Strigha
(sometimes Straigha)
Strigha is the goddess of lightning, thunder, storms, hail, the skies, flying, justice, and vengeance. She is known for holding grudges and being swift to anger. She created the nephele. She is revered by the nephele, elves, valkyrie, and harpies. The month of Straiman is named after her. Her festival is the Lightning Festival.
Her Temples
The temples of Strigha are known for their wood building materials. They are also known for their high-pitched roofs, and their extensive intricate wooden carvings and mosaics featured on their outer and inner walls.​ Candle sticks and altar bases of more financially well-off temples are often made with glass made from lightning striking sand.
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Temples to Strigha each have one or more lighting rods of some kind to attract lighting bolts and manufacture lynstens. They also have an outside metal pole some distance away from the temple to mount sacrificial offerings to the goddess.
Temple of Strigha
Temple of Strigha
Temple of Strigha
Temple of Strigha
This is an AI Generated Image.
Worship
Worship of Strigha is prevalent among nepheles, elves, valkyrie, harpies, and people living in Rohuroku or in the high mountains. She is often worshipped by those in the legal profession, and a statue of her is placed in most court houses.​
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Temples to Strigha have a high ceiling above the altar where priestesses can manipulate lightning above the altar. There are several rows of long wooden benches facing the altar so worshippers can watch such displays while they pray to the goddess.
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For the festival, the start of every third month, and at other times deemed to be of excessive need, the priestesses will hoist a dead animal onto the pole, and call upon the goddess to accept the sacrifice. A lightning bolt then hits the animal, incinerating it. Those who donate the animal for sacrifice are known to have curses and blights removed from them. Many individuals therefore compete for donations during the standard times of sacrifice. Priestesses do not perform additional ceremonies at the request of individuals, even rich or significant individuals, but only for times of community need.
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At home, devotees will worship Strigha by praying and by pouring out alcohol on the ground for her festival, and whenever there is lightning or hail.
Sacred
Strigha holds certain practices and attributes as sacred to her, and devotees of Deimar, therefore, hold these things sacred as well.
1. Justice: For those who are wronged, Strigha values quick and proportional judgment for the perpetrators of the crime. Determining the correct perpetrator is fundamental to exacting the justice demanded by the goddess. Those who prosecute the wrong person as perpetrator, either knowingly or through negligence, will face the goddess's wrath.
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2. Decisiveness and Action: Strigha values decisiveness and action when it comes to planning for the future and taking care of loved ones.
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3. Animals: Strigha is concerned with the well-being of animals, and typically will warn animals before she sends a storm, so they have a chance to hide. While she is fine with animals being killed for food or clothing, for safety or nuisance, or sacrifice, she abhors cruelty to them. Those who keep animals should ensure they do not suffer from neglect or abuse, and those who hunt or slaughter them should kill them quickly, in order to minimize pain or suffering.
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4. Flight: The ability to fly is considered sacred to the goddess. Those who are bestowed with this gift must take care of it, by ensuring their body is in a fit enough condition to perform, or that they properly taken care of any wounds that may hinder that ability, so they can heal and restore their ability to fly.​
Blasphemy
Strigha holds certain practices as blasphemous to her, and devotees of Strigha, therefore, hold these things as blasphemous as well. Strigha is known for sometimes extracting her wrath in mortality, instead of waiting until the afterlife or for her priestesses to curse. These acts of vengeance can be seen primarily in storms destroying houses and crops, causing fires, causing animals to go wild, and in some events, directly striking individuals with lightning. These acts of vengeance during mortality are typically reserved for those who mock her or her priestesses or commit blasphemy against the goddess despite being warned.
1. Perverting Justice: Those who seek to obstruction justice by lying, bribing, tampering with evidence, or intimidating witnesses or those in law enforcement or the legal sphere will be subjected to Strigha's wrath. Those who pervert justice by preferring one group over another whether it is based on race, prevalence or lack of wealth, family, connections, occupation, status, or anything else shall also face her wrath. Strigha vows to pelt them with hail as they travel to the land of the dead.
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2. Cruelty to Those who are Less Able: Strigha despises those who are abusive to those who are unable or less able to protect themselves. This includes those who are physically or mentally impaired, those who are very young or very old, those who have less strength, those that are too poor to afford protections, and anyone else who is physically or socially disadvantage when compared to the perpetrator to the point that he/she is less able to defend him/herself. Strigha vows that they will suffer whatever suffering they inflicted on others on their way to the land of the dead.
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4. Self-Harm: Strigha considers life, intelligence, magic, flight and other such abilities to be gifts from the gods/goddesses. The act of purposely harming oneself is therefore an act of supreme spite or thoughtlessness towards the god/goddess who gave that gift. To those that do such things, Strigha will cause them to lose their sense of direction on their way to the land of the dead. They will wander in circles until they plead to one of the deities for mercy.
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3. Failure to Pursue Justice: Those in power who decide to abdicate their duty to pursue criminals and justice for the victims of crimes will have to stand before the goddess and plead their case before entering the land of the dead. She vows to bring up every individual name of each victim that they refused to help. For each reason she deems insufficient, the individual will be struck by lightning. Only after they have had to answer for each individual victim will she let them pass.
Rituals
Strigha has four major sacred rituals: The Burst of Life, The Sacrificial Ceremony, Marriage, Marriage, and The Final Rising.
1. The Burst of Life: This ceremony is performed when a child to a devotee of Strigha is born or is adopted. The couple (or single parent if there is only one parents) comes with the godparent(s) to the altar with the newborn/adoptee. They place the child on the altar. There is a clash of lightning above the altar, and the priestess thanks the goddess for sending this new burst of life into the world. The priestess then asks who pledges to nurture and care for this burst of light until he/she grows into a full bloom. The parent(s) raises their hand and announces that they will. The priestess pronounces them parents and guardians of that child. The priestess then asks who pledges to care and nurture this child if the parents die, become incapable, or fail to fulfill their oath. The godparent(s) then raise their hand and announce that they will. The priestess then pronounces on them the role of godparent(s). Lighting forms again over the altar as the priestess bless the child. She blesses the child to grow and flourish, so those around them may see their light, hear their voice, and feel their impact.
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2. Sacrificial Ceremony: This ceremony is performed once a quarter and during the Lightning Festival. It is also sometimes preformed if the community is in great need, such as a plague or particularly bad weather affecting crops, a war or assault breaking out, or a serial killer or gang of criminals harassing the community. A member of the community will donate an animal, usually some sort of livestock, to the temple, and will typically stand on the court of sacrifice with the priestesses and sometimes other community members. The priestesses will feed and groom the animal, and dress it in ribbons and/or flowers. Then they will bring the animal out to the court of sacrifice outside the temple, and slash the animal's throat with the ceremonial blade. The priestess must kill the animal in one swipe of the blade, or else the ceremony is null and void, the animal is returned to the owner, and the process must be started over with a new animal. Once the animal has been killed, the priestesses then hoist the animal onto the ceremonial pike pole. A groundskeeper is allowed to help them with the hoisting process if needed. Once the animal is on the pole, the priestess calls out to the goddess, and asks for the goddesses wrath to be appeased by the sweet meat offering from her devotees. Lightning strikes the animal, and incinerates it entirely, demonstrating that the goddess's wrath is appeased. If the lightning strikes the temple's lightning rod, instead of the animal, it demonstrates that the goddess's wrath is not appeased, and there is something that the community must do to make things right (typically in the legal sphere).
In rare instances (exceedingly rare instances), the lightning may strike a member of the sacrificing group. This is because that member of the offering group is the offending party that needs to do something to make things right in the community (typically in the legal sphere). If that person is dead, it is assumed that the goddess's wrath is appeased by their death. If they survive, it is a signal that they must act to make whatever change is needed, or they will be struck by lightning again and die by the end of the month. If they fail to do so, and try to hide instead, the lightning will get them by either burning down their house, or if their dwelling is underground or in some lightning proof place, the moment they step out.
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3. Marriage: When devotees of Strigha marry, the couple must place the announcement in a newspaper or publish it in all the local temple's (including those of other gods/goddess's) bulletins for a month. Once it has been a month, the couple approaches the temple, and the priestess meets them at the door, asking what their intentions are. A representative of each of their families (or another priestess, if they do not have family members) and says that the man/woman they are representing wishes to marry the other. Once the priestess hears from both representatives she asks if the couple is available to marry, and each representative will show the bans placed in the newspaper or published in the local temple's bulletins for at least a month. It is then the couple is invited into the temple.
Once the couple and their family/friends enter the temple, the couple is brought to the altar, and the priestess asks them if they promise to be faithful, support, and uplift each other throughout life. The couple answers in the affirmative. Once they answer, the priestess says, "May the goddess uplift your marriage as well." With that, the couple are floated into the air, and the priestess declares them man and wife. The crowd cheers for the couple, and they are slowly lowered to the ground. They then exit the building with the crowd following them.​​​
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4. The Final Rising: When a devotee of Strigha passes away, they bring the body to the temple. The priestesses allow the family/friends to place the body on the altar, and give whatever eulogies of goodbyes the family/friends have to offer. The priestesses then ensure the body is wrapped (if the body is not already wrapped), carry the body to the court of sacrifice, and place it on the outside altar. The priestess prays over the body and asks that Strigha's wrath be pacified towards the deceased so they can have a peaceful passage to the land of the dead. Lightning then strikes the body, incinerating it. If the lightning takes it, it is considered a sign that the goddess will not pursue vengeance further against them. If lightning does not strike the body, it is considered a sign that the goddess has not accepted that request and has plans of punishment for them in the afterlife. If the body is incinerated, the ashes are collected and given to the family to do with them what they will. If the body is not incinerated, the corpse in also returned to the family.​
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Lightning Festival
The Lightning Festival is dedicated to the goddess Strigha. It starts Manday, the 9th of the month Straiman, which occurs around our version of July 20 or 21. It lasts three days.
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The Lightning Festival is meant to call rain, but also appease and subdue the wrath of the goddess so she does not include lightning and hail in her rain. In regions that have devotees to the goddess Strigha, priestesses of Strigha will set up a lightning pole, and place an offering of some sort of dead animal on top. Then they will call lightning to strike the pole so the goddess can accept the offering. Individual households will leave out little cookies/sweet rolls on a plate, and pour a cup of some kind of alcoholic beverage, usually wine, onto the ground to demonstrate an offering of sustenance and blood to the goddess. It is hoped that the goddess will eat the food to appease her wrath and become drunk with the wine enough to let her lightning and hail sleep.
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During the festival, children will dress up as animals and make howling sounds, reminiscent of animals becoming distressed before a major storm. They will then bang around pots and pans to pretend that thunder is sounding outside. Adults will call them Strigha's sprites, and give them cookies/sweet rolls and juice to get them to get them to move on. Though this is typically an activity for children, youth will also sometimes dress up and engage in these types of activities as well.
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Clergy
Temples for Strigha are typically smaller, consisting of between three to ten priestesses. There are larger regional temples that have more, but there are atypical. Srigha's clergy is all-female. The priestesses may marry if they desire, and there husbands are often called priests, but that is only a formality, as the hold no clerical roles. Their husbands may serve in other roles at the temple. The other positions are laborer, attendant, and guardian.
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There are five levels of priests/priestesses: pledge, apprentice, priestess, high priestess, archpriestess. Each temple will have a high priestess in charge of it. Archpriestesses serve regional functions and are only at larger temples. Pledges are typically children between the ages of 8 to 16. Once they complete a minimum of three years training, they are eligible to become apprentices, provided they are at least twelve. Apprentices serve for seven years before they are eligible to become priestesses. Even then, they must pass a course for knowledge and another for martial arts. Then there must be sufficient room for them, and the regional priestess must interview and approve them being of sufficient mental capacity and of sufficient moral fervor. If an apprentice is a pledge for more than twelve years, they are dismissed from the priesthood or may pivot to a laborer or attendant position.​
For grounds laborers there are volunteer, hireling, sworn laborer, sacred laborer. For attendants, there are apprentices, attendants, and high attendants. For guardians there are paiges, defenders, guardians, and arch-guardians. Laborers, attend to the outside and to the temple maintenance, and sworn and sacred laborers clean the court of sacrifice. Attendants work inside the temple performing duties like cleaning, laundry, carrying sacred vessels, etc. Guardians provides security to the temple and its grounds, guard/transfer prisoners, and make arrests when given authority to do so.
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Pledges, sworn laborers, defenders, and priests (husbands of priestesses) receive a quarter portion of natural lightning magic (a full portion being the normal amount of magic a nephele would have). Clerical apprentices, sacred laborers, and guardians receive a half portion of magic, and the ability to leap great distances. Priestesses and arch guardians receive a full portion of magic, and the ability to fly. High priestesses receive a double portion of magic, and archpriests/priestesses receive a triple portion of magic. Both receive the ability to fly. This is in addition to whatever amount of magic they would have otherwise.
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In addition to the portion of magic, priestesses, high priestesses, and archpriestesses gain the ability to curse individuals/groups/locations with localized hailstorms. This happen for up to a week at a time. The higher their position, the larger the hailstones they can curse with. They can also curse an individual with static pickup. This causes the individual to attract static shock to themselves for the period of time specified by the priestess. Then all that static passes out of that individual at the time specified by the priestess, whether that is a certain period of time or a certain specified advent or action taken by the cursed. High priestesses and archpriestesses can also curse an individual to have animals become uneasy and unruly when they are in their presence. This can last anywhere from a period of three days to a full year. Priests/priestesses, high priestesses, archpriestesses, guardians, and archguardians also gain to collect static shock for a period of time that they wish, and use that shock either shock others, start fires, or increase speed for a run, jump, or attack. The impact of that shock is dependent on how long they have been collecting it.
Court of Justice
Many temples/monasteries to Strigha have a small dungeon and courtroom to hold and try individuals accused of breaking laws in the local communities. These dugeons/courtrooms may be inside the actual temple/monastery or the grounds in a separate building depending on how large the temple is.
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TCourts of Justice may have a judge appointed by the community or may be judged by the high/archpriestess. Dungeons are exclusively guarded by those in the guardian class of Strigha, and community appointed guards may only be used to arrest or transfer the criminals to the dungeon/courtroom. In communities where it is allowed by law, guardians may arrest individuals for breaking the local ordinances. In some smaller communities, Strigha's Court of Justice and guardians might be there only form of law enforcement or judiciary.
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