Nanami

Nanami is the goddess of death, prophecy, knowledge, magic, and the waters. She is the fourth deity, and the second in the second pairing. Her sister is Alanna, goddess of nature. While not a direct participant in mortal affairs, many agents and items can be traced to her.

Description

Nanami is rumored by her worshipers to be the most beautiful of the goddesses, but her chosen appearance would not give an observer that impression. The goddess moves as though floating through water, an effect exaggerated by the gray, flowing shroud she wears. The fabric trails about her, and conceals her limbs and body. Only fragments of her face can be seen from beneath the hood.

Personality

Nanami is driven both by the mad weight of time and made impartial and logical by being witness to so much death and atrocity. There are times when she is not fit to serve, and, in that event, a masked Haiiro No Kodomo known as the Shi No Te (translates loosely to 'Hand of Death'), performs the tasks set before her.

When Nanami is gripped with a fit of madness, she is hysterical and exhibits many of the signs of someone in mourning. This overwhelming grief causes her to retreat into the orb at the top The Library at Dopha Etho.

It is theorized that Nanami does not exist in a single time period, but rather experiences all of time simultaneously across multiple universes. This reaction to her experience has earned the moniker 'Goddess of Tears'.

Another curious personality quirk of the deity is her preference to speak through the Haiiro No Kodomo. When accompanied by her normal guard, she choses to speak through one of their number. In the absence of such company, she will speak through the various mortals that have congregated before her. In one-on-one encounters, she uses her abilities to demonstrate her meaning rather than speaking with her own voice.

Discrepancies in Theology and Philosophy

7th Century philosophy held that Nanami's shroud was an illusion; that instead the goddess goes about the world in only a few bandages. However, leading philosophers of the Prevari Era presented the notion that it did not matter whether Nanami's shroud was illusory. The nature of a deity's clothing (or appearance) may be illusory in nature to start.

Those who claim to have seen Nanami without her shroud typically present a description of a woman with thick, straight hair, white and nearly as long as she is tall. Her skin is claimed to be an alabaster white that maintains an internal illumination. Her lips are romanticized in a poem during the 3d Century to be more of a rose quarts than flesh-toned.

Her eyes are typically stated to be shaped as the people of Dopha Etho. However, their color is oft stated to be blue, which is exceedingly rare.

Some of this can be corroborated by glimpses beneath her shroud.

Worship

As the goddess of death and prophecy, Nanami has many apparently normal religious observances. Naturally, there are cults that spring up. Rather than the habitually destructive cults, the cults that last revolve around gathering of knowledge and prophecy rather than death. Many of her clergy are avid record keepers.

It is customary for all sea-faring folk to make a pilgrimage to Dopha Etho during their lives. This is often done as an entire vessel, carrying what is called a Seven Years' Tribute, which is typically brought (as the name suggests) every seven years.