A day in the life of Abodah:
Standing on an overturned crate in the centre of Eodred's Walk the woman's voice tries to make itself heard above the crowd "The people do not exist for the law. The law exists for the people. The people obey the law because the law represents the best understandings of the people. When people disobey the law, they are punished so that the law -- and the community it represents -- are protected." The majority of the crowd pass by her ignoring. A few of those who straggle to listen do so out of curiousity -- a Shoanti woman preaching in Korvosa! -- or because they share her devotion to Iomedae.
Abodah turns now and looks directly at a pair of the Korvosan guard who have been watching her with bemused scorn. It is clear to all she is speaking to them when she says "HOWEVER when the LAW no longer serves the people ... when it no longer is the expressed will and best understanding of the people ... when those who enforce the law believe that the people exist for the law NOT the law for the people ... THEN the law has been PERVERTED, CORRUPTED, TWISTED against its true purpose. And THAT is what has happened in Korvosa. THAT is what is happening when a starving man is left beaten and half-dead for feeding his family by theft! ... WHEN an unhappily married woman is stripped naked and thrown out into the streets by guardsmen for adultery! ... WHEN those who would speak out against the guardsmen are silenced by force!"
Even before the guardsmen move towards her, the crowd has already dispersed. Those few who wear the symbol of Iomedae cover it with their hands as they fade into the crowd. Several can be heard to mutter "She goes to far!!" as they rejoin the ebb and flow of passersby.
Abodah -- a Shoanti name meaning 'girl dedicated to Abadar'
At the age of 15, Abodah was promised in marriage by her family to an aging priest of Abadar who, banished from Korvosa for reasons never admitted to her, was ordered by his church to 'bring the law of Abadar to the savage Shoanti'.
Although there was little of the type of love Abodah had hoped for in marriage, she was a dutiful wife. In truth, she was often more of a pupil and a secretary to the old priest. It was from him she learnt much about religion and the law. In her heart, however, she harboured a resentment for Abadar and felt that a law that protected the wealthy by controlling those who had the least was an empty law -- a law as loveless as her marriage.
When her husband died, she returned with his journals and possessions to his home church in Korvosa as she had promised him she would. It was there, as an impoverished, scorned, homeless, desperate outcast that she began to feel even greater resentment for Abadar and the hope represented by Iomedae. A goddess of justice and valor! Rulership with honor! Everything about Iomedae appealed to the young woman.
Her passionate love for Iomedae and her willingness to confront the church of Abodar frightens her brothers and sisters in the faith and she has very little standing in the church. On the other hand, nobody can deny that she gets people talking!
How she sees herself
Abodah sees herself as a defender of the poor working in the spirit of Iomedae to confront those who would turn the law against justice. She is willing to question, challenge, and provoke those in authority if necessary.
How other people see her
A bit of a pain in the ass but of relative little consequence.
