Lands of Tyranny
Day 1 of The Philosopher, Year 414
Fortuna
Symbols: Cart Wheel, The Wheel of Fortune, a Die, a Stylized Star.
Deity of Fate, Luck, Misfortune, Curses, Primordial Chaos, Entropy, Discord.
For many, Fortuna has only been the deity of dangerous travels, unexpected rewards, explorers and adventurers. Worshipped before the coming of the Empire and the New Gods, Fortuna was frequently beseeched in every tavern and place of gambling, receiving the prayers of the most daring and those in need of luck or a change in their life. Even now with the coming of the New Gods and the strict laws of the Empire, the name of this deity is still spoken rather freely in these same gambling dens, though only openly when used as an adage or as part of some curse… and always away from the eyes of the representatives of the law.
Fortuna presides over the wealth and health of each person as all are tied to her whirling wheel. Sailors sinking to a watery grave, rich nobles left ruined on the streets, and the lowest of the low rising to power and wealth, the Lady of Fortune has a hand in it all. Poverty and power, she takes and gives as she pleases, for such is the fickle mercy of this whimsical Mistress without remorse. Hers is also a name often used when cursing someone with phrases like, ‘Fortuna take you!’ or ‘May Fortuna dine upon your prosperity’, or any other similar curse wishing for someone to have a terrible life, or wishing them bad luck.
Those who actually worship Fortuna, however, know that there is so very much more to this deity than mere “luck” and these faithful know at least one other aspect of her, one of change and breaking equilibria, of sowing discord and promoting change in communities and personal relations. Only few are part of some of the deeper mysteries of the cult and have at least a hint of the true nature of the deity: an unfathomable, unpredictable, indecipherable entity of pure chaos.
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For the cultists or the enlightened sages and philosophers, indeed, the deity represents the act of creation from nothing, a nihilistic entity that cares not of the fates of people, of empires, or of the entire world and universe, simply creating and destroying in senseless chaos without purpose or design.
Some of her cultists share some forms of extremism that cross the borders of madness: considering not only law and order as something of an abomination, but considering anything lasting as something impure or wrong, a thing that needs to be removed, reshaped, or molded into something different. Nothing is to last. Nothing has a purpose, the only balance is constant change. Everything must abandon itself to entropy and chaos.
For their unpredictability and their utter senselessness, the true followers of Fortuna often hold the mad and the deranged in high regard, indulging in and even fostering their madness while following them as prophets specifically for the lack of purpose and sense in their decisions. Some followers of the deity are also sometimes pyromaniacs, basking in the insane thoughts of destruction and change that fire brings.
Author: Rashan