An effigy of Laralore to bathe in grieving tears.
Much of the swirling aether the controls the energy of flow and power of the Auldensphere focuses on succeeding over hardship and remaining true to an alignment in cause.
There are those however who lose direction or find themselves longing and lusting after that which they cannot have, and may never find. Personified through love, though the emotions could be caged around any unfulfilled desire, those bitter tears will find there way into the stone pools belonging to Laralore, goddess of unkept promises and sleepless nights of waiting for what is yet to come.
She grants those who pay homage the ability to continue enduring until receiving what they seek. If a worshiper perishes in waiting, she will turn their body to stone.
Origin[]
Laralore came into being around the small amounts of weak, weeping aether that began to amass into a larger force as the number of folks with feelings and hopes beyond simply staying alive increased.
Laralore, born of sorrow, hopes towards the end of the despondent feelings that created her, and seeks to preserve those who are waiting as she is for the turn of events that will end their period of waiting for the better things to come.
Tribals, again, claim to have first knowledge of the Weeping God, and called her "Kataomoi". They say her figure is entirely grey and robed in grey satins, and she is very beautiful, but never stops crying so her appeal takes a hit there.
Homage[]
Laralore's aether is not usually a direct pay of homage from one of the folk. She collects the crestfallen melancholy of those still holding out for the result they seek. This aether force floats low and almost unseen, magnetized towards stone pools for collecting the range of emotions that produce the feelings. The Goddess of Tears then spends her time doting and sobbing over the pools into the the unfulfilled expectations, knowing that she will be bound to do so until her pools dry up.
Those who pay her direct homage believe that while she dwells in a disconsolate state, it is not unwilling and she is putting herself under those who still pain for a better tomorrow, as a pillar of support in the lives of common folk pursuing what they haven't attained.
In their dour stupor, some build statues and totems to Laralore to take their mind off what pains them focus on crafting a figure of the goddess. To pay homage in hope of being granted further patience and resilience they cast their collected tears shed in woe or pain or gloom over the idol. Tears cried upon idol are transferred through aether, which brings the collected downtrodden woe straight to the stone pools of Laralore, more quickly granting them the stronger she support she may offer in enduring the trial. This counts as an act of direct homage, and the aether flow is stronger in doing so.
Specific Homage Factor[]
A wide range of folk's feelings will fall into this category, with feelings towards another person being what resonates strongest with the Goddess of Tears (sometimes teased as the "Wet Goddess" for her style of being worshiped). "Failing to achieve something you must do" may be the best way to describe the actions that cause aether to move in Laralore's direction. Such things could be the need to meet someone who hasn't returned, the need to find something precious that has been lost, aspiring to something which you have failed but continuing to push forward towards it, and so on. Longing to leave or wanting to meet someone don't fall into the criterion that counts towards Goddess of Tears, as those fall more to wanderlust and just being mopey and sad. The key to Laralore is pining after something you believe will happen that has yet to come to pass, and finding the perseverance to hold on to the hope it will happen.
If Death Comes in Waiting[]
To die in grief and wait forever. Sounds great!
In the case that one paying strong homage with the belief their prayers will come to fruition happens to pass whilst mid-grief spell, Laralore casts their dying form in stone. They will forever remain apart from that which they sought.
It is unclear as to Laralore's reason for doing this--either as a totem to their endurance until death, or possibly to ward off other folk from dwelling in vexation over a single unfulfilled intention, with a sly implication of reducing the number of tears filling her pools.
If it is to reward the enduring strength of her faithful, it could be to convince others of the power of determination and resilience of those who are patient; or it could be a warning of the unending pain of waiting, as Laralore is bound to the Auld to shepherd those lost in the grief of what may never come.
Note: Suicide invalidates this stone transformation upon death.
The Legend of Laralore's Pools[]
Laralore's pools are nowhere even near this nice.
It is known that on the chance one should stumble upon the location of Laralore crying over her pools in sorrowful grief and enter or fall into an open stone basin, thinking them more shallow than they appear, they will be sucked into the depths of absolute desolation and drown in misery.
The stone pools are said to have some otherworldly draw that sucks in the woe-begotten traveler, moved to baeful weeping and killing themselves from the anguish of only being near the Goddess of Tears.
This is widely considered to be nothing more than a fable, and the location of the pools remains unproven. Though, in the case one travels through a forest and never returns, some speak that the unfortunate journeyman may have fallen into Laralore's Pools and drowned in tears.
Dissent[]
Some make claims that Laralore may actually be an entity on the side of evil as she encourages the patience and resilience of those who pay her homage, and in doing so stymies them from finding the power to move forward from that longing they cling too--it is the presence of still hoping something will happen to the worrier's benefit that keep a form of homage paid to Laralore; those who are hopeless produce no aether, and serve no purpose to Laralore's being. When one is so focused on something like their own guilt or pain, it dissipates the aether they give off and thereby denies its potential to others gods.