An aging, balding priest with thinning white hair approached the door. He was covered in scars, and his gait was slightly unsteady, as if his legs had suffered an irreparable, grievous wound. Yet, his unassuming face bore a comforting smile, as if the crisscrossing scars no longer mattered, no longer brought pain.
"Greetings to you, pure and kind God of Tears."
Tycha bowed her head slightly, showing reverence to this benevolent deity.
This old priest was Ilmater, who had fallen to the prime material plane. He greeted Tycha’s arrival with great serenity, ushering the never-before-seen saint into his temple with a smile.
"You do not seem surprised by my arrival?"
Tycha initiated the conversation. Ilmater’s demeanor was almost too welcoming. In these trying times, few deities would welcome an immortal of unknown origin.
"My gaze rests with my followers. At the very least, I know your smile is genuine, and that is enough."
Ilmater’s eyes were tranquil and profound, as if seeing through Tycha’s disguise to the truth within her heart.
"My ally, Tyr the god of justice, also came from other worlds like you. I witnessed his rise and formed a close alliance with him."
Ilmater tremblingly offered a cup of water. "I welcome the arrival of good deities. Unknown goddess, you resonate more with my teachings than Tyr does. That reason is more convincing than any words."
The chipped cup did not seem like something two deities should be holding, but Tycha genuinely appreciated Ilmater’s actions. The god of suffering was living his faith, not intentionally slighting his guest.
The humble temple was bare, with not a single piece of furniture intact. A bed made of rags and straw, a wobbly table and chairs, but Ilmater accepted it all with a sense of detachment, as if saying, "This is a humble dwelling, but my virtue makes it shine." It commanded respect.
Tycha smiled and placed all the gold coins she had seized from the unscrupulous merchant on the altar.
"Soon, I will ascend as the goddess of women and children. While you may not fully agree with my chosen teachings, I hope we can become allies."
Tycha spoke with gravity. "I will choose the path of absolute neutrality, protecting the homeless waifs and the bullied women. To this end, I request the aid of your knights and monks. Even if I achieve godhood, my power will not be enough to influence this complex city."
Good-natured Ilmater was a true warrior. This gentle deity could also exhibit extreme ferocity at times. His church commanded several knightly orders composed of paladins, and some monks also followed him. While the god of suffering might not be favored by nobles, his reputation among commoners was second to none. With Ilmater’s assistance, Tycha could quickly gain a foothold and some influence.
"I am delighted to see a deity emerge who protects the weak. I am willing to help you with all my might!"
Ilmater readily agreed to Tycha’s request, his heart truly with the suffering.
Deities could not act against their tenets without shifting their alignment, so Tycha truly believed Ilmater’s heartfelt promise.
In the following days, Tycha spread her teachings in a location not far from Ilmater’s temple. The god of suffering even used the gold coins Tycha donated to build a temple for her.
With the god of suffering as her guarantor, people burdened by hardship soon embraced Tycha’s faith.
Ilmater’s priests provided a simple meal daily to those who were starving. In this cruel world, many sufferers, the sick, and the poor relied on the aid of Ilmater’s church for survival.
Tycha’s temple, in turn, served as an orphanage. Girls from impoverished backgrounds, forced to do unsavory work to survive, often found themselves unexpectedly pregnant. These newborns usually faced death by starvation. The fortunate few either joined gangs to become cannon fodder or followed their mothers’ paths, with few escaping the slums.
Ilmater, standing alone, could not bear the burden. The aid he received was not infinite. His priests already found it difficult to assist the disabled and the sick; they were powerless to do more.
Those abandoned children were found by the god of suffering’s attendants, and Tycha took on the task of caring for them. She hired unemployed women to look after the children, thus easing some of Ilmater’s burden.
As Tycha’s reputation grew, abandoned infants began appearing at her temple’s doorstep. Desperate women also prayed to this new goddess. A surge of faith directed towards Tycha, though she did not initially value it, was used to inspire some priests, turning the bottomless pit of a temple into a profitable venture.
After acquiring divine spells, the priests could create potent potions, and services like healing could earn them rewards from injured adventurers. Coupled with Tycha’s innovation in maltose production, the temple gradually began to generate revenue.
This was how a virtuous cycle began. With surplus funds, Tycha built another temple. The market for sugar and adventurers was inexhaustible, and Tycha’s fame spread further through the adventurers.
Tycha, focusing on her development, soon entered a period of rapid growth. With Ilmater’s protection, she sailed smoothly, accumulating enough followers to support the rank of a lesser deity.
Now, all she needed was to wait for the Saint’s Calamity to pass, and Tycha could officially ascend.
Her cooperation with Ilmater grew ever closer. Among the gods, Tycha was the only one willing to support the god of suffering’s final conversion ritual.
In this world dominated by faith, those without it were hung on the Wall of the Unfaithful to suffer. Ilmater’s priests would do their utmost to persuade the dying to embrace Ilmater’s tenets, ensuring they received the God of Tears’ blessing before their last breath, thus avoiding torment.
Tycha, who did not need faith to assert her presence, strongly approved of this ritual. Deities abhorred the unaligned. To better harvest faith, all deities except Ilmater agreed to throw the unaligned onto the wall.
Ilmater’s teaching had never found an advocate. Now that Tycha was willing to have her priests perform the conversion ritual for the unaligned, this act held profound significance for Ilmater.
If Tycha had not been indifferent to whether children chose darkness or light, and had even reached a degree of cooperation with the Thieves’ Guild and the Brotherhood of Assassins, Ilmater would have gladly introduced her to the Pantheon of Paradise’s Triad of Justice. This alliance, led by Tyr the Lord of Justice, Ilmater the God of Suffering, and Torm the God of Loyalty, with Lathander the Morninglord and other good deities also offering mutual support, had formed a subtle faction within the pantheon of human gods.