Desna
Central Beliefs: Often Cultural, often individualistic. Desna is an old god and said to be one of the first creator deities. When other gods were creating the world, she was creating he heavens to inspire timeless mysterious wonder. Seeking new experiences is an important tenant. Writings sacred to Desna tend to be easily portable, written in simple language and often containing references to exotic, beautiful places and roads containing a shrine. Followers: Desna is the goddess of travel and journeys, and there are few who traverse the roads who wouldn't spare her a prayer or a simple-worded plea for benediction. Scouts, sailors, nomads and free-spirits who travel for travel's sake make up a large number of her followers, though her focus on luck also makes her a favorite deity among gamblers and thieves. She is worshiped by elves, halflings, centaurs, and nomadic peoples as well. Religious Practice: Desna generally communicates with her followers through dreams, sending images, feelings, or even prophecies that stick in the recipient's mind after waking. She is sometimes depicted as a single star, sometimes as a moth and sometimes as a female elf or halfling with butterfly wings. Some barbarian tribes picture her as a woman riding an elk. In the river kingdoms she is known as the Moon Mother. The informal clergy of Desna are primarily composed of clerics though on occasion bards are called by some song or whisper in the night to follow her path. Shrines are common in beautiful places and temples double as celestial observatories and have at least one room open to the sky. Critics: Critics believe that Desna's focus on wanderlust and the heavens make her insights impractical and irrelevant for daily life. |