Shengrae

Shengrae is the bull-headed goddess of wealth and inequality. She is the mother of Naamon and Hadar.

The Merchants Kiss
The Merchants Kiss is the embodiment of trade, from the most primeval of bartering systems to the most developed systems of commerce, all takes place under the Merchants Kiss. The church of the Merchants Kiss holds two beliefs before all others, firstly that society is defined by conflict, that envy and desire will always push everyone against the other, the second belief is that in order for society to exist there must be a way of measuring oneself against another and settling issues without resorting to violence and the tides and challenges of trade are that way. The Merchants Kiss is therefore the name of three things, the goddess, the way two followers of this aspect greet one another and the oath between two people not to involve violence in a dispute. Priests of The Merchants Kiss are mediators, lawyers and moneylenders, the organisation of the church is modeled after that of a guild and becoming a priest is a difficult matter requiring training, testing and becoming a member in good standing of the local church. Priests will commonly wear displays of wealth and churches to The Merchants Kiss can be truly ostentatious in design, even if they are in practicality a guildhouse, heavily ornamental scales of Shengrae are often the centerpieces of these golden temples. Followers of The Merchants Kiss include merchants, bankers, pacifists, diplomats and craftsmen as well as paradoxically some guilds of assassins that choose to see themselves as an economic function rather than murderers. Followers can also be found in less urban settings, these rural priests and followers simply seek ways to ensure fair prices are found for goods and cattle, here she is often worshipped in conjunction with her son Naamon, Naamon bringing the harvest and Shengrae the bounty of cattle, these join rituals are focused around a hollowed bulls horn filled with food or drink.

The Unbalanced Scale
This aspect of Shengrae is the patron god of the vengeful, the downtrodden and the wronged, she welcomes them all to redress the balance. Contrary to her more peaceful aspects The Unbalanced Scale is depicted furious and rampaging emphasising her bull nature. Open worship of the Unbalanced scale is uncommon in "civilised" society, kept to the totems of wild warrior tribes but whenever the fires of hate and retribution destroy the veneer of civilization underground cults and obsessed individuals call unto the goddess for the power to destroy their enemies. This can be the power to heft a blade or defeat an army but is mostly known for fuelling the magic of curses, Shengrae herself is said to delight in devising particularly cruel curses to punish those that cross her. Churches of The Unbalanced Scale feature stone tablets in which initiates are expected to carve the names of those that have wronged them and their crimes, to mark their evil in perpetuity, before going out to dole out punishment. Millennia of tribal followers has seen the landscape of every wilderness dotted with countless statues of the goddess, depictions vary but they all share certain common features, the goddess is holding unbalanced scales and the horns of the goddess are made sharp and fearsome, traditionally those on whom vengeance is taken are impaled upon the horns and their heart placed in the scale, these statues rarely survive the coming of civilisation but sometimes survive hidden in vaults and secret collections or fallen into the foundations of cities. Though the church only seeks to facilitate revenge without concern for its consequences, priests of the Unbalanced Scale are sourced from those initiates that achieve their revenge and find peace or satisfaction in it. By it's nature revenge appeals to both the personally and the politically wronged, slave rebellions have mounted the bulls head at the head of their armies or as symbols to strike dread into their masters.

The Queen of Whores
The Queen of Whores is just that, the god of prostitutes both sacred and common, a god worshipped in tavern brothels and the harems of kings. But she is not simply a goddess of a profession rather she is the god of all those who have sacrificed social value for material benefits, a knight that compromises his honour for the sake of his family could find himself in common prayer with a prostitute who compromises her honour for the same reasons. Though in some places the church has wealth and status provided by sacred prostitution and the management of royal harems, in most it is a religion of the laypeople. All pariahs and exiles can find something in common with the Queen of Whores but she also offers protection to those who make sacrifices of a different kind in exchange for arcane power, whether they be physical or mental, a scholar who chooses hermitage to understand deeper mysteries over popularity and publishing would, for example, fall under her purview. This broad range of followers means that when they do form congregations it is also a congregation of wildly divergent viewpoints and the site of sharing of information and wisdom from all levels of society for the betterment of the members, consequently none of these strange subcultures and secret societies are quite the same, what they do have in common is to their benefit, a membership comprised of driven individuals willing to make some kind of compromise to achieve their goals a trait that can lead to great things as well as ruin. Churches to the Queen of Whores are constructed both literally and figuratively underground and can over time become grand archives of forbidden materials of all kinds.

The Meeting at Deaths Keep
Long after the death of Hadar, Shengrae still in mourning for her lost son and wishing she could speak with him sought out the goddess Saumthalla to learn the means to visit the labyrinth without dying herself. Saumthalla refused to meet with her and so Shengrae set forth to find Deaths Keep and offer her trade in person where she could not be avoided.

First Shengrae crossed the ruined city of The Shadow the horror realm that crumbles and writhes beneath Deaths Keep, there the tale differs in the telling, either the goddess traded her eyes for safe passage or clawed them out so she did not have to behold the horrors of The Shadow. Nonetheless when she reached the gates of Deaths Keep Shengrae was blind and it was there she encountered The God-King of the Minotaurs, standing atop the gate. The God-King of the Minotaurs was the husband of Saumthalla and father to her three children, and from his place atop the gate he was perturbed, his guardianship of the gate had always relied on his fearsome mien driving back all petitioners. Shengrae called out and demanded "I am the Goddess Shengrae, Open the gate for I have much to discuss with death", The God-King feared the costs of open battle with his children in the keep and instead devised to turn the goddess away with words "Proud goddess this is no place for you, the chambers and passageways of this keep are for humble and small petitioners, only those that kneel can fit beneath the gate". Shengrae, though hesitantly, lowered herself to her knees and began to crawl forward, The God-King fearful that his deception would be revealed (and too overjoyed at his humbling of a goddess to devise another trick), quickly hauled up the gate before her.

As Shengrae crawled blindly through the passages of Deaths Keep she called out for guidance to find the court of Saumthalla, there she drew the attention of the three children of Saumthalla, playful and overawed at the sight of a crawling goddess they laughed at her and asked a price for guidance to their mothers throne "We will tell you in exchange for your robes". The robes of Shengrae are luminous with gold and gems, it is said they contain more wealth than has ever been mined up from the earth in but a single thread, but faced with this decision Shengrae gave them up and went naked and guided by the promises of children into the court of Saumthalla. There even without eyes she could sense the presence of the Harbinger of the Labyrinth atop her ebon throne and finally made her request "Saumthalla, name your price. I seek your tutelage so that I may see Hadar in the Labyrinth, as you do when you bear the dead to it's odious confines" and so also finally heard Saumthallas reply "It is right that you come before me, blind, crawling and naked for there is only one lesson I teach and it is humility before death" and with that she dissappeared, out into the world to do her duty and gather the souls of the dead.

Shengrae rose up, in her fury she forgot the warnings of the low ceiling chambers and in doing so learnt the deception that had been played upon her. Retracing her steps she returned to the gates where the God-King sat in guardianship. Though Shengrae had been robbed of her senses, her dignity and her wealth, she retained two things, her gods magic and her divine beauty. She placed a curse upon The God-King of the Minotaurs that he would forget Saumthalla and all his time with her and then she approached him, his mind confused by magics and his eyes beholding the beauty of a naked goddess he was easily hers to seduce. Once she had lain with the God-King the beast god was in high spirits and proclaimed his power and dominion over all, Shengrae laughed at his claim and demanded he prove it, that in the next chamber there were three gods and if he could best each of them in combat she would serve him forever. The God-King roared from the bedchamber he had once shared with Saumthalla and tore into the next chamber, there he slaughtered his own kin with savage violence until the walls were painted with their blood, but before he could turn to Shengrae to proclaim his victory the goddess lifted the curse, as he stared, struck paralyzed in horror and beholding what he had done, Shengrae grabbed him by the horns and tore his head from his body and then placed it down over her own head. She gathered up her robes and began her return home. The eyes of the God-King stare forevermore with his gaze of absolute horror but do so with the will of Shengrae. In a single night, while Saumthalla was busy gathering souls Shengrae had regained her sight, her dignity and her wealth, and had achieved what what she had intended, a fair exchange with the goddess of death, one lesson in humility before death in exchange for another. It was only later that it was discovered that the union between Shengrae and the God-King of the Minotaurs had born fruit in the form of the god Naamon.