Samrukh

Samrukh, also known as the Queen of Birds, the Rainbow Bird, the Great Phoenix or in some circles the Child of the Sun is a Chaotic Good deity associated with life, healing, rebirth, sacred flames, birds and the sky.

Appearance

She usually appears as a gigantic red bird with some canine-like features, and her feathers are highly iridescent. Like most deities however she is able to change her shape at will, sometimes choosing to appear as a much smaller, albeit still large fiery bird or even disguising herself as a humanoid.

Personality

While she can be impulsive and unpredictable at times, she is generally good-natured and bears no ill will to any living thing that respects life.

Powers

Her most well known power is her ability to return any creature to life, even if nothing but a shred of their soul is all that remained. She has passed down some of this power to her children, the phoenixes, with the task to give their life to save that of those who are deserving. She also shared her powers of Truesight with them, and the ability to read any creature's intentions, and has the ability to see and feel what her children perceive anywhere in the world.

Pacts

Many people in the world seek her out to ask for powers, and if your intentions are good, she will grant you a part of her powers. She only gives powers to those of good alignments, and neutral individuals on a case by case basis. Evil individuals who seek her powers for destruction, or people whos actions caused their alignment to change after they received her blessing will usually find themselves burned to a crisp on the spot however.
Typically there are two different ways to obtain powers from her, one is through regular worship and doing good, and the other is by being chosen by her as an individual.
The former are usually clerics, healers or doctors, but sometimes you can find druids or shamans blessed by her. Paladins and crusaders of any kind are relatively rare however, as she does not approve terribly much of battles against living things. Those few warriors that were blessed by her powers usually swear an oath to do no harm to any living soul, and instead fight against the Blight and any form of undead creatures.
Individuals chosen by her can be of any class or profession, and either sought her out on her own, or had a fateful encounter with her at some point. These people often serve as oracles and leaders to guide the world to a better place, and she has very strict expectations of them. To ensure they stay true to their mission and won't fear the sacrifices required of them, these chosen individuals are gifted with a phoenix's egg, to be hatched in the flames of the next winter solstice, which will serve as their loyal companions and familiars. If they treat this creature well and stay true to Samrukh's values, the phoenix will bring its master back to life by sacrificing its own life should they ever die.

Principles

The core principles anyone has to follow if they wish to stay in her good graces are as follows;

Be merciful. All life is precious, never take another's life if you can avoid it, but contain those who would threaten others.
Fires are sacred. Do not use them for lesser purpose or destruction, and never extinguish its life.
Samrukh's light is the source of all life. Never cast your shadow over another creature's heart or mind in the sun.
TBA

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These rules must not be followed down to the letter, but are meant as rules of basic respect for Samrukh's domains. Interpretation of these is up to the individual for the most part, but here are some examples of what would be okay and what would not be.

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- Be merciful -

A thief is still a person, no matter who they stole from, and as such deserves at least the most basic respect for their existence. Instead of slitting their throat on the road, you should try to knock them out and turn them over to the law. A murderer on the other hand, while still deserving basic respect, is a threat to other people's life. When confronted with the choice whether to kill them, or risk them getting away to kill more people again, it is acceptable to put a quick end to their life, but not to torture them while doing so.

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- Fires are sacred -

A lesser purpose is defined as, for example, burning your garbage. Destruction is pretty self-explanatory, if you really have to destroy that house or get rid of that forest for whatever reason, take an axe or disintegrate spell, or anything, just not fire. The second part of the principle can be interpreted in vastly different ways. Some fanatics might say you shouldn't interfere with any fire ever, and let the whole forest burn down, while more reasonable individuals might want to contain the flames by any means necessary to save as much of the forest as they can, but leave one branch of the original fire burning in a safe location so it will burn out on its own. In daily life, this also means you should not extinguish any campfires or candles, which some might take as a demand to always keep candles and fires burning in the temples, while others simply use candles with a shorter lifetime to avoid having to put them out after a few hours.

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- Samrukh's light is the source of all life -

The sun is an important symbol associated with Samrukh, and its light undeniably is a source of life. As such, any follower of Samrukh should try to not stand in such a way as to block out the sun's light for any other creature. This can easily be avoided by just taking half a step to the side when having a conversation with another creature.

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SPOILERS

Spoilers!

CONTENT

Divine Domains

Fire, Healing, Rebirth, Birds, Sky, Mercy

Holidays

Winter Solstice

Divine Classification

Deity

Church/Cult

Children of the Sun and Moon