TheNexusProject/FlitteringShroud

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Flittering Shroud, Serial Worshipper

by Xarak

"At least someone recognises my talents!"
- Kelyom, God of the Chromatic Squid

"Shroud...I don't think we should see each other any more. You're very devout and I respect you as a well-wisher, but I really don't need all this attention. I've got enough essence as it is! Oh, don't cry...oh...look, we can still be friends...you can still pray to me...just please...don't summon me any more. Not even once a day."
- Layeya, Goddess of the Monarch Butterfly

"What d'ya mean you're 'Just praying with her?' If you summon the shade of me poor departed daughter again, I'll cut out your tongue!"
- Firewander resident

"I thought you said he was a cereal worshipper! He didn't buy any! I came all the way to Firewander for nothing!"
- Toko Kojo, grain merchant

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It is said that man is a religous animal, but some people have always been more spiritual than others. Sometimes much more so. One of these is the man known as Flittering Shroud. Quite simply, if it's magical, he'll worship it, and quite possibly he already has.

Flittering Shroud is a mortal, about 50 years old, of undistinguished appearance and a rather frail and clumsy frame. As a teenager he was both a natural follower and a deep believer in the Immaculate philosophy, so everyone expected him to become a monk. He did, but he didn't stay one for long - he was defrocked and sent packing within three months, although no-one ever found out why. Thus began his lifelong quest to find the deity for him, which has led him from his birthplace in the Northern Threshold all the way to Nexus.

Over the years Shroud has worshipped approximately 300 different gods, 100 elementals, 100 ghosts, 20 Dragon Blooded, 50 assorted god-blooded, 1 Raksha noble, and 5 mortals that he mistook for something else. He desperately wants to settle down and enter into a steady spiritual relationship, but so far he has had no luck.

The reason is that Shroud is, frankly, intolerable to have as a worshipper. He's clingy, demanding, often summons you for no better reason than to have a little chat, and goes off in a teary sulk at the slightest perceived snub. Being his god is a full time job, and most magical entities have better things to do. Every single being he's tried to worship has told him to get lost, despite the loss of prayer and essence this entails, within a week of meeting him. Even the lost gods of Drunken Wind Street want nothing to do with him. Shroud has enough sense not to go after obviously malicious or dangerous beings (i.e no demons or Fae, except for that one time...), although that hasn't stopped him having a few close shaves.

He lives in a run down shrine/apartment in the meanest part of Firewander. Despite his general uselessness, he's a competent Thaumaturge and expert Occultist, which is how he pays the bills. He has no real friends, although he has contacts with all the cults in the city and is known to just about every god and elemental for miles around.

Rumours

• Malicous rumours persist that one of the ghosts he tried to worship was so fed up with being summoned night after night that she jumped into the Mouth of the Void.
• Rumour has it that Shroud, who formerly retained enough of the Immaculate Philosophy to be against that sort of thing, has been looking for Anathema in the city to worship.
• Flittering Shroud is actually a hard-core (Yozi/Anathema/Fae/Death) cultist. His persona is a cunning disguise.

Secret

• Drowning In Viscera, an Eclipse Caste Solar, has found out about Flittering Shroud and is planning to befriend him.
• He was dismissed as a monk because he summoned a Demon of the First Circle in the cloister. He'd been collecting thaumaturgic artefacts since he was a teenager, managed to smuggle some of them into the temple, and one of them was (unknown to him) cursed. Fortunately, a Fire Immaculate Master was passing by at the time and the demon was swiftly slain. He still carrys the artefact, for "self defence", but hasn't used it since.