THE PRIMORDIAL DRAGONS
ASHA, the Dragon of ORDER
She is the creator goddess, the mother of Time and Space, the triple-faced figure of birth, life and death.
She brought the world into existence, and then hatched the six Elemental dragons to rule over it.
She controls the fates of all mortal creatures – she spins forth their destiny at birth, measures it through their life, and cuts it at their death.
Asha is carefully neutral. She does not show favor to good men or evil men, Dwarves, Elves or Orcs. All the universe is her creation.
However, she is diametrically opposed to the Chaos principle embodied by her insane twin brother and his demented children, the Demons.
After the Wars of Creation, Asha retired to a safe refuge within the moon, there to sleep, heal and dream.
The Moon is in fact the cocoon she wove around herself. It is an image of the cosmic egg, a means to measure time, the final resting place of the dragons and the gate to the Underworld (where all souls come from and where all they go back after death).
Asha is not worshipped directly. She is above such things. But she is served by the White Weavers, the Blind Brothers, and the Silent Sisters who throughout the world, help the women give birth, perform auguries and supervise funeral rites (thus working as midwives, seers and oracles, embalmers and undertakers).
Note:
The Necromancers (Necropolis faction) have chosen Asha as their patron-deity. However, their vision of her powers and attributes is twisted, a perversion of her death-dealing nature.
The Three Faces of Asha:
The Maiden –– FATE –– BALANCE –– THE FUTURE –– HALF MOON
The Blind Maiden is Destiny’s herald, stitching here and there, unseen, to make sure that all the living creatures fulfill their purpose.
She is the “Hands” that can clutch to save or grasp to kill.
The Mother –– LIFE –– CREATION –– THE PRESENT –– GIBBOUS / FULL MOON
The (ever-pregnant) Mother regards all things as her creation and her children. By giving birth, she set Chaos into form and gives meaning to potential. It was she who spun the first Dragons out of the Void and created the universe, and she continues to encourage it to grow.
She is the “Heart”, unconditional love, compassion for all – good and evil.
The Crone –– DEATH –– DESTRUCTION –– THE PAST –– CRESCENT / NEW MOON
The Crone is the image of death. Wizened and old, she snips the thread of life with a sickle held in gnarled fingers.
She is the “Head”, serene intellect, gifted with infinite wisdom and omniscient knowledge.
Symbolic associations:
• The Moon
• The number 3 (for her three aspects)
• The number 8 (a standing 8 is the shape of an hour-glass, a lying ∞ stands for infinity / eternity)
Graphic description:
Asha is a gigantic winged dragon with graceful and noble forms, as fit the Empress and mother of the Elemental Dragon Gods. Her features are angular rather than rounded, perfectly symmetrical, seemingly complex yet absolutely ordered.
Her scales are pitch black as the void between the stars, but myriads of lights constantly blink on her skin, in organized patterns, like microcosmic constellations. Her eyes shine softly with a silvery light but can also burst in a blinding flash like supernovas.
Her wings have a huge span that seems almost infinite to the beholder.