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Issaries was found in various places and roles during the Gods' War. He is sometimes found as a conciliator, as when he settle an early argument between Yelm and Orlanth. He was sometimes aiding war, as when he taught Humakt a secret battle language in return for some protection. He was often a mere spectator, as when he saw Orlanth kidnap Huryara (Mist) to be a concubine, or watched Eiritha be buried beneath earth and magic.
When the darkness closed in upon the world Issaries was not panicked, for he had seen the Darkness in his travels. But the march of Death troubled his sensitive, harmonious nature, and he sensed chaos at the end of the trail. He prepared his Spell of Passage and set off to find the light of communication with which to rekindle the world. On his way he met others, and they succeeded in their journey, becoming the Seven Lightbringers.
In the passages through chaos and darkness Issaries was capable of making a small island of safety when the party stopped to heal or prepare great magic. His reliability was unbroken until they were deep in transit, then failed. Issaries learned from this failure the secrets of motion and stillness, and when his tongue failed him he learned the secrets and terrors of silence.
The cult of Issaries worships him as the god of language and speech, of communication in general, and of passage and transit, travel, trade, and roads: the Guardian of the Way. After the Sun's rebirth, Issaries went about the world to remind people of his secrets and to guide them back to civilization and safety. His children were left as guides, and each of these children developed into a specialized subcult, depending on local needs.
The cult makes great promises to its worshippers. Lay Members are guaranteed that they will be guided to their proper station in the Afterlife, and that many opportunities exist in that Afterlife. Lay Members buried with their appropriate statue of Issaries (purchased from a priest of the cult) will be assured that their case will be heard properly. Initiates are told that they can take some of their magical items and abilities beyond the grave.
Rune Priests and Lords will receive guidance from their deity in measures appropriate with their sacrifices to him while they lived. Rune-levels will be allowed to try to map the Underworld while they still live, either through judicious trade with immortals or through the dangerous Heroquesting.
In the Lightbringers cult the god Issaries Golden-tongue is also the spirit guide for the other cults, leading the dead souls in general to the Underworld.
The Issaries cult defers to local custom for funeral rites, but prefers to include many grave goods for travel on the Other Side. Priests are adept at preparing certain items to travel with them. The cult deity insists that the Issaries merchants contribute 10% of their earthly goods to a celebration among strangers after the funeral is over.
The runes of Issaries are Mobility, Harmony, and "Issaries" [Communication], a rune unknown or unused except in trade functions. Other than Issaries few spirits have it, save those who took it from him.
The Children of Issaries
Where there were simple farmers, herders, hunters, or fishers there was a god called Harst, also called "Spare Grain." His appearance is as an old man, bearded and carrying a pot, a sack, and a carved amulet with Issaries Runes. Legend says that he was in love with the daughter of Yudam-aryam and sought her hand in marriage. Her father stated that no one could marry into his family who could not use his arts to provide for them all. Harst, who had taught the people of Dragon Pass to speak, went among his friends and asked for a handful of spare grain from each of them. With this he traded for a batch of clay pots from his brother. and then traded these to the people who'd given him grain, thus making another profit and repaying his friends at the same time. He got his wife, and established the method of trade among his kind of people.
Garzeen, or "Middleman" is the name of the second son. He gained popularity where there were towns or cities or other established markets. At first people gathered there and could not speak with each other, but he taught them his language (afterwards called Tradetalk) and passed among many different races. Some were willing to pay for Garzeen's special aid, and so he found his first profession. He took payment in money or in kind, and used those items to trade where they were needed or stored them until the need arose.
Garzeen looks rotund and bearded, and often shows his wealth and status with excessive dress or luxury. With this he once hoped to attract Fenela, a daughter of King Froalar in the west. She scorned such materialism, and even more distrusted the advances of a god, fearing infidelity after a time. She made him swear to fulfill a vow before she'd marry him, and then told him he must reassemble the body of the chaos-slain god Genert. Some fragments of that pre-temporal deity were floating about in various guises, and there was a legend of a mystical growing ground" in the depths of the desert. Assembling the whole god was impossible. But now, whenever any follower of Garzeen's way comes across such a piece they are obliged to depart for Genert's desert within one week to try to fulfill the ancient vow. The only way to prevent this quest is by selling the fragment to a Desert Tracker of the Trader Princes, or to die.
A Sage's note in Jonstown states that there was only a 3% chance per year that any merchant might find such a piece. Even so, the Desert Trackers are legends in their own times among the shop-keepers of the world.
The third son was called Goldentongue, or "Trader Prince." Unlike his brothers he refused to stay in one place, and thereby exploited the ways of their father the most. He was a singer and wanderer at first, and in his travels met the daughter of Lhankor Mhy who was called "Mother Language." They had one son, called Herald, but the pair did not stay together. Goldentongue founded the subcult of wandering merchants, who travel the world and know no home but their caravan. One of his followers was Caarith, a woman hero who was the first of the Desert Trackers.
There was also a daughter of Issaries, named Etyries. After a thousand years she grew tired of tending pots and counting stones and decided to travel a great distance to hear the words of a young goddess of the far north. She left her family and went to listen.
The goddess was the Red Goddess, still on earth and in mortal form. The daughter of Issaries learned that she could use her great innate powers and still enjoy other pursuits. The Red Goddess taught Etyries that she was the guide upon the threads of the Lunar pantheon.
Since that time all of these subcults have enjoyed separate group worship. Other than their particular sub-mode of behavior and preference, they are all very much alike.