In the mountains of the Western Terrains of the Earth, a pious village inhabits the surrounding areas of a rocky temple, serenely erected, boldly withstanding the ruiness visages of the seasons -- in honor of the Goddess of Chastity, Fertility & Hunt – Ἄρτεμις (
Artemis). The Village is well-hidden in the area, draped in its meek and humble living, uniquely strengthened in its divinity and praise for the Goddess as a place where Elves and Humans live dutifully and in unity amongst each other as the heart of the physical realm to Artemis' prowess. The Village is a sought after legend for the believers in Artemis, and only the faithful are permitted through her graves to walk the path between the mountainous terrain and enter into the harmonious territory.
Rights of passage by living in the village are endured with gratitude. One of the most famous and dedicated rights is the Rights of the Cardinals. Every three years, it is custom for the Village to gift the Goddess one young, virgin female who has only just reached the likeness of her womanhood virgin. The young women's hand is spiritually sacrificed and solidified by oath in an elaborate and divine ceremony as she is ordained a maiden of
Artemis and referred to as a
Cardinal, a handmaiden who abides her entire life's work under the chastity of the Lýkos Temple and in honor, praise, and worship to and for the Goddess Artemis.
Such great honor is bestowed upon the women who are deemed virtuous and chaste enough to be granted the gift of such a beautiful privilege. It is spoken quite ruthlessly, however, that the struggle of a Cardinal is not easy. Nonetheless, the true intricacies of the job are a mystery to the outside world. For such a case, the Cardinals are treated with utmost respect and revere -- as prophetesses and oracles, and women who cower from the likeness of the Cardinals are dismissed as unworthy and dishonorable disciples of the Goddess. As it has been passed down through generations of storytelling, the Goddess has bestowed ΖΩΗ (
Life) upon the Village and all of its inhabitants. Should the Village fail to sanctify its
Life with purity, the ζωή (
Being) shall be withheld; the waters shall cease to pour forth; the crops shall cease to produce and be plenty; the animals shall cease to be abundant and worthy for food; the women shall cease to be with child; the village shall cease to exist.
This Western Terrain, so veiled in its modesty has a hidden name. The power in its name is taught with great authority and law as the key to its virginity, and thus, even uttering the Village's name has been forbidden and only taught to the Cardinals sometime after their ordination has made them worthy participants as Key Holders of the Village. The Cardinals do more than just protect sacred traditions, but they are taught, as a known fact in the Village, to be huntresses, skilled and trained in the Arts of Hunting -- marked by Archery: Arrows and Longbows.
The honor of such a position in the Village's society is so high that families groom their daughters in prayerful hopes of becoming a handmaiden of Artemis. However, it is rightfully been declared law that Cardinals are to be Half-Elfin and Half-Human. Arrangements and Ancestry are studied prior to the like of Matrimony being considered between two members of the Village.
Malehood and his honors does not fall anything close short of that of a Cardinal -- holding other such authoritative positions as leaders and lawmakers, stoic to the cause. It is taught that although Artemis bestows such life into Nature, it is not without the Touch of the Male does her cosmic connection bend through Time. And so, the Lýkos Temple allows one Elfin Priest (Elfin due to longevity and mysticism) to abide his wisdom inside her temple. His piety is very old and carefully considered before the former's repose. Through his antiquity, his chastity is measured with extreme caution to prevent scandal or the wrath of Artemis. He is never to learn the name of the Village. As well, on the outskirts of the Village, there are various temples -- smaller in nature than Lýkos, which houses males who practice chastity and monasticism in honor of the Goddess Artemis. However, there is only one temple, which allows for females -- Lýkos Temple -- the Holiest Temple of the Goddess Artemis.
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The Ancient Story of the Goddess Artemis is preserved in the tradition of the Village as a well-known tale often depicted and re-animated through gatherings and Hellenistic pleasures such as music or other theatrics. The most famous tale of the Goddess that is cherished weaves her history as thus:
Conceived scandalously by the King of Gods and his mistress, the Goddess Artemis climbed into the temple of her father's lap during her third Lunar Year of age and asked him to grant her six wishes - to remain a virgin, to have many names to set her apart from her brother, to be the
Light Bringer, to have a Bow & Arrow and a knee-length tunic so that she may hunt, to have sixty "Daughters of Okeanos" to serve as her choir, and for twenty Amnisides Nymphs as Handmaidens to watch her dogs and bow while she rested. Her father, the King of Gods, granted these wishes, and her most favored wish, the first one,
to remain a virgin became her most important δόγμα (
Dogma) to uphold.
παρθενιά (
Virginity) as an eternal virtue was so important that even during such a time that the chaste Goddess did allow her heart to open once to another God not of her own family, and her brother -- pious in his jealousy -- tricked the Goddess into shooting one of her arrows through the God's head. It was later made true that the now reposed God had plans of murdering every wild creature on Earth. For her brother's jealousy and her lover's foolery, Artemis has dismissed the likeness of friendship between male and female as not being anything but unchaste.
Her domain, reigning over prosperity, fertility, and chastity, many Mortals called upon her name -- often, in the midst of the night when the Moon had unveiled her own face -- for help in sustaining
Life, and through wisdom of her past actions, she sought to continue such good fortune and set apart a village from the rest of the World. In this village, she also hid away the seed of her own heart so that she may not fall prey to another God and lose her αθωότητα (
Innocence). In show of her mercy, understanding, and repentance upon her brother, she allowed males to dwell in the village alongside the females of her choosing.
Mortal Creatures of her choosing were Elves and Humans, alike. Artemis took a fondness to the Human Form, but she knew their wisdom and powers were limited, and from such knowledge, she drew the eloquent beauty and magic from the Elves. In her most sacred place of worship, Lýkos Temple, only chaste, virgin maidens -- of half-Elfin and half-Human are allowed to dwell inside the Lýkos walls, and to consecrate her adoration towards her brother, she set aside a seat for a male Elfin High Priest. Keeping the traditions of the Moon Goddess abundantly are a dogma for the Village to keep it from disease and decay by the powers of Artemis -- and thus, the Fertility of Life would be cursed.
The Moon Goddess now clothes herself from the Mortal World and is said to only intervene physically for specific reasons. The willful veil that keeps the Goddess from entering the Mortal World is said to be a garment that keeps her modesty abundant in fruits on the Earth, and during the rare and holy occasions that Artemis does show her face, it is under the moonlit night, as to use the shadows of the night as a covering of her zeal and image.
Twenty years ago, a young Half-Elfin and Half-Human maiden was born to an Elf and his Human wife. The young female has since disregarded her birth name, having been bestowed a new name upon her ordination to a Cardinal. Her story follows along the lines of a dismayed human mother who foolishly cut her own daughter's hair and was beaten by her husband, ashamed and aghast with rage that his wife would even dare think of vanity on behalf of their daughter, a potential maiden to be chosen for the honorable rights of serving inside the walls of the Lýkos Temple.
Bad fortune seemed to have put her family into despair as during her thirteenth November, she had still not bloomed. Her father was certain it was her mother's doing, and their Matrimony had been in vain, having only begotten one daughter and one son. However, by her fourteenth November, she had become a woman, and by all prayers and begs for mercy by her parents, she was chosen to be ordained a Handmaiden of Artemis.
In her third year as a Cardinal, Mariëlle, having become accustomed to her monastic name, was allowed to venture outside of the Temple and into the Village for quick errands. It was during these weekly outings that a shopkeeper's son took notice of the Cardinal. His eagerness to know her started out shy and modest, as was the tradition of the Village's persona. However, as time transcended and hearts shifted, a bond between the two souls procured. It is believed that some chaotic force may have shifted the dynamics of the platonic relationship. Regardless, something twisted the path of their relationship, and the shopkeeper's son began pursuing more than what the Village permitted. In error, he assaulted the Cardinal in a vain attempt to obtain the name of the Village one evening on her way back to the Temple.
It was at that moment, Artemis, having mercy on the young Handmaiden and seeing such parallels in her own story, she made an appearance and cursed the young man into the form of a monstrous wolf. He was commanded to protect the Cardinal as her companion until her dying day. The only way for him to break the curse was to defeat the beast within him that caused the lustful attack. However, Artemis knew that the man's will would never defeat the beast inside himself, and as punishment to the Handmaiden for having let her guard down, Mariëlle was to have the knowledge of watching and feeling remorseful as her companion would fall further and further into the likeness of a monster and less and less from the likeness of a human.
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