Armaiti is my daughter and sits at my left hand. She is Faithful Obedience, Religious Harmony and Worship. She also presides over growing things. She will one day smite Toromiati and Pairimaiti. My twin daughters, Haurvatat and Ameretat, respresent Immortality and Integrity. They watch over water and vegetation. They will one day smite Thirst and Hunger. Last is Sraosha or Discipline. He is present at all divine ceremony, the embodiment of hymns and prayer, the Holy Ritual Priest. He is a fierce warrior, wearing armor, and uses his battle axe to crush Ahriman's demons' skulls. Sraosha protects the worlds at night and was the first to chant the Gathras, spread the sacred ritual twigs, the barsom, and to offer me prayer. He will one day smite Aeshma.
The story of my brother, Ahriman, and myself goes as follows, despite anything he might tell:
I dwell in endless Light, having no direct contact with the evil Ahriman in his deepest darkness, for between us lies the void. The power of each of us, therefore, is limited by the other and both are spatially limited by the void. I am eternal, but Ahriman is not, for I will one day destroy him. At first, we two existed without coming into conflict. I knew of my brother but he, being more limited in knowledge, did not know of me. As soon as he did see me, his destructive nature prompted him to attack. I offered him peace if he would praise the Good Creation but Ahriman, judging others by himself, believed that an offer of peace could only be made from a position of weakness and so rejected the offer, seeking to destroy that which he saw. I knew that if the battle were to last forever Ahriman could, indeed, keep his threat and I suggested a fixed period for the battle. Ahriman foolishly agreed and thereby has secured his downfall. I knew that if evil was allowed to operate quietly, steadily and unobtrusively it can disrupt and destroy, but once its drawn out in the open, engaged in battle and shown for what it is, it cannot succeed.
After fixing the period for the battle, I recited the sacred prayer, the Ahuna Var. On hearing this kernal of Good Religion, the forces of Ahriman fell back into his hell where he lay unconscious for three thousand years. Knowing that my brother could never change his destructive nature, I began to create. Out of my very essence of Light I produced the menog, or spiritual, form of the creatures. I created my children first, my Immortals, then the Yazatas, and many other things....my own plane and own beings; sky, water, earth, the tree, the animal, and lastly, my own mankind. They are all totally independent of Ahriman, not reliant on him at all for their happiness for I, unlike Ahriman, do not contemplate things I cannot achieve. I am mother and father to my creations: as mother I conceived the spiritual world, and as father I gave birth to it in the material world. My brother, in turn, created, or rather miscreated, his own offspring from his evil nature, giving rise to all that is vile in our plane, where I allowed him to dwell and prepared his hell for him.
The sky I created functions not only as a shell for enclosing my world, but also as a prison to ensnare my brother. When I first produced the material creation it was in an ideal state: the tree had no bark or thorn, the ox was white and shining as the moon, and Gayomart, my first man, was shining like the sun. This was all shattered by the onslaught of Ahriman on my world. After he fell unconscious into his hell, the Daevas tried to rouse him with promises of how they would assault creation and inflict on it anguish and unhapiness, all to no avail. Then came Jahi, the personification of all female impurity, birthed from the sleeping Ahriman's mind. She promised to inflict the holy man and ox with so much suffering that life would not be worth living. She announced her attention to attack the water, earth, tree, and all of my creation. Revived, my brother granted that all men should desire her, then he bound her in a human shell and drank off her power....with this, he and his Daeva rose to attack my world.
He broke through the sky which was afraid of him. Passing through the waters he entered the middle of the earth and assaulted the material creation. Horrible creatures were released over the face of my earth and their filthy pollution spread so quickly not even the point of a needle was free from contamination. Everything was being destroyed, smoke and darkness mingled with fire, and my creation was disfigured. Every Daeva attacked its counterpart Yazata: Falsehood against Truth, the Spell of Sorcery against the Holy Word, Darkness against Light, Unforgiveness against Mercy. Throught all my world, all things were attacked and finally even man died. The assault of Ahriman seemed to be completely successful and my Good Creation totally ruined, my work a failure. But despite that, it was not the end of my Good, for troubles were just beginning for my evil brother. When he sought to return to his natural home of darkness, he found his way blocked by both the Spirit of the Sky, clad in armor like a warrior, and the fravashis....as the whole of my material creation had spiritual origin, man had his heavenly self, the fravashi. The host of just and pure fravashi elected of their own free will to assist me in my battle and stood arrayed as valiant cavaliers with spears in hand, preventing my brother from escaping from the prison into which he had burst.
Thus imprisoned in a hostile world, my brother discovered that life was beginning to flourish again. The rains were produced by Sirius; the waters washed the vile creatures into the holes in the ground, and the earth became productive. Nor was this all, for in Ahriman's apparent victory lay the seeds of his own defeat. When the ox had died, fifty-five species of corn and twelve species of medicinal herbs grew from its limbs and its seeds passed to the moon where it was purified, giving rise to the different species of animals. So too man, as he died, passed seed into the earth. Thus, from the body of the man, which was made of metal, the earth received different kinds of metal and from his sperm grew the first human couple, Mashye and Mashyane. Just as the skies and waters has waged battle with the Destructive Spirit, so too, did the plants, the earth, the fire, and other components of my creation. Life was triumphant. Death, the work of my brother, was defeated, for out of death came life, and life more abundant than before.
Still, I wage battle with Ahriman to purify my creation, for he keeps enough power to continue his corruption. But I will be the victor on the day of the Final Battle, which was set, but has not yet occured. The Day, though, is coming, and it will be soon.
My brother, Ahriman, also called Angra Mainyu. He is evil and darkness, corruption, lies, and deceit on my world. Still, I love him, though he seeks only to destroy me. In the end, I will have to destroy him first. Though I know this, it saddens me... and I will strive to purify and preserve as many of his miscreations as I can, including his offspring, some of which are very necessary.
And, at last, we have battled... and I was victorious, as was foretold. Still, the End is not yet, and Life goes on. Ahriman's seat of power is now held by his favorite slave, a half-oni named Dais, reluctant and unhappy as he is about this development. Ahriman's own son, Kore, born of his human wife Ktarra, who is also deceased, will some day rise up and take his sire's throne, as is necessary. Until that time, however, I have a faith in Dais to perform his task, wanted or not, and perform it well. Atar, as is Kore's true name given by his father, has years to go before he can Descend to his place. Dais will simply have to deal with the unpleasant situation until then.... as I will deal with the death of my twin at my own hands, indeed, upon my own sword.
Jahi, daughter of Ahriman, having named herself Serafelle once she was freed from the flesh-prison her father had bound her in. There, in that cage, she had found human emotion and for a time, could even be sweet. She has since stripped herself of these emotions, unable to deal with the pain caused by them. Many seek her destruction but, as in the past, I will do all I can to keep her alive...she is needed, and I have plans for her, after she is purified, of course. Perhaps I can seek aid from others outside my plane at least, I hope, to help her regain her emotions, which one of her kind needs.
Tahmas...where was it lost, along the way? What did I not foresee in this? You are Light..and you loved. I gave you Light..and you left it for Dark. Jeryth for Valyn...and you were so happy with the halfling. Is this my fault, somehow? Perhaps my boast to Valyn was too proud. Perhaps you can't handle this...or simply handle it other than in a way I expected. Whatever the case, that smear of Darkness in you..the one you've hidden so well majority of the time...perhaps sought out its own kind, and found it in Valyn. Sera's taint is stronger than I'd realized.
I made sure the prayer, which is taught to only the High and Arch Priests, came to mind so quickly Serafelle could not stop him from uttering it. While it agonized him to speak it, and tortured Sera who did not pull away from Tahmas quickly enough, it also triggered the sliver in Tahmas and allowed him some of his trapped glory, enough to cleanse the bodies of Cirys and Jeryth and erase Voragonna's evil influence. That, coupled with their souldaggers which Tehnebrae, a being that houses an Arch Demon and Arch Angel, reformed and purified in a Fire borne of Light, freed them from Voragonna's service. I am concerned for Cirys, however, who is now without direction in his life.
A reluctant participant in the massacre of my monastary... he even saved the life of a child there, a child I was hoping would take Tahmas' place as a High Priest some day, Mehryn, whom none know is also my son, brother of Tahmas. Jeryth has proved to be worthy of mine and Tahmas' attention, we both intended to help him free his soul from Voragonna, which was satisfactorily accomplished. And Tahmas, I know, has other plans for Jeryth as well. It gladdens my heart to see Tahmas as happy as he is with Jeryth. I want that to last... they both deserve it. And again, with thanks to Valyn, Jeryth, whom he slew to break Tahmas, is no longer mortal but housed in the bodies of two of my Yazata. A being of Light, my Light, and power. Far more befitting what Tahmas needs in a mate. Now it's only a matter of time before Jeryth discovers all that comes with his new form.
....And Tahmas has thrown it back in my face. Jeryth, his once sweet lover, lapsed into a coma under the strain of the new form. During this time of reforming mind to body, Tahmas chose Valyn over Jeryth. Oh, I understand the reasons, and they make me none the happier. For the first time, Tahmas... my lovely Tahmas... has disappointed me. I refused to allow Jeryth the pain that would come when he awoke to find his love in the arms of his killer, so I took action. I tampered, yes, with Jeryth's mind and memories... he no longer remembers Tahmas as his lover, but simply a friend, and nothing, ever, more. He knows what Tahmas did for him and sees it as an act of friendship... as far as Jeryth is concerned, there was never a time of lovers. This translates to Mehryn as well, through the bond. As an extra, added protection, I also took a loathsome liberty; I altered Jeryth's preference from male to female, to make sure he would not be attracted again to Tahmas. While still friends, Jeryth will now concentrate on raising Mehryn... much to Tahmas' pain.
And it was Mehryn who aided Tahmas in activating the sliver again after Sera's tortures for his betrayal left him on the razor edge of death. Tahmas, I know, was prepared to die and, totally cut off from the collar and its powers, it seemed sure he would die. But Mehryn, in his terror over seeing Ahriman in the tavern, prayed to me fervently in the presence of Tahmas, and it was through this means that I was able to act, the sliver growing to replenish my grandson and again reveal his glory, healing him. I am most grateful to Mehryn for his faith in me... and wait patiently for the day when he will know me and himself in the whole truth.
A Drow child I've been watching for 19 winters now, Valyn has proven most valuable in my causes... and more. It was Valyn who took Tahmas' challenge to heart, about hurting him more than Sera ever had, and Valyn proved this well by slaying Jeryth to meet these ends. I know there was reluctance there... I know Valyn did it because of the promise he made to Tahmas... I know that it, in some degree, hurt Valyn to hurt Tahmas in such a way. And agonized me to allow it. But I did, using what Valyn had already set in his mind to do, and switched it from harmful to helpful, for only when Tahmas was completely broken could I Reveal him without the usual ceremonies and Ahuna Var. Valyn had a high honor that day, as I told him he would... but none of that makes either of us any prouder, I believe. I have fought darkness all my existance, and in so doing I understand it... I accept its facets and those caught in the struggle between. I know Valyn well... and love him unconditionally. He, too, knows this now and, predictably, pushed it from him... its better this way, isn't it, Valyn? Still, I'm amazed by his singular strength, even after all this time... and we both understand that strength is lonely... it hurts not to hurt... and such is life.
Even though that deep hurt, that loneliness, was eased by my own son/grandson, Tahmas. And I don't know exactly what to think of this... except that I hope, for a time at least, you're not alone. And, having found a beloved, you are happy.
My newest priest, Zerlia, was, at one time, the Archpriestess of Djanna, goddess of war on her plane. Zerlia served her very well, but events happened to separate the River Elf from her goddess and Zerlia was left stranded, alone, here in the tavern. I had sympathy for the warrior, and need of her in the battle with my brother and his minions. She served me very well, and I am most pleased with her and her skills. As a creature of peace and Light, I rarely have need for such as Zerlia, though I also keep my own war priests, who are ever called upon to make certain a kind of balance is kept. Zerlia has since sloughed off her mortal coil and is welcome in my golden realm, which is her reward.