Yuko, the Huntress

The cursed goddess of the hunt stands watch at the planes' thresholds, endlessly combating threats most don't even know exist.

Yuko's Doctrine

Yuko stands on the thresholds between planes, on the bridges where the Feywild bleeds into the material and those thin spots where demons break their walls. This is her burden. Most who follow her are those who ask for her blessings in their hunting. These acolytes she teaches to kill only when necessary, but to respect the sanctity of death in turn. She despises undeath more than any other god.

Her other, rarer acolytes are adventurers who wish to follow in her path and take up arms alongside her at the edges of civilization. These followers become her clerics and her warlocks, wielding powerful bows and silent steps in the battles most people never see.

The Cursed Archer and the Great Serpent

In an age before time, Yuko was mortal, part of some lost elf-like race. Even then, she had an unparalleled skill with a bow. She hunted celestial creatures that would threaten her people, striking much greater creatures than her down with arrows fired from a hand they never saw. It was Geldiran, the Storm-Eater who finally bested her. Rather than die fighting to avenge her family, Yuko fled. She survived, but her guilt warped and changed her. In those times, when the power of will was enough to change the landscape, it was also enough to bring time and mortality to heel. After the Exodus, she passed through the Astral Sea and challenged Geldiran. However, she led with hatred and anger, and without the element of surprise, she was quickly overpowered. She pierced his jaw with an arrow through the roof of his mouth, and Geldiran crushed her leg in his teeth, but she managed to flee into The Pillar of Creation.

Enraged, Geldiran followed her. In the ensuing battle, Canethri drove the serpent away, but not before it killed a Principality called Sione. In the moments that followed, Yuko took Sione's place in the Pillar of Creation. As the story goes, she demanded Canethri let her go, let her take her vengeance and then finally die, but Canethri refused. Now, either because of something Canethri said or because of something Yuko told herself, Yuko believes that serving as a god and living with her guilt is penance for her past cowardice. Now, she travels the planes, watching their borders and protecting the material, especially from those things that threaten the delicate balance between life and death. As ever, she is a silent hunter, and while most mortals will never know how much she protects their quiet lives, adventurers love to tell stories of great felled beasts, pierced with one golden arrow that none of them ever shot.

Titles
The Huntress, The Undying Archer

Pronouns
she/her

Provinces
Stealth and the Hunt

Domains
Grave, Nature, Order

Classification
Principality

Alignment
Lawful Good

Pillar
The Pillar of Creation

---

Warlock Patronage

This god is more likely than most to offer a warlock pact. Consider the following warlock subclasses when making a follower of Yuko:

The Hexblade, The Undying