Avandra the Change-Bringer (A-van-dra)
Avandra the Changebringer. One of the Prime Divinities. The Goddess of Freedom, Trade, Wealth, Luck, Fortune, Adventure and of the Frontier. The patron of journeymen, merchants, traders, adventurers, those seeking good fortune and those that give in to their fate and live a life most full.
Her portfolio includes everything related to commerce and the accumulation of wealth through free and fair trade, as well as the beneficial use of wealth to improve civilisation.
is the goddess of freedom, trade, travel and adventure. She encourages her followers to venture into the unknown. Her nature leads to few temples dedicated to her in the centers of civilization, but they can be found near well traveled roads. Her worshipers include merchants, free spirits and adventurers.
Then came the Time of Troubles, when she nearly lost her admirers, her church, her divinity, her freedom, and her life. When the Creator cast nearly all the deities into mortal avatar form and scattered them across the surface of Aetheus, Avandra was among them, and like the majority of the fallen gods, wanted most to return home (and the sooner she could reclaim her realm and marshal her resources, the quicker she could influence the unfolding events in her favor). As luck would have it, the first being she met was the avatar of Maevericki and the two deities decided to stick together while they worked out a plan of action. The Golden Lady first advocated a straightforward approach: to climb the Celestial Stairway and bribe Heymdhal with his heart's desire to allow the two goddesses back into the Outer planes. Not known for his ambition, Maevericki went along with the brash young deity's plan. They traveled to and began climbing the Staircase when Heymdhal appeared and threatened them. Alas, nothing that Avandra or the Lord of Joy offered Heymdhal could entice the God of Guardians to shirk his duty, so they retreated to the forest rather than face his wrath. Being intimately familiar with illicit trade as well as legitimate commerce, Avandra decided to smuggle herself back to the Outlands by way of The Astral Sea and a circuitous route through the Lower Planes by making deals, calling in favors, and bribery. By doing so, she hoped to avoid detection by The Creator's servants and sneak back into her realm. Through a twisted chain of contacts she managed to call in a favor from The Traveler, the God of Wanderers. He agreed to transport her to the Astral plane as payment for the debt, but would not go so far as to include Lelyra in the bargain, for fear of the added risk. When it came time to complete the deal however, he found that he could not budge her off her Prime Material Plane—the Creator had bound the gods to Aetheus with an unbreakable bond. Out of options, Avandra gambled that it was her divinity that was tied to the plane and not the vessel carrying it, so Maevericki graciously agreed to hold Avandra's power and portfolio in stewardship until Avandra could reclaim it. Once the transferal of her divinity to Maevericki was complete, Avandra became an ordinary human woman, but still armed with an extraordinary body of knowledge and formidable spellcasting powers. The Traveler was then able to shift her into the Astral plane for the next leg of her journey.
Once free of Aetheus, Avandra contacted some minions of an extremely powerful Abyssal lord named Graz'zt and negotiated (or had previously arranged for) safe passage through the Abyss to the Outlands. In return, Graz'zt was to receive the location of a number of secret treasure hoards on Aetheus and across the planes, and even more useful information about the financial dealings of Graz'zt rival demon lords—information that could give him an advantage in the eternal Blood War between the demons and the devils. The Merchant's Friend was escorted to the Dark Prince's vast realm Azzagrat, which spanned the 45th, 46th, and 47th layers of the Abyss, to the sprawling city of Zelatar, and finally to the sixty-six ivory towers of the Argent Palace; Graz'zt's seat of power. Graz'zt of course never planned on honoring the deal struck with Avandra. Once she arrived in the heart of his realm he had no trouble detaining the mortal form of the Golden Lady and told her she would be his "guest" while they renegotiated the deal previously agreed upon, knowing full well she would not alter a closed contract. This manufactured impasse gave the Dark Prince time to work on his master plan: to find a way for his daughter Thraxxia to possess, control, or impersonate Avandra well enough to fool the gods and elevate Thraxxia to be the new goddess of wealth. Until his plan came to fruition, Graz'zt had to keep Avandra alive and under his control. He knew it was only a matter of time before her worshipers discovered her whereabouts and sent out rescue parties, so he began moving her back and forth between the Argent Palace and the city of Samora where his trusted servant, the succubus Maretta, Lady of the Counting-House, lived. The truth was that most of the heavily guarded and slow moving caravans were decoys designed to lure potential rescuers out into the open and be destroyed. But on one occasion Avandra managed to bribe a guard and escape into the Viper Forest called Zrintor, only to be recaptured later by a search party that could not be bribed into assisting her; they had witnessed the fate of the traitorous demon at the hands of Graz'zt and their fear outweighed their greed. Luck was apparently on the side of the demon lord because no one, not even Maevericki, knew what happened to Avandra after she disappeared into the Abyss. All attempts at divination failed to reveal anything clear or useful. When the Godswar ended all other faiths resumed getting upper-level spells from their deity, but not the Avandra. They continued to be limited to first- and second-level spells and received no inkling of guidance from the Golden Lady. Soon the church of Avandra was falling apart and Lelyra decided to intervene to save what was left of it or there would have been nothing for the Merchant's Friend to return to. She sent her prophet to all of Avandra's temples and announced that she would act as regent for Avandra's portfolio and answer prayers for spells. Many of the distraught Avandra interpreted this to mean that their goddess was truly dead. It was twelve long years after the Godswar before the fevered dreams of Halanna Jashire, a promising young priestess of Avandra stationed in the Goldspire Temple in Marquanport, the capital of Marquandt, gave hope to the anguished members of the Golden Lady's church that their missing deity was alive and being held by the Abyssal lord Graz'zt. A daring band of adventurers set out climbing the Celestial Staircase, made it to the Abyss, and heroically rescued Avandra from numerous minions of Graz'zt, returning her via the Staircase to her realm in the Outlands.
When she finally strode down a lane between the tents and stalls of the sprawling open-air market that was her home, the cacophony of commerce fell silent as they slowly realized who walked among them. In front of her golden palace, Avandra was joyfully met by her seneschal, a gynosphinx named Keelira, who proclaimed the return of the Goddess of Wealth in a voice like thunder as the crowd erupted in ecstatic celebration. Keelira was sent to fetch Maevericki, and soon the Lord of Joy returned Avandra mantle of divinity. And there was much rejoicing. After the exuberance of the celebrations died down, there began a period of recovery for the church of Avandra. During her long absence, referred to as the Interdeium of Avandra, the church suffered an alarming amount of attrition and had to be built back up. Not one to avoid hard work, Avandra set about revitalizing her faithful and combating the wild rumors and speculation that her disappearance and unusual return had generated, including the belief that she was dead. One of the most damaging allegations was known as the Harlot's Coin Heresy inculcated by the League of Six-Fingered Gentlemen, a group that had insinuated itself into the church hierarchy. Their doctrine was that Avandra had traded or sold much of her divine power to Graz'zt and that she was now just a figurehead.
Church of Avandra
The Church of Avandra may not be the biggest, but it is arguably the wealthiest over all of Aetheus. This comes with a great deal of influence, as many come asking for loans from the church, even kingdoms and other churches.Worshippers
Merchants, Adventurers and Travellers. Those that venerate and appease her include merchants from lowly peddlers to the wealthy owners of trading companies, investors, accountants, entrepreneurs, caravan guides, warehouse owners, philanthropists, deal-makers, moneylenders, and so on. Avandra is also the goddess of illicit trade and the patron of many smugglers, fences, black marketeers, and "businessmen" on the shady side of commerce. Collectively, her worshipers are known as Avandra.Orders
Temples & Shrines
Due to her nature there are few temples dedicated to her in the centres of civilisations, but they can be found near well travelled roads. No other temples are as opulent and wealthy as the ones of Avandra. Often designed like great agoras, surrounded by pillars of marble and gold, her temples display wealth and richest, while presenting an opportunity for trade and commerce. The priests of Avandra are known as some of the best negotiators in all of Aetheus and are thus often used as mediators even in political conflicts.Realm
She is a nomadic goddess that travels across all the realms, following wherever the wind takes her, having no realm to call home - except a demiplane known as the Marketplace Eternal, and primarily resides within the Outlands. A huge opulent bazaar that covers many square miles, divided into four quarters and different commerce. In the middle of this enormous marketplace, Avandra resides in a golden palace, known as the Goldstack Palace.Divine Domains
Knowledge - Peace - TrickeryHoly Books & Codes
Book of Commerce The Book of Commerce is a huge tome of laws, exchange rates, values and examples of commerce and trade. It is seen as the holy bok of Prospéria's church and a copy of the book is displayed at any major temple.Divine Symbol
A woman's profile embossed on a gold coin or pendant.Tenets of Faith
- Luck favors the bold. Your fate is your own to grasp, and to do so is to have the Changebringer behind you.
- Change is inevitable. The righteous can ensure that such change is for the better.
- Rise against tyranny. Fight for the freedom of yourself and others when you can, and inspire others to fight when you cannot.
Dogma
Mercantile trade is the best road to enrichment. Increasing the general prosperity buys even greater civilization and happiness for intelligent folk worldwide, bringing people closer to the golden age that lies ahead. Destroy no trade goods, raise no restrictions to trade, and propagate no malicious rumors that could harm someone's commerce. Challenge and refute unproven rumors that could negatively impact trade when heard. Give money freely to beggars and business, for the more coin everyone has, the greater the urge to spend and trade rather than hoard. To worship Avandra is to know wealth. To guard your funds is to venerate her, and to share them well seeds your future success. Call on her in trade, and she will guide you in wise commerce. The bold find gold, the careful keep it, and the timid yield it up.Divine Goals & Aspirations
Avandra is an active and enthusiastic deity who enjoys the ebb and flow of goods via commerce and the rapid pace of business in a thriving marketplace full of spirited bargaining—so much so that rumors of her presence at particularly intense negotiations involving one of her worshipers became legendary. Her side always gets the best bargain, but the other party usually walks away also feeling satisfied about the terms of the deal. Avandra is driven to accomplish a goal and move on to the next one and, rather than being frustrated when the usual business practices fail to work out a solution, she's willing to try alternate methods. This manifested itself in her church sometimes allowing the ends to justify the means. Her stubbornness and dogged persistence occasionally get her in predicaments and likely led to her imprisonment during the Time of Troubles.Personal History
A late edition to the gods. Her popularity grew with the expansion of trade and thriving merchant class across the Kingdoms where the combination of generosity, risk taking, and shrewd business sense made her church enviably wealthy and widely admired.Then came the Time of Troubles, when she nearly lost her admirers, her church, her divinity, her freedom, and her life. When the Creator cast nearly all the deities into mortal avatar form and scattered them across the surface of Aetheus, Avandra was among them, and like the majority of the fallen gods, wanted most to return home (and the sooner she could reclaim her realm and marshal her resources, the quicker she could influence the unfolding events in her favor). As luck would have it, the first being she met was the avatar of Maevericki and the two deities decided to stick together while they worked out a plan of action. The Golden Lady first advocated a straightforward approach: to climb the Celestial Stairway and bribe Heymdhal with his heart's desire to allow the two goddesses back into the Outer planes. Not known for his ambition, Maevericki went along with the brash young deity's plan. They traveled to and began climbing the Staircase when Heymdhal appeared and threatened them. Alas, nothing that Avandra or the Lord of Joy offered Heymdhal could entice the God of Guardians to shirk his duty, so they retreated to the forest rather than face his wrath. Being intimately familiar with illicit trade as well as legitimate commerce, Avandra decided to smuggle herself back to the Outlands by way of The Astral Sea and a circuitous route through the Lower Planes by making deals, calling in favors, and bribery. By doing so, she hoped to avoid detection by The Creator's servants and sneak back into her realm. Through a twisted chain of contacts she managed to call in a favor from The Traveler, the God of Wanderers. He agreed to transport her to the Astral plane as payment for the debt, but would not go so far as to include Lelyra in the bargain, for fear of the added risk. When it came time to complete the deal however, he found that he could not budge her off her Prime Material Plane—the Creator had bound the gods to Aetheus with an unbreakable bond. Out of options, Avandra gambled that it was her divinity that was tied to the plane and not the vessel carrying it, so Maevericki graciously agreed to hold Avandra's power and portfolio in stewardship until Avandra could reclaim it. Once the transferal of her divinity to Maevericki was complete, Avandra became an ordinary human woman, but still armed with an extraordinary body of knowledge and formidable spellcasting powers. The Traveler was then able to shift her into the Astral plane for the next leg of her journey.
Once free of Aetheus, Avandra contacted some minions of an extremely powerful Abyssal lord named Graz'zt and negotiated (or had previously arranged for) safe passage through the Abyss to the Outlands. In return, Graz'zt was to receive the location of a number of secret treasure hoards on Aetheus and across the planes, and even more useful information about the financial dealings of Graz'zt rival demon lords—information that could give him an advantage in the eternal Blood War between the demons and the devils. The Merchant's Friend was escorted to the Dark Prince's vast realm Azzagrat, which spanned the 45th, 46th, and 47th layers of the Abyss, to the sprawling city of Zelatar, and finally to the sixty-six ivory towers of the Argent Palace; Graz'zt's seat of power. Graz'zt of course never planned on honoring the deal struck with Avandra. Once she arrived in the heart of his realm he had no trouble detaining the mortal form of the Golden Lady and told her she would be his "guest" while they renegotiated the deal previously agreed upon, knowing full well she would not alter a closed contract. This manufactured impasse gave the Dark Prince time to work on his master plan: to find a way for his daughter Thraxxia to possess, control, or impersonate Avandra well enough to fool the gods and elevate Thraxxia to be the new goddess of wealth. Until his plan came to fruition, Graz'zt had to keep Avandra alive and under his control. He knew it was only a matter of time before her worshipers discovered her whereabouts and sent out rescue parties, so he began moving her back and forth between the Argent Palace and the city of Samora where his trusted servant, the succubus Maretta, Lady of the Counting-House, lived. The truth was that most of the heavily guarded and slow moving caravans were decoys designed to lure potential rescuers out into the open and be destroyed. But on one occasion Avandra managed to bribe a guard and escape into the Viper Forest called Zrintor, only to be recaptured later by a search party that could not be bribed into assisting her; they had witnessed the fate of the traitorous demon at the hands of Graz'zt and their fear outweighed their greed. Luck was apparently on the side of the demon lord because no one, not even Maevericki, knew what happened to Avandra after she disappeared into the Abyss. All attempts at divination failed to reveal anything clear or useful. When the Godswar ended all other faiths resumed getting upper-level spells from their deity, but not the Avandra. They continued to be limited to first- and second-level spells and received no inkling of guidance from the Golden Lady. Soon the church of Avandra was falling apart and Lelyra decided to intervene to save what was left of it or there would have been nothing for the Merchant's Friend to return to. She sent her prophet to all of Avandra's temples and announced that she would act as regent for Avandra's portfolio and answer prayers for spells. Many of the distraught Avandra interpreted this to mean that their goddess was truly dead. It was twelve long years after the Godswar before the fevered dreams of Halanna Jashire, a promising young priestess of Avandra stationed in the Goldspire Temple in Marquanport, the capital of Marquandt, gave hope to the anguished members of the Golden Lady's church that their missing deity was alive and being held by the Abyssal lord Graz'zt. A daring band of adventurers set out climbing the Celestial Staircase, made it to the Abyss, and heroically rescued Avandra from numerous minions of Graz'zt, returning her via the Staircase to her realm in the Outlands.
When she finally strode down a lane between the tents and stalls of the sprawling open-air market that was her home, the cacophony of commerce fell silent as they slowly realized who walked among them. In front of her golden palace, Avandra was joyfully met by her seneschal, a gynosphinx named Keelira, who proclaimed the return of the Goddess of Wealth in a voice like thunder as the crowd erupted in ecstatic celebration. Keelira was sent to fetch Maevericki, and soon the Lord of Joy returned Avandra mantle of divinity. And there was much rejoicing. After the exuberance of the celebrations died down, there began a period of recovery for the church of Avandra. During her long absence, referred to as the Interdeium of Avandra, the church suffered an alarming amount of attrition and had to be built back up. Not one to avoid hard work, Avandra set about revitalizing her faithful and combating the wild rumors and speculation that her disappearance and unusual return had generated, including the belief that she was dead. One of the most damaging allegations was known as the Harlot's Coin Heresy inculcated by the League of Six-Fingered Gentlemen, a group that had insinuated itself into the church hierarchy. Their doctrine was that Avandra had traded or sold much of her divine power to Graz'zt and that she was now just a figurehead.
