Lucia bint Delilah
{{Character|
fgcolor=#fff|
bgcolor=#000|
| image=
| name=Lucia bint Delilah al-Qalim
| aliases=The Prophetess
| gender=Female
| race=Human (Calishite)
| parents=Delilah bint Aliyya, unknown father
| siblings=None
| dob=21 Nightal 1342 (age in 1385: 43)
| occupation=Priestess
| affiliations=The Temple of Old Night (Shar)
| spouse=None
| children=None
| class=Priest
| alignment=CN
}}
Lucia bint Delilah al-Qalim, known amongst the faithful of Calimshan as Lucia the Prophetess, is the High Priestess of Shar in Calimport. In 1378, she executed a coup in her home temple, the Temple of Old Night, deposing the former high priestess Irtemara. Save for the high priestess herself, the coup was remarkably bloodless, although many of the former priestesses seem to be partially diminished in their mental capacities, and have undergone sudden and dramatic changes of heart regarding their faith.
Lucia's faith in Shar is deeply apocryphal. She openly preaches about the Goddess, rather than working through various cults and organizations, as is common across the Realms. She teaches that Shar is the mother of all the gods, that she and Selune are one in the same. Her Shar is a mother figure, betrayed by her offspring, and wounded by the rampant use of magic, particularly its abuses by the mighty against the weak.
In her creation myth, Shar provided the Realms with all it needed; then, powerful mages saw fit to modify the world in their own image, to wrest her creation from her hands, and second-guess the eternal Goddess' will. In doing so, they have doomed the world to destruction, and set into motion a cycle of violence that will consume all life, before birthing a new, more pure world. Unless, she preaches, mankind can rid itself of the excesses of magic before it is too late.
Her heretical faith, through its direct appeal to the masses (of which there are a great many in Calimshan), has garnered great support, and quite rapidly. While main of her sister priestesses, comfortably distant in other cities, decry her blasphemies and condemn her to Oblivion, her church thrives as it has never before. Many mages across the world criticize her beliefs, noting the her hypocrisy as a wielder of magic herself. Despite this dissonance, she has gained great trust from the common folk of Calimshan, as she has revealed her true nature to them.
Lucia is no privileged scion of the wealthy elite; she was born daughter of a prostitute, and not even one of the sacred order of Shar's courtesans. Her mother was an outcast among outcasts, and made no effort to teach her any way but hers; she cared little for her daughter, and provided only the minimum to keep her alive. When her mother died, she was age 12, and was thrust into the family profession. Frequently unable even to retain what little payments she earned, due to the character of those few patrons she could seduce, she was quickly destitute.
She turned to the church for aid and salvation, and dedicated her life to Shar. The temple purified her lowly blood through many years of harsh degradation, though they preached it as a way to teach her to rise above her lower emotions, her simple, physical needs. Years of rape and abuse tempered her for what was to come.
She was honed into a weapon, a consummate seductress. Her innate magical talent was harnessed by the priestesses as a tool to achieve their political aims. For years, she excelled in the task of bringing low the men foolish enough to fall for her powerful charisma, extracting the secrets of their mind, and corrupting their will to be ever-loyal to the church.
It was this power she wielded against them in the end.
Matters came to a head during the Nightmare Crisis. She was set upon Dorian Adricus, whose rise to power had been foreseen by the elder priestesses. Hers was to bring him over to their side, to harness his great potential for themselves. Perhaps a seductress of her caliber might have penetrated his thick defenses, but things did not go as planned. The chaotic and unforeseen presence of Hyacinth Knight derailed her intentions, and allowed her to see the truth of her life, to uncover the deceit and meaninglessness of her path.
She turned her rage against those who had pulled her strings, then set about reforming her church, using the wisdom she had gained through many close encounters with Shar and Selune. Her opinions about magic have put her somewhat at odds with former allies Dorian Adricus and Nerick Spellchaser, but she maintains good relations with other friends in high places, including Ashella Milsimmar.
