OSR Religion: Eserra, the Wanderer's Star

An article for GLoGtober '23, 

Challenge 1: Failed Gods and their Consequences

Art generated via Bing Image Generator

"The trouble with being a god is that you've got no one to pray to." - Terry Pratchett, Small Gods.

Practicing Religion

While a cleric or similar class gains abilities from their associated deity or pantheon, any character may practice a religion of their choice. Adherents of a religion may: 

• seek out the blessing of their religion's priest (a d6 added to any dice roll, which is lost once used. Most priests may only have 1 such blessing active at a time), 
• pray for wisdom at a shrine of their deity (once per day, base 1-in-10 odds of receiving a minor but useful divine revelation, +1 each for an appropriate offering, a recent act of service, or additional follower present, up to 5-in-10), 
• pray for a miracle related to the deity's domain (X% chance of success, where X is the character's level. Praying for a miracle takes an action, and can be performed once per day. After receiving a miracle, a player is greatly indebted to their deity, and should try to show proper gratitude lest they gain their deity's ire.)

Some major religions might grant additional benefits, but a player may only practice one religion at a time. Also, gods can tell why a person is becoming their follower, and can choose to deny benefits whenever they wish. 

Leaving a religion after receiving any kind of benefit from it has a high chance of drawing a deity's ire. 

Eserra, the Wanderer's Star

Domain: Night, Travel, Luck

Blessing: Followers of Eserra are never surprised beneath her light.

Ideals: Freedom, thrill, adventure

Capricious, they call her. 

Fickle. Untrustworthy.

A last resort of the desperate, at best.

When she first rose in the Eastern Sky, hardly anyone noticed Eserra. Indeed there was hardly anyone on the world below to notice her. Still, she took her assigned place and dutifully rose in the proper seasons, night after night, eon after eon, and she was happy watching the little folks below learning to weave reeds into baskets, roofs, and ropes.

One by one, the stars around her began to gain notice from the folk below. A particularly obvious constellation was named "the Mother" and grew swiftly in power. It was strange for Eserra to watch, however, as the five star spirits blended into a single deific being. It (they?) took on a new and lofty personality-watchful, proud, and demanding.

In the struggles of the folk below, The Mother guided them with wisdom, blessed them with vitality, and cursed the enemies of her followers. Eserra celebrated with her sisters (sister? She couldn't really tell anymore, though the Mother shared all their memories).

There came a cloudy and moonless evening. The world below was dark. By the occasional breaks in the clouds, Eserra looked down, checking in on the folk below. Children slept inside by the glowing spirits of housefires. Creatures prowled in the woodland. And one man, panting and pleading, fled for his life from a great, six-legged beast. Then, for the briefest moment, the man locked eyes with Eserra, and whispered a simple prayer, "Please, help!"

It was a strange sensation, like a line drawn tight between herself and the man below. The star was caught off guard, and had no real understanding of what to do. She simply wished to protect him, to say "yes" to his request, to hide him from the beast.

With a shudder, the man disappeared. Eserra felt him still, crawling through the dark brush, but the howling monster rushed past without notice of him. 

That night, the man built her a shrine where he would have died, and became her priest. Soon other night-wanderers began to look to Eserra for aid. They built shrines along the roads, and passersby often dropped coins in. With each offering, she felt herself grow stronger. It was not the coin that empowered her-in fact her priests (there were many now) often took the coins for themselves-it seemed rather that the simple act of recognition was enough.

But as Eserra grew in power, The Mother looked more and more with distrust on her. What did she demand from all these followers? Would she bless them just for noticing her? Eserra could feel her sister's disapproval, but she did not understand. Was it not enough to love these people and to wish them well whoever they were?

On a cloudless night, as the Mother and Eserra looked down together on the world, The Mother shone a ray of light on a long and winding road.

"Look." The word reverberated through Eserra like the crash of an ocean wave. Along the road walked an old man. Eserra did not recognize him. There were too many humans to count these days, almost as many as her sisters. The man walked along with staff in hand, humming quietly to himself. Then a rope drew taught at his feet, and the man disappeared into the brush.

"Look." again the word shook her, and Eserra saw through the old man's eyes, felt the beads around his neck, a mark often worn by worshippers of the Mother. 

There, looking down at her, was one of her own followers. A man with slicked hair and a star-symbol around his neck. "You've not paid the toll, priest." 

"Please!" Eserra felt the words from her throat, "I haven't the coin! My grandson was ill, I had to pay a healer, I have nothing!" 

She felt hands at her sides, in her pockets, shifting through her robes. 

"Well then, this will have to do." She felt a tug at her neck, the beads being lifted away. Her fingers grasped at them.

"No, please!" Something slammed into her head, and her vision swam and darkened.

Eserra blinked, looking down at the empty road. Moments later, her followers walked out of the underbrush, and she now saw the loop of rope they laid across the path, waiting for travelers. And now she looked for herself, she looked through the eyes of her priests, from temple to temple, road to road, and saw them. She looked through the eyes of robbers laying in wait, of gluttons rich from her offerings, of men crueler than beasts, and filled with her strength.

In that moment, as those who prayed to her prepared to prey upon those who would pass by, something broke in the once joyful deity. 

A howl was heard in the night.

Then screams.

Then silence.

The Mother nodded.

For the priesthood of Eserra was ended.

Bonus Religion: The Mother

Domain: Fertility, Family, Order

Blessing: You know if someone is trying to hide something from you.

Ideals: Honor the aged, defend the young, speak the truth.