Demanding Diety

Pet Name: Ilia
Owner: Sciger
Theme / Type: Daydream stignightus
Born: December 20, 2013
Gender: Female

MisticPal Name: Graveyard
MisticPal Age: 3117 Days

Battle Portal Stats

Level: 1
Hit Points: 12 / 12
Strength: 15
Defense: 0
Speed: 18
Intellect: 20
Misticpower: 1

Books Read

Books Read: 5/373 [ View Books ]

Exotic Foods Eaten

Foods Eaten: 0/1254 [ View Foods ]

A Story of Legend and Offerings

Jumboyo Village has been around for forever, at least, that's what the elders say. It wasn't so long ago to them that Mistica discovered and was astonished by their existence. Strange, primate-like creatures that inhabited their village and only the most experienced of owners may adopt a youngster for their own. They are quite a handful after all.
Before their adoption, these youngsters have surely heard of the legend passed from one generation to the next, from old to young, for decades if not centuries. No one really knows if the tale is true, the reason why they leave offerings of food once a month. Each month, all villagers must take a portion of their evening meal according to an ancient ritual, chanting over it as they set it ablaze by a large bonfire. All offerings must remain there overnight and will be gone come morning. No one is quite sure what takes the offerings but no one questions it.
For those that fail to leave an offering have claimed to be haunted by a beautiful though frightening deity and if they tarry too long, unfortunate events such as injury or illness occur. Even the whole village has been affected, or deaths happened, supposedly linked to a lack of offering by a single individual that is of age to give offerings.
At least, that is what they say...

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Indeed, the legend starts in ancient times, when jumboyo, izabel, koko and panju tribes lives separate lives from one another. A time of raids, battles for territory and food, discrimination simply because the other was different from themselves.

A dazzling creature came from places unknown, all colors of the world dappling her pelt and tail, wings like what is found on tasty butterflies that flit around aimlessly. She saw their feuds and saw them as foolish. Using the abilities she had learned in her travels about the ancient world, she commanded a great storm to cease a great battle between all four tribes over a fertile land filled with fruits, nuts and berries, feasts for only the chiefs of each village. These prized foods were fit for only a few but coveted for their luxurious flavor. They were greatly afraid of the storm that blew as she made herself known, angry with their senseless violence.

"You foolish creatures! How much blood must be spilled over this food when you have many in your own territories?" She demanded. "Are you not all living on the same soil off the same sustenance? Must blood be spilled over so little? Band together lest your young cry out with pangs of hunger and despair over the loss of their loved ones and wither into dust!"

Her words spoke deep within each chief and, with her mediation, came to an agreement. They would share the territory and split the foods and any caught taking more than their share would be cut off from the supply for a while. For the first time that anyone had ever known during those days, a new peace had draped over their land.

It took many years for them to trust one another, to learn to take care of the other so they might be cared for in a time of need. Foods were shared from gathering and hunting, experimentation on how to make certain fruit-bearing plants grow took place from bright minds. The villages began to flourish with friendly visits. They quickly learned of Ilia's willingness to provide water for their crops and blessing them with her abilities so that they might grow tall and bursting with ripe fruits and vegetables. For this, they would give her offerings of food every 7 days, rotating from each village as she roamed from one area to another.

It was during those times that Ilia decided that they should have a great feast to celebrate their abundance of food, peace and happiness; the feast was grand amd filled with dancing, laughter and good company. The children played with one another regardless of species and gave a merry chase around with one another. Ilia observed from a higher peak, a smile on her muzzle as she observed those that once battled each other before. What a wonderful peace had resulted by what she believed to be her efforts! It became tradition after the first feast, which they called the Great Ilia after their mediator, that they would hold a feast at every full moon.

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Then the springtime came and it was time for Ilia to take her leave on a short journey to return to her homeland. The villages knew of her leaving and that she would return within 3 Great Ilias. The time slowly slipped by and the villages' peace remained the same in her absence as if she was still there.

The 3 Great Ilias came and went and she did not return. After the 4th Great Ilia, they found themselves concerned. Their crops were not gaining as much water as they should so they would not grow to the fullest extent. Winter would come soon and they needed such food to continue to survive. The chiefs gathered in an emergency meeting and they agreed with one another that they must find a way to survive and that meant assuming that their deity would not return. They began to figure out how to water their crops even without the rains that she would provide by digging large trenches for amounts of river water to flow through. They decided to call it irrigation. Then the cold times came and froze their crops. They had harvested much in their efforts, but not near as much as they used to while Ilia was there.

The winter passed and she did not return. It was not until the first Great Ilia of summer that she showed her presence once more. She simple-mindedly expected a warm welcome for her return as she had little to eat on her journeys and had grown quite thin. Ilia was instead met with contempt for her seeming abandonment. They no longer needed her to sustain them and would no longer offer her food in exchange for her rain. They had also believed her to be a goddess and seeing her now unhealthy state, were stirred into anger for her tricks. The chiefs gathered their warriors and chased her from their home with spear and rock.

Ilia grew resentful for their actions against her, pridefully believing that it was because of her and her alone that the villages stopped warring with one another. She retaliated in summoning a great storm against the entirety of the village territories, striking down the crops with large hail and torrential rain. There had never been such a storm nor has there ever been since. Believing it to be the work of their former mediator, the chiefs gathered forces and set to track her down. Soon, she was cornered with no place to run or fly as her wings were nothing more than tatters. The jumboyo chief summoned all his strength and thrust his spear deep into her side.

Gasping for air, she struggled to speak as her former allies stared her down in satisfaction for their lost crops. Snarling in an anger unlike any other, she cursed them, their children and their children's children and all beyond them to be haunted by her vengeful spirit for the harm against her. Laughing, they took their leave to let her die in solitude.

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Mere days later, the villages began to see a strangely familiar being lurking about the shadows of their homes. Some immediately believed that the curse was real and feared for their lives. The chiefs, however, would hear nothing of it and barely discussed it at the next Great Ilia. What could a so-called deity do to them?

A pestilence fell over the villages, a horrible sickness that caused a most painful death. This claimed the life of each chief from the 4 villages and the lives of many of their relatives. The new chiefs organized an emergency meeting and in their time of desperation, used what little crops they had to provide an offering to her. It took a few tries but she eventually convinced them that these offerings must be burnt as she could no longer eat normal food as a vengeful spirit. As soon as these offerings were done, the sickness evaporated within mere days. Those too weak to survive after being ill for so long passed within that time.

Ever since that day, as long as burnt food offerings were given once a month at the full moon, nothing truly bad happened to the village. Sometimes, storms and illness would arise even with the offerings anyway. However, the very moment that offerings were ceased, famines, devastating sickness and even unexplained deaths would immediately follow until the offering was finished.

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To this day, offerings are continued to this supposed dead goddess who lived and died by the villages, centuries ago. The only ones exempt from the offerings are those too young to understand it. Perhaps she still has a heart for those so young to the world.
Some believe in such tales, particularly the elders but the modern village is slowly becoming skeptical. While you are here, perhaps you might try and offer some of your evening meal to the great Ilia?
It couldn't hurt. I don't fancy being stricken with illness, do you?