Bujanga

There is just one, and it is not A bujanga, SHE is Bujanga. You see, many years ago, there was a wise and beautiful forest adept, and her name was, yes, Bujanga. For a long time, she lived among the trees, and spoke of ancient and splendid things with the trees and the beasts and even the very stones of the earth and the streams and winds. Her power over magic allowed to preserve her youth, and her endless beauty, and it was not long before the humans and the elves of the wood started worshiping her. Such was her skill with magic, Bujanga harnessed the power of their adulation and adoration, and added it to her own, and in many ways, became something of the goddess she was being praised as.

The Low Gods Take Notice

Such hubris among the mortal races seldom goes unnoticed. In the myths and legends, this hubris is met by the righteous indignation of the gods on high, the elder ones, and even the outer gods with their terrible and alien designs. This sounds better than the truth, that the first divinities to notice the egos of the mortal races as the Low Gods. They are only low compared to the celestials and the star dwellers, as they are the gods of the earth, of fire, of the winds, and the waters. Such as it was, it was a Low God of rock and stone that took affront to Bujanga and her exquisite temple.

The Exquisite Temple of Bujanga

Bujanga had an Exquisite Temple raised in the middle of the forest. This was no small undertaking, and it smashed and burned many trees, and opened a raw pit in the earth as thousands toiled to cut the stone for the pillars and walls. Artisans from across the land were drawn in, some by divine inspiration (or thaumaturgical mind control), others by the lure of wealth, to work there. The temple was a splendor of flying stone, with serpentine and malachite shaped into the likeness of trees, and earthy brown marbles and pink granites cut into almost natural seeming furniture and decorations. A number of shrines were raised in the alcoves and the naves of the grand temple. They praised the Sun, the Night, Death, Fertility, the great destroyer serpent Ssesha, who's manifold wrath and fury will one day blow out creation like a candle, and the largest for Bujanga herself.

The Statue of Bujanga was carved by the most gifted of the artisans, rare men and women who Bujanga took into her embrace in her bedchambers, so that as they carved, they would know her flesh, her life, and her warmth. A massive work, the statute of their terrestrial goddess was completed, and was a fully nude Bujanga, her body artfully flowing into the Serpent pose in the ancient practice of the Eight Limbed Path. Many would seek to emulate her perfect pose, and would offer their sweat and suffering to the goddess by performing the Eight Limbed Path before her statue.

Ksarr!kt

The Lord of the Earth Ksarr!kt has great dominion over stone, especially those stones that are green in hue. The amount of malachite, serpentine, and other green stones used in the great temple drew the Lod God's attention. It took the form of an roughly formed serpent, made of malachite, with glowing peridots for eyes, and a voice that was water sluicing over old river stones. The God approached the temple, and upon seeing him, Bujanga smote the God, for her adoration had caused her to forget her humility, and her mortality. Instead, she was driven by a lust for the power of the Low God, and for the sumptuous materials his form had been made of. Wounded, Ksarr!kt retreated, leaving behind his stone husk. Enraged, the Low God sought the council of his peers, and they made a plan to punish the now wicked Bujanga.

The Gods Dance

The God's Dance is still remembered across the land, because no fewer than four Low Gods came and confronte Bujanga over her hubris. They fought, but not in the manner that mortals fight, as the Low Gods are nigh immortal, and so was Bujanga. Instead, they danced, acrobatic, and breath taking. Where they were strong, Bujanga was light and swift. Where they were gathered together, Bujanga would scatter them apart. And they fought, four gods against a goddess, for three days. Their might was great, as was hers, but eventually their numbers would win out. Exhausted, Bujanga surrendered. Of the four gods, there was no glory, for their dance had caused much damage. They had rent the ground, broken the forest, upset the rivers, and all manners of beast, from the smallest to the most grand, had fled. Though defeated, Bujanga chided them for their childish tempers, and made them see the works of their hands, and though victorious, they were filled with shame. Where they had struck, she had deflect, where they had sought to destroy, she had protected, and despite their fury, the Temple, though damaged, still stood.

It is said that Ksarr!kt, close to the sleep of the earth, smashed Bujanga's statue, and then collapsed into the rubble, sinking into the Earth to a sleep that he has yet to return from. The others were unable to gather the might, or the will, as Bujanga had danced with great passion, and had moved them, to strike her down. Instead, they pooled their remaining power and they curses Bujanga. They transformed her body into that of a beast, a monster. And they bound her to the temple she had created. And then, they fled.

The Birth of the Serpent Goddess

Bujanga's powers were not lessened, and she grew more powerful from the terrible dance, but she could not undo the curse the gods had placed upon her. Her temple fell into ruin, and her people, fled during the God's Dance, few returned. Their villages were destroyed, and their fields were studded with boulders and broken trees.

The full curse of the gods was that with the body of a feathered tree serpent, Bujanga could no longer dance as an immortal. Her power was greater, but it had been grounded into the terrestrial plane, and she was to most, nothing more than an exotic dragon. This enraged her, as her beauty had been replaced with the visage of a foul reptile, and her gossamer gowns were turned into feathers and hard scales. And as dragons are, her years were made long, and her magic made those even longer, and for a time, she went mad.

The story of the Bujanga tells of a monster that dwells in the forest, a wingless dragon that tears through the trees, armed with terrible claws and a breath of green curling flames, and the magics of a dozen sorcerers at it's command. Only the desperate or those deeply devoted to the forest seek out the Bujanga, and most of them are killed for their impudence. Even those who draw their fame from slaying dragons have learned to leave the Bujanga alone, for it's cunning and magical prowess make it too dangerous to attempt to slay.

The Bujanga can be reached, but it isn't easy. She dwells in the heart of the forest, near the ruins of the Malachite Temple of Ssesha. Once there, the best way to summon her is to play music, especially the ancient songs of the forest. Not the folk songs, not the songs of the Tree People, but the high music, the Odes of Ssesha, The Celestial Waltz, and those other pieces. There is the challenge, to get all the musicians required for such work to the ruins alive. The Bujanga will come, and may be charmed by her memories, or made wroth by them, it is all the luck of the dice. Offerings can be presented, and if accepted, the Serpent Sage of the Woods is wise, and can answer many questions, and will cast spells for those she deems worthy.

I have met her once, and lived. She is lonely, deeply and terribly lonely. Her power is great, so great that it terrified me to my very soul. She told us that she would summon the four Low Gods again, and would destroy them, and end their curse over her, and that either she would either become a Goddess again, or that she would finally expire and pass on to the judgement of the high gods. She didn't care which.