The Poisoned Priestess
"She bears a crown made of reeds and a staff made of weeds. Her skin is the colour of oxidising copper, and her eyes are black as obsidians. The poisoned fumes of the Lotus Pool hang from her like the smoke of the Delphic Oracle."[2]
The Poisoned Priestess is a mysterious being who dwells within the Sere Palace in the Hinterlands.
Toxic[edit | edit source]
"Painted hieroglyphs show a woman at the head of six, walking alone into a dark temple, adorned with a feather."[3]
The Poisoned Priestess resides within the green waters of the Lotus Pool in the Sere Palace,[4] and is the source[5][6] of the toxins that suffuse the area.[7] The Lotus Pool is the center of her fiefdom,[8] though she is its only subject.[9] She holds power over the canals of the Hinterlands, and can bestow this gift to others.[10][11] She is immortal and her poisons sustain her life;[12][13] they also gave her many powers and quirks, such as corrosive saliva[14] or the ability to erase memories.[15]
The Priestess was once the eldest of the Sisters.[16][17] When the Second City fell, she and her sisters conspired to imprison[18] the Masters of the Bazaar in a tomb near the Salt Lions.[19][20] To execute this trap,[21] however, she was forced to sacrifice herself and was presumed dead.[22][23] The Priestess managed to survive in a transfigured form,[21] but the details of how this happened are unclear, besides a possible connection to Parabola[24] and perhaps the Fingerkings.[25][26]
Appearance and Personality[edit | edit source]
"She bears a crown made of reeds and a staff made of weeds. Her skin is the colour of oxidising copper, and her eyes are black as obsidians. The poisoned fumes of the Lotus Pool hang from her like the smoke of the Delphic Oracle. She appears both ancient and yet astonishingly well preserved. The poisons in which she is immersed must strip and refashion her flesh over and over again."[2]
"It is not an easy life. Indeed, it is no life at all. But no trick goes without a cost: the price of victory an eternity of regrets. But do not tell my sisters that."[2]
The Priestess is an ancient and dark-eyed woman, with greenish skin that seethes with poisons and regalia made from plants.[27][28] In art of the Second City, she was depicted wearing one or more feathers in her crown.[22][29]
The Priestess is affable and fond of righteous vengeance,[30][31] but she is also lonely,[32] and has mixed opinions of her sisters.[33][34] Her past has left her burdened with many regrets,[35] and it is implied that she deliberately erased portions of her own memory as time went on.[36]
River's Blood[edit | edit source]
"It was the bargain struck. That he cheat Hell. In his blood, poison runs: a poison drawn from you."[2]
"He spoke to the Lotus Pool, and the Pool answered. Blood for water. If the canals flow through you, how can you lose a race on the red waters? The price was too rich for his blood. But he could read men well, and though far older, to him I was an open book. In my loneliness, I allowed a substitution."[2]
About fifty years ago,[37] the Gonfaloniere of the Guild of Gondoliers sought to secure his position for life. He risked being exiled to Hell if he lost a race through the Hinterlands' canals, so he beseeched the Poisoned Priestess for help.[38][39]
The Priestess wed the Gonfaloniere and his betrothed, the Swan Bride.[40][41] She then replaced the Bride's blood with the waters of the canals, transforming her the same way the Priestess had been changed so long before.[42][43] The Gonfaloniere was then given an infusion of the Bride's ichor, granting him the waters' blessing so he would be unbeatable as a racer.[44][45] Sadly, the Swan Bride was condemned to wander Jericho Locks with no memory of the incident, despite the Priestess' fondness for her.[46][47]
References[edit | edit source]
|
