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This article is about the worship of The Serpent, for information about the Deity see The Serpent.

The Serpent is the almighty Goddess of Secrets and Lies in the Realms Pantheon. It is said that The Serpent possesses all the knowledge in the world, every secret whether from fleeting desires to the secrets of empires and ancient civilisations lost to time.

"Through The Serpent all things may be known. Such knowledge can be a great blessing, the answers to which you seek, for sometimes the truth must out. But be certain of what you wish to know, for some secrets must be so. In learning those, you too become its keeper."

Worshippers

Those that worship The Serpent do so in the hope that no one else shall ever learn their secrets, or worship her in the hope of learning the secrets of others. Some trade in knowledge, hoping to unlock the secrets of the world, of magic, of ancient practices, whilst others favour her for the art of deception. Her worshippers often are not open about it, seeing this secrecy as a part of their worship, though it is thought that those involved in political intrigue, academics, and charlatans alike may worship her.


Clerics and Priests

Priests and Priestesses of The Serpent are often as hard to find as their temples, their locations often kept a secret by those that find them. Many often keep their names a secret too. Some continue the pursuit for more knowledge and secrets, whilst others provide a space for people to come and confide their secrets to someone who may well already know them and will never speak them. The identity of the current High Priest or Priestess is unknown.


Temples

Temples to The Serpent are mostly kept in secret locations, often only accessible to those who already know the secret of how to find them. As such temples to The Serpent are thought to often be concealed as ordinary buildings or in remote hard to reach locations. The location of High Temple of The Serpent is unknown.

Beliefs

What exactly The Serpent wants from her followers is as much a secret as everything else. Nothing specific is expected of or requested of her followers in how they direct their worship. Certain beliefs persist though despite this lack of clear direction, though many may see them as being contradictory.

Followers see true knowledge in itself as a neutral aspect, as objective truths that exist in the world without moral value. However, learning those truths may be either a blessing or a curse in equal measure, and that we cannot know which it will be until it is too late. They believe that some secrets should be known and that some should never be, that some lies are more dangerous than the truth, whilst other truths are more dangerous than lies. They believe that both knowledge and secrets, truths and lies each have their place.

The Serpent however, gives no guidance on which is which, and when she chooses to share something with a follower, it may be either to their benefit or their detriment. As such, followers often give caution to dealings with The Serpent, despite their devotion, advising that you are truly certain you wish to know the truth before ever pursuing it. They will also remind you that The Serpent tells the truth as much as she lies, though some believe that in truth she never lies and that it is us who lie to ourselves when the truth is too much to bare.

Holy Day

Nightwax is dedicated to The Serpent, with dedicated followers and pantheon followers alike leaving more offerings to The Serpent throughout the month. At the mid-point of Nightwax lies The Serpent's Holy Day, The Night of Whispers, is a day of both secrets and lies, where people are encouraged to tell as much of either as they please, unburdening their secrets on a night where no one fully trusts anything they learn that day for they are just as likely to be truth as they are a lie.

Religious Rites

Offerings - Along with usual donations of gold, offerings to The Serpent may include shared knowledge, secrets, and lies.

Unburdening- followers of The Serpent act as strange confidants to each other and to others, allowing in privacy for others to tell them both lies and secrets so they may unburden themselves freely.

Afterlife

Those dedicated to The Serpent's worship believe that when they die they shall enter The Great Arcanum where all arcane secrets are kept alongside great stories both true and fictional.