sameness. People went to Bixzotl to find some comfort and advice when their life was feeling too repetitive, or when wanderlust was threatening to take them away, or when they had some issue within a relationship. This was not particularly germane to Hannah’s situation, but part of the joy of a temple like this was in talking to clerics with different perspectives. - Chapter 71: Hair of the Dog
32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 “Do you disfavor a god?” asked Isra.

“I don’t disfavor a god,” said Verity. “But if you’re talking about an ideology of a god … perhaps Bixzotl.”

Isra frowned, then remembered what Alfric’s mother had said about frowning and deliberately lightened her expression. “Why?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Verity. “God of Copies, God of Repetition, maybe? Especially in music, repetition is reckoned to be the mother of learning. Bixzotl is God of Sameness, God of Conformity, those are the things that I don’t like. It’s not *every* sermon, but I’ve sat through a few that are about patterns of our lives, the repetition of the seasons, cycles, things like that. Whenever they get to the part where it’s applicable to our lives, they’re talking about how it’s okay if the days blend together, that it’s fine if you’re not unique, all these things that are probably okay for other people, but are definitely not okay for *me*.” - Chapter 63: Curation
33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 They made it to the other side of the temple, devoted to Bixzotl, God of Copies. The statue was of twin wolves.

Obbrech was, unfortunately, in the middle of a meeting with a young woman, so Hannah only gave him a wave, and he gave her a brief nod before returning his attention to the woman. Obbrech wasn’t too much older than Hannah, a handsome man with a clean-shaven face and fastidious appearance. He was often occupied with young women, which seemed to irk him, perhaps since it was the same young women in a steady rotation, always asking for more of his time. - Chapter 20: Temple Politics
34. ↑ “Forehead,” said Mizuki, pointing at the scar. “As Lin said, it’s not ‘fetching’, though I haven’t looked in a mirror to confirm.”

Obbrech examined it, and Mizuki tried not to look at his face as he leaned in. He had very white, very straight teeth with slightly outsized canines. “Would you like it moved?”

“Moved?” asked Mizuki.

“To a more fetching place,” said Obbrech. He smiled at her.

[...]

“Just remove it, please.”

“Very well,” said Obbrech. “I’m going to touch your head, is that okay?”

Mizuki nodded. He had long, slender fingers, but there were surprising callouses there. The alteration was over in a moment, and Mizuki’s fingers went to where the scar had been. It was completely gone, leaving flat, smooth skin.

“Huh,” she said. “I’ve never had Bixzotl’s healing before, I don’t think.”

“It’s not really healing,” said Obbrech with a shrug. “You weren’t hurt, it was cosmetic. And technically it was just cloning one part of the skin into the other part.” - Chapter 83: Oeyr's Hand
35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 “Hrm,” said Mizuki. She touched her forehead, where the wound that Hannah hadn’t been able to heal had been. It had bled quite a bit, and now there was a scar there. [...] “If you want the scar removed, you’ll need Obbrech,” said Lin. He took some holy oil and put it on her hands, cleansing them. “He’s in, I think. I know the young sometimes fancy their scars. For what it’s worth, I don’t think it’s terribly fetching.” - Chapter 83: Oeyr's Hand
36. ↑ “The hex of Bixzotl, God of Copies,” said Hannah, “Is in copyin’ somethin’ internal to you, like growin’ you a new heart, which kills you before the copy can fade. The worse one is copyin’ all your blood, which also kills you.” - Chapter 18: The Next Day's Weather
37. ↑ Obbrech was the cleric of Bixzotl, God of Copies, and when Mizuki got to his part of the church, he saw that he was in conversation with Lilla, a girl who had been two years above Mizuki. She’d had a failed marriage the year before, and by the way the conversation was going, she was on the prowl. Both of them were standing, and it seemed like Obbrech was trying to get her to leave, at least by his body language. She was using her fingers to twirl her hair, and her chest was forward, on display like a hen. When Obbrech spotted Mizuki, he seemed relieved, and said his goodbyes to Lilla.

“What can I do for you, Mizuki?” asked Obbrech. She was surprised that he knew her name. He *was* attractive, and Mizuki could see the appeal of his sandy hair and dimpled cheeks. He had a kind face and slightly tanned skin, a suggestion of blended parentage or possibly just more time working outdoors than a cleric normally got. - Chapter 83: Oeyr's Hand
38. ↑ When Verity looked back at Alfric, the wolf had multiplied again, and there were three of it, all trying to bite at him, stopped by a combination of his greaves, his sword, and his shield. When Verity noticed blood coming down his leg, she realized they’d been more successful in their attacks than she’d thought.

[...]

<Bixzotl,> said Hannah. *God of Copies.* <That could have gone wrong quickly.> - Chapter 23: This One is Actually About Dungeons Too
39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 Kesbin was for making peace with not having enough, whether that was a lack of material goods, a lack of love, or the death of a loved one. “God of Loss”, he was sometimes called, or “God of Lacking”, sometimes “God of Making Do With Not Having Enough”. That was perhaps in the region of what Hannah was feeling, but unfortunately, there was no cleric of Kesbin in Pucklechurch.

Xuphin was, in some way, the opposite, dealing with similar problems, but giving wholly different advice. Hannah had, on occasion, heard people say that the difference was between fixable and irreconcilable deficiencies, but in practice, it seemed to be more about different personalities and where people were in their life. If you went to Kesbin and said that you didn’t have a girlfriend, the cleric might say, ‘well, we must all make peace with not having a girlfriend’, and if you visited a cleric of Xuphin, they might say, ‘well, let’s talk about how to get you a girlfriend, in fact, let’s figure out how to get you two girlfriends’. - Chapter 71: Hair of the Dog
40. ↑ “Even a mild hangover is going to be torture.” He looked to Hannah. “Can you do anything about that?”

Hannah laughed. “Not in our domain, I’m afraid. You’d need Kesbin, and we’ve got no cleric of Kesbin, as I believe I said when I was makin’ introductions.” - Chapter 21: Sitting in a Song
41. ↑ “We’ll need to get both of them to the temple,” said Mardin. “Have the cleric of Kesbin clear out the internal reservoirs of blood, clean up anything we left in the wake of our healing.”

“We don’t have a cleric of Kesbin,” said Alfric. “They’ll need to go to Liberfell.” - Chapter 77: The Day Of
42. ↑ 42.0 42.1 “I’m a cleric of Garos,” said Hannah.

“Well, not too much help there,” said Besc. “I was thinking Oeyr, to fracture it into pieces, though that would create some problems … can you move the stone?” [...] A cleric of Kesbin was summoned, and once it was explained to her, it all went a little bit easier. Division into parts was a part of Kesbin’s domain, and with enough time and preparation, it was possible for the cleric to make precise cuts along centerlines. This naturally required some pay, which turned out to be somewhat significant, given that it wasn’t the sort of thing that a cleric could do without limit. With Hannah helping though, each ‘cut’ only needed to be halfway through before Hannah could make it symmetrical. - Chapter 32: A Tree From A Stone
43. ↑ “I’m not sure,” said Hannah. “I s’pose the idea of bein’ so rich that everythin’ is always exactly how you want it must be nice. Bein’ able to help people too. But money hasn’t really been that much of a limit in my life, and I’m with Kesbin on the idea of not havin’ everythin’ hinge on what you do or don’t have.”

“Is that what the clerics of Kesbin say?” asked Isra.

“We’re goin’ to have to have you sit through a few sermons to separate the practice from what’s in the holy books,” said Hannah with a laugh. “Otherwise I think we’ll have to go through them all, and aside from Garos, I don’t know that I can properly untangle the gaps between what’s written and what we take for granted in the culture. I never paid much attention to Kesbin.” - Chapter 66: Private Affairs
44. ↑ “Perfect chastity, no doubt,” said Verity.

“Well,” said Mizuki, blushing. “Chastity is only a virtue for Kesbin." - Chapter 39: Holy Numbers
45. ↑ I’ve had a few people come take a look at them, but it’ll either take someone quite short, or a cleric of Kesbin, or an actual child. - Chapter 33: Possibilities
46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 “Well, Obbrech is busy, and I know that Lin is out, so I suppose this trip will be a bit of a waste,” said Hannah. “Lin is the cleric of Oeyr, and we’ve got no cleric of Kesbin, at least at the moment. So that leaves only Filera, who’s our cleric of Qymmos, and she’s a cranky one.”

“She can help with entad identification,” said Alfric.

“Ay, but you’ll find a cleric of Qymmos in any larger town too,” said Hannah. “Certainly in Tarchwood or Liberfell.”

“You don’t like her?” asked Alfric.

“We had a discussion a few months back,” said Hannah. “Lasted most of the night, and neither of us left happy. Religious matters, mostly my opinion on her god and hers on mine.” - Chapter 20: Temple Politics
47. ↑ Isra had been enjoying temple days, and this particular time, it had been a sermon from a cleric of Kesbin that was visiting for the wedding, a rather prominent cleric, if what Hannah said was anything to go by. The cleric of Kesbin was a small man, maybe four and a half feet tall, but he spoke with a sonorous voice, loud enough that he could be heard even toward the back of the temple. The sermon wasn’t one of what Hannah called the ‘stock sermons’, which for Kesbin were usually about death or austerity, but instead a twisting narrative about cutting yourself free from the constraints that are holding you back.

Kesbin wasn’t one of Isra’s favorites, largely based on what she had read in the holy book when she was growing up, but the sermon was comforting in a way she hadn’t expected. She came to understand that there was a framing of her journey where Kesbin — or the ideals of Kesbin as espoused by his clerics — played a central part. Growing, for Isra, meant stripping away everything that she didn’t like about her life, leaving things behind, not just the cabin in the woods, not just the life she was supposed to have lived with her father, but her entire way of interacting with people.

[...]

“Seemed a bit untimely, with the wedding comin’ up, and with him bein’ one of the clerics,” Hannah had said. “And I agree, it’s the worthwhile part of Kesbin, lettin’ go of attachments that aren’t so good for you, but when you give a sermon, you’re always thinkin’ about context, ay?”

[...]

“Hannah, clerical intervention,” said Alfric. “It turns out that the cleric of Kesbin has designs on the bride, and while he won’t make a scene, it’s something that you can politely let him know isn’t going to happen. He made his attempt in an undone day, and it didn’t work out. Bethany doesn’t want a confession from him, doesn’t want to *know* about a confession, and he agreed that he’d rather the whole thing just didn’t happen.” - Chapter 115: Autem Mort
48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 48.2 “Well,” said Hannah. “The hex of Oeyr, God of Emergence, is usually through breakin’ somethin’. Sometimes bones, sometimes makin’ rips in your muscles, especially your heart.” Hannah tapped her chest. There were two full sections of the Oeya Ashar devoted to ‘defects’, but in Isra’s opinion, it was a relatively small area of what the holy text focused on. Oeyr was not the God of Disorder or God of Asymmetry, but the God of *Emergence,* how things followed rules with sometimes surprising consequences. And yes, chaos and defects were often a result. - Chapter 18: The Next Day's Weather
49. ↑ “I’ve never really understood why Oeyr got healing,” Mizuki said to Lin as the cleric checked her over. The wound on her leg had been healed by Hannah, but the wounds from the fall had been extensive enough that a cleric of Oeyr was needed. The criss-cross cuts on Mizuki’s forehead in particular had been something that Garos wouldn’t touch.

[...]

“Healing is an emergent property of the body,” said Lin. “That’s about it, truth be told, the rest is just giving examples.”

[...]

“We can see what happens when the rules go wrong, or when they’re missing, or when they apply to things they were never meant for,” said Lin. “The body only has a limited capacity to ‘know’, most of it is a set of simple rules, and those rules are revealed to us in their misapplications — in what emerges.”

Mizuki frowned. “So you’re just … speeding up the rules?”

Lin frowned. “In a sense. And there are limits to what we can do, more stringent limits than most people seem to believe. The body uses resources in the course of the application of these rules, and we don’t even have *names* for all those resources, let alone a way to replenish them. There are rules that govern the way things break down, rules that govern how vital reagents are transformed into the stuff our body actually uses.” - Chapter 83: Oeyr's Hand
50. ↑ “Internal bleeding,” said Hannah. She was supporting Isra, who was moaning in pain. The knife hadn’t been removed yet, and from what Alfric knew, that was the moment of biggest risk. The guts were also difficult for a cleric of Garos to deal with, though a cleric of Oeyr could offer something there. [...] “I’m worried about Isra’s guts, but having a cleric of Oeyr on hand for fast healing is just about the best circumstance possible.” - Chapter 77: The Day Of
51. ↑ 51.0 51.1 Chapter 83: Oeyr's Hand