The Cult of Rhya is the religious organisation of the Old World dedicated to the worship of Rhya, or Ishea as she is known among the Tileans, who is the goddess of summer, nature, love, fertility, farming, and the harvest. She is also widely known as the "Earth Mother" and "She Who Sustains Life."[1a]
Though typically depicted as the wife of Taal, the god of nature, beasts and the wilderness, myths connect her to many gods, and she has borne children from many of those divine relationships. Most commonly portrayed as a tall, beautiful Human woman wreathed in leaves and bedecked in fruit, Rhya's statues are normally nude, pregnant, and surrounded by her children. Many theologians tie Rhya to the Old Faith, a prehistoric cult comprised of ancient farmers and hunters who wrested a living from the land before the Empire was born, and one still found in secluded communities to this day.[1a]
Men have always needed sustenance from the earth, and love and healthy offspring in the home. As goddess of summer, fertility, and the harvest, Rhya protects people and their families from starvation and keeps them together through times of strife. Followers thank Rhya for every healthy birth, every harmonious union, and every bounteous harvest.[2a]
Rhya is a god of plenty, but never excess. Properly honoured, Rhya brings sustenance but does not reward greed. She blesses lovers with romantic intimacy rather than compulsion or domination. Rhya's opposition to the Dark Prince Slaanesh is rooted in the distinction between bounty and indulgence.[2a]
Each year, Rhya's followers herald the coming of summer and the passing of Ulric's winter rule. Later, as the nights draw in, Rhya relinquishes the land to the Wolf God, as she knows life must rest to be renewed in the spring.[2a]
Rhya is the consort and equal of Taal, King of Nature. Their relationship is harmonious, although neither is monogamous and both have children with other gods. Mortals see a tension between Rhya's domestication of crops and livestock and Taal's dominion over the wild. Devotion to Rhya is greatest where her beneficence is most needed, in the countryside, amongst the fields and farms. Ancient stone circles and oghams are her temples, some dating to a time before Humans even came to the Old World.
History[]
Rhya's devotees have always been simple folk who live from the land, so written histories of the cult are rare and unreliable. Oral traditions are little better, as they evolve and change to suit the listener rather than present literal truth.[2a]
The most primitive Humans that first migrated to the Old World needed to stave off hunger and to find shelter from predators and the cold. They venerated a god known as Ishernos, who represented respect and fear of nature and provided protection from the harsh world. Imperial theologians posit that this god later split into Taal and Rhya, with the latter bestowing the blessings of spring and summer -- new life and food foraged and hunted from the land.[2a]
As the tribes gave up their nomadic lives to settle, they revered Rhya as the Earth Mother, who is said to have brought the secret of agriculture. The Belthani, as the earliest tribes of Men to inhabit the lands of the Old World that would become the Empire are called, believed that Rhya gave them the gift of domesticated grain, tamed animals, and the secrets of farming. In gratitude, the Belthani venerated Rhya at the mysterious stone circles they discovered across the land. A rudimentary priesthood developed from the women who guarded the secrets given by Rhya.[2a]
Some scholars think Rhya is a modern incarnation of the nature goddess venerated by the Old Faith. Others consider her the first civilising god, bringing settlement and order to the capriciousness of nature.[2a]
As more tribes settled, those who depended most on farming favoured Rhya over the other primal gods. The tribes of the Asoborns, Bretonni, the Brigundians and the Menogoths gave the goddess special reverence. The Taleuten tribe gave Taal a dominant role, but worshipped Rhya as his divine consort.[2a]
Even the fiercest warrior king saw the need to stave off famine and ensure healthy births. When Sigmar established his Empire, the worship of Rhya remained important, but increasingly removed from urban centres of power. The cult never formalised, and while priests of Ulric, Taal, and later Sigmar wrestled with the politics of the new Empire, Rhya's cult remained pragmatic and focused on the eternal earthbound concerns that had always been her dominion.[2a]
When Gilles le Breton united Bretonnia, Rhya's cult was displaced by that of the Lady of the Lake amongst the Bretonnian ruling classes. But peasants stayed loyal to the fertility goddess and several Imperial scholars have scoffed that "the Lady" is clearly a misinterpretation of Rhya by people who eat too much cheese.[2a]
Cult of Rhya in the Empire[]
Rhya is well-loved by the people of the Empire, although those in towns and cities give the goddess little thought until they need her blessing -- to ease childbirth, fill the granaries and markets, or bring an end to a harsh winter. Rhyan Priestesses visit larger settlements to attend to expectant mothers, but they are reluctant to spend long hemmed in by walls and stone.[2a]
Rhya's true heartlands are the villages and farmsteads of the Empire's countryside, where her beneficence is essential to survival and prosperity. Rustic life is said to be "under Rhya’s care" for good reason. If you live in the countryside, she accompanies you from birth, as you grow, find love, marry and bear children of your own. Even at death she hands your soul to Morr, the god of the dead, and in some traditions, expects your body to be buried to sustain future life from the soil.[2a]
The most exalted Rhyan priestesses are known as Hierarchs or Green Watchers. These women have risen to prominence for their devotion to Rhya and the deeds they do in her name. They travel with an entourage of subservient priestesses who have chosen to learn from them.[2a]
The Cult of Rhya does not build grand temples, but there are a handful of Rhyan abbeys scattered across the land. Older priestesses preside here as prioresses, surrounded by Rhyan nuns and acolytes who tend to their livestock and herb gardens.[2a]
Cult of Rhya Beyond the Empire[]
In Tilea, Rhya is known as Ishea and is shown in the garb of an ancient Tilean woman of high birth. Priestesses have more mystique than their counterparts in the Empire and their rites are more secretive. In northern Tilea, Rhya is a determined protector of granaries against the attentions of rats.[2a]
In Bretonnia, peasants typically favour Rhya over Taal and every village has a shrine to the goddess. The ruling classes dismiss her followers as primitive rustics. The priests of Shallya sometimes ally with Rhyans to protect children from being taken by the Fay. Such practice is outlawed and punished by Damsels of the Lady if discovered.[2a]
Explorers have returned from the continent of Lustria telling of ruins carved with a tall female figure wearing an elaborate headdress, quite unlike the reptilian creatures that rule the jungles. They have called this figure Rhya, but her true identity is obscure.[2a]
Depictions[]
Depictions of Rhya represent her as a tall, gracious woman, often heavy with child and wearing a crown of barley and wheat. Artists often show her accompanied by handmaidens, spirits of nature and minor goddesses who serve her on earth. While Rhya is kind, she is not merciful like Shallya. Those who harm youngsters, neglect the land, or forget to sacrifice to Rhya should expect cold anger.
Canon Conflict[]
While the 2nd Edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay maintains that Taal and Rhya are worshipped together in a single cult with separate priesthoods for both gods as described above, the 3rd Edition claims that clerical duties to Rhya have been taken by the priestesses of Taal. In the lore of the 4th Edition, Rhya and Taal now have separate cult organisations -- the Cult of Taal and the Cult of Rhya -- that work closely together, but still maintain separate structures and hierarchies.[1a][2a]