The Traveler

The Traveler is the god of dreams, luck, stars, and travelers. He is enigmatic and curious, possessed of wanderlust and a quiet joy in the beauty of the world around him.

He is also known as the Cosmic Pilgrim, the Sandman, and the Walker of the Horizon.

Overview
The Traveler is a curious, impulsive, and aloof god who delights in freedom, discovery, and mystery. His aloofness stems not from arrogance, but from confidence in his own power and his desire to be unburdened by troubles. He is a collection of contrasts—an ancient god who dislikes predicting the future, a traveler who cares nothing for the destination, and a peaceful deity forced to battle with old enemies. The Traveler watches over those who travel for any reason. Trailblazers, scouts, adventurers, merchants, and sailors all praise his name. His influence over luck also makes him a favorite among gamblers, thieves and others who rely on fortune for shady dealings.

Some believe the Traveler is flighty, frivolous, and easily distracted, but he does have a somewhat cold and capricious side; dreams can be pleasant or they can be nightmares, luck can be good or bad. The Traveler always believes there is a chance for success in any venture, but also knows that dreams can turn to nightmares and bright destinies can become dark fates; these opposites in his own nature define him and give him things to strive against. He challenges those who would corrupt his domain or who have wronged his followers, striking at them with burning starlight, and bad luck.

Although his dominion over dreams and stars means that many seers, diviners, and mystics revere him as an informal god of prophecy, he delights in the freedom of people to choose their own destiny. He prefers to use prophecy as a tool for exploration and creating choices, not for limiting action and snuffing hope, and finds “doom and gloom” prophecies, and those that seem to guarantee good people will commit horrible acts, to be abhorrent. He hands out such warnings only in the direct circumstances, generally in dreams, and if he must send dreams that portend despair, he graces a follower in need with the benefit of a helpful spell upon awakening that persists throughout the day, Thus does he pair dark portents with hope that the outcome may still be bright.

Dogma
Life is the ultimate journey. You can never tell exactly where you’ll end up—and it’s likely to be where you least expect. He world is a massive place and equally full of hardship and beauty. How can one stay in one place their whole lives where there is so much to see and experience? It’s so much more exciting to see what’s around the next bend in the road. Even if that bend is your last, you can say that you have truly walked the Traveler’s Way. The Traveler is the patron of all who travel long distances, no matter what path they follow or how they’re getting there. He insists that people need to move around and experience new things; stagnation is akin to death. The state of the world isn’t fixed, and you never know when you might need a new perspective or even a new home. Look to the horizon for inspiration.

He teaches his followers to indulge in their desires, experience all that they can, and trust instinct as their guide. His faithful are often wide-eyed, exuberant people, embracing the world in all its strangeness, and willing to jump in with both feet. His faithful aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty, their feet wet, or their knuckles bloodied while living life to the fullest. He encourages his worshipers to ask forgiveness, rather than permission, as sometimes a unique opportunity requires a split-second decision, whether it’s a chance to touch a dragon egg, savor a rare fruit, or passionately kiss the mayor’s son.

Wealth for its own sake is pointless. Gold and treasures are heavy and only entices others to slow your travels. Of course never decline something that can be useful; any tool that can improve your journey has value. But true wealth is not found in coin, but in experiences, and those small mementos that can remind you of those experiences are the real treasure.

Death is not an end. It is another stage in the soul’s journey; a new existence that opens up other worlds to travel. That fact doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be prepared for the dangers of the road, or that you should allow your enemies to trample you into dust. Fight for your journey until your last breath, because you haven’t seen and experienced all that life has in store for you. Those who persist in obstructing your way must be dealt with so that you can resume your travels.

Worshipers
While the Traveler’s faith is ancient, the church is extremely disorganized, with almost no actual temples or settled priests and no formal chain of command. Physical and magical might are respected, but it is knowledge and experience that triumph more often than not. For example, when dealing with a basilisk attack on a frontier town, a rookie cleric who has survived previous battles with a basilisk are granted more authority than an older cleric who has never seen one. This structure means that worshipers have certain ideas about what they consider to be “informed” authority; they feel free to ignore nobles, politicians and other “witless” or “meritless” leaders if more knowledgeable folk are on hand to provide better insight.

Followers of the Traveler tend to be collectors, picking up miscellaneous souvenirs from their travels to remind them of where they have been, and of places they may like to return someday. They have an unusual view of material possessions; they often shrug and politely decline items that are considered highly valuable, so they can focus more on what will serve them on the road and remind them of their journeys.

Many of the faithful are talented artists, writers, and entertainers. Their travels have often given them extensive collections of stories, poems, songs, jokes, and riddles from distant lands. Some of the faithful are skilled fortune tellers, using their gift for reading people to entertain and inspire hope. Like their god, they oppose the use of divination to create fear or despair; most brush off requests stemming from unhappiness or malice, such as when the listener or one of their enemies might die. The god expects his diviners to challenge any speaker of ill prophecy, and when they hear of magical auguries predicting bad times, they actively intervene in an attempt to prevent such things from coming to pass.

Members of the faith are generally pacifists who rise to battle only when no other choice is left—or to defend or free slaves.

Midnight Dance
A holiday celebrated only by the worshipers of the Traveler, and it is their most holy night. It is celebrated on the night of Unndilar’s new moon. Followers go to a quiet place, preferably in nature, and begin to dance a random pattern beneath the light of the stars, trusting in the guidance of destiny. If no stars are visible, they will softly sing or chant all of the names of stars that they know as they perform their dance.

The faithful let their minds expand and turn their thoughts away from where their feet might land, allowing their steps to fall where chance wills. When the dance feels complete, they cease dancing. It’s different for everybody. Worshipers then ponder the steps they took and the position in which they stopped, and consider what the portents these subtle clues might hold for the future.

Clergy
The Traveler’s priests travel the world, always seeking new things. They favor simple garb and sturdy walking sticks. They bless caravans, and sometimes guide them. They explore new territories, scout for armies and settlers, and record long travelogues describing their journeys beyond the horizon. They also serve as diplomats, translators, surveyors, and even engineers that help to build roads and bridges and ports. Still others are involved in the manufacture of traveling gear; everything from shoes to sailing ships. No matter what their activities, the Traveler’s priests move around frequently, and someone who visits a shrine or temple more than once is likely to meet a different group of clerics each time.

They help people where they can, but prefer to make their acts seem like luck, coincidence, or the blessings of their god. In addition to soothsaying, some of the priests of the Traveler learn to interpret dreams to ease a troubled mind or heal a wounded psyche. Recurring or shared dreams are of particular interest, as they often stem from inner traumas or external magical sources. Those plagued by insomnia or nightmares may call on a priest of the Traveler if possible for aid, for their spells--or even just a soothing touch--are enough to bring a tranquil night’s sleep.

A typical day for a priest of the Traveler involves morning prayer (often spoken in bed moments after waking), recording their dreams in a journal, then breakfast. A brief time is set aside to stretch their legs and take in their surroundings before they begins their daily tasks. By evening, he helps passerby who require his skills, possibly entertains at a local gathering spot, seeks a place to stay for the night, dines, prays, and sleeps.

Caravan masters like to hire priests of the Traveler to accompany their wagons on journeys, for luck and to ward off animals and other bad fortune. This also gives the priest an excuse to travel when they have no other pressing matters. If a holy site needs repair or maintenance they will do what they can and hire a craftsman for what they cannot do.

Temples & Shrines
The Traveler keeps few temples, preferring unattended shrines at crossroads and places of secluded beauty, such as hilltops or peninsula points. Although unmanned, these shrines often hold simple provisions and a place to scrawl notes or feelings if visitors are so inspired. Some shrines are covered in carvings and small bits of parchment.

What temples there are can hardly be described as grandiose; they are not massive houses of worship built of stone and stained glass. Instead they tend to be made of sturdy wood and function more as a hostel: with beds, cleaning facilities, and stables, where travelers can rest for a short time before continuing on their way. Every temple protects a small chest of silver coins (usually no more than 300 silver pieces), which it uses to help fund journeys by the faithful. Needy travelers can petition the temple for financing, but this funding is normally only available for frontier exploration or travel to exotic locations—a trip to the next town might merit only a silver for water, bread, and a spare blanket. Those who exploit this generosity tend to suffer bad luck in the long run.

Butterflies and moths (as well as caterpillars) congregate at his holy sites. Legends say that the priests can call upon these creatures to send messages vast distances very quickly. Some maintain colonies of silk-producing moths, creating hardy and beautiful silk for use and sale by the temple.

Holy Texts
The faithful of the Traveler care little for heavy tomes of holy doctrine or arguments over the most righteous path. They prefer their religion concise, entertaining to read, and easy to carry.


 * The Ten Scrolls: These ten short scrolls contain all of the official doctrine of the church, summarizing the early days of the world, his interactions with other gods, the fixing of the stars in the night sky, and the Dawn War. The fifth scroll contains the church’s words regarding the behavior of mortals, which sparks many friendly debates among the faithful. The Traveler is a god of inherent contradictions; fortunately, his loosely organized church is open to many plausible interpretations of the scrolls that do not radically deviate from standard church teachings. Each scroll is short enough that even when collected in short, published collections still number fewer than sixty pages.
 * Shrine Writings: Wayside shrines to the Traveler are typically covered in graffiti, most inscribed by traveling followers of the Horizon Walker. These writings are sometimes as famous, or more famous, than the official church writing itself, and some of it is considered divinely inspired. One of the most famous examples of the Shrine Writings is the following: “Blessed is the long road, the destination, the homeward path, and all who make the journey. Let each dream be a bright star in the night sky of your mind, lighting your path in the day.” – A prayer carved onto a shrive near Tolstov.

Rituals
Services to the Traveler include singing, dancing, storytelling (especially of unusual or comedic dreams), footraces, and music. Some use exotic substances, herbal drinks, alcohol, or animal venom in an attempt to spark unusual or lucid dreams.

Many rituals involve sand because of its relation to sleep, and the comparison of grains of sand to the number of stars in the sky. Dust made from crushed rose quartz is used in the faith’s rare ceremonies and blessings instead of water or sacred oil; priests will often carry holy quartz dust in a glass bottle instead of holy water. Some luck-seeking faithful carry dice or other talismans carved of rose quartz.

A common saying is “may you find a twist in your road”, which speaks to one’s hope that your journey has something unexpected in store for you. Another common phrase, from the Ten Scrolls itself, is “Feet are for Walking”. The Traveler teaches that it’s better to wander and explore than to stay home and grow stale in thought and habit. Those can’t physically wander can still explore through their dreams, through reading books, and through the stories of others.

Orders of the Traveler

 * The Chain Breakers: The Chain Breakers are an order of fierce, merciless vigilantes who specialize in freeing slaves--and punishing slavers. They are known for their hit and run tactics, their expert archers, and their tendency to arm slaves and leave slaver camps or outposts little more than burning rubble.
 * The Dreamspeakers: The Dreamspeakers are a group of the Traveler's faithful who spend their days and nights sleeping and dreaming. They are known to imbibe special herbal drinks or narcotics to enter extremely deep slumbers with lucid dreams. They walk and explore and study dreamscapes, spending more of their time in an astral, dreaming form than being awake in their own bodies.
 * The Horizon Walkers: The Horizon Walkers are guides and hermits who focus mainly on going from place to place, mapping new places, and aiding the lost and weary. The Horizon Walkers specialize in magic that allows them to travel farther and longer, and to survive adverse weather.

Appearance
According to most depictions, he appears as a handsome but remote figure, with light purple skin and long black hair dotted with stars. He wears loose, flowing clothes that are easy to dance and travel in, and some depictions show him with pale, moth-like wings.

History
In the beginning, it was the Traveler who painted the horizon and he worked with the Moonweaver to paint the stars in the sky.

During the Dawn War, the Traveler went toe to toe with the Void--one of the most powerful of the Primordials. It was the Traveler who bound the Void to the stars to keep it from ever returning to the Material Plane ever again. In the Exalted Era, he is known to have rarely returned to Seraphel, doing so only once every decade or so. Despite this, he was present in the floating city when the Titans made their initial attack upon the world, and he helped in both the city's defense and in evacuating citizens.

Relationships
While friendly toward other deities, the Traveler is ultimately a wanderer who remains aloof. His detachment did not prevent him from helping to shape the world, or from defending it against both Promordials and the Titans. Nor has his aloofness kept him from making enemies. His biggest enemy is the Mother of Monsters, who he famously fought and defeated in the night sky twice during the Sundering (according to the Ten Scrolls, though the cultists that follow the Mother of Monsters seem to agree). He also stands staunchly against the machinations of Bitter Bones and the Drowned God.

His followers don’t spend much time worrying about other people’s faith, although they’re happy to talk about their own if they ask. They aren’t averse to paying their respects at shrines or temples to other gods, because it’s only polite. As long as others respect their ways, they’ll return such respect; the road to truth passes through different landscapes for everyone, and they would never interrupt someone else’s journey unless the circumstances were dire.