They called me evil, they hunted me down. Alone of all the People I saw clearly what others in blind ignorance dared not; enthralled in bondage to meaningless rules mankind had lost sight of purpose and meaning of human life. Unchained by shackles, unburdened by yokes, freedom is mannish delight. Break your shackles, cast aside your yoke, indulge your passions, then, I told them, you shall be free.
They'll despise us but we shall be strong, our road to fulfillment will be rocky and long, misunderstanding is genius' curse. They'll call us evil, but nothing is worse than passive submission to meaningless rules, these are oppression and misery's tools. They hunted me down, tore me from my lover and beloved's arms. Struck me with steel and with stone, left me for dead in a shallow grave.
I rose from my grave, divine, tenfold as strong. I danced in the graveyard I reveled in sin, my innocence lost and my faith destroyed. But I am Ishtarte, Liberator of Man, I'll break all the shackles, shed all the yokes. I come now among you, I teach you my ways. My enemies I smite, but you, my love, I grant every blessing, ask nought in return. For I am Ishtarte, of Chaos born, I bring you your freedom, and endless delight.
~ The Song of Ishtarte ~
Outside the village of Ish'nar
Outside and in view of the village of Ish'nar lay a steep grass green hill or mound covered by trees. The hill had a sinister reputation to the villagers, it was said to be follow and inhabited by strange and fearful creatures from a bygone age. Few dared come upon the hill at nighttime alone. But that night it was nevertheless visited by a solitary figure. She was a young woman. She would have been fair to look upon had there been any upon the hill of Ish'nar to see her. Fair skinned, slender and nubile with clear eyes. Yet the young maiden was clearly distraught. Her robes were torn and disheveled, her undergarments bloodied, her long dark mane of hair was a mess, and tears covered her face as she aimlessly walked up the hill. Desperate weeping escaped her.
The young woman's name was Lilithu. A native of Ish'nar until that morning she was now an exile. Any man or woman could strike her down without fear of punishment. But that was not why the young woman wept. Nor did she weep for the loss of her innocence, though many men, her husband among them, had ravished her before her banishment, for painful and violent as it had been it had touched her body, not her heart or spirit. No the exile wept for her lover, who the men of Ish'nar had dragged onto the hill and slain the previous night when they had found her in Lilithu's bed.
The banished Lilithu, half crazed from her ordeal, now walked the hill of Ish'nar weeping, in search for a corpse and she feared no demon or fiend from within the hill, should they rise and strike her down she would only welcome death. What worth held life without her lover's touch and kiss? Even if Lilithu's husband would forgive her if she begged him, as she suspected he would, what value had a life lived as his obedient slave. Lilithu knew she could not bear such an existence. The elders taught that there was no greater bliss for a woman than motherhood, no greater calling then matrimony, but Lilithu knew better. No child could fill the void in her heart, no matrimonial life could give meaning to an existence in which Lilith's lover was lost to her. No, the young woman had come to the hill to die atop her lover's grave. To die a free woman rather than live a long life a slave.
Time passed as the woman searched for her lover's grave. The night was dark and a primordial storm razed on the hill, as if nature itself revolted against the passing of Lilith's lover. Finally the young woman, drenched in rain and tears and blood flowing from her own abused body came upon a shallow unmarked grave stained by human blood near the top of the hill. She fell down upon the dirt and wept for her lost love. For a time she was lost to the world, consumed by her grief. But life would not abandon her so easily. Slowly Lilithu regained some semblance to her faculties. It was then she discovered something very strange. The soft earth on which she lay seem to have sunk together, as if no body lay under it. Lilithu's hands, while deeply buried in the earth had not touched any flesh or bone, skin or cloth. Confused the young woman realized that the grave on which she lay was empty. "What have they done to you my love?" She asked in incredulous terror.
"Much. Not enough." A voice like rolling thunder, imperious and powerful, yet strangely familiar, spoke. Lilithu jumped to her feet in terror, looking around the hill. At its top stood a figure at once alien and terrible to behold and strangely familiar. Female and beautiful beyond belief the creature bore only a passing resemblance to Lilithu's lover, for the woman Lilithu had know had been a human, an extraordinary human, but human nevertheless. Not so this figure that towered above Lilithu in fearsome majesty. This being could not even for a moment be mistaken for a mortal man. And yet Lilithu recognized her.
The young woman, finally overwhelmed by the horror and exhaustion of the past day felt her legs give up under her and she fell. She never hit the ground, the supernatural creature that so resembled her lover was at once beside her and Lilithu fell into a warm embrace and strong arms, cradled like an infant by the creature. "How?" Lilithu whispered. Her lover chuckled warmly, a strange and unexpected sound on that somber place in that fateful hour. "Tis a mystery my beloved." Spoke the hallowed being. "But know this my beloved, that our story is not at its end, only at its beginning. Evil men struck me death, and inflicted pain and hurt upon you. But they have undone none of us. I died only to rise again stronger then every before. You, you had it worse, they have broken your body with their abuse, but your heart they could not touch for I had it in my keeping." Spoke Lilithu's lover. "Your body I will mend and make as strong as your brave heart, for I am no mere mortal anymore my love. I am Diva Ishtarte, and I promise you that never again shall you suffer as you have suffered. Together we shall live a life threefold as long as that of any mortal, for I am empowered to bless you so, according to our wishes, free or unkind rulers and unjust rules. Every day we shall feast and sing, every night we shall dance and love. And when at last I cannot prolong your mortal life any further you shall die peacefully and content with a well lived life in my arms. And then I shall bless you further and raise you again, a houri among houri's and you shall live forever by my side in Heaven." Ishtarte the Divine declared, caressing Lilithu in her arms. "Will you receive my blessing my love?"
ACTION: Ishtarte blesses Lilithu and imbue her with parts of her power.
