Hospitality is a powerful concept in ven culture, personified by the figure of Mana Renay. Temples dedicated to “the Mother of Us All” can be found in every city, shrines in every home. She has many faces. Revered matriarch. Protector. Healer. Keeper of hearth Wisdom. Each House views mana Renay differently, but the Hous she claims as her own is the Elk.
For the Steeles, Mana Renay set the sandards for how a House is run. Recognized as the family’s first great matriarch, the entire structure of a House was based on her own. Butlers, cooks, maids and senechals still follow her advice, passed on through oral tradition, recorded in the famous book House and Home. Alongside the proper methods of cooking and cleaning, she also spelled out the rules of hospitality still followed by the ven today.
Blessings bestowed by the Sacred Mother protect those who respect the concepts of manners and hospitality. Those who revere her bring her beloved flower, the acacia, to her holiest temple. Architects and those who cut and work stone also call upon her for favor and wisdom. It was she who sponsored the stoneworkers, building cathedrals and castles all across Shanri.
Relics associated with Mana Renay include her notebook, a handkerchief, and a broken broomhandle. (Some whisper the broomhandle was broken over the head of a disrespectful servant.)
Her compassion and wisdom protects a home from threats both visible and invisible. Those who know her secrets, who listen to her dreams, learn the high holy whispers of hospitality.
___
(Later, the Blessings of the Mana Renay)