Karrigan'Xalda
Daughter of the Karishzar
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Expand on a location.
Image Credit: Here. Here.
Canon: N/A.
Permissions: N/A.
Links: Twilight of the Goddess, Daughters of the Destroyer, Xioquo, Seekers of the Sky, Liavondra, Vashyada, Qadiri, Karrigan'Xalda, Order of Fire, Quas'Ziru, Kaylah Danton, Dominion of Light, Tephrike, Into Darkness, After Darkness, Teaching Resilience, Tylania, Elpsis Kerrigan, Firemane.
SETTING INFORMATION
Structure Name: Shrine of the Karishzar and Her Blessed Daughters.
Classification: Temple
Location: Tlaxqui, Tygara.
Affiliation: Daughters of the Destroyer, Siobhan Kerrigan, Xioquo, House Kerrigan, Quas'Ziru.
Accessibility: The temple is located inside Tlaxqui, the Xioquo subterranean capital on Tygara, and thus well-known locally. It is pertinent to note that this planet is very remote, being located on the galactic fringe. Moreover, Tlaxqui is located far underground beneath a mountain. The Daughters are a religious cult that is well-integrated in Xioquo society and eager to proselytise. Furthermore, the priestesses offer various social services. Thus the temple is open to the public, though certain areas are off-limits. The temple has at times been the target of terrorist attacks, and thus has guards, surveillance and so on. Moreover, visitors are not allowed to bear arms inside its hallowed grounds.
Description: Located in the Xioquo's subterranaen capital, this is a place of religious worship for the Daughters of the Destroyer, a Xioquo sect that worships Siobhan as the Karishzar, which is the Xio word for Destroyer. The title was conferred upon Siobhan for her campaign against the Underealm. Initially it was a derogatory moniker, but it was embraced by those Xioquo who equated the Destroyer with a liberator whose cleansing fire would end slavery and break down the caste system and patronage networks that had kept them in bondage. The Daughters teach that she took the place of the dark goddess Myrou when she struck her down.
Freestanding structures are rare in Tlaxqui, and so the temple has been built into the articially excavated walls of a large cavern. The dressed walls sport mosaics and carvings. The temple consists of several large caverns. One contains dormitories and private meditation areas for the priestesses. Another features a large stone hall with a vaulted ceiling. It is used for communal ceremonies and prayers. There is also a cavern to house the guards and provide neophyte Force-Sensitives with training areas. One long cave connects the prayer area with an inner sanctum, a sacred space that contains statue of the Karishzar. Finally, space has been set aside in a cavern for a school. Moreover, there is a stable for beasts that have been tamed by the priestesses. An imposing, alchemised stone door wards access to the holy place. Having been built far beneath the surface, the weather is not a concern for the denizens. However, it can get cold and damp, though heating has been set up.
As the name implies, the Daughters of the Destroyer only accept female members, though men can become associates. Xioquo make no distinction between adopted and biological ones: a child is yours if you acknowledge it. Thus the cultists all consider themselves the Destroyer's daughters. She just has not acknowledged them all yet. The sect is a very martial one. It sees itself as the sword of the Karishzar and the voice of the oppressed who suffered under the ancien régime. It also offers social services for the poor and has a workers' rights platform. This is not as surprising as it might appear at first since the Daughters draw a lot of their support from the under classes and see themselves as their advocate. Their temple serves as a centre for many of the social and health programmes organised by the cult. Moreover, it is a place for political mobilisation.
To the Daughters, the faith does not exist in a vacuum, and thus it is not uncommon to find a priestess also addressing social or political issues such as economic inequality, unemployment or the necessity of righteous struggle in the face of injustice. Here it is worth noting that while the Daughters reject the rabid misandry of the ancien régime, their views on gender roles are not egalitarian. Tlaxqui houses a fledgling parliament, so the temple plays host civic participation drives to mobilise the faithful to sign petitions, participate in marches and vote on election day. This makes the temple an important site for civic engagement and political participation.
In keeping with their carefully nurtured image as the guardian of the downtrodden, the Daughters do offer sanctuary. However, this must be balanced with political and legal considerations. The Daughters do not really attract lightsiders and thus they cannot offer Force healing to the same extent as the Seekers of the Sky, though they still have doctors. But they can provide educational and welfare programmes and help disadvantaged Xioquo find work. The sect has set up a martyrs' foundation, which is supposed to provide living and education expenses for the families of fighters who die in battle. The Daughters have created their own fundraising networks. These support the operations of their social foundations. Moreover, the sect owns small-scale commercial enterprises, whose revenue is devoted to supporting its social infrastructure.
The temple has a garden and is able to grow its own food to an extent. Big, edible mushrooms can be grown here. The temple exists as a place for believers to come together, pray, train and celebrate and for the priestesses to minister to their flock. It is a place of teaching and instruction. The temple has a large meeting hall where the faithful can congregate, allowing the priestesses to make public announcements, carry out rituals and head prayers. There are also meditation areas and private chambers for the highest-ranking clerics of the sect, such as Quas'Ziru, the high priestess. Needless to say there are a lot of statues and artworks glorifying the Karishzar. Some of it tries to make her look more like a Xioquo and thus less foreign. Thus the images of her are quite stylised and not necessarily accurate. Some icons that glorified Myrou have simply been repurposed.
Siobhan pouted when she saw a mosaic of herself with a shadowed face and whitened hair, as she is fond of her firemane. The Daughters congregate under a statue of the Karishzar, with murals of the broken enemies of freedom and progress all around them. However, 'the Karishzar' is not the only being revered here. The Xioquo still venerate the Mother Earth and other traditional Xioquo deities such as Azyr. Indeed in the hierarchy the Mother is still above the Karishzar. However, worship of Myrou, the dark goddess who is said to have been the mother of the Xioquo and who was slain by the Karishzar, is not allowed. This is understandable since she was a mad tyrant who viewed the Xioquo only as nourishment to fuel her power.
Moreover, there are statues and imagery glorifying Xioquo who rose up against the tyranny of the mad queen and the Council of Ten and were martyred. Ironically, the temple used to be a place of worship for Myrou. Her statues and paraphernalia have been removed, but the old and now banned faith has still left its mark. For example, the altar chamber used to be dedicated to her, and has now been repurposed to serve the Karishzar. However, blood sacrifices have been prohibited by the new regime. This has annoyed some Daughters who'd like to preserve this aspect of the 'good old days'. There are some people who claim that ghosts from previous blood sacrifices occasionally still appear. These claims have been dismissed.
The Daughters are very loyal to Siobhan, but obviously have a strained relationship with the Seekers of the Sky, a light side sect that follows the teachings of Queen Liavondra, the new monarch of the Xioquo people. One of the cell leaders of the Daughters, Karrigan'Xalda, participated in Firemane's Tephrike campaign. She received a medal for her valour and is a bit of a local hero for the cultists. She is a bit of a protege for the high priestess.
While the Daughters venerate 'the Karishzar', they do not extend this to Firemane as a whole. Indeed, there are priestesses at the temple who make a habit of being particularly critical of Firemane for not 'following the Karishzar's vision' correctly. On the whole, they are happy to support Firemane when it benefits them and they see it as within the Xioquo's interest. But on the other they do not like the 'sky people' meddling in their affairs. The Daughters were alarmed when Siobhan fell into a coma, suspecting that self-serving Firemane oligarchs were trying to usurp her. Of course, saying that you are loyal to the Karishzar but her minions are not following her orders properly is a way to criticise decisions made by her and get her to change her mind on an issue.
POINTS OF INTEREST
Sanctum of the Guiding Powers - A shrine to the other gods and goddesses. This part of the temple has survived virtually unchanged. The Daughters are particularly devout to the Karishzar, but they worship traditional Xioquo deities, too. Chief among them is the Earth Mother. The Xioquo are children of the earth and will return to her embrace when they pass away. The shrine features statues and religious imagery.
Gallery of the Dark Ascension - A large gallery with mosaics showing the Karishzar's rise and defeat of the tyrants and of Myrou. The depiction of Siobhan Kerrigan is rather idealised. Interestingly, the Siobhan displayed in the art resembles a Xioquo a bit. The artists have shadowed her face, and whitened her hair, which makes her look less 'alien'. There is a series of mosaics on both sides of the transept in 4 sections: 1. The Ancient Order: Scenes of the horror and the grisly atrocities of the Ancien Régime. 2. Omen of Salvation: Stylised depiction of the space ships landing like falling stars and the Xioquo preparing for battle. 3. Downfall of Tyranny: The Karishzar leads her armies to battle and victory. Prominence given to Siobhan striking down the vile Myrou. 4. The Karishzar Ascends: After victory the Karishzar frees the Xioquo and hands blessings to her Daughters who venerate her.
Chamber of the Devout - An area for the high priestess and for high-level meetings. This is reserved for the inner circle of the sect, though a favoured acolyte will be allowed to enter if invited by the leaders. Access to the chamber is restricted. The door is warded by arcane runes.
Repository of the Karishzar's Mercy - this cave contains the offices of the departments responsible for providing aid to the poor or to families of fighters who have made the ultimate sacrifice or who have been wounded. The Daughters are a martial cult and regard themselves as the protector of the underclasses, so social welfare is an important part of their platform. Special emphasis is placed on the children of martyrs. Among other things, the sect finances their education. The aid provided to the families of the martyrs includes healthcare, economic assistance and education. The party line is that the strong look after their own, and pass on their lessons of strength to the next generation. Each Daughter is expected to make a financial contribution to provide for those in need. The exact amount is determined by income, so a well-off Daughter needs to pay more. Busts of martyrs have been set up in the corridor leading to it.
Reliquary of the Ascendant Daughters - located even further underground, this crypt contains artefacts and sacred relics of the Daughters. The items stored here include both the mundane and genuinely occult. Siobhan's old beskar armour is among the former. Access is extremely restricted. It is guardd by guardians who on first sight look like mundane statues of warriors, but are actually animated by the Force. They will attack trespassers. It requires both a password and Force usage to pass through the alchemised door. The door has invisible runes engraved on it, which must be perceived through the Force. Then one has to push the right combination of runes with telekinesis.
Scriptorium of the Karishzar's Chosen - essentially a monastic school that is part of the temple. Run by the Daughters to provide both a religious and a general education for young girls who will be inducted into the sect. Discipline is very strict, though not cruel. Most of the children come from low class backgrounds, though a few nobles have sent their daughters here to ingratiate themselves with the sect.
Forge of the Vigilant Heralds - a fancy name for a training area, where more martially inclined Daughters can hone their combat and self-defence skills. Force training has been nationalised by the new government, but the Daughters still train their adepts here.
Grove of the Enlightened - the temple gardens. Various exotic plants, and big, edible mushrooms can be grown here. The latter allow the temple to grow its own food to an extent. Acolytes are assigned to tend to the gardens. Aside from honing their gardening skills, those sensitive to the Force can learn a bit about living alchemy that way. Some of the plants may be carnivorous.
Narthex of the Blessed Family - a lobby area a visitor will enter after they have been let through the gate. The entrance is warded, and the Narthex has a couple statues. Much to Elpsis' embarrassment, there is a statue of the 'Daughter of the Karishzar' here. The 'Consort' also has one. The Narthex leads to the Nave. This area allows those not eligible for admission into the community to hear and participate in services. It is usually a place of penitence, and certain services are held here instead of in the Nave.
Nave of the Blessed Saviour - A large central room leading to the altar. This hall is used for communal meetings, prayer sessions, weddings and the like. It is a large stone hall with vaulted ceilings. Religious imagery dominates the walls. The room is large enough to accommodate public ceremonies, enabling the priestesses to perform sacred rites and address the flock. Preaching is not restricted to religious matters. Rather preachers may deliver sermons that address political or social questions. This area is accessible to lay worshippers, so men are allowed here, too. Men and women are separated during religious services though. Women come first, then children, then men.
Statue of the Merciful Destroyer - The central altar and a marble statue. Both have been alchemised. The Karishzar is shown as a martial conqueror surveying her loyal Daughters. As is typical, she has been given slight Xioquo features to make her appear less foreign. The statue is surrounded by murals of the broken enemies of freedom and progress. It is not uncommon to find acolytes or priestesses kneeling before the statue in contemplation. This is also where new Daughters will be initiated. A new initiate swears a blood oath to the Karishzar beneath the statue.
The altar has a grim history, since blood sacrifices used to be carried out here to appease Myrou. This cruel practice was abolished after the ancien régime's downfall. The altar is the same, but it has been cleansed. Some acolytes claim that they hear voices sometimes. This area used to have a grandiose Myrou statue, but the Daughters decided to move it somewhere more 'suitable' - the beast pens.
Halls of Sacred Wisdom - this was already a library under the old regime. However, literature deemed inappropriate has been removed, as Myrou is no longer worshipped. There was a fire during the final battle, and many books were destroyed, but the library has since been restored. In contrast to galactic standard, the library uses actual paper books. However, a few computers have been set up and some tech-savvy Xio have begun digitalising tomes that have become difficult to read.
Chamber of the High Priestess - this area is located close to the Chamber of the Devout contains the living quarters of the High Priestess. Presently this is Quas'Ziru, a former slave and later a priestess of Myrou. It features a personal library, an audience chamber that doubles as an office, refresher, small kitchen, holocommunicator, and a bedchamber with attached private meditation room. Ziru has personalised her bedroom by hanging up a painting of her dead husband and children, who were both cruelly murdered by the ancien régime. The door to her quarters requires the Force to open. There is simple internal latch but its not accessible externally. Thus one has to know where it is and use the Force to open the door.
Cloister of the Wrathful Daughters - Extensive dormitories for the clerics and acolytes. The Daughters consider themselves to be a martial sect, and so the rooms resemble accommodations one could expect from a military base or a monastery. In short, they are utilitarian, reflecting an austere life style. However, each acolyte gets their own small room instead of all bunking together in a large dormitory. The Cloister also features meditation areas.
Kennel of the Doleful Beast - Animal pens and breeding area for beasts are located here. Some of these creatures have been modified with alchemy. A demolished statue of Myrou can be found here, too. The Daughters smashed it with sledgehammers, but decided to put the broken pieces here. No effort is made to prevent a beast from 'marking it as its territory'. And to think people say the Daughters don't have a sense of humour. Force adepts who specialise in Animal Friendship tend to oversee the Kennel, but acolytes may be assigned on a rotational basis to help out and feed the beasts.
SECURITY
High
The temple has guards and it is locked when not in use with the warded door. Moreover, several priestesses and acolytes are Force adepts of varying skill and capabilities. The temple does not have sophisticated electronic surveillance other than two cameras at the gate, but as it is cut into the rock it cannot be accessed except by the main door. An imposing, alchemised stone door wards access to the holy place.
The fact that the temple is located far beneath a mountain protects it against orbital bombardment. The doors to certain crucial areas have been alchemised, making them very difficult to destroy. Statues that are in fact guardians animated by the Force can be found at the inner circle meeting area and the entrance to the reliquary. They are armed with Force-Imbued or alchemised melee weapons. These guardians are also enchanted to alert when strangers enter.
When hostiles and intruders are detected, their stone bodies will come alive to defend the temple. As mentioned, it requires both a password and Force usage to pass through the alchemised door of the reliquiary. The door has invisible runes engraved on it, which must be perceived through the Force. Then one has to push the right combination of runes with telekinesis.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
In the old days, the Shrine of the Karishzar and Her Blessed Daughters was a temple to Myrou, who was venerated by the Xioquo as a goddess and the first of their kind. It was she who led the Xioquo into the Underealm after her campaign to subjugate all of Tygara was thwarted by her 'sister' Tylania, paragon of the Vashyada. Mortally wounded by her duel with Tylania, Myrou retired to a sealed chamber. For millennia she slumbered in her tomb. But the oligarchy that took control of the Xioquo in her stead preached that one day she would return to lead her people to glory. The matriarchs formed a society based on strict hierarchy, religion and slavery.
Myrou was the mother of their race, but she also had to be appeased through blood sacrifices. This place served as one of her temples. It was called the Temple of Blessed Myrou. Here her priestesses carried out religious ceremonies and sacrifices. The goddess had to be nourished to preserve the cosmic order...and keep her from awakening too soon. To be one of her priestesses was prestigious, but also dangerous, for intrigue was never far. Believing that Tygara was theirs by right and fuelled by the need to acquire more slaves, the Xioquo warred against their neighbours and rivals, the Qadiri and Vashyada. While the technologically most advanced of Tygara's natives, their low population, incessant power struggles and the constant need to be on their guard against slave revolts kept them from fulfilling their potential.
Nemesis came to their subterranean kingdom, the Underealm, when a coalition of Firemane, Eldorai and Qadiri forces invaded their territory, defeated their armies and war beasts, and finally slew Myrou herself. By that time many Xioquo had become disillusioned with their creator since she fed on them just as enthusiastically as on their enemies. The temple had to be taken by force during the downfall. Some of the most fanatical clerics and acolytes fought to the death.
Her demise spawned a spiritual vacuum that a variety of religious sects sought to fill. One of them were the Seekers of the Sky, a lightside sect that staunchly rejected the old ways, another the Daughters of the Destroyer, founded by a former priestess called Quas'Ziru. She had been born a slave. Beaten and abused by her cruel mistresses, she was trained as a slave-soldier after her Force-Sensitivity was discovered. To survive, she had to harden her heart and become part of a cruel system. She managed to earn her freedom by siding with the right matriarch during a power struggle within the house of her owners.
Now a free woman, she was made a priestess of Myrou, responsible for carrying our the sacred rites in this temple, including blood sacrifices. She settled down, married and had children, but then she and her patron were found wanting and purged. The downfall saved her from execution. Ziru witnessed the Dark One's destruction at Siobhan's hands. This moment changed her life forever. To her it was no simple liberation. It was a divine revelation. Rejecting Myrou as a tyrant, she came to see the woman who had slain her as someone who deserved worship and appreciated it. Her mixture of religiosity and social populism resonated with disillusioned clerics and former slaves.
The temple, her former home and workplace, was claimed by the Daughters. Space was a premium in the city, so the Xioquo had to do something with all these temples and villas and this worked as well as anything. Indeed, it was the first site claimed by the nascent sect during the initial turmoil that followed the downfall. The statues and idols of Myrou were smashed, and the temple was cleansed, hallowed and rededicated. This was part of a series of purges and 'wild confiscations' that took place after the downfall, as the downtrodden took revenge on the old order.
Naturally opportunists among the Xioquo also took advantage of the chaos in order to loot. These purges were brought to an end by the transitional occupational authority that had been imposed by Firemane, but the Daughters held on to the temple. Rumours that the spirits of past sacrificial victims still haunted its premises were dismissed. Many Firemane officials were uncomfortable with the zealots. The same applied to Xioquo who saw them as too close to the old ways. However, Siobhan saw a use for them and their devotion flattered her ego. The transition was not entirely smooth. The temple was targeted by insurgents who still followed Myrou or were simply nationalists who rejected the new order as a puppet regime and regarded the Daughters as foreign stooges. Tragedy struck when a suicide bomb attack killed dozens of worshippers and injured many more.
The attack provoked violent retaliation from the Daughters, who formed a death squad that abducted and often murdered real and alleged reactionaries and 'unreformed Myrou worshippers'. There were allegations that members of Firemane's military intelligence service secretly aided and abetted the operation. The cultists had to be reined in by Siobhan Kerrigan personally, since their purge risked undermining the fledling government of the new queen. The guilty needed to be punished, but if the government went after everyone who had in some ways profited from the old order, there would be few Xio left.
But there was also another side to the Shrine. The sect saw itself as the champion of the underprivileged, the former slaves and the forgotten and turned their new temple into the hub of their expanding social infrastructure. It would provide aid to the poor, the wounded and the families of martyrs. The Daughters' way was rule by the strong, and the strong would look after their own and pass on their lessons of strength. As Tlaxqui settled down and the Xioquo started to finally reap the benefits of peace and commerce with other races, the Daughters began to empathise this charitable side of their activities more. In keeping with this, the sect opened up a school to help those in need. However, even though the Xioquo's matriarchal society was making the first tentative steps towards greater inclusiveness, male pupils were excluded.
The Daughters had to contend with suspicion from other Xioquo towards them. The sect favoured former slaves and other members of the underclasses, but their cultist and dark side practices understandably created suspicion. This was furthered by the fact that some low and mid-level old regime holdouts tried to join the sect, claiming to have reformed themselves and seen the truth. After much hand-wringing, the priestesses allowed an observer at their worship services in order to polish up their image.
The creation of the Hall of the Liberator, which housed Tlaxqui's fledgling house of parliament, triggered another evolution of the temple. It became a key location for civic and political engagement for the Daughters. The cultists organised petititions and donations. Priestesses used gatherings to express support for or criticise lawmakers and exhort the faithful to exercise their political rights. This was, of course, more than a little strange for outsiders, since the Daughters were not known for their democratic credentials. However, they did not want to be left behind.
Some of the Daughters participated in Firemane's campaign on Tephrike. There the Dominion of Light, a Jedi-led theocracy, had illegally attacked a Firemane delegation and taken Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori, the Daughter of the Destroyer, prisoner. Some of the cultists' martial members fought at the bloody battle of Fortress Purity. One of them was Karrigan'Xalda, a former slave-soldier who had become one of the sect's cell leaders. The warriors were given a hero's welcome by the community upon their return home.
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