Dzevana
Dzevana, the Great Huntress, is a Prime deity of the Creators' Pantheon. She is a goddess of hunt, blood oaths, revenge and, alongside her sibling Veles, is considered to be the main guardian of all wilderness. Her worshippers include hunters, druids, cattleman, farmers, wolfaren tribes and almost all earth bogokovc.
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Appearance
The Great Huntress is depicted as an athletic huntress, wielding a wooden, skilfully carved bow, that is reminiscent of deer antlers. The upper half of her face is hidden behind a wooden mask of a wolf, highlighting the green glow that comes from her eyes and symbolic face painting. A large dark antlers adorn the huntresses head, and from them a cape made out of hide falls down. Masks of different animals can be seen hanging on her belt.
History
War of The Burning Skies
Creation of bogokovc
Red Dawn
Worship
Following of the Great Huntress for the most consists of hunters, druids, healers, forest dwellers, firbolgs, wolfaren tribes and earth genasi.
Church of Dzevana is widely accepted in Sarmarian Republic, though it is not one of the official religions in the country. Dangean Kingdom is lenient towards this religion, as long as the followers aren't practising any magics, while Rosidor Empire forbids it completely. Many people in rural areas worship the Great Huntress on the same level, as other gods, asking for kind weather, good catch in fishing or hunting, rich harvest of berries or protection in the wilderness from her servants - wild animals. Many blood oaths are made on the Dzevana's name, as she is the guardian of such oaths.
The sacred animals of the Great Huntress are deer and wolf. In the ideology of the Dzevana's church, they symbolize the interconnection of everything in nature.
The Mother Wolf hunts down the Father Deer, killing it and feeding off of it, to produce milk for her children. When the time comes, she succumbs to the law of nature, giving her body to the earth. From her blood and flesh, plants will grow, and one day the Father Deer will come across them and feed on them, to survive another day. That is the balance of nature.
by Felixora
Most of the sacred places of Dzevana are located in Sarmarian Republic, the main being small town of Kryvi Dubi and a bigger one in Somnopol. The place known as a Dzevana's blessing is located on the border between Silfurskogur and Dangean Kingdoms, in the beginning of the Black Smoke Mountain Range. This is a holy land for all Dzevana's followers, and place of living of most earth genasi. The grand tree that grows there almost to the sky, and can be seen from kilometres away, is a gift from the Great Huntress to her worshippers before the Rupture, as a reminder of what's at stakes and that everyone are part of the nature. The pool near this tree is believed to have healing properties.
Even though many wolfaren have been corrupted by Ruer and in the end either started worshipping him, or Semargl, there are still quite a few tribes that follow the teaching of their Creator. Most of these tribes are located in Northern and Central Sarmaria. Many of them are guardians of forests, but they rarely interact with other races.
Holidays
Walking Evenings are a week of celebration, dedicated to both Dzevana and Veles. Celebration start with Day of Moroka (1 Lyutoviy) and end with Vedmeda (9 Lyutoviy). Among people, these 9 days are marked by rampant of spirits.
The first half was devoted to the future harvest and fortune-telling about marriage, and the second was associated with cattle and animals. Veles, in the celebrations, is portrayed as a bear - the "forest king", while their sister Dzevanna is portrayed as a horned wolf - the "forest queen".
People bake ceremonial cookies in the form of domestic animals ("cows", "roes", "doughnuts", "horns"), dress in animal skins and masks, dance in sheepskin coats turned inside out (so that the evil spirits would not recognize them).
Another legend says that at the end of Vedmeda, the Gates of Nava close, all spirits return to their respective places. About this time, the Spark of Heavenly Fire from the Svarog's Forge falls into the waters of the Mriyar, endowing them with miraculous properties.
Horned Hunt is a week dedicated to Dzevana and her domain of Nature.
Only for these 9 days, hunters are allowed to hunt the Horned Wolf and, if they succeed, receive the blessing of Dzevana as well as the title of the Chosen Hunter.
Because of this, annually in Sarmarian Republic, near the Horned Wolf Woods, clerics of the Great Huntress hold a festival dedicated to this event. Hunters from all across the continent gather on this festival, leave gifts of nature (food, hides, plants etc.) to the goddess, as a sign of respect towards her principle of balance - "Do not take more than you need. Restore what you've taken." After that, they prepare for a long 9 days of hunting across the Sarmarian lands.
On this week, hunters have a very limited number of animals they can kill - this is a rule that prevents hunters from shooting down every single horned animal in hopes of hitting the Horned Wolf. They are forbidden from tracking the Horned Wolf or his pack before the start of the Hunt, they can't cheat or try to claim the loot of other hunters.
Those who succeed in hunting down the Horned Wolf must carefully skin it, including the black horns. Clerics of Dzevana know if that year's hunt was successful, and they proclaim the results at the end of the festival.
Even though for years there can be no new Chosen Hunter, people really love this festival and throughout the years it transformed into a fair for hunters, herbalists, craftsmen, and those who just want to place bets on the results of the Hunt.
Commandments of the Great Huntress
- Treat all nature of the world with respect. Do not take more than you need. Restore what you've taken.
- Survival is a natural part of the living - do not get angry on the wolf for needing meat to survive.
- Do not upset the balance of life and nature. Any unnatural thing is a corruption and needs to be got rid of.
Trivia
- The Proto-Slavic name of Devana is “divizna” (or in Polish “dziwizna”, while in Czech and Slovak “divizna”). The name has a Proto-Baltic-Slavic origin and in the Lithuanian language is mentioned as “devynspeke” or “devynjege” which is interpreted as “wilderness”.
Links
- Dzevana is based on goddess Dzievanna (Devana, Ziewanna) from Slavic mythology - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devana
General Information
| Classification | Greater deity |
| Titles |
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| Province |
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| Common symbol | A face of a wolf
horned with deer antlers |
| Gender | Feminine |
| Pronouns | She/her/hers |
| Alignment | True Neutral |
Worship
| Worshippers |
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| Holy day |
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| Associated domains |
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Spouses
Siblings
Veles
(Sibling)
Children
by Felixora
Alignment chart
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