Volune, the Law Giver

**Volune, the Law Giver** was a member of the Great Pantheon, though she has since faded into comparative obscurity in Imperial Space. Mortals need something to believe in, and rules to follow, but the cold and unfeeling directives of Baradun do not suffice, the whim of Kirva or Adalna is capricious and thus excites rebellion, and the slavish contractualism of Valdos produces mortals who will pour all their energy into a desperate attempt to game the system.  Volune offers her followers a different path: Law.  Volune provides rules that govern relationships among mortals, not merely relations between mortals and her or her angels.  To follow these laws is to worship Volune, and her angels are judges: mortals need a god to give them law and maintain it, after all.  When Volune’s servants go to war, it is to avenge an "injustice" (often somewhat conveniently available).  Her angels sit in judgment but also serve as traveling arbiters and executioners, reminding mortal kings to act justly; the law allows men to relate to each other, but it is above Man -- thus the angels of Volune never assume humanoid form, so as not to cheapen their function.  They come as floating disks, or other abstractions.  The mortal servants of Volune, of course, are magistrates and purveyors of order and justice on behalf of Volune.

## Relations to Other Gods

At the height of the Pantheon War, Volune was often a bitter enemy of Valdos, the Lord of Contracts, for her vision of law was universal and not driven by personal bonds (ironically, the totalitarian Kirva found kinship with Valdos's aproach to law, as long as all bonds ultimately converged to her rule). It seems that the gruding alliance of Kirva and Valdos to end the Pantheon War also led to the marginalization of Volune, for her servants manifest rarely. Perhaps Volune's readiest ally was Adalna, for both saw themselves as imparting gifts to mortals (Volune, Law, and Adalna, Knowledge). Whether Volune shared Adalna's tragic fate at the hands of the Unnamed is unclear.

## Worship

Volune appears more often as the object of worship in Celestial Space, though the coming of the Naga led to the destruction of many of her temples and the massacre of her priests. Her influence has recovered slowly but surely, so that now such rulers as the Middle King claim her blessing in making laws, and the voice of her angels can be found in remote shrines sacred to priest-magistrates.

The Veiled Masters of Nippon appear hostile to Volune's divine encroachment on their sphere in Celestial Space. When the Naga were still a grand threat, the Masters swallowed their pride and sometimes collaborated with Volune's priests. Now, however, Volunites are repressed and may come to share the dismal end of the servants of the Naga, hunted by the shadow agents of the Veiled Masters.

Volune's church has cordial relations with the Porcelain Lords of the Brass Cities, for while they do not recognize any divinity to replace the empty throne of Baradun, they approve of the order that Volune imparts to mortals.

### Church of Adalna-Volune

*Main article: Church of Adalna-Volune*
Curiously, the Adalna-Volune alliance has reappeared in Imperial Space as a syncretic church (with a healthy dose of Kirvanism) in the official religion of the Despotate of Alusia, where the universal laws and lore-giving are used to create what is effectively a cult of the universal State, with tributes to both deities and many aesthetic references back to the Mage Imperium.