PRIDE || WEALTH ||DEVOTION
SYMBOLIZED BY GREAT SNAKES
There was a time where Nehesh’s name sat on the tongues of all the downtrodden. After all, with his favor comes the one thing powerful enough to make a king out of a beggar: wealth. And to attain his favor once seemed like such a simple thing that even the laymen could do it. According to some of the cults that follow him to this day, the only thing that one needs to gain Nehesh’s favor is to be truly and properly proud of oneself and their accomplishments.
But you will no longer hear Nehesh’s name whispered in the slums, nor will you find his visage throughout Oracan temples. You will see the God Kairn where he once sat, and this is of Nehesh’s very design. The result of intrigue that blossomed into love and devotion, Nehesh was the first to properly lift up the half-elf with a spark in his eye and spear in his hand. He whispered of a fledgling God that would bring the people great joy and prosperity; and he helped to wage war against an oppressive ruler; and he stood by Kairn’s side to establish an era of peace in war-ravaged Oraca. Nehesh welcomed being well and truly forgotten by those who once cried out for his help, instead taking great pride in his beloved’s newfound glory.
According to the Kairnists, a great snake stole Kairn away from the mortal realm in the middle of the night, never to be seen again. According to the cultists, Kairn sealed Nehesh away in order to steal his glory. Neither resembles the truth: that Kairn was a mortal, and that Nehesh could not fathom letting go of his heart’s greatest joy, and so they sealed themselves away in a shrine tucked into the mountains so that they might gaze upon the fruits of their love together for time eternal.
To serve Nehesh is to serve a beautifully chaotic creature that may or may not look away from that glory long enough to bestow the blessings of wealth upon you. Those blessings will seldom look like you expect them to.
Certainly, coin might solve your problems. If you devote your life to simply feeling proud of yourself Nehesh may turn his gaze towards you and toss some your way.
But I have found what it truly means to be proud in what I saw in him when I first found myself at his feet: in love; and in devotion; and in self-sacrifice; and even in awe-inspiring grief. And wealth is what comes as a result of all of those things, in the moment that you become more than you ever dreamt you could be.
-From the Oracle Notes of Kaelmorn Teverin