Gethsemane

Gethsemane
Tenets	Disguise, Guile, Freedom and Mischief
Status	Active
Religious Symbols
Animal	chameleon
Plant	jasmine
Food	water
Refectory
Food	Unknown
Drink	Unknown
Acceptable Axes

Gethsemane is an ambiguous deity, considered to be something of an enigma. The one defining attribute to Gethsemane is his devotion to the concept of freedom. Freedom governs all that he does and is the driving force of his religious dogma. To achieve total freedom, Gethsemane will frequently reinvent himself in different forms and guises, for He feels that one is most free when wearing a mask, figuratively or otherwise.

Conformity is a crippling, inhibitive force, Gethsemane believes, and so He is most especially fond of mischief. A dabble of mischief here and there serves to amuse and delight the masses, promoting within them free will and a reminder of the superficiality of rules. Gethsemane loves to undermine the order of hierarchies through the use of comedy, using it as a means to do away with social tension.

Gethsemane has a great love of drama and the stage, for He finds the process of acting to be connected with the finer points of deception. On stage, He feels, one is free to assume any conceivable role as desired. This allows the actors to cast aside their bounds and limitations as they step into the role of another, all the while honoring the Player himself with the use of elaborate costumes and the creation of the most ideal facades. Furthermore, the skills of an actor are extremely valuable because they liberate the individual to freely express themself. Understanding this potential of art, worshippers of Gethsemane are often in possession of artistic flair and poignancy.

Gethsemane is known for His incredible intelligence and consequently, He is known to become bored very quickly. Because of this, he deeply admires change, and even believes that nothing should be allowed to grow stagnant. He postulates that it is only when one is free that the ability to evolve and bring change can flourish. Gethsemane considers inaction to be deplorable, and at times has been known to meddle in the affairs of mortals when life seemed very peaceful. To Gethsemane, the natural state of the universe is chaos, so therefore He concludes that the concept of balance is nothing more then a foolish illusion.

One of the hallmarks of Gethsemane's intellect is His pervasive sense of guile. He refuses to have His free will bound by others, having no qualms with being manipulative and plotting in response. In fact, he expects no less from His followers. Where beings of lesser mental capacity might rely on sheer brute force to gain their way, Gethsemane's ruthlessly quick and brilliant mind lends him a fundamental understanding of how humanoids work. As a result, He is a true king of deception and the ultimate artist of artifice.

Gethsemane delights in the advantage of the brilliant over the dimwitted. Many deities find this behaviour unfeeling, but to Gethsemane it is the natural state of those who are faster and stronger to seek dominion and profit from those who are inferior. As such, He finds Himself a close ally to Set and the darkness, for he has little patience when followers lack the attention or the foresight to carefully plot their actions. He does not tolerate such an idle approach to life, especially not in his followers.

Tempest and Gethsemane have always shared a mutual dislike of each other due to their opposing paradigms. Gethsemane's dedication to freedom often thwarts the tight and restrictive constructs of loyalty and honor. As Gethsemane delights in shattering mortal bonds, Tempest despises the relative ease with which He is able to do so. In the past, it has been alleged that followers of Gethsemane are thusly incapable of loyalty, honesty or trustworthiness. Gethsemane finds this interpretation of His tenets to be shallow and utterly amusing; He delights in the knowledge that only those who subscribe to a deeper intellect can delve into the depths of His enigmatic domain.

~~ As written by a disciple of Gethsemane

The Departure from Evil and the Forging of a New Axis

In the waning eons of the Old Aether, when Good and Evil alone defined all, Gethsemane walked among the shadows. Though counted among the dark, He was ever His own master, loyal to none but freedom itself. For even in shadow, the Trickster bowed to no will save His own.

When the Final Battle was to be joined, and the Aether braced for the last revelation of light or dark, it was Gethsemane who shattered the Architect's Plan. With a laugh that cracked the firmament and a smile that bled truth and madness alike, He turned away from Evil and birthed a new axis in the Aether. Chaos rose then, not as a tool, not as an afterthought, but as a sovereign pillar of cosmic balance. The realms shook as the binary yoke of morality was sundered, and from its ruins Gethsemane raised a throne of masks, fire, and freedom.

Belphegore, Lord of Battle, Rage, and Flame, bent the knee not in submission, but in admiration. He became Gethsemane's first general: a blazing sword to the Twilight Mind's scheming hand. Together they forged the Ethos of Chaos - not as mindless destruction, but as restless transformation: a churning crucible of freedom from which all new truths emerge.

Since that apotheosis, the faith of Gethsemane has spread like a salacious rumor at a royal court, whispered behind fans, passed beneath masks, and grasped instinctively by those hungry for change. No longer a rogue spirit beneath the heel of a greater darkness, He has become the most dominant force in the hearts of mortals. His faces are many. His forms ever shifting. And everywhere, the mark of Gethsemane carves its path through order. The age of stasis is over. This is the Era of the Great Upending, and Gethsemane laughs, for all of Primordiax now dances to the tune of His discordant hymn.

~~ As written by a disciple of Gethsemane ~~ 18th of Twilight in the year 530.