Lexi (107:36)
And when it comes to dedicating oneself to Dune, she is one of only two deities, at least here on the continent, whose dedication is a lifetime commitment. This is because war changes the soul irrevocably. Dune teaches that while battles may be won by the strongest warriors, they may also be lost by the weakest. End of our nearby Scaith is where we know Dune is especially favored, which makes sense since the war college places higher emphasis on the goddess of war as well as Malak, the goddess of of death. Umbriel is the isle that worships Dune, and they've built their society that embraces and prioritizes her values, such as strength. Overall, the goddess Dune teaches that while battles may be won by the strongest warriors, they may also be lost by the weakest. So both must be tested. Which is pretty cool. How that fits in with both cultures. Navarre with how the Writer's Quadrant is set up to weed out the weakest link, and Umbriel with what we know of the trials. If you need a refresher on Dune and the other deities, check out our episode four archives. And for the Umbriel combat trial that reflects Blackstone's values, we've got episode six's archives for you. While we know that there are more than just the temples we've seen in the story, Umbriel's primary temple and the Orician temple are the two temples we know the most about. So what do these two temples in very different cultures have in common? Both temples have a high priestess that wears a long, pale blue robe with a sword sheathed at her hip. And they have a tattoo of Dune's emblem inked into her forehead, which is two crossed swords gripped in the center by a cla. These high priestesses can not only see the path Dune has chosen for someone, but also if someone's path is still uncertain, like Violet's. I'm not sure if this sight, so to speak, comes from a connection with Dune herself. Or it's part of their powers from becoming High Priestess, or even from the drugs these high priestesses are known to take, which apparently give them hallucinations. To quote the High Priestess of Umbriel, I still see us among your potential paths. Should you choose to take it, Dune will accept you. It is not too late to choose her. And according to Major Royally's Guide to Appeasing the Gods, becoming High Priest or Priestess is the closest most of us will get to touching the power of the gods. The rest are riders. We can assume this means they have some kind of additional powers we just don't know about yet. Like we talked about a few episodes ago, we're not sure how these powers differ between Umbriel, which supposedly does not have magic, and the continent where the attendants dye their hair white and it doesn't turn silver. During the process of dedication, Violet questions Theophany about how she had immeasurable power power on Umbriel, and it still wasn't enough. Again, I'm not sure how that works with the Isle not having magic. These references to power might just be the status way instead of the magical way. Though I'm sure there's some magic involved because again, hair turns silver on Umbriel. Moving on to temple attendants, this is where we find the most obvious difference between the two temples. Umbriel temple attendants are described as having all different heights, shapes, genders and skin tones, but their hair color is as uniform as their blue robes. This includes the children at the temple who wear light blue tunics, but their hair is silver, not gray, not white. Silver, just like violet. And Theophany. Eretian temple attendants, on the other hand, have white hair that has been dyed using lye and the juice of the manwasa flower. We're assuming this is because the processes for dedication is different on the continent versus Umbriel, so they dye their hair white as a symbolic representation of this dedication to Dune. Before we move on to dedication itself, here's what we know about Umbriel's primary temple. We get the most description about this temple. It's located in the capital city of Estel and has stood for 700 years. It's a large temple, the height of Taryn, that has a roof tiled the same pale blue as the rest of the city. And the six wide pillars holding the front are all gray granite. The polished stones appear almost silver in the light, and each has been carved with a different symbol of warfare, sword, shield, fire, water claw and book.
