Shallya
From Lexicanum
Shallya is the goddess of Healing, Mercy, and Childbirth. She is the sister of Myrmidia, goddess of Strategy and War, and both of them are the daughters of Morr and Verena.
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Symbols
Shallya is portrayed as a young beautiful maiden, whose eyes are perpetually filled with tears. Her symbols are a white dove, a heart, and a drop of blood.
Beliefs
The patron deity of women, Shallya is the blessed observer of childbirth protecting against miscarriages and the pain of childbirth. She is an exceptionally important goddess throughout the Old World. People pray to Shallya all the time: when they are suffering from an illness, when they are hoping to have children, or when they are looking for forgiveness for their sins. The goddess forgives all and her priestesses hear confessions from any. Of all the gods, she is the only one who most people agree really listens.
Cult
Shallya is worshipped throughout Old World and most of her representatives are female priestesses. They are able healers, trained in the arts of healing and midwifery, and invaluable wherever there is plague, war, or strife.
Shallya is the most beneficent of all the gods, and her temples provide places of comfort for the sick, the dying, and those without homes. The church of Shallya seeks primarily to help the poor, and has very limited political and economic power, for the poor are largely ignored and their needs are under-funded. Money in medicine resides in the powerful guilds and the streets of doctors catering to the ailments of the wealthy. Public hospitals are rare, overworked, run-down, and short of everything.
However, the church is a useful salve to the consciences of the elite, and whilst relegated, Shallya is not a cause they would publicly criticise. Indeed, certain rich women are known to spend their time performing charity work in hospitals, and a number of senior Physician Guildsmen offer their services annually on their birthday.
Many of the people of the Empire were born in a temple of Shallya; most of them return when they are ill or dying. In the end, it is to the temple of Shallya's father they go.
Her cult has no specific holy days but it is customary to make a sacrifice each year on anniversary of one's birth. She is in friendly terms with most other Old World cults but dislikes Ulric and disapproves of Ranald. It is claimed that Ranald was once a human who managed to trick Shallya into becoming a god. She forgave him but the followers of the goddess of mercy are only human and some of them fail to follow her example.
Followers of Shallya lead a life according to strictures of pacifism and forgiveness, although they harbour a special enmity for Nurgle, the god of pestilence and sickness.
| gods & goddesses of the Old World |
| Old Faith - Rhya - Taal - Ulric - Manann - Morr - Verena - Myrmidia - Shallya - Ranald - Handrich - Stromfels - Khaine - Sigmar - Lady of the Lake - Lucan & Luccina - Ursun - Dazh - Tor - Esmeralda |
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