Lexicon/LenBo
Len-Bo Who Comes in Song and Water
Shataina, Once-Orichalcum Tigress, Lady of Legends, tells the tale:
Len-Bo, to whom even the Chosen eventually prayed, began his existence a minor city spirit from Aquaria. Things had grown awkward for him in his home city after his dalliance with a local girl produced a daughter, Tang Sodia, who grew up despising her father with a deep and ferocious passion. Len-Bo, disliking this, at last elected to remove himself from it; but Tang Sodia refused to leave the city, and as a spirit of Aquaria, Len-Bo knew that it would wound him terribly to depart. So, with resourcefulness and determination unusual to the least gods, he set about attempting to arrange a change in domain.
The creation of the dreaded soul bells naturally entailed the promotion of a god to the soul bell domain. Just as hardly anyone marked the soul bells when they were first forged, so did this promotion go without much notice. Len-Bo, who had offended few and was noticed by fewer, found it easy to maneuver his way into the position of god of the soul bell. He soon left Aquaria forever, with only a part of his name attesting to his origins.
Tang Sodia's hatred, however, did not abate. Still refusing to leave Aquaria herself, she aged and grew in power, serving the local water deities with patience and loyalty until they at last rewarded her with immortality. At this time, Tang Sodia began to maneuver against her father, seeking a way to his final destruction. However, during the latter time, Len-Bo's domain had suddenly become important -- and accordingly, Len-Bo himself had gained in power. The Bread-Basket Uprising especially contributed to his capacity and influence. For a time, he was one of the greatest and most feared gods in Yu-Shan, and the destruction of Tang Sodia at her father's hands seemed inevitable.
And then ... then, I fear, the tale becomes rather anticlimactic. Len-Bo had what could be best termed "a change of heart". As with all such things, many have claimed to know his motives and none have ever truly been certain ... save, perhaps, Tang Sodia, who spoke with him one hour before his momentous decision and has never again said his name.
To make the story short: Len-Bo went against what many have called his own nature -- his domain. He was a part of the Treaty of Bells and he himself aided in the effort to find and destroy every last one of the soul bells. After this, gracefully, his Essence faded from Creation. Though the prayers and offerings of the Exalted sustained him for a long while beyond what was thought possible in such a case, and he was even offered a promotion to a new domain, Len-Bo chose for his Essence to grow dim and die.
(Some theorize that Len-Bo penned the Indistinct Epic. The sorceress Blooming Violets claimed to have found his Essence signature wound up within the Essence-traces of the ritual which enchanted the Jindar Ink used to inscribe the Epic's pages. I merely note this argument here for the sake of completeness; it would be best considered alongside other such speculations about the Epic's authorship and, indeed, its nature.)
References:
~ Shataina
See also Shataina's other Lexicon entries
