Inishie

"Her voice echoes the screams of the fallen. Her footsteps are the despair of the just."
-Canticle of the Ancients, Chapter 7, Verse 22



Inishie is one of the most enigmatic of the Yuriban Goddesses. She is not associated with any of them in most tales, and some even say that she is older than The Lady, though how this is possible is never addressed. Inishie is known among natives as the "Volcano Lady", and is generally referred to with a mix of reverence and fear.

Contents

History

The origin of Inishie-worship has been lost in the annals of history, mainly because of what became of the Lily Civilization. Based on archaeological excavations done by Professor Eimi, small fragments of that lost era have begun to come to light. There is some indication that records Underhill were deliberately obscured or destroyed in the past, possibly out of shame over what happened to the Lily Civilization.

At one point, the Lily Civilization was a peaceful group, living on Yuriba in tranquility. Somewhere along the line, the people began to turn to Inishie as an object of worship, but the reasons for this remain a mystery. As more of the people turned to worship Inishie, her power over them grew. She is reputed to have been extremely jealous of those who still worshiped The Lady or other goddesses over her, and bent her will towards them. Eventually, her power became such that the nearly the entire civilization was under her sway. And at this point, the record becomes extremely chaotic, with references to sacrificial rites being carried out to appease Inishie. Dark rituals took place on the slopes of the volcano that she embodies on the island. Eventually, this took a toll, and the faction of the Lily Civilization that opposed the shift, the Toltraua, were wiped out in a frenzy of sacrificial rites at Inishie's jealous behest.

Beliefs

As very few records have yet been unearthed about the actual rites and rituals of Inishie-worship, past the sacrificial nature of them, little is known about what the daily life of her worshipers was.

Associations

Inishie is thought of as the Volcano Lady in part because of her embodiment as the an active volcano on the island itself. She also has been known to have quite a temper, and an active dislike for those who worship any deity but herself. In recent times, she has reacted rather violently to the presence of breisleach, Merin, and Moriko on her slopes and has shown much displeasure with the Sentry Ella to the point she can't enter the valley itself. She has begun to react with agitation toward the presence of Mirabelle. In fact, Eimi was almost the only one she allowed to come and go freely, possibly because of the teacher's respect for her and her power. Visitors in Eimi's company were usually tolerated to some extent. She's also been known to react almost invitingly to the presence of Brysaihe.

According to the natives, Inishie is the Goddess of Creation Through Destruction. When pressed for an explanation, one that tends to be common is the way that an erupting volcano destroys anything in the path of the lava, but leaves behind a new environment for things to begin growing in again; it is important to note that all indications are that Inishie herself tends to be rather miffed when things do start growing and only hungers to be able to destroy them once more. Another common belief is that Inishie represents the use of raw, uncontrolled, uncaring power, power that cannot be opposed or turned aside from the intended target.

She is also rumored to be associated with the Jusenkyou spring of Konglongnyanniichuan, though the exact nature of this connection is unknown.

Following

At the moment there is no known active cult of Inishie. When such worshippers are discovered they are typically dissuaded or suppressed in extremely short and abrupt order.

The Eruption of 2012 saw Inishie's cult suddenly re-emerge in the person of her high priestess, Temair, alongside Mikazuki and Agrona. The three were almost successful in inciting an island-shattering eruption, and only the last-second sacrifice of Eimi prevented their plans from coming to fruition. The cult was swiftly suppressed by a mass action of the island's residents shortly thereafter.

See Also

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