Hauhlen
Hauhlen (originally pronounced [ħàuɫ̥ên], but in English usually pronounced /ˈhaʊlɪn/) is a goddess of wisdom and knowledge worshipped by various groups of earth people in the veigur of Arianiga. Like most gods, she is worshipped under many different names; Hauhlen, perhaps now the most common, is the name she is called by the Halok peoples. She also is called by a number of epithets, including "the Purple Lady", "the Unveiler", and "Young Grandmother" (the last referring to her physically youthful appearance, and not to chronological age).
Though she is often said to be a goddess of wisdom, Hauhlen's field encompasses knowledge to at least an equal degree. She inspires the hedge-mage trying to develop his magics, the seeker of lost secrets in forgotten ruins, the conner of arcane disciplines and philosophies. Schools often have statues or icons of Hauhlen, and students may pray or make offerings to the goddess when they feel in need of her aid. The Purple Lady is also appealed to for tribal leaders and others in need of wisdom and guidance; indeed, in some earth nations, it's considered virtually a necessity for any tribe to have at least one priest of Hauhlen among its people, advising the chief.
In recent years, there are those, especially among those who have suffered the predation of marauding or slavetaking sky people, who have questioned Hauhlen's motives. If she is such a great goddess, why do the sky people seem so much more knowledgeable than the earth people? Either she favors the sky people over the earth people, they reason, or she is much weaker than their gods.
The clergy of Hauhlen dismiss all such criticism. Hauhlen is all-knowing. Hauhlen is all-wise. Mortals may not understand all her ways, but that doesn't mean she, in her far superior wisdom, doesn't know what she's doing. Some even hint that perhaps Hauhlen has a plan, that perhaps somehow she is building up toward some grand advenement that will result in the complete destruction of the sky nations. Still, such rationalizations and reassurances fail to completely quiet the discontent, and in some areas vandalism of Hauhlen's shrine and even attacks on the priests are commonplace, and it could be a matter of time until open warfare breaks out between Hauhlen's clergy and ill-pleased parishioners.
Ironically, some among the sky people have tried to invoke Hauhlen, hoping she will help them in their own pursuit of knowledge and wisdom. Those hopes have not been fulfilled; if she hasn't brought the earth people to be the equals of the sky people, she apparently remains faithful to the earth people in that she will not respond to the sky people's treaties. This has not mollified the malcontents who mobilize against her church, though perhaps that's in part because they aren't aware of it.
Hauhlen is associated with the ideals of knowledge, law, dispassion, and method.
Description
In most depictions, Hauhlen is shown as a lavender-skinned young woman with long, dark hair. She is usually shown (and appears) totally nude, but occasionally wears a diaphanous white robe, generally open in the front. Her eyes are without iris or pupils, and show nothing but shifting colors identical to those of the skymists. She floats above the ground, remaining perfectly still (save for the patterns of colors in her eyes) for long periods, and when she does change her position her movements are graceful and fluid—and brief. She often has her head cocked, giving her a thoughtful look.
At times Hauhlen manifests as a giant disembodied floating brain, shimmering with a silvery-purple color. In this form, she is about two meters long. Though she's rarely depicted in her brain form in art or iconism, there are a few areas where statues do show her in this shape.
Priests
Priests of Hauhlen make up three major groups, though the division is not formalized and there's much overlap between them. One group of priests spends most of their time pursuing scholarly pursuits. In those few earth nations where written records are still common, these priests are likely to have amassed large collections, and devote much time to poring over ancient texts in addition to perhaps conducting their own explorations and experiments. In other nations, the priests may be among the only people who are literate, and go out of their way to gather what few scrolls and codices they can get their hands on, as well as doing their own investigations. Where literacy has been completely forgotten, the priests of Hauhlen maintain a strong oral tradition, and continually strive to supplement the knowledge passed on by their predecessors.
Another common role filled by priests of Hauhlen is that of advisers and counselors. In many nations, the chief's main adviser is a priest of Hauhlen and is the second most powerful person in the tribe, second only to the chief themself—or may even be so influential as to be more powerful than the chief he nominally advises. Priests of Hauhlen may be valued as counselors to others than the chief; merchants, diplomats, and even explorers and adventurers may well feel more comfortable with a priest of the Unveiler at their side.
In communities with complicated governments and societal structures, priests of Hauhlen often find employment as clerks and bureaucrats, using their prudence and learning to navigate legal and cultural quagmires and make the decisions that will best serve the societies they belong to.
Frequently a priest of Hauhlen will happen upon some matter that they would like to know more about, but that they cannot or will not investigate personally—because their other duties occupy too much of their time, because it requires skills they lack, or because it carries risks they are fearful of running. In such circumstances, the priest may hire mercenaries and freelancers to execute the investigations, investigations that may involve venturing into dangerous areas, confronting deadly enemies, and other perilous activities.
In some earth nations, the priests of Hauhlen (regardless of gender) go nude like their patroness, perhaps even dying their skin lavender to better match the goddess they venerate. More often, they clothe themselves in perspicuous silken robes, though unlike Hauhlen they generally do wear other vestments underneath—generally purple or lavender robes or tunics.
Means of worship
The main means by which Hauhlen's worshippers show their piety is by pursuing wisdom and learning. This may mean private study, but it often means going out and actively seeking out knowledge and learning wherever it can be found. That the faithful should seek knowledge, however, does not mean they should feign it when they don't possess it; it is a brocard of Hauhlen's church that ignorance is to be corrected, not concealed—or, as the maxim is frequently paraphrased, it's okay to say "I don't know".
Meditation is a common practice of priests of Hauhlen and of the lay faithful alike. This is not an irreflective meditation aimed at emptying the mind and escaping the self; rather, the meditator is expected to be focusing his mental energies on conscious thought, spending the time considering questions that lie ahead of them or pondering mysteries they don't yet comprehend. By devoting time to nothing but thinking, devotees of Hauhlen hope to more efficiently further their sapience and understanding.
Temples
Architecturally, temples of Hauhlen tend toward stark utilitarianism, without much in the way of ornamentation. Their dimensions, however, may conceal mathematical and geometric properties and principles in ways not obvious to the casual observer. Furthermore, while the temples' structures may not seem particularly elaborate, the walls are nearly always covered with frescoes, inscriptions, or reliefs, either depicting esoteric places and creatures or symbols of sphingine significance, or spelling out obscure facts and philosophical dissertations, often in strange languages.
Very often the temples of Hauhlen serve multiple purposes. Many temples also act as libraries, others as schools. In other cases, the temple of Hauhlen doubles as some vital government office, the priests acting also as public servants. Where the church of Hauhlen is particularly powerful, there may be multiple temples serving different purposes. Even when it does not serve a formal purpose as a school, however, they are almost always places of instruction, where eager philomaths learn at the wise priests' feet.
Holy days
There are a number of holidays associated with Hauhlen, which are commemorated in those societies where Young Grandmother is worshipped. The most important occurs on the last day of Aela, a day of meditation and deep thought. The main point of this event is for people to take time to ponder profound questions, and to clear their minds of anything that will impede the attainment of wisdom. In practice, however, the ascetic meditations that ground the festival are often preceded by raucous celebrations, the exact forms of which vary widely.
Not all holy days of Hauhlen are directed inward. The first day of Veia is devoted to people's sharing of what they have learned over the previous year. In this festivity, called the Propalation, stages or other venues are set up where people take turns publicly speaking out about what they feel they have learned this year. In most communities, everyone is expected to say something, no matter how trivial the facts they think they've learned. Some people over the course of the year carefully record every new thing they learn in preparation for its provulgation in the Propalation. A widespread custom is the election, after the speaking is done, of one or more people who seem to have learned the most, declaring them the Scholar King(s) and bestowing various honors over the following days. The candidates' stations are often taken into consideration in the choice of a Scholar King, such that a young farmhand who has learned some abstruse facts quite unusual for someone in his position to know would be given the nod over a gifted academic who has made several discoveries, but nothing out of the ordinary for his work.
Another important holiday of Hauhlen is the Day of Deposition, observed on the last day of Iza. In this winter day, the faithful of Hauhlen take steps to make sure the necessary knowledge and wisdom are stored up for the future. In literate societies, this likely means making a written record of important discoveries and events, and putting it somewhere safe. In others, it may mean concealing art depicting important occurrences and facts. Often other material obects are included, such as perhaps the skull of a recently discovered animal, or a piece of textile created by a newly developed method. In any case, these objects are secreted in a safe place where they will (it is hoped) be accessible by future generations when needed. Usually this place is in a temple of Hauhlen, though not always; in some communities the "Hauhlen caches" are buried to be unearthed years later, as sort of religiously motivated time capsules.
In those few places in the earth nations where literacy is common, Hauhlen has another holiday, the Lecture Festival, which involves reading aloud (or declaiming from memory) excerpts from various writings. The priests of Hauhlen, naturally, select exactly what texts will be read, and while they often simply choose their favorite literature or anything they might have happened upon recently that they think the community would enjoy, they sometimes pick particular passages by which they think the people might profit, or that serve as subtle social commentary. The Lecture Festival is observed on the first day of Yara.