Woe

It is said that, when kin first walked the earth, before there were civilizations or communities, there were none who could dream. When people slept, they closed their eyes and opened them in the morning, and people’s hearts were empty. One day, however, a child was born with an extra eye on his forehead, and when he slept, he saw images of things both possible and impossible: he had learned to dream. From that first dream came the essence of Woe, the deity who would come to inhabit that space between the sleeping and waking, and when the boy died, the god raised him to sit at his side forevermore. The boy is called Daniel, and all murals and paintings of Woe place him at the god’s side. Woe is the deity of the seen and unseen, of that which lies within the creativity and knowledge of mortals: its worshippers are scholars, spies, visionaries, prophets, and the blind.

### He Who Sees

The first of Woe’s manifestations is He Who Sees, which takes the form of a swirling series of closed eyes, from every species imaginable in the world. He Who Sees represents the aspects of sight, perception. It is also the patron of those who are blind, or otherwise cannot see. There are two schools of thought when it comes to understanding the swirling, closed eyes that make-up the body of this manifestation. Both sides know them to be a physical representation of the eyes of those in the world who are blind. One side, however, believes that the taking of these eyes are a payment, which Woe calls upon as recompense for giving mortals the ability to dream. The other believes that Woe simply keeps the eyes of those who were born or made blind, until such a time as that person recovers the use of their sight, if they ever do. Otherwise, as this side believes, Woe returns to the mortals their sight when they join it in the Beyond.

### Eyes Beyond Sight

The second of Woe’s manifestations is the Eyes Beyond Sight, which take the form of three open eyes, placed together in the vague shape of a triangle, or pyramid, surrounded by enormous, flaming wings. This manifestation holds dominion over the aspects of knowledge and secrets, and all academics of any kind at least partially respect this entity. The Church of Knowledge, located in The Morinfrüe Dominion, which worships Woe, largely centers on this manifestation, and though they revere the other aspects of Woe as well, it is the Eyes Beyond Sight that truly encapsulates the hearts of the clergy. While most worshiper of deities count themselves as clerics or paladins, many of Woe’s worshippers are also arcane users, such as wizards or sorcerers, and though Woe is not a god of magic (such a title being reserved for Eluri instead), there is an overlap between the aspect of knowledge and the arcanist arts. For this reason, Woe and Eluri are often seen worshiped together, and it is said the two deities have a very positive relationship (as much as is possible for a god, at least).

### The Mortal Illusions

Last of Woe’s manifestations is the Mortal Illusions, which takes the form of Daniel: a young man with three eyes, his skin a slight tinge of blue. The Mortal Illusion is representative of the non-physical, of the abstract, and holds dominion over the aspects of illusions, visions, and dreams. When a mortal dreams when they sleep, it is said that they are looking directly into the eyes of Daniel, who is said to dream all dreams for all people. ‘Daniel’s Gaze’ is a phrase commonly used to refer to especially vivid dreams, and being the victim of ‘Daniel’s Temper’ is an idiom to describe particularly vicious or realistic nightmares. The sect of the Church of Knowledge which worships the Mortal Illusions is called the First Dreamers, and they act as seers and prophets, using pathways through the dreaming world to see images of the future. First Dreamers use much of their time sleeping and resting, and utilize magic to forcibly induce sleep when such a thing becomes impossible. For this reason, most elves are incapable of becoming First Dreamers, and not many elves come to worship this manifestation of the deity.

The Church of Knowledge encompasses all the aspects of Woe, but has a strong bias for the Eyes Beyond Sight, which represent knowledge. The Church, as such, is part religious institution, part library, part academy, and those that study to become members of the clergy often do so in a setting that oddly resembles a school or university. It is said to be the divine duty of a worshiper to know things, and ignorance is considered blasphemous and