Varva

Goddess of Wilderness and Seasons

Domains: Nature, Twilight
Weapons: Claws, Longbow; Physical, Cold
Symbol: A brace of arrows bound in ivy against a background claw slash; the constellation Aurumvorax
Dominion: Wilderness, Seasons, Leylines, Beasts, The Pack, Omens, Instinct, Cunning, Ambush, Survival, Endurance, Adaptation, Natural Ability, Archery, Hunters, Shamans
Varva is goddess of the wild, the seasons and the flow of natural energy, as well as beasts and hunters. She is said to sing with the pack, run with the herd and fly with the flock. She uses secrets learned and adapted from her mother Oneiste to guide the power of the land to flow in controlled ways through the world so it doesn't overly distort reality, thus creating the network of leylines and nodes that cross Iroa like an elaborate web, and her influence exists everywhere that civilization has not pushed back the wilderness.
In the time of the titans, nature was far more chaotic. The seasons changed erratically, or not at all, depending on the whims of the titans and of the giants with whom they held court, in a strange and shifting patchwork quilt across the world. With the fall of the titans, and with some initial assistance from other deities with influence over natural forces, Varva took up the primary responsibility of bringing nature into a more harmonious cycle, doing so mainly so that her beloved beasts and plants would have something upon which they could depend but incidentally providing a service to the world as a whole in the process. This effort not only created the ley lines but brought the seasons into their ordered cycle - always changing, always progressing, but in a dependable way. In the wake of this great work, the chaotic and often sickly wildlands of Iroa settled into a more robust vibrance of life. Fate energy from the Astra also flows through these veins on its course through the world before dripping into Crixos, and so Varva's work allows omens to manifest in the behavior and even physical form of plants and animals.
Varva's primary concern is all animals that walk, crawl, dig or fly, but she does not loathe saptient mortals. People too are children of the Gods and are part of the circles of life and death, a piece of the natural world, and Varva recognizes this. It is okay for people to hunt for food if they respect their prey and do not waste the gifts of its life and body, for people to tame and work with animals if they are well treated, for people to establish homes in the frontier if they live harmoniously with the wild. Even spellcasters who channel the power of nature are merely emulating Varva herself, and the power of the ley lines renews itself continuously if it is not overtaxed. What Varva despises are the poleis, the great city-states, and their unnatural concentrations of people and enormous drain upon the resources of the land. A village might live harmoniously by a pond in the woods with modest patches of crops, but a polis will drink that pond dry, cut down most of the trees, kill almost all of the animals, and bleed the soil dry with rampant farmland. In seeing these depredations upon her wilderness, Varva is becoming hostile toward the peoples of these centers of civilization, and is more actively resisting their encroachment upon the untamed areas of the world. Time will tell how well this goes, or if it is a doomed mission and mortals spread to cover every inch of Iroa in time.

Varva's Tenets

Varva commands that you live in harmony with the world, keep the footprint of your negative impact as minimal as possible, and try to give back as much as you take. Do not interfere with predators engaged in the natural work of their lives if they are not actively threatening you and yours. Respect and honor that which you kill, and use every part of its body so its death serves a purpose and was not a waste. Harvest the forest judiciously; you may thin it but not clear it, must avoid harm to places of great beauty and power, and must plant a replacement for every tree that you take. Be careful with fire so that it does not get out of your control.

Varva's Relationships

Oneiste is said to be Varva's mother, and Oneiste and Thala are closest to Varva in mindset, more concerned with the bigger picture of the world as a whole. Oneiste reads the decrees of Fate, the energy of which flows through the veins of Varva's ley lines in the world, and abhors and seeks to banish, destroy or seal fiends and other unnatural entities that disrupt the world, just as Varva abhors and hunts them. Thala is mother and shepherd to beasts below the waves just as Varva is to those above, and both prefer open spaces and the sound of nature to the cramped confines and endless hum of mortal poleis.
Mytrah largely has Varva's respect, despite her most public role as goddess of agriculture. Varva understands that mortals must eat just as her beasts must, provided that the wilds are not burned and pillaged to make this happen. Mytrah's fecundity also blesses the woods and swamps and open plains, and her role and that of her handmaidens as reapers of the dead is as important to animals as it is to people. Some of the most beautiful and potent places of natural wonder and power are those sites where both Varva and Mytrah have come together in their travels and have cooperated before continuing on their respective ways.
Idaedon's winds and Heliana's sun are necessary for the natural world to thrive. At the same time, when unrestrained or enraged, Idaedon can flatten forests with storms and Heliana can parch the land dry even far from a desert. Varva has a cautious relationship with them, and seeks to redirect or restrain them when they get out of control.
Paideia and Lyrium are the gods most associated with civilization and culture, and so to Varva they are the enemy. The polis may be convenient to people, but Varva sees it as a blight upon the world.
The Three Faces of War, Embrys Nykos and Stratia, inevitably cause ruin in their wake and that of the soldiers and armies who they represent. Varva has a cautious respect for Nykos, who is more a god of soldiers than leaders and who she sees simply as a boisterous and happy-go-lucky oaf, if a very skilled one; as well as Embrys, god of destruction and upheaval, whose power is mostly bent against the urbanites Varva hates, as well as in culling mortals rather than beasts. But she fears and hates Stratia, who oversees not only military commanders but the rapacious hand of the merchant and business-person.

Worshipping Varva

As goddess of beasts and instinct, Varva receives prayers from those who suffer from encroachment of predators and wish to appease Varda, from those who admire beasts and wish to borrow some of their strength and abilities, and from hunters offering respectful thanks to the animals they take and the goddess who oversees them. As goddess of the seasons and the power of nature, she receives the prayers of those who are depending on calmer climate to make their jobs possible, and those who tap into the power of the world and want to do so in a responsible and sustainable way. As goddess of survival and adaptation, she receives the prayers of those in hard times who just need to hold out for a little while longer, and those who dwell or must travel into the wilderness and need to survive off the land.

Wepawy

In Nubir, Varva is known as Wepawy. While Nubir is a warm and often harsh land, it still receives the touch of the seasons and all life depends on them. It is Wepwawy who established the monsoon cycle which feeds the floodplains of the Idam and other great rivers of Idam, permitting people and animals to flourish in the desert. It is Wepwawy who scouted for the rulers of the first age and taught people to hunt, and to compensate for physical weakness with the gift of the arrow, allowing rampaging monsters to be put down. It is Wepwawy who showed the people how to survive in difficult times, and who taught the roving tribes that it is okay to move from one place to another as the beasts do so that not too many people are competing for limited resources in a single place for an indefinite period of time. Though she is ever away from the Yahre-Nesyt scouting and hunting in the hinterlands, she is nevertheless counted proudly among their number, as huntress and shamaness of the legendary Court of Sun and Moon.

Varva's Champions

Suggested Classes: Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Ranger, Rogue
Suggested Backgrounds: Athlete, Folk Hero, Hermit, Outlander
Champions of Varva typically have a kind of primal nature to them, a somewhat feral energy that others around them can feel, and do not always feel comfortable in bastions of civilization surrounded by crowds of people. They are often perceptive and patient, able to wait for the right opportunity to act then seizing upon it quickly and decisively. they may or may not be superstitious in general, but they recognize the appearance of an actual omen for what it is. They are tough, perhaps far tougher than they look, and able to endure far more than their peers.

Varva's Favor

What brought Varva's path together with yours? You may roll or choose on the table below for ideas, or develop an idea of your own with the GM.
d6 / Circumstance

1. Your parents died when you were a baby, but you were found safe being nursed by a wild animal.
2. You healed an injured animal, which then revealed itself to be Varva in disguise.
3. You won an archery contest with a stunning shot, and afterward chastised those who impiously compared your skills to Varva's.
4. A unicorn has appeared to you several times in your life, often after protecting animals or nature.
5. You read omens in the flight of birds, the work of insects, and the patterns formed by flowers and sacred grasses.
6. You lived alone in the wild for a year. In all that time, you never heard another mortal's voice, but Varva spoke to you regularly.

Earning and Losing Piety

You increase your piety score with Varva when you expand or shore up her influence in a concrete way, including but not limited to:

• Helping beasts in peril, especially against those who hunt for sport or profit instead of food
• Bringing balance to a project of civilization so it doesn't threaten nature, or ruin if balance is not possible
• Proving yourself in tracking or archery
• Restoring the vitality of a damaged or sickened forest or other natural area

Your piety score to Varva decreases if you diminish Varva's influence in the world, contradict her ideals, or make her look ridiculous or ineffectual through acts such as these:

• Killing an animal for any reason other than necessity and in any but the swiftest manner
• Helping to construct or dedicate a civic or mercantile building
• Protecting a polis or farm from natural dangers
• Offering living sacrifice to any deity or spirit, including Varva herself

As a champion of unusual standing in the world, you receive benefits as your piety score rises. If you are a cleric or paladin of Varva, you start with a piety to Varva of 3.

Initiate (Piety 3+)

You gain Inspiration when you defend nature against civilization's encroach or you put down blights like aberrations and the undead, or you perform an act that gains you piety. You also have advantage on rolls to know about Varva, her servants, and her works, and you know (the DM warns you) before you commit to an act that would displease Varva.

Devotee (Piety 10+)

As a devotee of Varva's mysteries, you walk as one with the natural world. You learn either the primal savagery cantrip or the resistance cantrip (choose one), and learn either the hail of thorns spell or the longstrider spell (choose one). Choose Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma to be your casting modifier for these spells. You can use the cantrip at will, and the spell a number of times per day equal to your casting modifier. If you are a spellcaster, treat the cantrip and spell as bonus spells known of your class that are always prepared.

Votary (Piety 20+)

Varva's blessing gives you a deep connection to nature. Whenever you are around plants or fungi or unworked stone, you always have an unlimited supply of basic ammunition for your projectile weapons like bows or slings as the land provides; also, by searching for 1 round you can acquire an improvised simple weapon or skill tool in the form of a "lucky find" of a perfectly shaped branch, rock or et cetera. Additionally, you can cast find familiar with no material components, except the creature you call is any animal or ambulatory plant with a CR of 1/4 or less. This creature is a fey beast or fey plant, its Intelligence is 4 higher than normal, and you and your familiar can understand each other. You get advantage on ability checks to calm or otherwise interact with animals of the same basic type as your familiar. If your class gives you a full fledged companion, this companion can gain all the traits of a familiar in place of you summoning a separate familiar. You regain this ability only after a long rest after your current familiar dies.

Disciple (Piety 40+)

Varva bestows upon you the secret of Varva's Kindred. Beasts and plants that attack you must make a save against your spell DC (based on the higher of your Dexterity or Wisdom if the save fails, they must choose a different target or the attack misses you, while on a successful save they are immune to this ability for 24 hours. Additionally, your familiar adds your proficiency bonus to its attacks, saving throws, AC, and all skill checks with which it is proficient, if it does not do so already.

Champion (Piety 60+)

Varva's surpassing favor gives you a supreme bond to the natural world. The free ammunition from your Votary ability are magical +1 weapons for you, any "natural" improvised weapon or tool is +1 in your hands, and your familiar is also a +1 weapon that also gets a +1 bonus to its AC and saving throws. You are also immune to any ill effects of exposure from a natural environment that does not rise to the level of a Hazard (e.g., being inside a volcano is a Hazardous environment and not simple exposure), and you cannot be diseased or poisoned by consuming any natural thing. 
Additionally, increase your Dexterity or Wisdom score by 2, and also increase your maximum for that score by 2.