The Lands of Warlderia

Bralm (goddess of Industry, Community and Insects)

Bralm is the goddess of industry and insects, She seeks to create a perfectly lawful society where everything has its assigned role. She teaches that everyone in society has their proper position that people are obligated to master even if they don't understand their importance in the greater scheme. She instructs her followers to obey those with higher social positions and greater knowledge. She urges contentment in hard labor and compares her followers to insects in a hive. Bralm is well known to  toils away endlessly promoting the wellbeing of her creatures and followers with no thought to being revered or flattered for her work.

Bralm is often depicted as a middle-aged woman with dark blonde hair; sometimes with insect wings that can also take the form of a giant wasp, scorpion or anjheg. Bralm's realm, known as the Hive Fortress, is in the Infernal Battlefield of Acheron.

Bralm's priests dress in robes of dull brown or yellow, decorated with insect designs. Jewelry of gold, black, or green metal is common on ceremonial occasions. They act as overseers in complex tasks: in the military, in farms and mines, as slave drivers and so on. Within the True Empire, a priest of Bralm speaks at the groundbreaking of anything larger than a private home. They intercede to prevent destruction of crops by insects and are not above getting their hands dirty to get something done. They enjoy imposing order for its own sake, especially on  independent-minded folk. Prayers to Bralm are recited at twilight and dawn, when the insects are most active. During all ceremonies, a high priest wears a gold pectoral with crystal wings sprouting from the back. Their favoured weapon is the whip that is used to bring order, the dagger that stings like an insect, and the quarterstaff to beat the stubbornly independent. Acolytes of Bralm are notorious for their avoidance of fire and will never use fire spells. Respectful of the innate fear and hatred of fire of their Goddess and their insectoid kin, they never allow flame to be brought into their sacred areas, and some even go so far as to avoid sleeping within the warmth provided by campires and refusing to eat cooked food.

The holiest day of the year is the hottest day in summer, when clerics anoint themselves with exotic scents, build strange structures from sticks and mud, and release small swarms of insects that cling to their scented followers without stinging.

Bralm hates Trithereon because of his individualism and dislikes Kord because of his chaotic nature. She has always sided with Wee Jas and most of the other gods of order except Heironeous because of her uneasy alliance with his brother Hextor. In the True Empire her priests routinely cooperate with Zahak, the demi-god of Commerce and Trade.

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