Nophica

Nophica is the goddess of agriculture and the harvest. More broadly, she represents nature, and specifically flora. Nophica is worshipped by most cultures and races, particularly in her role as a goddess of nature if the culture does not practice agriculture. Her epithets include the Matron, the Abundant, and Tender of Soils.

Symbols and Depictions

Nophica always appears and is depicted as female. Because like all deities Nophica can choose her appearance on the Material Plane, she most often chooses to appear as the race of her supplicant, not expressing a particular preference. Regardless of her race, she typically has dark brown skin and green, silver, or brown hair entwined with seasonal flowers. She typically appears as a jubilant farmer, carrying a steel scythe.

Nophica's primary symbol is that of a budding plant with three leaves, rising from a small mound. She is also symbolized by the scythe, the tool of her trade, and both the strawberry and the pumpkin leaf.

Worship

Nophica has two major festivals, usually celebrated at the spring and fall equinoxes. A small offering is typically made at the winter solstice, to show that she has not been forgotten in the cold of winter (the realm of her bitter rival, Halone).

Myths

Nophica's demiplane, the Stilglade Fane, lies within Bytopia. Nophica is said to tend every fruit, vegetable, and flower that can be grown, both wild and domesticated. The weather is said to be every season at once, as Nophica wills it, and one can step from tidy rows of plantings to untamed, overgrown forest without warning. Stilglade Fane provides Dohter with a source of potent ingredients for their herbalism.

Nophica is the daughter of Sealticge and Balogar, and Dohter, Dreisang, and Nymeia are her grandparents. She is Draefendi's younger sister. The two sisters are notably close, as she represents the flora to Draefendi's fauna. They share a similar working relationship to Thaliak and Oschon - Thaliak and Nophica remain back to tend the hearth, while Oschon and Draefendi take to wandering.

The myth of their first fight also depicts the origin of Incabulos. As girls, Nophica and Draefendi argued over whose gift would please their grandparent, Dohter, more: a beautiful rose, tended by hand from seed to glory, or the antlers of a great hind Draefendi had slain. The dissonance between the sisters allowed Incabulos, the Empty, to come into being and strike down their gifts with plague and famine. With Dohter's help, they were able to chase the dark god away, although forever more it will always seek to unmake their works.

Through Balogar, Halone, Brand, and Aeber are her half-siblings. Halone is her bitter rival, as Halone's domain of ice and winter is in direct opposition to her own. Halone is also said to be jealous of Nophica's relationship with her mother, Sealticge. Through Sealticge, Ascima and Menphina are also her half-sisters.

Nophica is said to have planted and nurtured the World Tree, whose branches support the Upper Planes and whose roots curl around the Lower Planes.