Sorya-Dama
Sorya-Dama is a complex deity. "Born" of the combined thought of the Noste goddess Væð the Enduring and the Súðár goddess Ærðandí the Wyldmaid, the wind god has both feminine and masculine aspects. This dual nature has led to something of a mixed reputation among the various cultures that have encountered them, wherein sometimes the god seems nurturing and compassionate, and at other times appears fickle and mischievous. Even among the Tanaari to whom Sorya-Dama is best known, they are viewed with both reverence and wariness.
Divine Domains
Sorya-Dama has always been considered a weather god, most closely associated with wind. In the Great Khelegaian Desert, they love to sweep across the sands and whistle through the rocks, shaping great dunes and making natural music.
Near the center of the desert, at the great Mohagaara of the Tanaari, the Stormsire communes in ritual with their chosen people and gathers in moisture to release at the Storm Festival, bringing life-giving rain where most believe it never falls. This ritual and festival is known only to the Desert Folk themselves, though there are those from neighboring countries who say they have heard thunder echo across the barren sands, always from deep inside the wasteland.
Holidays
At each of the two Mohagaara of the Tanaari, the Desert Folk hold their legendary Storm Festivals. The days for these events are not fixed, but generally fall somewhere near the beginning of Summer, as determined by necessity, or by the Tribal Elders of the Fourteen Tribes.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
The Changeling can and will appear as either male or female at will, when they bother to take physical form at all; they prefer to simply manifest as a gusting vortex, with their voices carried on the winds. When they do take full physical form, their appearance varies widely, but is always described as wild or untamed.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Prior to "settling down" in the Great Khelegaian Desert after the Targotian Cataclysm, Sorya-Dama ranged far and wide across the surface of Gæðí, where they most enjoyed the ever-moving waters of the world's oceans and seas. When the Ekki of eastern Khelegan built their great city with the help of the great priest-engineer Ankipac Nhoma Te (a disguised Gáðæn Worldfather), Sorya-Dama, known to the present-day Ekkaci as Caryu (SHAHR.yoo), gave the already dominant Priesthood of the Ekki the valuable secret of Fire Powder. For this act, which the Ekkaci believe was both a boon and a burden, as it incurred the wrath of their sun god Ekknuc (ehk.NUSH), Sorya-Dama is both exalted and feared by the Priesthood.
In a similar fashion, Sorya-Dama met the Targotians when that people was still young and their great city Targos was still new. The Targotians already had a fondness and fascination for the sea, and the Wavebringer taught them the ways of winds, tides, and sailing upon the waves.
After the Cataclysm and the formation of the Great Khelegaian Desert, Sorya-Dama bonded with the nascent Tanaari, and had only one other interaction outside the confines of the Desert, when they encountered another group of D'itri (and very few Nari) exiles, recently expelled from Ekkac and sent northeast. The god of storms met these exiles with pity and compassion, helping them site their first great settlement, Hamasa'Orma, and telling them that though they would die, as all mortals do, forevermore they would be part of one Spirit which was eternal, and which would live and grow through all their people1. Thus these exiles became the first Mor'Rhaia, founding the nation of Mor'Rhavid, and giving reverence to the memory of Sorya-Dama as the "Soulgiver".
Note: this was nothing more than an explanation of the workings of the Great Spirits to which all living things belong, and a foretelling of what Sorya-Dama knew was probable, the diverging of the Mor'Rhaia from the D'itri Spirit. The Mor'Rhaia, however, interpreted the god's words as meaning that they alone possess a Great Spirit, and that all other beings are inherently soulless.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Like the Nostín and Súðárín, Sorya-Dama seeks to experience the richness of the gods' creation. Though the wind god played no part in that creation, their "mothers" did, and it is the greatest delight of the dual-natured deity to sweep gustily throughout the physical world. Prior to The Godswar, they tended to explore the whole world, enjoying the waves and spray of the oceans. After the Targotian Cataclysm gave form to the Great Khelegaian Desert, Sorya-Dama took pity upon the Asa and D'itri struggling to adapt there, and adopted these people as their own, forming the basis for the present-day Tanaari. As this confined their interactions to one geographic region and one population, Íðæn the Binder permitted the seeming violation of The Balance.
Vices & Personality flaws
The wind god can be very impulsive, and as a result, has a reputation as something of a trickster.
Social
Family Ties
Sorya-Dama is the "child" of the Noste goddess Væð and the Súðár goddess Ærðandí.
the Wind God, Desert Scourge, Changeling
Windmistress, Stormsire (Tanaari)
Lady of Storms, Wavebringer (Targotian/Zendylite)
Soulgiver (Mor'Rhavid)
Most associated with
Has Sorya-Dama ever longed to return to wandering the whole world, and what would happen if they did?
Good question. I think that having a whole nation devoted to them, a giant ever-changing sandbox, and influence on numerous other nations through their chosen people keeps Sorya-Dama strangely content, though if they were inclined to roam free again, Íðæn would simply say "no". It would be easily within the Binder's power to pin Sorya-Dama in place, if she so desired. Thank you for reading!