COCYTUS — Saint Levistus and the Ice Mausoleum
Levistus is one of the nine Archdevils, the leading infernal divinity that survived the Cosmic War.
Levistus is the patron saint of Cocytus and the founder of the ruling house of Levistia. He is invoked concerning researching and exploring, keeping secrets and reveling mysteries, time and prophecy, and inevitability.
This portfolio of patronage comes from the fact that Levistus was the first to realize and point out that, after the Collapse, the divine beings, once blessed with eternal life, became mortals. Levistus made base in what is now Zagan and spent his long, yet finite, life trying to find a cure for “mortality”. During this endeavor, he helped civilization rebuild, discovering many facets of the “new” world and fast-tracking the re-inventions of technologies lost to the War.
Levistus is one of the archdevils that contributed more to the understanding of the Mana Field and the “new magic”, he drew the first maps of the world and wrote many prophecies. Devils always put knowledge as a core value, contrary to Angles who like to gatekeep information, but Levistus declared some of his finding Mysteries that have to be kept away from humanity. This is seen not as hypocrisy, we are talking to one of the wise and good archdevils! but either as a magnanimous gesture: he didn’t want humanity to lose the joy of discovery. That’s why Levistus never told what was beyond the ocean, to leave humans something unknown.
Levistus, feeling his demise approaching, entombed himself in the heart of the Eternal Iceberg, a piece of never melting elemental ice: a last desperate attempt to conquer death, a way to be alive until the Demiurge’s return. Now, in the heart of the Ice Mausoleum, deep in the frozen caves of the iceberg, there is a hole with the shape of Levistus, an absence: the holy lacuna. the Holy Lacuna is framed by a dazzling golden temple, upon which many other temples have been built.
Now the Ice Mausoleum has the spiraling tower shape of the infernal cathedrals but walking deeper and deeper to reach the Lacuna one can see all the eras of architecture layered on atop the other.
Once every century, more or less, the ice near the lacuna will exude a drop of water, despite the constant freezing temperatures. These are Levistus Tears, sacred relics devotedly harvested and guarded by a military-religious order, the Weeping Knights.
The tears have the power of stopping time, creating dodecahedral zones, bubbles` if you will, completely impervious to the flowing of events. This is something considered otherwise impossible and clearly divine in origin. The Weeping Knights have developed spells that imitate the effect of the Tears through advanced Abjuration Magic, something that can be learned only across multiple years of total dedication and that is kept secret to the uninitiated.
The main festival dedicated to Levistus is the Summer Sabbath: alongside the usual big opera and fairs the main event is a regatta. A dozen of small sailboats, one for each town district, race each other to be the first to arrive at the Iceberg, starting from Zagan’s harbor and passing near the many small islands in between.
The winning crew of three will be awarded a golden ring with a dodecahedral gem by the Prince Elector in person and can enjoy respect and free drinks for years and years to come.
The regatta is a great spectacle with all people attending, some will already be there waiting for the racers, and others will reach the iceberg afterward joining the celebration. Everyone gathered there will then pay homage to the Holy Lacuna, easily accessible only this time of the year.
Snowcones and icecreams are popular seasonal treats connected to the festival.
