The Mysteries of Saint Terragnis for Shadowdark

The Saint’s Enigma

Those who travel the worlds find Saint Terragnis a mystery.

1. Unlike the other Nine Gods, or even the lesser gods, she was born human, within human history. Yet if the tales of Saint Terragnis were all true, she would have lived a dozen human lifetimes.

2. Her apotheosis marked the end of the Mythic Era and the beginning of the Legendary Era. No longer would humans intrude upon the halls of the gods, and no longer would the gods meddle in human affairs, according to myth. Why?

3. Every Shadowdark World has a Saint Terragnis. Details of her birthplace and life differ, sometimes dramatically. Were there multiple Saints living roughly parallel lives? Was Terragnis already a god, living in multiple worlds at the same time? (No heresy intended.) Did every Terragnis join at the moment of apotheosis to become a single, composite goddess?

4. Stories of the Apotheosis vary wildly, too. Some say she was slain in battle. Others said her enemies burned her at the stake. Still other legends portray her dying of plague. One apocryphal tale even asserts she died of old age, in a cabin in the woods. Why can no authority agree on such a pivotal event?

The Documentary Hypothesis

The Documentary Hypothesis assumes that storytellers exaggerated, confused, and outright made up most of the legends and myths around Saint Terragnis. Because of her importance, many sources attribute stories of other saints to her. The orthodox believe that angels took Saint Terragnis to heaven before she died; it matters not which death was her true one.

In this view, one can only trust the text of the Chronicles of Saint Terragnis. Historians have pointed out for some time that the Chronicles contradict established history at several points. Different editions of the Chronicles contradict each other, admittedly on minor points.

The Multiple Incarnation Hypothesis

An alternative view holds that Saint Terragnis incarnated as multiple mortal women throughout the histories of the Shadowdark Worlds. Each fragment was but part of a divine whole.

The Order of Saint Terragnis considers this view heresy. It is of utmost importance theologically that Terragnis was born a mere mortal who attained godhood through good works and the recognition of the Nine Gods.¹ Madeera rewrote herself, it is said, so a mortal could become a god.² Why all that furor if Terragnis was always a god?

The Demigod-hood Hypothesis

An extreme view rejects all acts and stories of Saint Terragnis save her heroism and death at the hands of the Sons of Ramlaat. All acts attributed to her pertain to her time as a living demigod after she returned to the Shadowdark worlds. Here she wandered from world to world, performing miracles.

Many traditions hold that Saint Terragnis spent some time on the mortal plane as a deity before returning forever to the Halls of the Nine Gods. The Order of Saint Terragnis has sharp words (and swords) for those who deny their mortal Saint every good work but a martyr’s death.

The Predestination Hypothesis

If every world contains a different instance of Terragnis, it then follows that every Terragnis would become a saint and ascend to godhood. The true Saint Terragnis is an amalgam of all those selves. One can only imagine their tragic deaths followed by a glorious reunion of all their unknown counterparts.

Theologically this differs little from the previous hypothesis. Then again, the Many Worlds hypothesis complicates most theology. Suffice to say the notion of many parallel Terragnises (Terragnes?) merging into one deity makes a mockery of conventional logic.

Conclusions

The Order of Saint Terragnis calls the Saint’s divinity a “mystery”, by which they mean a contradiction bridged by faith. Scholars have proposed these and more complicated solutions, all to no avail. None may deprive her of her glorious deeds. None may invoke a godhood she did not yet possess. None may claim the “universe” somehow guided her destiny.

A solitary mortal woman on multiple worlds becomes a single goddess of all worlds. What beyond blind faith can make sense of this?