Syria
Goddess of battle and honorable death
Syria! O, that she may take me in her embrace, and bear me to Zelentium, that I may die with dignity and honor!
Syria (SIGH-ree-a), daughter of the god Bellatan, is a very specific deity, and so only worshipped by a few that are within her domain.
You see, Syria is the goddess of honorable death. Nominally, this means deaths in battle, but she has also been known to take the souls of those who would rather see themselves dead than enslaved or tortured. Her touch brings peace and an end to pain, and so sometimes women in childbirth call out to her as well, discarding Kona-Karr's empathetic hand for one that will actually lessen their torment.
Kona-Karr may be the Divine Mother, but nature is not exactly known for it's kindness.
Divine Domains
Grave, War
Divine Symbols & Sigils
A golden shield with a net draped over it; eagles; foxes; gold; a golden net; cattails; weeping willows
Physical Description
Body Features
Syria resembles her father in most things: same black hair and blacker eyes, same olive skin, but her face is softer and more round than Bellatan.
In addition, she has two sets of enormous eagle's wings on her back, which are normally depicted as fully extended in a sort of halo around her body.
Apparel & Accessories
Syria carries no weapon - only a shield and a net looped at her waist, should she need defense. Nominally, she is depicted as dressed in a metal breastplate with a red skirt, a cingulum militare, and boots.
Sometimes she is depicted as riding a horse, other times she is on foot, or in mid-flight.
Always she is carrying a standard (usually with an eagle on top, but always a bird).
Relationships
Commonalities & Shared Interests
Always in step with one another, Syria is the one who takes Bellatan's faithful to the afterlife. She has her own devotees, of course, but her first priority is taking those who have died with honor upon the battlefield and giving them to Zelentium for their transition into what is beyond. Her devotion to her father is absolute, and she will do what he says in all things.
Commonalities & Shared Interests
Wherever Syria is, Laravelle is not far behind. An honorable death needs to be, well, honored by the living, and that is where Laravelle comes in. The two are as thick as thieves, and some depictions of Syria replace her eagle standard with a crow to symbolize the close connection between the goddesses.
Commonalities & Shared Interests
No one has ever loathed each other as much as Syria and Angoi'suppice do. A goddess of compassion and the end of pain versus a god of torture - who could have guess they would hate each other?
Syria's net sees no more use than when she uses it to entrap Angoi'suppice so she may free his victims from his implements of agony, and he hates nothing more than to see her eagle standard set into the ground on a battlefield.
Commonalities & Shared Interests
Iros-est looks at Syria as an ally. All Syria sees is a fool. He does not understand her devotion to her father - having shed himself of his own immortal attachments long ago - and he perhaps never will. Still, he pursues her as a bride and fellow conspirator to dethrone her father at every turn. To him, he is offering her a chance to become a major deity - one of a duo of war gods that can cut a path through any who dare question their power. What he does not understand in his arrogance is that her place as the Angel of Mercy and honorable death is in opposition to his domains.
The Winged One, The Good Death, Angel of Mercy, the Compassionate
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