Mirona

VI: The Wrongening

/ danielwalldammit / Leave a comment

© Daniel S. Wall, October 4, 2026.

***

This is Chapter 6 of the most authoritative account of creation contained in the Stone Philosophic. A full table of contents can be found here.

***

Text

When Mirona next found herself with child, she sent for Eleenian to aid in the birth of her child. She sent word through Hare, but Hare couldn’t find Eleenian, so he asked Raven to take wing and search for her from up high in the skies. Exhausted, Raven returned to ground and asked Coyote to try the desert, but Coyote soon became distracted with a small bird. In the end, he returned with feathers in his mouth and a small cricket in his paws. The cricket tried singing for the Goddess, but this only took away her dreams and filled her with fear. When Raven returned at last to Mirona, he brought only clay. Hare tried to fashion the clay into a baby, but he succeeded only in making a rattle. This too irritated Mirona, and thus her mind became winter. At the first signs of quickening in her womb, Mirona felt strife within her. In the evening, she heard wolves howling in the night, and foxes could be seen hunting about in the morning. By midday, bears and wildcats wandered about Mirona’s home.

Mirona did not give birth to one child, this time; She gave birth to three. Only two of them survived. Effinthistle, Goddess of the Elves made her appearance first, followed soon after by Ogath, Lord of the Orc hordes. It is said that the two of them, brother and sister, smiled upon each other for a brief moment before the birth of their youngest brother.[1] Who he was, and what kindred should have been born with him, nobody will ever know. That child and all its domain was lost to the world in the stillness of its birth, as was any hope of peace between its siblings. To this day, each blames the other for the death of their youngest sibling, and their words soon gave way to blows, and Mirona wept for an age.[2][3]

Ogath called his hordes into being and Effinthistle sang the trees into being along with the elves and so many of their kindred. but Ogath brought fire to kiss the branches of her sylvan fortress. Effinthistle sang the fire back upon the orc hordes, even as Ogath cut down the greatest trees and scorched their seeds.

Exhausted, Mirona finally stopped weeping long enough to beg her youngest children for peace. Neither listened to her.

Hearing a sound just beyond his sight, Ogath chased it all the way into the wastelands whereupon Coyote finally dropped his rattle and slipped away. Seeing her brother with his back turned, Effinthistle readied a great arrow, but Raven threw sparks into the skies and the elven goddess soon turned her attention to the wondrous new stars. For his own part, Hare taught all the gentle creatures of the earth how to hide and to run, and thus to survive the presence of new creatures with which they now had to share the world.

And finally, there was peace.

When winter finally gave rise to spring, Mirona gave her blessings to all the new creatures of the world.

Rabbit Sage took note of all of this from his home upon the moon.

Nobody ever learned where Eleenian had been, but her apologies were met with forgiveness and love.[4]

***

[1] A minor sect among the Łigen holds that the stillborn child of Mirona was neither male nor female, being neither or both. They maintain its legacy is carried in their own kindred, and in the lives of all who escape the logic of two genders. Most Łigen deny this of course, and few outside their circles doubt that the stillborn child was anything but a male, or that its nature was lost in the stillness of its birth.

[2] Few scholars would doubt that the death of the stillborn child was the work of the orc lord. Still, the wretched creatures of the Stone Philosophic put the cause of his death on Effinthistle. The greatest crime in all of history, so their shamans will tell you, was in fact carried out by the fairest of kindreds, and blamed on the children of the wastelands. True evil, so the orcs and goblins will tell us, lies not in their own filthy homes, but deep in the most beautiful forests of the world.

[3] It is of course a forgone conclusion that many of the worlds creatures did not survive this long winter. One can of course find the bones of great creatures buried deep in the soil  of the Stone Philosophic. What they were and how they lived, we will never know.

[4] The Preisthood of Eleenian commonly suggests that Eleenian was lost in prayer throughout this chapter or the creation narratives. What it would mean for a goddess to pray is of course an interesting question, one asked of Eleenian perhaps more than most deities. Indeed, few of the other gods have ever been thought to pray, but Eleenian is often supposed to engage in prayer, or something like it. Critics of the cult of Eleenian are prone to suggest that the prayers of Eleenian are actually some truly malevolent form of magic. They will commonly point to her prolonged absence during this fretful chapter of creation for evidence of this supposition.

Mirona

/ danielwalldammit / 1 Comment

© Daniel S. Wall,  September 17, 2026.

***

“Her temper depends upon the season. In the Spring, she is kind and helps all things grow. In the summer, her smile is warm and beautiful, but in the Fall she begins to destroy everything in sight. We must hide our crops in the barn or she will cause them to wither away. By the Winter Mirona’s cruelty is unrivalled, killing anyone caught without shelter. As blessed as her good will, her cruelty is without mercy.”

– Old Man Naibowl, Village Elder.

***

Mirona appears as a beautiful woman. She is old enough to carry an extra line or two in her face and to carry perhaps a touch of grey in her hair, but she has lost neither the beauty nor the strength of a younger woman. One could almost see her wisdom in her face, though it might be hard to tell if it was in her eyes or shape of the faint smile that rarely leaves her mouth.

Mirona is not particularly dangerous in combat, though she is always considerably more powerful in a natural setting. The majority of Mirona’s powers are actually more subtle, working themselves out over a long term duration. She is rarely seen in anything but a natural setting.

As a general rule, Mirona is unlikely to stay in real combat longer than necessary. She is far more likely to attempt an early exit. Bad weather and natural disasters will follow those who have angered this awesome deity, a source of misery often found to be more deadly than the surest of blades and points.

It is said that the seasons themselves are caused by Mirona’s moods. Whether this be true or not, her outlook certainly changes with the seasons. In some parts of the world, Mirona’s moods appear to be more stable than others. Arctic weather is virtually alwayss considered to be Winter for purposes of her Values. Tropical Forests are considered the equivalent of Summer, whereas deserts are considered the equivalent of Fall. Where significant seasonal change is present, Mirona’s Values will change according to the normal pattern described above.

Religion: Mirona enjoys few Priests of her own, though many Priests of Nature will pay homage to her from time to time. She is content to see the grandeur of nature itself honored, requiring little direct attention from the mortal world. Travellers are well advised to utter a small prayer to her as they enter the wilderness, but it should be said that restraint in dealing with the living things in that world will do more to gain her favor than any other offering.

Domains: Nature.

Symbol:  The Horn of Plenty. (Note that an actual Horn of Plenty will also serve as an excellent Holy Symbol of Mirona.)

Favored Offerings: Wild Fruits and Nuts gathered in prayer.

 

IV: The Coming of Mirona

/ danielwalldammit / 1 Comment

© Daniel S. Wall, September 17, 2026.

***

This is Chapter 4 of the most authoritative account of creation contained in the Stone Philosophic. A full table of contents can be found here.

***

Text

Once again, the great dragon heard a voice, but this time it was different, its tone soft and warm. “You are doing it wrong, my love,” said the voice, and Hetht turned to see the goddess Mirona, standing in all the glory of her first spring. “You must not give birth to your own progeny.”

“Are you a man,” asked Hetht.

“No, darling.” She laughed.

And thus the two were wed.[1]

In the early days of their union, Mirona proved a blessing to all the world. It was her smile that produced the flowers and the trees. It was her caress that gave birth to the deer and the rabbit. It is through the love of Mirona that all the gentle creatures known to men and elves first came into being.

But Mirona’s love waned, and in time she grew cold. Snow covered the land, and the green grasses withered. The world grew dark and Hetht himself found far corners in which to pass the days well away from the newfound cruelty of his wife. At this Mirona grew still more angry.

“Am I to give birth alone?” She cried.

No-one answered.

“Does no-one love me?”

And no-one answered

“Very well then,” Mirona embraced her despair and the night grew colder. “I will bear a child with which to keep myself company.”

A voice from her womb shouted, “Let me not be born on this day.”

“Will you not keep company with your mother?”

But the voice in her womb called out, “Let me not be born in this darkness!”

“All the world betrays me,” muttered the Goddess of Nature, and she slept in sorrow. And the world slept in sorrow with her.

When she woke, so did a single blade of grass. When Mirona stretched and opened her eyes, the flowers once again bloomed. And when she smiled, the trees once again covered themselves in leaves.

And she prepared herself for birth.

***

[1] The true origins of Mirona have been the source of considerable discord within the scholarly commentary, as one can find no credible account of her own origin. What she too created by Hetht? The implications are disturbing enough, but to most the prospect seems quite implausible. Few would doubt that Mirona is coequal to Hetht, and so her origins cannot subordinate her in such a manner. So, the question arises, just where did she come from?

If one puts this question to the High Priestess of Mirona, she will almost certainly tell you that Mirona was already present in the nothingness, and that she too is responsible for her own creation. Some would add that, she too is responsible for the creation of the world. Hetht may have spun the Stone Philosophic, but it Mirona who nurtured that movement into growth. A small sect within Mirona’s church also maintains that it was she who fastened Hetht’s claw to a corner of his afterbirth in the first instance. An even smaller sect within the cult of Mirona maintains that it was she who gave birth to Hetht, a claim universally rejected by all credible sources on the topic.

The principle objection to Mirona’s own self-creation lies in the absence of any reference to her until  the first mention of footprints, but as the arch mage, Sea Amar, once wrote; it is not surprising that men would be slow to recognize the contributions of a woman. This, she tells us, is exactly the point of the footprints, a clear indication of the blindness that Hetht and his priests to the presence to the significance of a woman.

Sea Amar is of course far too harsh!