The Two-Faced Ambassador
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Born from the precipice of the first divine war, The Two-Faced Ambassador is an embodiment of compromise, discussion, deceit, and dealmaking. While deities like the Beaked King are often seen to represent the political or social status quo, it is the Ambassador who represents the forces which make such orders self-sustaining. Treaties, contracts, and bargains struck, the Ambassador teaches, are the stuff that makes civilization live and breath.
Origin and Mythology
When the Forgemaster turned to shaping the order of matter in the galaxy to his will and vision, he angered the Light Bringer. The two gods, defying each other’s wishes, edged ever closer to war. The vast divine energies at their disposal were marshalled, thundering on the brink of battle. From this arcane conflagration was born the Two-Faced Ambassador, the one who looked both ways and saw both sides. They sprung to labor at once, and with tremendous effort stemmed the conflict and put a halt to the first war of the gods. To account for the treaties and bargains struck to keep the peace, the Ambassador used a vast fraction of their power and their self to weave from the void the Court of a Thousand Paths, the first and oldest of the spirits.
Cult, Rituals, and Veneration
The name of the Two-Faced Ambassador is often invoked in treaties, contracts, and informal deals, in order that they bind the signatories to their obligations. The god's attention is typically sought by reading from selections of the voluminous sacred texts on order and justice delivered to mortals by the Ambassador's mystics. Donating to the databases which preserve and study such knowledge is a common form of offering. In many cultures, laws are not considered enacted until a copy has been devoted to a sacred library; the purchasing of a high-quality volume (either digital or print) of a sacred work for keeping in a special shelf, or the sponsoring of the restoration of a venerable manuscript, is also common.
In many government halls and corporate offices, where the Ambassador's work finds its home, desks adjacent to shrines are often kept, so that the spirits from the Court of a Thousand Paths have somewhere to work should they stop by. Generally once every fiscal period, many offices will perform a ritual cleaning, in which all employees contribute to the physical order of the space. The spraying of special odors, or the burning of incense, and the organization of elements of decoration into sacred patterns such as chains, are common.
Although the Ambassador is not generally seen as a god of love per se, they are understood to have domain over even private interpersonal matters, and they are widely understood to be a god of marriage. In many galactic cultures, a portion of the most symbolically significant food at the wedding feast (such as the wedding cake) is offered to the god.
Pilgrimage in the name of the Two-Faced Ambassador is often politically fraught; while many scholars understand government buildings to be places viewed positively by the god, patronage to capital buildings is generally only done by the more jingoistic worshipers. Far more common for those seeking favor in business or diplomacy are voyages to notable sites of the Old Empires, although even these are seen as distasteful by many.
While those conmen and deceivers who are exactingly careful to only deliver what they promise do, to the chagrin of many, sometimes find the Ambassador's favor, invoking the god's name on a deal one does not intend keep is rarely wise.
For many who wish for divine aid in the regular humdrum of life, the most common offering is handmade chain or handspun thread at a shrine. Paper is frequently used in small matters, while the dedication of metal chain is done to curry favor for important dealings. Locks, often printed or engraved with the names of the offerers, are frequently left at shrines to solicit good fortune for lovers.
