Aelianna

Domains: Life & Purity

Aelianna is the Stewardess of Life & Purity. It is her responsibility to keep the world healthy, which means erradicating sickness, disease or corruption. This applies not just to individuals, but to the life realm itself. Aelianna and her followers are charged with hunting down and eliminating any outsiders that infiltrate our realm. Demons, undead, and Dream Spawn are all considered unclean.

Life as a Mortal

Prior to her elevation to near-godhood Aeliana was a Life Mage of incredible renown. She’d been to over a dozen catalysts, and only Celeste was accounted a more powerful mage. Aelianna presided over a small kingdom, one considered both enlightened and benevolent by its neighbors.

This kingdom was built around the life catalyst known as the Viel of Rashara in the northwestern region of what is now the Ashlands. Aelianna created an order of life mages that served the people of her nation, ensuring that sickness and disease were problems of the past. Her people were healthy, whole and well fed in a time when daily bread was worth far more than any amount of gold.

She was approached by the god Rei, who brought her to the top of Mount Shyar near the center of what is now the Ashlands. He explained to her that the world was at a crossroads. If the light of civilization did not return, if the people were not organized into a united force, then all was doomed.

Not every god had been killed in the godswar, several having fled into the void to avoid losing. Should one of the elder gods return the world was powerless to stop them in their current state. Most of the elder gods were vengeful, and it was quite likely that the first to return could wipe out all life in revenge for losing the godswar.

Aelianna was horrified by the prospect, and asked how these elder gods could be stopped. Rei explained that only a world united in purpose and strengthened by powerful heroes would have any chance of survival. He asked her to be one of these heroes and to work with others to create such a world.

Elevation to Near-Godhood

Aelianna accepted Rei’s offer. He gave her a pendant made from an irridesant material, and it pulsed with more power than any eldimagus she’d held or even heard of. Rei placed it around her neck, and she was instantly filled with incredible power.

The god explained that her power would become greater still as she recruited followers to her cause. He likened such followers to a garden, explaining that only through careful cultivation could her power continue to grow. And grow it must, if the world was to have any chance of surviving.

Aelianna had no trouble believing his words. She’d seen the blasted lands and knew them to be a byproduct of the godswar. If such destruction were to visit the world again then the world had to be prepared if it were to survive.

She took up her new responsibilities eagerly, immediately converting her kingdom to loyal worshippers. She used her newfound powers to improve their quality of life, and to keep them safe from the myriad of dangers present in the world at that time. She helped forge the Elentian empire, adding the strength of her own kingdom just as the other Stewards did.

Aelianna’s Orders

Aelianna seeks to keep the world free of foreign influences such as spirits, undead, demons or waking dreams. Her followers are given the ability to combat and overcome such creatures using Life magic, and over the centuries the denizens of the dark have learned to fear them.

Those followers are broken into several orders:

Physicians– this order specializes in tending to the sick, wounded or diseased. Physicians who are capable learn Life Magic, while those who are not rely on Aelianna’s dedications to grant them the strength to aid those in need. Physicians are highly respected and most people will go out of their way to avoid harming one whenever possible.

Order of the White Hand– Of the several martial orders that follow Aelianna the White Hand has suffered the most in the last decade and a half. These monks served as a vanguard against both the consumed and the Maw Pirates, battling for nearly a hundred and fifty years to prevent Hasra from being overrun by the vampyr.

When the war ended so did their usefullness. Since then they have been viewed as obsolete, no longer needed because the enemy they fought against for so long has vanished. With each passing year they gain fewer recruits, and more older members leave the order to pursue their own agendas in far away lands.

This trend greatly worries Aelianna, who believes that the White Hand will be needed again in the days to come. She believes that the current peace is temporary, and that sooner or later a threat will emerge that requires the strength of the White Hand.