Jvevanni is the most powerful of the great gods, the Lady of Life and Death. She has worshippers among all races, though she is rarely directly active. Instead, her energy is given over to maintaining the intricate balance between life and death that is necessary for both to continue.
Origins: Like Nystze, Jvevanni had her origins outside the dream of the Arcadian universe. She was originally part of another universe, but though she helped to dream it up, there was no part for her in it. So she came to join Nystze and the stars Laerfren and Lafrenna in the creation of the universe that holds Arcadia. She may also have come to be the guardian of order against the chaos that otherwise threatens to overturn a world free from Destiny.
Major Myths: Jvevanni was supposedly born into every race very early in the history of the world, so that she might know them from inside. How true this is, she has never confirmed.
Jvevanni's highest ritual is called the Ollino Nya ko Dia, or the Dance of Death and Life. It is supposedly based on the dance that she weaves constantly around the universe, so that even gods die and even stray babies live. Whether or not she dances in the way that mortals know it is, of course, open to question.
Physical Details: Very few even of her priests have seen Jvevanni in avatar form, but those who have have preserved her striking appearance in numerous statues. She comes in the form of a tall woman with living skin on one side of her face (what color the skin is seems to vary randomly from appearance to appearance, rather than connoting divine favor of a single race). The side of her body under this part of the face is likewise happy and healthy. Her other side is red, raw flesh, dripping blood, a good feast for predators. In the living hand she holds a dead rose, in the dead hand a live one.
Jvevanni is also said to have the world itself, and every instance of life and death that happens there, as an avatar form.
Tenets of Worship: Jvevanni's worship is diffuse, and interpreted differently by different priests and lay worshippers. One of the major tenets is a respect for balance, and both sides of a cycle. Thus, her priests often offer to serve as mediators in contentious disputes, and are accepted as very nearly neutral observers.
Jvevanni's worshippers also encourage a death of the fear of death that is present among so many races, such as the corame. While few rush recklessly into death, they teach that death is the natural end of life, and that without it the life that the death-fearers treasure so much could not go on. "Death is not unnatural, and neither is life" is a common formulation of this belief.
Jvevanni's priests- though not often her lay followers- also follow a custom of burial that is not common among many races, save perhaps the dragons. Many other races burn their dead, or bury them in elaborate tombs, protected by preservation spells. Jvevanni's priests lay their bodies in the earth, without preservation, in some place where they can be eaten by animals, and continue the endless cycle.
Jvevanni's priests are sometimes distrusted because they believe that moral codes can only be drawn, if at all, by reconciling the seeming opposites in the world. They do not hold to conventional notions of good and evil, and are likely to question moral tenets that people would prefer they didn't. Thus, many priests are wanderers, who do not stay long in a village before being forced out.
There are some permanent temples of Jvevanni in Arcadia, notably in larger cities, open to everyone who wishes to come in and worship. Prayers are often sung at sunrise and sunset as a way of binding those two opposing times of day together and conquering the forces unleashed by the war of Sarastaa and Dermand. The same thing may happen at noon and midnight.
The most usual symbol of Jvevanni's priests is a gold collar of some kind, symbolizing metal, which is dead itself, drawn from the depths of the living earth.
Major Centers of Worship: Jvevanni's worship is spread across the continent, and it is largely impossible to assess where it is strongest. However, large temples are present in most land Elwen cities other than Oak, which is devoted to Suulta. Temples are also present, though not open to outsiders, in the kingdoms of the vhasi.
Because there is no body of sacred rites to follow, individuals can and quite often do worship Jvevanni without ever attaching themselves to a temple.
Other Names: The Lady of Twos, the Reconciler, the Lady of Light and Darkness, the Living and the Dead.
Major Symbols: A living rose and dead rose entwined, a golden collar, a full moon flanked by two crescents.
Relations with Other Powers: Jvevanni holds the power of life and death even over the other gods, and, with the exception of Nystze, they are extremely wary of disturbing her. For the most part, she pursues her own concerns.
