Polaris

### Worshipers

Watchmen, Guards, Artists, the insane, the lost, all those in need of protection, the dying

### Symbol

The Gated Star

One of the Five Gods of the North, Polaris guards against the Elder Gods who live beyond the stars, but in so doing has acquired some of their ill reputation. While still venerated, people shiver when a priest of Polaris passes, or they hear her bells clanking dully in the night.

Polaris is a Goddess often called upon for protection or inspiration, for she defends the world from the hungry void around it, and her place among the stars means she's the patron of all strange and otherworldly sights drawn on by artists.

## The Church of Polaris

The clerics of Polaris are a secretive bunch - nobody outside of the church really knows what her priests get up to. Whispers of strange rituals and sacrifices abound, adding to the disconcerting and mysterious air her priests carry.

In reality, the clerics of Polaris are a busy bunch indeed. Some of them focus on carrying out rituals under starlight that, they believe, help their mistress in her fight against the Elder Gods. Others devote themselves to hunting down the servants of the Elder Gods who slip through the gaps and find their way into the world.

These two duties lead to a distinction in the church between the clerics in the Order of the Book (those who focus on rituals) and the Order of the Shield (those who focus on protecting civilians from the voidspawn).

The church of Polaris also has a third Order, this one much less mysterious, and much more a part of the community than the militants and mystery priests. This is the Order of the Grave. These priests care for the graveyards, but also for the dying. They devote themselves to ensuring that people pass and rest as peacefully as possible.

## Doctrine

Priests of Polaris preach that it is the duty of everyone in the community to protect each other, with a particular focus on protecting the weakest and most vulnerable people. They often arrange care for the old and sick, particularly the Order of the Grave, and preach the virtues of a peaceful death. Priests of Polaris often serve as c**ounsellors** to the community, as people seem willing to tell the priests things they wouldn't tell others - perhaps thinking that a priest of Polaris has seen far stranger things.

## Holidays

As is traditional in the northern pantheon, Polaris has a major yearly holiday and a minor holiday every month.

### Seidr

Held on the night of the new moon every month, Seidr is the regular ritual conducted under the open sky by members of the Order of the Book in absolute secrecy. The rest of the month is spent collecting materials and conducting the more minor rituals that purify those materials for use in Seidr. Each Seidr ritual - there are twelve subtly different rituals conducted throughout the year - supplies one of the materials for Seigr.

### Seigr

Seigr is held once a year, on the winter solstice. Unlike Seidr, Seigr has a public component, a festival that starts at dusk and continues until dawn. While the Seigr Festival goes on, however, the Order of the Book conducts the true Seigr, a ritual that makes use of items created over the previous year. Nobody outside the Order knows what happens at this ritual, and most people don't even know that it exists, taking the Seigr Festival to be the true purpose of the holiday. Traditionally, the day after Seigr is a day of rest, and people finish work at midafternoon the day before.