Editing The Elemental Gods (section)

==Nefain - the Maiden of Steel==
The Steady Blade is devoted to equity and justice. She is brave and honest, and expects those her followers to be likewise.  Nefain the youngest god and, unlike the others, has never been human and fully mortal.  Rather, she was one sidhe-kin and raised in her father's dreaming kindgom.  Stories say that this fosterage, and the pacts she made from it, is the source of her power as a god; if her father's kingdom were ever to fall, so too would she.  True or false, the armies her followers field are often peopled with soldiers of the Tuatha-Sidhe, and not always through summoning.  

True to her raising, Nefain dreams of fairy castles, and she would return the kingdoms of the Tuatha-Sidhe to Scalgard, where they will sit side by side with the new kingdoms of men and strive together for justice and glory.  Already her dream touches on reality, for in the Low Countries she lives in a castle of illusion with her mortal knights, and the Strange Lords are her frequent guests.

Nefain appears as a young maid, just entering womanhood, clad in plate armor all of silver. Her hair is gold, her skin silver and her eyes bronze. In her hands she carries a greatsword of the strongest steel, apparently far too heavy for one of her height to wield. Nefain's has no priests save the sorcerer-paladins of the '''Red Branch Knights'''.

A character knows the following with a successful Religion check:

* '''DC 20''' - ''Free and Scarlet Knights'' - In service to Nefain's law, the mercenary Red Branch Knights are renowned for their ability to combine the powers of sidhe magic with strength of arms. They take their name from the red color on their their armor, which they're sworn to wear to honor their goddess' pacts. The Branch owes allegiance to none save Nefain and takes any contract that will further her interests. Though they may fight the man who hired them when the next season turns, they are knights of their word, and have never broken a contract. They draw their ranks from all over Scalgard, but base themselves out of an ancient and sprawling castle in the Hills of the Slumbering Beast, one of the few areas of height in the Low Countries.
* '''DC 25''' - ''Bright, With a Fair Hand'' - The most promising captain in the Red Branch is the young Aelfin, Garwyn Fairhand.  Greatsword clenched in strong hands, he has lead his men in defense of giant-sieged Low Country town and faced down Saeson drakes, all in the course of two short years.  But the Branch's leaders cannot say if he is too full of ambition or of honor; he has more than once refused contracts they have assigned, and given no reason but to laugh and seek work elsewhere.  Garwyn is a great knight, but only if the order can rely on his service.
* '''DC 30''' - ''Keys To a Heart-Shaped Box'' - It was a mortal that brought Nefain to the Phantom World, or love of one at least.  She watched him, a swordsman seeking justice, from afar, and every glimpse brought her closer to a mortal's life until, at last, she crossed from the Faerie Realm.  Though that paramour is long-dead, she founded the Red Branch in his honor, and the leaders of that order always seem to bear a striking resemblance to certain ancient statues the goddess keeps in her halls.


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[[Legends of the Phantom World]]