Sibylla

An Artistic Rendition of Sibylla the Prophet

**Sibylla** was the prophet and, in popular belief, the spiritual wife of the Watcher.

Her teachings eventually formed Sibyllism, the dominant religion in Morgaea, and served as the foundation of both the Maudesian Ministry and Adamantine Ministry.

## Background

Sibylla was a woman who rose to greatness, first as a slave of the Adamantium, then as a prophet, war leader, and religious icon.

According to Ministry scholars, Sibylla was born into a prosperous Drahanim tribe in **-203D** (992 AE) in Dersoden, though both the date and place of her birth are hotly contested. Her mother was a Lyriane woman named Juna and her father, Eorlard, was the chieftain of one of the largest Drahanim tribes in what is now southern Nordain. She had a half-sister, Meralara, born of adultery to Eorlard and his advisor on matters of alchemy. In their youth, Meralara died in a violent, mysterious, incident with Sibylla present. This incident scarred Sibylla in many ways, as she was left with a sickness of the lungs that made her unable to bear children for a decade, and was known to display strange behavior, such as becoming still for long moments in a trance-like state, after which she would speak of hearing voices, as if from a lost memory, and talk of strange auras or the sound of bells. Later on, Sibylla came to remember her sister's death, and believed it a matter of heresy; suggesting that her alchemist mother had been secretly worshipping the Deceivers.

In **-187D**, Sibylla was married to Thetsoll, a Chieftain of the Cleve, to create a unified Drahanim border that stretched from the Anamene through the Fertile Crescent to the Thaneholds. It was, at the time, the largest alliance the barbarians of the North had ever attempted. Due to her inability to bear children when she married Thetsoll, he sired three sons with the concubine Gislenna: Maeriand, Svogorn and Ranmeld. Following Gislenna's death, Sibylla adopted them as her own. She did manage to eventually give Thetsoll two children: daughters named Elsri and Aumbra. The daughters were never counted as heirs, and were not permitted to marry, though relationships and families were still allowed. Elsri partnered and had children, but was as weak as her mother, and died of plague in her late twenties. Her daughter, Alla Nemar, was married, but died in an accident before she could have any children. The other daughter of Sibylla, Aumbra, fell in love with an Adamantine mage named Tyndarius, which caused great controversy and led them into exile. All records of Aumbra and her children were destroyed by either the Sibyllan cult or the Second Scourge. It is unknown if any of her descendants still live, as all of her scions were born female, and thus they took their husbands' names in marriage. There have been many claimants in the centuries since, saying that they were related to Sibylla, but the Ministry has disavowed each of them. To date, there are no known legitimate heirs to Sibylla's blood.

After Sibylla's marriage, Eorlard was killed in an Adamantine raid. Sibylla was kidnapped and enslaved, leaving Thetsoll in control of all southern Drahanim territory, the largest potential force outside of the Adamantium. As most of them were primarily loyal to Eorlard, they would only follow Thetsoll after he successfully negotiated Sibylla's release.

As her people rallied, Sibylla began to see herself as a conduit to the truth of the Watcher and what He required for the salvation of the people and declared around **-180D** a Crusade against the Adamantium, who still believed in the heretical Deceivers. The First Scourge, which had only ended a few years before, had significantly weakened the Adamantium: there was widespread civil unrest caused by numerous slave uprisings, the Scourge, and the silence of the Deceivers. Droughts, wildfires and landslides, now commonly believed to either have natural explanations, or to be the result of fiend interference, were then considered miracles performed by Sibylla. As a result, Sibylla's Crusade was greatly successful.

Sibylla also joined forces with the elven leader, and former slave, Febrion and his people, as they shared a common enemy in the Adamantium. Together they fought in the Battle of Valarius Fields in **-171D**, one of their largest victories of the Crusade. After this battle, Thetsoll began to believe they had overextended themselves, however, and were now facing the risk of losing everything they had won, and more. In **-170D**, he conspired with Archon Janerius and allowed disguised Adamantine forces to enter Sibylla's stronghold in Khecaster to capture and bring her back to the City of Adamantium, where the Archon had her burned at the stake.

Archon Janerius, who ordered Sibylla's execution, later converted to the cult of the Watcher. According to the Holy Tome, the Archon saw the error of his ways as soon as Sibylla was burned. It was he who put the sword through her heart to put her out of her misery, known thereafter as the Merciful Sword in Sibyllan lore. Later, he repented her execution entirely, though Ministry dissenters claim Janerius only converted because he could not stem the tide against Sibylla's followers, who were only emboldened by the death of their leader, and only repented his actions as a means to stay in power.

Ten years after Sibylla's death, he publicly revealed Thetsoll's betrayal and proclaimed the Adamantium a Sibyllan nation, though the Ministry as an organization did not yet exist at this time. Thetsoll and his court were slain when his betrayal became known.

According to the Holy Tome, after her death, Marcolt, the one of the Twelve Disciples, gathered her ashes and moved them to the White Spine, seeing no other place fit for her burial place. Marcolt's tale claims her ashes possess incredible healing qualities unsurpassed by even the most powerful spells, as they had healed him from near death upon touch. Eventually, rumors began to emerge about a relic said to contain her ashes known as the Holy Urn. After centuries of fruitless search, however, Ministry scholars declared that the Holy Urn was nothing more than a myth.

## Ministry Teachings

### Vision of the Watcher

According to legend, before the Watcher spoke to Sibylla, she despaired at the fate of her people. At that time, every night, her husband Thetsoll would come to console her and each time Sibylla would tell him of her despair while shedding a single tear, which Thetsoll captured in a vial. As a barbarian, she was taught to revere the Drahanim gods, the gods of mountains and the wind. But when she prayed to them, none answered. On the thirtieth night the vial was full, and when dawn came Sibylla saw her first vision of the Watcher.

From an early age, Sibylla suffered troubling dreams of a deity known as the Watcher. Over time she began to interpret these dreams as the answer to questions that plagued her, and she came to believe that the Watcher was the supreme being who had abandoned the world when his people took up the worship of the Deceivers, in particular the Adamantium. According to Ministry canon, after having fled the Adamantium and marrying the warlord Thetsoll, Sibylla appealed to the gods but her prayers went unanswered. She would sing and, one day, the Watcher, enchanted by her voice, invited her to join Him at His side. She instead encouraged Him to return to humanity and forgive them, compelling her fellow Drahanim and others to accept the one true god of Morgaea.

### Adamantine Ministry

The official belief of the Adamantine Ministry is that Sibylla wasn't, in fact, the Watcher's Chosen, but rather just an extraordinarily powerful mage. This view is considered heretical by the Maudesian Ministry. Ministry art frequently depicts her as a warrior bearing a sword and shield, or as a robed motherly figure.

## Customs and Culture

At the beginning of Augora, the Ministry celebrates the holiday "All Soul’s Day", to commemorate the death of Sibylla, with public fires that mark her immolation and plays that depict her death.

In Temples across Morgaea, it is more popular to depict Sibylla praying rather than as a conqueror with a sword and shield.