Canon 30: Gamasiel the Founder

This is the biography of Worthy Gamasiel, the First Patriarch of the Church of Westrun, and Herald of the Forgotten God.

Gamasiel first served the Decadon, the tenfold hierarchy of the pretender gods worshiped in the Grand Temple. As an acolyte of this pagan system, on his 12th birthday he was called forth to declare which of the many gods he would serve. 

But Gamasiel spent his vigil in the temple and sacrificed according to the custom of those gods. But his sacrifices were not consumed, neither did signs or wonders accompany his prayers. Instead he heard a voice which spoke the words of the First Canon, “Before the hills were raised or the deep was divided, I alone was. Before the world was thawed or the rivers roared, I alone was. Before the stars were flung into the sky, before the lights of Day and Night, I alone was. Before any others were, I alone was. And I remain. I am the Source and the Final Silence.”

So Gamasiel emerged from his vigil and pledged before his brothers that he would serve a Forgotten God -- one who was no longer worshipped in the temple. The priests allowed him to serve as he though right, but heaped upon him every menial task in an effort to dissuade him from his new cult. Eventually he was assigned to the arcade beneath the temple, there to keep the sheep and goats -- animals destined for ritual slaughter. 

When he was summoned to give an account of this god, and what a decade in the god's service had wrought, Gamasiel brought to the chief priests a message of repentence. Upon hearing it, many rent their garments and made an inquest for heresy. By all expectation he would have been condemned to death, but the High Priest Heimar, fearing to offend an unknown deity, stayed the judgment. 

Gamasiel was permitted to continue his private devotions until he gathered to himself seven acolyte-pledges, whom he instructed and consecrated into priesthood. Then another inquest was declared and Gamasiel was summoned to give an account. There, in the company of the all the priests, Gamasiel and his Seven declared themselves opposed to the elder gods, and challenged those who accused them to a contest. Through ten great challenges, the servants of the Decadon sought to prove the might of their patrons, while Gamasiel invoked the Forgotten God. One by one, the signs and wonders manifested by Gamasiel’s God prevailed. When the tenth contest was won, the authority of the elder gods was broken. 

In the aftermath, many of the Grand Temple were converted, while others deserted their posts in dismay. From this victory the Church of Westrun was born, and Gamasiel was named the Patriarch.