Sarenrae

"There is no greater light in thee than thine virtue of helping others. That is why our goddess hath assembled those characters within herself, perfection incarnate" - Common Zealot Prayer

The Sun goddess, Mother of Healing, The Cleansing Light

Sarenrae is the goddess of the Sun and healing. She is the true successor to the god of Sun and Beauty Ug Gandr of the First Pantheon , adopting more lawful aspects compared to her predecessor, and thus being heralded as a true incarnation of what an orderly god should be, perhaps even by some seen as a true child of Ragdafuria, goddess of order . Thus, the sun goddess shoulders the heavy burden of being considered by many mortals as the only truly purely good god of the Second Pantheon,  which has made her almost obsessively involve herself with mortal affairs where other gods should not. Though Sarenrae is not known to have bestowed many artifacts upon heroes of note, she is said to bless most of her clerics, either of the life or light domains with many perks that allow them to do her work of eliminating suffering from the continent as efficiently as possible. Furthermore, as her motives are clear, the strict code of her followers is ingrained especially into human culture and sometimes seen as law by entire countries or governments.
Sarenrae is believed to be the main deity to have sanctified the creation of the Western Alliance , as one of her main clerics, a woman by the name of Janala Sunscourge , was one of the founding members of the council of the Alliance along with the great families, claiming that she acted under the direct will of the sun goddess. This claim is seen as truth by most, as the goddess is said to have voiced her wishes through many a paladin and cleric already, playing an active part in keeping the balance between the different factions of the continent. Thus, Sarenrae is venerated by the Alliance as one of the main patron deities, while its political enemies, namely the southern empire of  Eshneff'il only dedicates marginal shrines to her, claiming to venerate the true god Effneki directly.
Sarenrae is however not solely venerated by humans, she is often one of the main deities of the elves and the halflings, with the former often confounding her with their patron lesser God Corellion. As such, temples to the sun goddess vary greatly in design, ranging from wooden shrines to great stone temples with a gigantic statue in her name, but  all have of insignia of both the blazing sun with the cross at its center as well as her figure of a blazing angel with outspread arms. Though venerators of Sarenrae will go from common folk to king, her true priests are some of the most dedicated on the continent, spreading good and healing throughout and adhering strictly to what they consider is pure good, and through their great number and fervor, the sun goddess is one of the most powerful in the Pantheon, rivaled only by the likes of Gorm , god of war and conflict, and Hachubna , goddess of mysticism and magic

Divine Domains

Sarenrae is the goddess of the Sun and Healing, encompassing everything that is lawful and good in the realm. It is thanks to her that light shines upon the world and warmth is brought into homes of noblemen and peasants alike. Thanks to her, mortal wounds have been healed, heroes have been resurrected from certain demise and illenesses were stopped from ravaging the entire continent. Thus, Sarenrae is the object of worship of any person and any race indiscriminately, leading to some things like fire and law being, often wrongly, attributed to her portfolio.

Artifacts

Sarenrae has blessed many a hero and adventuring party, but her blessings are usually in the form of courage, powers or valliancy, not objects. Thus, very few artifacts attributed to her are known to exist.
The only artifact whose knowledge has been preserved is the bow of light and flame said to be made of flame itself and shooting arrows of divine light. It is said to be able to pierce any target the wielder desires, but its shots can also be used to heal the wielder's allies the same way. This ambivalency was a gift from the sun goddess to her most devout cleric at the time, a drow who found the light named Hurzerin Sauviir, and who after leavinf the dark elf continent decided to spread light throughout the continent and sacrifice himself to a life of healing. Some say he is still alive to this day, other claim he perished alone in a dark cavern beneath the earth, what is certain is that he has the bow of light and flame with him forever.

Holy Books & Codes

As a goddess of order, Sarenrae's words tennets have been recorded in a book named the gospel of light a text that each of her clerics carries with them at all times, and that they use to spread her good word. Many of the Gospel's sections are written in verse, allowing to be sung and spread with merriement across towns and cities by the sund goddess' faithful.

Divine Symbols & Sigils

Sarenrae mainly has two divine symbols. The first is a figure emblematic of herself, an angel with up turned wings, spread arms and flaming hair. It is mainly used by the common folk in effigies, statues and talmismans etc. The second, which is often worn by clerics and seen in temples is an eight pointed sun with a cross in the central circle, that symbolizes Sarenrae's warming light.

Tenets of Faith

Sarenrae's tenets are simple, but strict. Followers of the sun goddess must strive to help and heal anyone in need, thank the sunshine when it appears daily, and try to maintain order and goodness in the world, a moral compass guided by the aforementioned gospel of light.

Holidays

Sarenrae Has many holidays dedicated to her throughout the cultures, though two stand out mostly. The first is the wood elven holiday of Shan'bahim on the longest night of winter, where the Elven Forest  is lit up by hundreds of thousands of lanterns, fluorescent plants and the like as if to ward off the long night and let in the light, a spectacle that attracts many visitors to the usually isolationist wood elves.
The second is Summer's end, celebrated on the first day of autumn by the people of the Western Alliance , it is a festival of grace to thank the goddess for her bountiful light in the summer and a prayer that her rays will help the common folk through winter. It is a grand celebration especially in Mikestshire , where fireworks and masked figures parade the streets.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Sarenrae was born from the second fusion of the First Pantheon and The first Higher Ones . However, her circumstances are slightly more complex than that of the others of her kin, as she is the direct successor of Ug Gandr , the god of the sun and beauty of the First Pantheon. Ug Gandr was the first to die in the battle against the First Higher Ones, and thus the first to disappear, and when the fusion happened, this manifested in his essence not being mixed fully with that of the Higher Ones, leading to an almost direct succession of his portfolio into the second pantheon. Thus, Sarenrae was born inheriting the very essence of Ug Gandr, and many claim that her unimaginable power is due to this succession. This time, however, Order prevailed by leaving behind the emotional turmoil of exstatic beauty,which in part was inherited by Lugh , goddess of art and Commerce, something that many priests of Sarenrae interpret as being the true succession of the founder Ragdafuria, goddess of order    , which is still debated however by other not so zealous theologists.
The warmth that Sarenrae inherited from her predecessor along with her orderly nature might have led to the abandoning of the portfolio of beauty, but it led also to Sarenrae adopting the domain of healing. She became a symbol of hope, light and recovery, her radiance making her among the most venerated gods of the Second Pantheon early on along with Daghda , goddess of earth and harvest. She now still is, but as civilizations have grown and advanced, other gods rose up to her level.

Morality & Philosophy

Sarenrae believes in everything that is good and orderly. She is the archetype of the moral god, trying her best to instill values of virtue, humility and greatness in all. The sun goddess rarely sees matters of moral ambiguity as such, and believes steadfast in an idealist solution to problems.

Social

Family Ties

Sarenrae often is pictured with other good aligned gods such as Goibhniu and Lugh . For the fomer, she is often pictured as the fire that animates the smith god's flames, though this might be sheer legend, while for the latter a friendship is more commonly known as both the sun goddess and the goddess of art and commerce are known to have inherited a part of Ug Gandr 's portfolio. However, Sarenrae is often more preoccupied with the matters of mortals than those of her fellow gods, which often means, as the sole lawful good god of the second pantheon, that she is depicted as being a divinity amongst divinities in the eyes of her mortal followers.

Divine Classification

Greater god of the second Pantheon

Religions

• Second Pantheon

Circumstances of Birth

The second fusion between the first Pantheon and the First Higher Ones

Presentation

typically female

Eyes

Shining Yellow

Hair

Long flames of yellow and orange

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Dark tanned

Belief/Deity

Sun, Healing