Saint Ohn Guardí

From his earliest memories, Ohn Guardí was a devout follower of Taelae. He spent countless hours in her temples admiring the beauty of her stonework temples, adorned with crystals that refracted the light beautifully as it shone down through vaulted windows. His life’s purpose had always been to construct even greater wonders to glorify his benevolent god of light and order. Such was his devotion that Taelae touched him with the gift of terrakinesis. At his induction into the Taelean order, Ohn found he was able to reshape the marble alter with just his mind, and reshaped it as a masterpiece in only moments as a testament to his devotion. In light of his very visible miracle, he moved quickly through the ranks of the church to Sainthood, and was tasked to travel Delrii to sculpt marvelous flowing cathedrals as places of worship for his fellow believers. Saint Ohn did so happily for a decade and half in a dreamlike bliss. He was living his best life, right up until the Devourers came.

Such destruction was wrought by their rampage, that virtually all the cathedrals Guardí built were ruined, and scores of believers in them were killed by the Devourers at the same time. Those that weren’t consumed were crushed beneath the avalanche of stone as the Devourers crashed through supporting pillars and blasted through walls in pursuit of more prey.

Though many would have been broken by seeing their life’s work destroyed in a day, Ohn’s faith was even stronger than the stone he commanded. He had spent much time exalting Taelae with his work, but she had granted him the ability to work faster than any could. He would simply start again and build new masterpieces, all the greater for the lack of other gods’ temples on the skyline. But, as weeks passed and Saint Ohn constructed more temples, survivors of the Descent flocked to them for shelter and community: a death sentence. More Devourers, more rampages, more death. That is when the unflappable resolve of St. Ohn started to crack. How could he practice his art and testify to Taelae’s greatness if he couldn’t build her monumental houses of worship?! As Ohn picked through the pieces of another shattered temple in search of survivors, a band of ruffians stumbled across him and the few souls he had pulled from the rubble. In a moment of desperation, Saint Ohn used his flowing stones to shield the injured and hurled slabs of his shattered work at the assailants, driving them off.

In the aftermath, St. Ohn struggles greatly. He had never before used his blessing of stone to bring harm to another, but if he hurt the wicked to protect the meek, was he still worthy of Taelae’s blessing? Are the heights of the temple spires the true measure of Taelae’s greatness, or are the souls of the people he saved? Is she testing Ohn to see if he can put his fellow wanderers first, before his love of architecture? How can he use his power responsibly? Does violence for protection fit with Taelaen doctrine? Or more importantly, his own morals?