Vinam

The heart of all mortals was once empty, and the emptiness echoed the oblivion from which all people came. Vinam saw this and grew distressed, and he filled the hearts of all creatures with the emotional spectrum, from the good to the bad. In so doing, Vinam tied himself to the place within all people, and became the patron god of mortality. Vinam has dominion over all emotions, over all the things which mortals feel, and though he does not force kin to feel, he encourages them to find ways through which they might feel and experience something new.

Vinam’s manifestations work slightly differently from the manifestations of his siblings. All of his manifestations have dominion over the same aspects of Vinam’s portfolio, which is to say all of the emotions (Love, joy, excitement, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame, guilt). Where they differ is in the emotion which trumps the rest. Vinam’s three manifestations represent three of the strongest aspects of life, typically coded to be positive or necessary. The Church of Mortal Spirit, in the Free City of Twenjya, divides itself on the axis of these three manifestations: the Rose Abbey for the Twinned God, the Blue Priory for the Radiant Blue, and the Golden Monastery for the Tiger of Peace.

### The Twinned God

The first of the manifestations is the Twinned God, represented as a pair of androgynous humanoids in a loving embrace. This shard of Vinam emphasizes the aspect of Love. While Vinam shares this part of his portfolio with Ithreos, the ways in which the two deities discuss love is quite different. Ithreos’ view of love is wholly romantic and/or sexual. Vinam, meanwhile, encompasses all different kinds of love: familial love, friendly love, all-encompassing love, and so much more. The Twinned God represents love given out equally, without restraint. Those who worship the Twinned God believe it is their divine mission to aid people in finding love, whether romantic or otherwise, and many will set-out in hopes of finding more things to love of their own. A paladin’s order has, in recent years, risen from the ranks of the Rose Abbey (which worships the Twinned God). The order, called the Rose Knights, set out into the world to spread their vision of love, and to help others discover that which they should have always adored. It is the only paladin’s order in the world which actively requires its members to be married, or otherwise engaged in some form of a romantic relationship.

### The Radiant Blue

The second manifestation of Vinam is the Radiant Blue, which emphasizes the echoing aspects of sadness and melancholy. The Radiant Blue takes the simple form of a small, blue orb, which pulses at regular intervals with grey light. This version of Vinam does not believe sorrow to be the ultimate semblance of mortal existence, but instead simply gives sadness its proper respect. Many consider the worshipers of the Radiant Blue to be cowards, due to the somewhat accurate stereotype that they cry all the time, but this could not be further from the truth. Fact is, the worshippers of the Radiant Blue are some of the most emotionally powerful and available people on the planet, encouraged, from a very young age, to feel everything fully, and to never hold anything back. Those who join the ranks of the Blue Priory will be handed out a mask at the beginning of their stay and, using magic or practical skills, the clerics are encouraged to draw on the mask to demonstrate their emotional state at any one time. This allows clerics to wear their emotions on their sleeves, and other clerics can question or help those who are clearly having a difficult time, without having to ask any awkward, or potentially invasive questions.

### The Tiger of Peace

Last, but most definitely not least, is the Tiger of Peace, the representation of Vinam which is likely the most familiar to all who know him. The Tiger of Peace is the essence of Hope, and his clergy, known as the Golden Monastery, are an inspiration to thousands of people. The members of the Golden Monastery envision themselves as having one single goal upon the earth: helping others, and inspiring them to help each other. Clerics will travel for miles and miles and provide their services from the most menial to the most extraordinary tasks. It is considered anathema for any cleric of the Tiger of Peace to refuse to aid someone who has asked for it, and there is even evidence that a cleric’s powers will be taken from them if such a thing were to occur.

Their emotional awareness and their willingness to display it makes most clerics of Vinam somewhat unpopular with the common populace of most nations, who find them to be dramatic, overzealous, and a little unnerving. Despite this difficulty with connecting with the common folk, clerics of Vinam demonstrate a stubbornness unseen anywhere else - and a passion for their beliefs that borders on the purely fanatical.