Chosen of the Goddess

Chosen of the Goddess

Your innate magic comes from the Goddess of Love, Lust, Life, Fertility, and Death, the goddess Derketo, via repeated infusions of her power over a long period of devoted worship. Sorcerers with this Origin must have spent years, starting as a teen acolyte, in a temple of the Cult of Derketo, worshiping the goddess in the prescribed manner, with their full devotion, under the tutelage of the priesthood of the cult. Even then, not every chosen acolyte rises to the level of sorceress. Intrigue and mishap bring death. Inadequate devotion seems to quell the blessing of the goddess upon the priestess undergoing the training. The commitment is a lifelong endeavor, ever seeking to become the Mother of Derketo.

Derketo, the Goddess of Love, Lust, Life, Fertility, and Death

In Kush, the nobility and the northern half of the country mostly worshiped Derketo and some of the other Gods and Goddesses of Stygia, the country from which the Kushite nobility was originally descended. The high nobility of Kush were descendants of those Stygians who centuries ago had come southward to hack out a black empire, and to mix their proud blood with the blood of their dusky subjects. Therefore, the high nobility tended to be the lightest-skinned in the Kingdom, and did not hide their distaste of the darker-skinned minor nobility. They despised the black lower-classes of their own kingdom, more so even than actual Stygians would have.

In the south and western border of Kush, and in dark districts and remote villages in the north, the Goddess was called by the name Derketa.

In Stygia, Derketo was worshipped as a Goddess of Lust and Pleasure, with the priesthood incorporating temple prostitution, playing counterpoint to other Stygian Deities. Derketa, on the other hand, was worshiped as a Goddess of Death by southern and eastern tribes, all the way into Darfar, and was essentially a death cult incorporating human sacrifice extensively. Derketa, as a death-cult, was far more compatible with the cannibalistic Darfari tribes, than was Derketo, especially the Kushite version of her. In northern Kush, in the cities, the Sygian influence and the southern Kush influence resulted in the worship of a goddess who was more balanced, a goddess of Life, Love, Lust, Fertility, and yes, even Death. However, human sacrifice was not part of the outward worship of Derketo in northern and central Kush. It was this moderate, sexually-liberal version of Derketo that the people of Kush gladly worshiped. Being a cult and mystery religion, there were certainly many layers of knowledge of which the common worshipers never became aware.

An Acolyte of Derketo

The priests and priestesses of the temple train acolytes. The temple employed hirelings, acolytes, priestesses and priests as temple-prostitutes, with the hirelings taking care of darker-skinned commoners and foreigners. With enough money donated to the temple, such 'worshipers' might upgrade to an acolyte, which might commonly be in their teens. Acolytes mostly served the minor nobility of the city, and the very wealthy class. The priesthood mostly served the high nobility, and of course, the very wealthy.

Daughters of nobility were educated and trained to worship and venerate her ancestors along with Derketo. They were taught to read the tablets and parchments that detailed the family's ancestry, and to recite the histories of all of their ancestors, thereby permitting them to continue to exist in the Land of the Dead. It was a most important and serious duty.

Besides devotion to Derketo, venerating and remembering her ancestors was the sole reason for existence for many of the younger daughters of the nobility of Kush. That and bearing children who would be taught ancestor worship as well, so that they would not vanish from the afterlife. Becoming a respected priestess of the cult of Derketo was viewed by acolytes as their only path toward never being forgotten, and thus having an eternal afterlife.

A Priestess and Mother to a Goddess

The priesthood viewed the incarnation of Derketo to be one of the ultimate accomplishments, and would designate a virgin acolyte for this role, one whom they hoped Derketo would choose for a virgin birth, the flesh and blood incarnation of an avatar of Derketo. This would mean special treatment for the acolytes chosen as candidates for this role. After training and education, they would be lifted to the position of priestess at the age of nineteen to twenty-one, which was exceptionally young, and the Chosen of Derketo would begin to service higher classes of the city's elite and high-nobility, usually in special ceremonies. The desire to fulfill Derketo's will and be fertile, becoming the mother of a Goddess, would inflame the hearts of the Chosen. There were also greater mysteries revealed to the Chosen once they became priestesses. The sorcerous power of Derketo began to be revealed to the Chosen, and their mastery of this power would help determine whether they were the chosen Mother of Derketo. Their virginity was guarded, so that they were not ruined by priests or priestesses who were of other factions, as the Chosen naturally became representatives of different factions within the cult. Should one priestess be chosen by Derketo, it would validate that faction in the eyes of believers. The internal politics surrounding the Chosen was sometimes ferocious and would often turn deadly as the Chosen progressed in their training. 

Sorceress of Derketo

The Chosen were first taught simple healing and restorative magic, and of course, how to replenish their magic power by calling upon Derketo during worship, and storing the power gained from their partners. Once the basics had been learned, they were taught to store greater amounts of power, given techniques to increase the power gained, and began to service the highest nobility in order to restore their power nightly, after a day of practice. Of course, the cult made money both ways, from the nobility, and from those who were healed by the priestesses. They were also taught to remove curses, and bestow blessings. Everything learned up to this point was focusing on the positive energies of Derkto.

But Derketo is a balanced goddess, of both life and death, pleasure and pain. The next stage was to more-slowly learn these dark, negative energy techniques. Curses could be bestowed, blessings removed, and health and life-force drained. Pain taken or given during worship of Derketo, along with pleasure, increased the amount of power that a priestess could restore within herself each evening. The dangers of using these forces and powers was taught, or else, experienced directly. Accidental death was a possibility of misuse, and one of the evils that might consume a sorceress was the exercise of these powers, or precisely, exercising them frivolously, or in a plainly evil way. While healing could be practiced on the ill and injured without negative consequences, practicing curses and life-draining techniques on the innocent would be deeply corrupting. Using it in the course of defense against evil only meant that the learning process would be longer. 

Mother of Derketo

The ultimate goal and sacrifice is to bear the avatar of Derketo. This is no small feat. It is the incarnation of a goddess on the mortal plane. It may take the life of the one who bears her, or destroy the soul of the sorceress that becomes her. It has been over one thousand years since the last avatar was born to a Chosen of Derketo, or an avatar manifested in some other way. Records are conflicting on whether the Chosen becomes the avatar, or dies during the birth of the avatar after being impregnated. Records indicate that virginity of the Chosen may be required prior to an immaculate conception, and other records indicate that it is absolutely not required, or rather that the seed of priests and special priestesses are required. It is believed by one faction that the past records, now partially destroyed, used to indicate that only the most promiscuous, or alternately, the most proven-fertile of cult sorceresses would be ultimately chosen by the goddess. Factions within the cult have warred with one another, substituting their own beliefs for prior records of the past, making the truth uncertain. 

What the records are clear on is that as a sorceress nears the point of being able to bear or become the avatar, their physical form may change, the magic infused within the sorceress at the lowest levels. Derketo is balanced, but a sorceress that focuses too much on one aspect of Derketo will take on more of that aspect. A physical appearance of age, rot, decay, and disintegration will begin to take over if the sorceress focuses on Death. Positive, beautiful, or unpleasant effects will show up as well if the sorceress focuses on Love, Life, Lust, or Fertility to the exclusion of all else. The avatar that emerges is likely to be heavily influenced by this imbalance. It might be a very bad ending a great many people if a sorcerer that focuses on Death were to become or give birth to the avatar of Derketo. Many know this and might go out of their way to stop it.

 Features

Blessings of the Goddess

As magic flows through your body, the Blessing of the Goddess is revealed:

• At 1st level, your hit point maximum increases by 1 and increases by 1 again whenever you gain a level in this class.
• Additionally, when you aren’t wearing armor, your skin glows with a divine light, and your AC equals 13 + your Dexterity modifier.
• You learn the Sanctuary spell and can cast it on yourself at will, without expending a spell slot or requiring material components.
• Finally, you suffer no ill effects from cold weather extremes, and you remain as comfortable in cold weather as if the temperature were that of a balmy day.

Spells of the Chosen

Level	Spells
1st	TBD, TBD
3rd	TBD, TBD
5th	TBD, TBD
7th	TBD, TBD
9th	TBD, TBD

Acolyte of Pleasure

At 1st level, due to years as an acolyte, and then priestess, you gain expertise in the Performance and Religion skills, and you gain the Guidance cantrip. For you, this cantrip counts as a sorcerer cantrip.

Aura of Protection

Starting at the 6th level, whenever you or a creature with which you have worshiped the Goddess that is within 30 feet of you must make a saving throw, the you and/or the creature(s) gain a bonus to the saving throw equal to your Charisma modifier (with a minimum bonus of +1).

Love of the Goddess

Starting at the 6th level, you add your Charisma modifier to all healing performed.

Channel of the Goddess

Starting at the 14th level, you can use your Channel of the Goddess to heal the badly injured.

As an action, you present your holy symbol, your body, and evoke healing energy that can restore a number of hit points equal to five times your sorcerer level. Choose any creatures within 30 feet of you, and divide those hit points among them. This feature can restore a creature to no more than half of its hit point maximum. You can’t use this feature on an undead or a construct.

Power of the Goddess

Starting at the 18th level, when you would normally roll one or more dice to restore hit points with a spell, you instead use the highest number possible for each die, if the target is you or a creature with which you have worshiped the Goddess in a sexual act or act of pleasure. For example, instead of restoring 2d6 hit points, you restore 12 to qualified creatures.

Avatar of the Goddess

Beginning at 18th level, you can channel the awesome and dreadful presence of your Goddess, causing those around you to become awestruck or frightened. As an action, you can spend 5 sorcery points to draw on this power and exude an aura of awe or fear (your choice) to a distance of 120 feet. For a minimum of 5 minutes or until you lose your concentration (as if you were casting a concentration spell), whichever is longer, each hostile creature that starts its turn in this aura must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed (if you chose awe) or frightened (if you chose fear) until the aura ends. A creature that succeeds on this saving throw is immune to your aura for 24 hours.