Genzaeri (The Telling Trial)Source Divine Mysteries pg. 140Will the thunder of battle drums make your heart race or your knees quake? Could you stand firm in the face of an enemy charge? These are questions that all warriors must confront, and many call for Genzaeri’s favor when they do. As a goddess of battlefield tactics and innovation, Genzaeri sees the field of combat as the ultimate classroom, teaching strategy, tactics, and weapons. Equally blessed by Genzaeri is the historian knowledgeable in enemy weaknesses, the inventor developing a deadly prototype, and the corporal who gives her first command.
The goddess encourages her followers to use combat as the means to learn about themselves and the world around them. The field is the best place to test new fighting techniques and weapons of war, of course, but Genzaeri’s followers consider a good fight the opportunity to test their mettle and find out how to adapt themselves to new challenges. After a fight, worshippers reflect on what they learned and see how any new knowledge might be adopted into life outside of combat. Whether they bring useful alchemical concoctions, weapons that double as effective tools, or hard-won personal truths, Genzaeri’s followers innovate their lives and communities.
This adaptability is reflected in the goddess’s appearance. Genzaeri’s standard depictions feature her as a well-armored hobgoblin carrying a bevy of weapons, but it’s common to find iconography representing Genzaeri as a slinking panther, a ravenous wolf, or a soaring magpie. In all her forms, the goddess’s eyes glow with forge fire, gazing into the hearts of her followers. Her religious symbol is a glowing crucible, representing the trials Genzaeri offers and the transformations her lessons can catalyze.
The goddess’s malleable nature has aided her recent increase in popularity. Worship of Genzaeri originated in the hobgoblin city of Rakh Lo, deep in the Darklands beneath Tian Xia. When the hobgoblins of Oprak opened the Stone Roads to this distant locale, worship spread along with valuable trade goods and novel military tactics. The deity’s edicts combining careful diplomacy, effective military strategy, and battlefield modernization captured the spirit of the new nation, and Genzaeri’s worship was quietly adopted by many citizens, particularly Oprak’s alchemists. With Oprak and its neighbors forced into a truce by the mutual threat of the Whispering Tyrant, veneration of Genzaeri has spread into the lands of the Inner Sea.
Genzaeri’s shrines, often found in military academies, resemble a combination of training center, workshop, and library. While most of her clergy focus on martial pursuits, a sizable number of civilians study in her precincts, working hard to adapt useful military innovations to everyday life.
Category Other GodsEdicts develop and use the appropriate tool for the job, share plans with allies, use conflict to demonstrate the best in yourself
Anathema avoid a winnable conflict, retry a failed tactic in the same engagement
Areas of Concern battlefields, modernization, negotiation, and tactics
Religious Symbol crucible pouring molten metal
Sacred Animal magpie
Sacred Color(s) black, white
Devotee Benefits
Divine Attribute Constitution or Intelligence
Divine Font harm or
healDivine Sanctification can choose holy or unholy
Divine Skill CraftingFavored Weapon bladed gauntletDomains change,
knowledge,
perfection,
zealAlternate Domains might