The Guardian Paladin
This article deals with the Guardian Paladin as a dual-aspected deity. To read more about the religion and its churches, click here.
This article is still under construction.
When it came about that humans had evolved into a race that found itself in need of clearer lines of authority and control, the Father God is said to have created the Guardian Paladin, Who combines both a male and a female aspect in one godhead. The male aspect is the Knight, the Warrior, He who takes the honorable challenge to his hearth and home. He defends his lands and people against those who would conquer in unjust cause, and defends the weak and oppressed. The female aspect is the high-born lady, the diplomat, the consummate politician. It is she who keeps the hearth and home safe from within, while the male aspect battles for it from without. She is the Pure Maiden, the honorable Castellan of Last Refuge, and a patient and ever-faithful spouse.
The Fall From Grace
As mentioned above, the Guardian Paladin is a dual-aspect deity, one male, the other female. To this deity's followers, understanding the nature of the god's gender is, or used to be, part of its mysteries. In stories, the god is seen to act as either male or female, but never both at once. In fact, in a twist on the usual “fall from grace” myth, the female aspect of the Paladin becomes terribly moved by the plight of the poor, the humble, the sick, and the dispossessed, who pray unceasingly for a god who will care for them, and whom they might call their own. Compassion overcomes obedience to the laws of the Father God, and the Lady of Paladins asks Eldar, the eldest of the gods and the racial deity of the “elder peoples,” the elves, dwarves, and faerie folk, to join with her to create a holy child who would be the God of those who had none. Also moved, Eldar agreed. The resulting birth of Valïa sundered creation, loosing evil and abominations into the world.
Angered at the disobedience of his divine offspring, the Father God abandoned them, flinging Himself into his creation to repair and seal the rift. Since that time, the Guardian Paladins have fought ceaselessly and tirelessly against the foul despoilers that continue to spawn in the dark places of the world. This is the basis of their stand against immorality (as the church defines it) in humanity. And while the definition of immorality is ever evolving, it remains a position that has remained unchanged from the earliest scriptural writings found.
