Shibboleth: the
Torrent, Eleventh of the Demiurges
Amongst the most esoteric of the ancient Demiurges, Shibboleth
was once the patron of wanderers, travellers, portals and crossroads. Parts of
these aspects remain, though have been absorbed by various cultures or might
remain in some regions, embodied by saints or other religious figures.
Shibboleth is remembered in some regions, particularly in the north of Sammaea
where its Magnum Opus, the river Shibboleth, remains as one of the largest and
culturally significant rivers in Elyden
Little is Known of Shibboleth historically. What is known is
that like its siblings, Shibboleth sought to nullify its castigation. Where
other fell into despair Shibboleth travelled Elyden and beyond – it is though
that Shibboleth was the most travelled of the Demiurges, spending much time in
the Otherworld as well as the Firmament above and the Atramenta below. This
likely warped its mind and it spent little time with its children, the merills,
who grew without the safety of a Demiurge guiding them. By the time of the Demiurges
fall it had disappeared from the mortal realm entirely, becoming a solitary
thing, obsessed with the beauty of the Otherworld to which it had become a
slave.
Its physical form, if any, was likely lost to its sojourn beyond
the mortal plane, and is not remembered. All scholars know is that it is most
commonly represented by the symbol of a whirlpool. Its corruptions (deities and
philosophies that stem from its original teachings) embody a sense of the
inevitability of fate, that mortals have little control over what happens in
the world. This is not a nihilistic view of fate though, and most worshippers
find comfort in the fact that their futures cannot be changed –what will be
will be!
The river Shibboleth is the only known remaining object
attributed to the Demiurge Shibboleth and flows through no less than nine
nations and territories, watering them. Though her waters are not as fertile as
they once were, she remains the life force of northern Sammaea, and were it not
for her the region would be far less populous than it is.
WIP on the map continues, with nations and border now marked out:
 |
| the river Shibboleth and its main tributaries |
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