Greetings,
Since last we met my exhibition has begun and I have but a few brief moments to prepare something for your
delectation. I have therefore decided to once more lift an extract from Elin’s theological lexicon. In
this piece she introduces us to the rather complex character of the fire god, Perras.
Perras (Deity of Fire and Change, The Mover, The Three Pointed Circle)
It is considered a blasphemy by some to worship Perras, by others, an impossibility. Although ‘he’ is always sacred, his form encompasses so many variations that it becomes practically impossible to identify him as a single god if not a veritable pantheon. In the following introduction from the ‘Treatise on Perras’ by the renowned scholar Peake we can easily see the problems that come from trying understand this particularly complicated deity.
‘Fire is the circle, the transition, and the force that moves all things to the next. The sun is the symbol of fire, the movement of the cycle. The god known to some as Perras and to others a hundred names besides is all these. A Trickster, a healer, a destroyer, a traveller, the giver of life and a bringer of death. The unity and the power to move all things, the power both above and beneath. Worshipped far and wide, revered and called upon, always respected, always revered, often feared.’
Perras is not a patron god of any of the empires of Fortitude, he exists outside cycle of the trinity of Tolem, The Mother and Adlef. This may be due to the fact that he simply has too many incarnations and faces to identify as a single entity. To some theologians he is the force that binds the three together forcing them to continually revolve around each other as the cycle of life does itself. The sun is supposed by some to be Perras himself; to others it is a manifestation of his power, a construction or clock that brings warmth to the earth, the air and the water beneath as it moves slowly across the sky.
Based on these ideas the two scholars, Locke and Welter, conducted several experiments to further prove the nature of Perras and his relationship with the other elements. By subjecting fire to water they noticed that the water changed to steam proving to them that Perras possessed the power of change. In subjecting fire to a bladder filled with air, the bladder began to float proving that Perras was indeed the cause of motion and transition. Finally subjecting a clump of earth to Perras’ powers they were left with nothing but a handful of sand concluding that fire had the power to remove even life from the most lifeless of elements. It is interesting to note that both Locke and Welter were both killed when their residence was burnt down after being struck by lightening in a particularly violent thunderstorm. Perhaps the understanding of even these enlightened men was not enough to fully understand the reach of Perras.