When she was chosen to be a saint, the temple gave her family money and took her name. She has been removed from the family registry and legally does not have citizenship.
Age: 23
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Favorite color: Anything but blue
Hobbies: Can reading for survival be called a hobby?
Likes: Sleeping, trying or learning new things, not talking to Kielan
Dislikes: Holy water, the temple, Kielan, the High Priest, porridge, not sleeping, seeing blood
Favorite Animal: Cats. There was small black cat that gave birth in the temple when she was a child, and she was allowed to care for it and the surviving kittens for a few months thanks to Emilia’s support at the time. This was perhaps her best childhood experience.
Lately, she has started to notice a few catlike qualities in a certain taciturn captain.
Symbolic Animal: Great Blue Heron. In many indigenous cultures in the northwest of North America, the great blue heron symbolizes perseverance, wisdom, and patience. They are also often considered a symbol of good luck. Our Saintess has a long path ahead of her and has faced a lot of suffering, but since our first episode her fortune has begun to shift. From another perspective, she aspires to bring good fortune to others as her independence and confidence continue to grow. In the end, self-determination is something she aspires to, especially after leaving the temple. Her clairvoyance is another connection to the symbolism of the heron. Herons are associated with purity and connection to the spiritual in some Japanese folklore.
Symbolic Flower: Purple Hydrangea. Hydrangeas are flowers with conflicting meanings across cultures that come in many colors. One meaning of purple hydrangeas is a deep desire for greater understanding. Purple and blue hydrangea flowers come in lots of different shades and have an almost bruised but bright appearance.
Some lore: What is a Saint and how are they chosen?
Saint's are revered as the voices of the goddess Lumina, the only deity recognised by the Temple of Lumina which is the primary religious organization in the Ar Goll Empire. Only one Saint exists at a time.
All children are 'baptized' when they turn four years old through a mandatory religious ceremony that is not only an expression of faith but also a requirement for citizenship. It is believed that baptism bestows Lumina's blessing and that without it a person will grow up to people be unlucky. Although rare, anyone who has not been baptized is ostracized.
During baptism, a drop of diluted 'Holy Water' is put on the child's left wrist. Holy Water, called the 'Tears of Lumina' in the ancient language, is water from the 'Spring of Blessings', a well inside the Grand Temple that is filled with powerful, glowing water. The temple claims this is the site where goddess Lumina died and left the mortal world. The water itself is deadly: it burns the skin if it touches someone, and consuming too much of it turns a person to ash. The diluted water used in baptism leaves a burn on the child's wrist, and the scar from that burn serves as proof that the child was properly baptized.
Saints are chosen through these baptisms, which can tell priests how much holy power a child possesses. Holy power is not an inherent power possessed by a person but rather is the ability to achieve 'resonance' with holy water; the power is sourced in the water, and what is thought of as 'holy power' is actually a person's resistance to the damage the water causes and their ability to channel raw power from the water. Most priests have at least some resonance with Holy Water.
Our Saintess was chosen when she was four, and after which she was raised in the Grand Temple. Her resonance with Holy Water is lower than usual for a saint. After the previous saint died, the temple could not find a replacement for years, and they picked her despite the risks of using a child without strong enough resonance.
As a Saintess, she has the power of prophecy. Her official prophecies are given through 'Ceremonies', in which she is exposed to 'Holy Water' to trigger a vision. In her case, exposure entails actually drinking the Holy Water (ouch). After years of drinking the water, she has started to have visions even without exposure to the water. Lately, their frequency is increasing...
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