Erathis the Law-Bringer (Eh-rath-iss)

Erathis the Law-Bringer, she is the unaligned goddess of civilisation, order, law and peace. One of the Prime Divinities, known as the Goddess of Order, Law, Peace and Civilisation. She was brought forth when the forces of law came in opposition to the chaotic forces of the Abyss, the demons, and sought to destroy them in their entirety - and preserve the bastions of civilisation and bring about the Eternal Peace of time.
She is said to be in a on-off relationship between Pelor and Melora, and is allied with Ergo and Pansophia. Erathis has a tempestuous and furious romantic relationship with Melora, the keeper of wilderness, tempered only when civilisation and nature are in balance. She is probably the only god on cordial terms with Asmodeus, the King of the Nine Hells, as dystopia and tyranny are forms of civilisation. Her antithesis is Melora, the unaligned goddess of wilderness, nature and the sea.

Church of Erathis

Worshippers

Rulers, judges, pioneers and devoted citizens worship her, those who are repressed, magistrates, guardsmen, merchants, traders, craftsmen, citizens, paladins and police. Her temples are present in most major cities of the world. She is the patron of the Minotaur after having defeated the primordial Baphomet.

Clerics

Her clerics are known as the Adjudicators. Wearing white and blue tunics, with silvery borders, and bright tricorne hats. Serving mainly as scribes, lawyers, judges and arbiters. They were a highly organised church, based in meritocracy and idealism, and stronger within more civilised lands. They were known for never refusing service or aid to the faithful when they were in distress. They were expected to show fairness, wisdom and kindness to the innocent - favouring the causes of good and law. They ensured that the innocent go free and advocate the limits of acceptable behaviour, while punishing those that fall into chaotic or evil acts or behaviours. They ensure the rightful procedures and transactions of business is accorded. Preventing the abuse of power, regulating those who are in power and give power to officials in order to assist the public and preach and practice the laws in which society must follow. Righteous, honest, loyal and truthful, their primary pursuits. However, they would enforce any law of a given society and culture - even dubious, strange or evil ones, such as legal slavery.
At one point, Erathis had forbidden specialty priests in her church. The clergy believed that she wished to ensure that no members of the faith were treated with greater favour than others, or afford the ability to abuse one's power.
After the Divergence, the number of other races, particularly the elvish, minotaur and dwarvish members were increasing. It was a more dangerous and dark world by that point, and her followers shone as beacons of hope and courage.
They could not refuse trials of combat.
To atone for their failings and sins during the Century of Broken Magic, the Erathite priests swore to undertake various obligations and responsibilities called the Penance of Duty.

1. To fulfil the Debt of Persecution, they had to aid the faithful of good gods to whom they persecuted, such as guarding their temples or helping them become re-established (such as Craevan, Morpheus, Pygmea, Maevericki and the Raven Queen).
2. In addition, they had to fulfil the Debt of Dereliction by expending every resource possible to eliminate cults of Bane.
3. Lastly, they had to fulfil the Debt of Destruction, by locating and recording areas of dead and wild magic and repairing the Weave across the world.

Paladins Erathis' paladins are known as the Templars. They were loyal and resolute in upholding the law, protecting civilised areas, keeping the peace, dealing against bandits, corruption, crime, and fighting off against evil in the eyes of the law. They were expected to know the law by heart, to read its scrawling's and take part in civilised affairs and politics for the betterment of their city. Every Templar must swear to uphold the Erathan Mandate - a regulatory mandate in which abides by the laws set by the Erathis church, but strictly prohibits the Templars from becoming a law unto themselves, to prevent abuses of power, and to recognise the laws of a given region in their given jurisdiction. They can only hold power in the areas in which the Erathis church is practised and followed, usually in urban areas, - but they must abide by the laws of any given nation or kingdom, and follow them. They are known to wear silvered plate armour, and badges of authority to indicate their level of duty to the law and be easily recognised as Templars. "To serve and protect." That is their motto.

Temples and Shrines

Realms

She lives with Pelor in Hestavar, the Bright City in Celestia, referred to as the "King and Queen of Light" and rule the city. Her home plane resides within the Astral Plane.

Divine Domains

Life - Knowledge - Order - Peace

Holy Books and Codes

Divine Symbols & Sigils

Double-headed axe inset with a pattern of scales.

Tenets of Faith

Erathis commands her devoted followers with three of her many laws:

• Embrace the company and aid of others. The efforts of the individual often pale against the capabilities of community.
• Strive to tame the wilderness of the world in the name of civilisation, and defend points of light and order against the chaos of darkness.
• Uphold and revere the spirit of invention. Create new places and colonies, build where inspiration hits, and expand the laws of the Lawbearer.

Personal History

Erathis was formulated in the early days of the Great Founding. Founding great civilisations amongst the elves, and then to mankind and other civilised races. She was the voice of law and order amongst the people, and the architect of the first great civilisations - working with other gods to divide their realms and territories, but also to define the limits of their power and the jurisdictions to which each deity held sway over. She evoked that all mortals were able to worship and choose which deity they wishe, as was their right by free will - but she carefully watched and expanded the laws of the gods, helping to formulate the great pantheons - dividing them into the Prime Divinities, the Primordial Green, the Exiled and Grey Deities, and the Diabolical Ones. The last, to whom, she charged with the greatest sins and exploitations of the mortals - and condemned each one to their prisons for eternity.
Erathis was one of a number of beings that coalesced in order to combat the Demons of the Abyss. Suited in gleaming armour of pure stability and taking up weapons forged of ideal thought, they waged endless battle. After a time, the deities felt the need to track their progress, created numbers, to record the enemies slain, and time, so they could see how long victory would take. But they began to suspect that the numbers of the demons were infinite, and weary of battle, they moved on towards different projects - such as the creation of worlds and intelligent beings. So the gods created beautiful winged warriors to serve them and wield their divine magic, both in the endless war against the demons and in the worlds yet to be created. These beings, glorious in their diversity, were the Solars. The bravest, toughest, fiercest and most beautiful was Asmodeus - slaying more demons than any other - even than any other deity. But as time waned, Asmodeus and his company took on their enemies traits, so as to fight them more effectively - gradually they changed, their beauty turning to ugliness, and they came to be feared. At the height of their corruption, the fallen angels slayed the unknown creator god, and was banished - imprisoned by Erathis, the god of law. But as time went by, they grew ever more alarming in aspect - fangs jutting from their mouths, their tongues grew forked, and they wreathed their bodies with mantles of fire. They destroyed the new citadels of the gods built to escape them. Asmodeus sued them under the gods own laws, demanding full access to all the privileges accorded champions of order. The deities were distressed but could find no legal way to stop them. So when the gods retreated to their great project - the creation of mortals - demons invaded their world, and Asmodeus was called upon to stop them.
Erathis was present to adjudicate the laws and promises on how to contend with Honours Folly. The event in which the gods plotted to destroy and kill Asmodeus after his fall from grace in the battle against the demons. A desperate attempt of control, and to annihilate the aberration of divinity. But, it was Venarion, the Platinum Dragon that foiled this plot & punished the gods for trying to violate the law. Asmodeus and Venarion sided together against the other gods in a unforeseeable alliance that would be come to be known as Honour's Folly. But Venarion was deceived by Asmodeus, as he destroyed the innocent that were corrupted and driven mad by the demons - Venarion had allowed himself to be bewitched by the devils silver tongue; and by some unknown manner, the two became paramours, and Asmodeus gave birth to a bastard deity, Craevan. Craevan was given asylum amongst the gods, but was treated as an outcast, even by Venarion. Erathis took it upon herself to watch over the young deity, seeing him as an innocent child, and took care of him - though, she also watched him closely and prevented him from seeing Asmodeus, and not be corrupted like he, and if ever it was necessary, to imprison the bastard for eternity.
Before the time in which the gods were allied to good or evil, law or chaos - they had expected their mortal offspring to abide by their wishes, believing that as their creators, they would heed their word. But from being given free will, they sought to tear down the barriers that were set up to keep the demons of the Abyss at bay, from the mountains they erected, the icy wastes, the entrances within the vast oceans, they tried to scale each and every one. Allowing the demons to destroy and run riot. The gods expected voluntary obedience, but Asmodeus offered them a solution, after his fall and war against the demons with his dark angels - Punishment. The consequence of disobeying the gods. Where wrongdoers are made to suffer as a warning to others, where the mortals are given a chose for the paradise of rightful action, or the torment of wickedness. A few will suffer so that the majority can see the consequences of law-breaking. They agreed that the punishment for sin would be torment, hosted and done by Asmodeus and his followers. But, as the mortals died, their souls trickled into the celestial planes that bore the stink of transgression. They flayed the sinners, burned them and placed them on wracks - their screams reverberated throughout the heavens, and blood dripped within the gods holy realm. Thus they arrested Asmodeus and charged him with high crimes against them... to which he proposed that their torment be separated from the divine, and formulated in the place of his choosing... the Nine Hells of Baator, as it would be known. Erathis presided over the formation of the Nine Hells, alongside the other gods, and participated in the deal between Asmodeus and the gods on the regulation of the flow of souls in the afterlife; conceiving over one of the three copies of the Pact Primeval (to which she keeps one copy within her divine realm, the other in Mechanus, and the last resides in the Nine Hells) that ordained the passage of souls into the good, lawful, evil, undefined and faithless planes to the devils in order to fight off against the Demons in the Blood War. She deftly looked over the document, assuring that those devoted to a specific deity were destined to go to their afterlife, those who traded their soul were sent to the Nine Hells, that chaotic evil beings were sent to the Abyss, that the lawful good were sent to Mount Celestia, neutral good were sent to Elysium, and souls with no specific destination were sent to the Shadowfell. It was here that Erathis formed a close relation to Asmodeus, as a ally, as tyranny fell under the domain of law - and Asmodeus kept it to the letter.
She formed an early romantic relationship with Pelor during this time, but also grew truly envious when Pelor sought paramours with the Season Riders of Spring and Summer. When he went to save Eostara from Bane, she grew tired of his pursuits, and fell unusually into the arms of her rival, the wild goddess Melora. He made an oath to aid her, but had committed to aiding Eostara from falling completely to the cycle of becoming Persephone and destroy the natural cycle of the world - which would throw the world in disarray, affecting nature and civilisation in tow. To this, she could not refuse, but their relationship did not solidify, but became fluid, as they tended to their other paramours. She would wade with Melora during the spring and summer when it was most vibrant (when nature and civilisation are in balance), and return to her lover in Hestavar, the Bright City, during the autumn and winter when the sun waned until Pelor left upon the Winter Equinox to journey to the Underworld, when and where Persephone's influence grew strongest in Eostara.
She came into prominence and further power with the rise of the Magocratic Cities during the Arcane Era. Most common-folk grew concerned by the potential upheaval and abuses of power by the powerful mages at the time - and many mages often skirted the law in order to increase their own power and prominence. Here, Erathis embodied the moniker of 'the Judge' - appreciating the plights of the common-folk, but also limiting the abuses of power by the mages. To this degree, she helped found the ancient order of the Templar, to originally define the limits of magic but assure necessary progress to improve the lives of the community as a whole. The greatest concerns by the abuses of magic were the newly found practices of Enchantment schools and Necromancy - abusing the sanctity of free will, and the sanctity of life. During this time, the Templar order attempted to spread its influence with the aid of Erathis - and those that sought immortality were brought low by Erathis. She summoned the aid of Venarion to go against these abusers of power - and thus the Magocrats warred against the draconic citadels of the Dragonaughts.
Erathis' concerns were drawn away at the time after a truly concerning event in which Bane had enslaved and corrupted an entire race of ancient beings, giving rise to the goblins of Banaethlin - and while maintaining the newly evoked laws against the abuses of magic, she tried to arrest Bane for his transgressions - as he was once the defender of the gods, now falling to the darkness of the land and becoming known as the Dread Emperor. But, the conniving god validated his rule over those with his strict and authoritative stance of law - despite the monstrous corruption, he abided by the rules of the gods. Despite her ruling, Erathis began to believe that the interference of the divine with the mortal were getting out of hand - but law and order will prevail over all.
At this time, came the young goddess Avandra, the Changebringer - and the two formed a great friendship at the time; working in law and order, being beneficial to trade and commerce. They both found a bounty and a prosperous relationship, as both benefitted from one another's cooperation. It was during that point, where Avandra fell into disarray, as the war between the gods turned against her and her church began to lose influence amongst the other cities. The heretical schism known as Harlot's Coin Heresy occured, where Avandra began selling off portions of her divinity and virtue to Graz'zt the Dark Prince, in order to finance her church. Granting him powers. Upon discovery of this, Erathis was enraged, alongside Venarion - but she lamented to hear that she had been taken and imprisoned within the Abyss, and within the dark layer of Graz'zt. It was believed that it was for failing to pay for her debts that Graz'zt imprisoned her in the Century of Broken Magic. These heretics taught that she earned her freedom only by finally paying her debt to the demon, resulting in Graz'zt owning the majority of Avandra's godhood. The heretics believed that all who worshipped her were really worshipping Graz'zt instead, and they were content with that arrangement. Erathis was not. It was in her interests to aid in bringing her back to her prominence, but the Dark Prince is not easily satisfied, and Erathis was bound by law to not deal with such evil entities. Thus she compelled the aid of Quorlinn and Craevan, to retrieve the lost Avandra... but in reality, it was Romeus the Sire of Sorrow that aided her. And quickly returned Avandra back to the realm, taking her place, much to Graz'zt's satisfaction and delectation. From then on, it was Avandra's condition to reclaim the lost pieces of divinity from the Demon Lord - and reclaim Romeus from the clutches of the Demon Lord.

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THE SECRET PLAN OF ERATHIS
Erathis had a great vision before the Dawn War; to unite the different divine realms (or dominions) of the Astral Sea from what had been effectively a divine equivalent of widely scattered city-states into something resembling a single densely populated and integrated nation. This plan to unite all the realms through instantaneous communication and transportation was called the Lattice of Heaven. Even though that plan was violently disrupted when the Primordials devastated the Astral Sea, she hasn't given up on the idea of rebuilding the Lattice of Heaven and restoring her vision. To this end, she has begun a wide-reaching plan to achieve this goal - which may not be entirely for benevolent reasons, since the other gods haven't quite worked out just what effect turning the Astral Sea into a singular integrated heaven will have on the goddess of civilization...
The primary step, which occupies her exalted, is called "The Game of Making". This is a veritable fever of invention and craftsmanship that is upheld by all divine servitors and petitioners of Erathis; by learning how to create everything that can be created, Erathis will master the current laws of creation, in order to codify and improve the final laws of creation. This is actually not as morally pure as it may sound; knowing everything means knowing things that others would consider quite dark. Poetry, oratory, watercolour, tea ceremony, combat magic, invention, siege work, dance, creating new rituals, creating new life — all these forms of creation are of utmost importance to Erathis’s mission. As such, she often has to subcontract the Game of Making, holding experiments off of Hestavar and forming alliances with morally dubious sorts - such as Vecna - to understand this dark lore. Creating Warforged and Broken Ones is as much part of the Game of Making as is creating indoor plumbing and magi-tech.
The secondary and tertiary aspects of her plan are simple; the restoration of the destroyed and abandoned dominions and the elevation of new gods to rule over them. Whilst comparatively simple compared to the Game of Making, this is still not easy; the lost dominions have become infested with all manner of monsters, to say nothing of the dangers that may come from poking around in the realms of gods like the Raven Queen and Tharizdun.

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During the Cataclysm, Erathis had done battle against the Demon Prince Baphomet, and in her victory against the being she gained a prominent following of Minotaur - becoming known as the Righteous Horns. She adopted the mantle by wearing a set of horns that appear like a halo, wrapped in a wreath of olive branches - to be known as a figure of peace and order. Becoming well-defined as the guardians of civilised centres, and watchers of the walls and streets.
Erathis participated in a gambit during the Century of Broken Magic, attempting to halt the progress of Bane getting his hands on one of the missing Tablets of Fate, threatening the balance of divine power upon the world, she fought in order to keep it safe. Her avatar was summoned in the world, which battled and completely destroyed Bane, whom had already been weakened. However, she knew she did not have enough power to eliminate the god, and made the grim decision to absorb the souls of her worshippers to grant her the power to defeat Bane, knowing that they would be instantly killed. The transferring of souls was done voluntarily and took thousands of lives, but she chose to spare children aged 14 and below. These individuals became known as the Martyr's Progeny. With this power, Erathis destroyed Bane's body and she absorbed his portfolio, and counselled all of his followers to offer their allegiance to Erathis. She sacrificed her position as the true being of law to Venarion until she atoned for her sins, but still remained as the Law-Bearer of the Prime Divinities.
Venarion further proved his aid to Erathis during the initial chaos that enraptured the civilised world in the early stages of the Rift Schism. Because of their loyalty, and their alliance with the remaining Dragonaught citadels - Erathis granted the Platinum Dragon portions of her power.
Erathis was called upon during the Rift Schism, and in her efforts to maintain peace - her followers maintained the prominence of a host of protectors from the dreams of certain beholders that allied themselves with civilised nations. Thus came to be known as the Many-Eyed Watchers. And thus, many of her temples henceforth became protected by the summoned aberrant creatures known as Spectators.

Physical Description

She is shown as a hooded, armoured woman sitting atop a throne, her face obscured or expressionless. Wearing a gleaming helm with a set of horns that connect to appear like an ivory halo, wreathed and wrapped with olive branches.