Hidden Goddess

## A discourse on the often called "Hidden Goddess" of Verissamore as compiled by the Archduke Jerron of Thromsey in the year 909 of the Treatise lasting peace

Perhaps it is natural for ones thoughts to turn towards what comes after as they age. After over fifty long years as a historian, I can see my time growing short and my end coming near. As a scholar, I have chosen to face this new adventure as I have faced all others, with research.

### Practices and Observances

Known by various names and titles such as the Hidden Goddess, Bearer of Ordeals, She Who Grants Trials, the Lady of Death, the Arbiter of Souls, the deity associated with death in our Kingdom of Verissamore, is a mystery that few profess true knowledge of. Those few charlatans who have popped up throughout history attempting to start various death cults invoking her name have been quickly and mysteriously disbanded- some of the more harmful being outright wiped out by unknown plagues. In the Cathedral Square a small shrine to this deity is kept in good repair by a small sect of the Servants of the Sun who function as the ambassadors of Death, in essence.

These Servants are also the ones who take care of those poor unfortunates who have no others to prepare them for funeral rites. After consecration and blessings, these men and women will, through magical means, cremate the remains of those lonely souls with no family or means. Professing no knowledge of nor worship of the Lady of Death, though, these Servants simply do this as a public service in honor of the unknown deity.

### Myths

While every other deity worshiped in Verissamore, there are various legends and tales associated with them. In Port Tethys there is even tell that some have actually seen and interacted with Satyria and Lustris. These tales have of course been taken with a grain of salt by this researcher and others more educated than the common folk. It should go without saying that we have created deities out of our need to explain and understand the natural world. That being said, it is interesting that there are not more tales to explain the great beyond that we all eventually must pass through. Perhaps the mysterious nature of the phenomenon of death is reflected in the unknown nature of the deity created to rule over it's demesne.

Various stories tell of brave heroes who have entered into the land of death physically and returned, but most end either in tragedy or obscurity. Stories of attempting to bring a loved one back end with some misstep on the part of the supposed hero or in the loved one choosing to return to the realm of shadows. What lesson might be found in these exchanges past that of moving on after our loved ones pass?

### Theories

It should be unsurprising to the reader that in researching this matter, I have come to my own conclusions. While the so called Priestesses of Justice and Truth deny that Latitia has anything to do with the Hidden Goddess, some myths such as the one relating to the spirits of those who might be abused becoming her "Divine Angels" lead me to believe that early proto-myths about this deity must be related to the divinity that supposedly invokes justice. Even her famed focus on balance would lend itself to this theory as death is but the flip side of the same coin of death.

As more and more of my colleagues and family pass through the veil of death to the great beyond, I am reminded ever more of this balance. For each that passes another is born. For each that we lose, we gain another. Would that I could swear to write my observations on that which happens once I inevitably pass that I might shine light upon this subject as I have so many others in my lif-

#### -A Note of Explanation

Here is where the Historians words cut off. He was found with the quill still within his hand, having passed at the very moment of his pondering of the idea of passing. To stay true to his memory and intent, his estate has kept his words exactly as they were written in the rough draft form. Once his notes on the subject have been compiled, they will also as well be published with commentary by his son, inheritor of his devotion to the spirit of history. May the Archduke find all peace and answers wherever he has gone in his death.