Desna, Goddess of Dreams and Stars

Alignment: Chaotic Good
Portfolio: Dreams, Luck, Stars, Travelers
Cleric Domains: Fate, Life, Light, Nature, Peace, Twilight
Symbol: A Swallowtail Butterfly
Other Names: The Great Dreamer, the Song of Spheres, Queen of the North Star
Divine Realms: The Cynosure in Arborea
Typical Worshippers: Travelers, Astronomers, Gamblers, Musicians
Edicts: Aid fellow travelers, explore new places, express yourself through art and song, find out what life has to offer
Anathema: Use magic to corrupt dreams or cause nightmares, cause fear or despair, engage in bigoted behavior
Favored Weapon: Starknife
The night did not know beauty until Desna, the Song of Spheres, came into existence. While the other gods toiled away to create the world, she set her sights on the heavens, placing each star in the sky. After surveying her artistry, she hung the brightest star high in the north and made it her home. Her first gift to mortals was this beacon of hope, a twinkling sign in the dark sky that they could turn to when lost or unsure of themselves. Desna provides safe passage through the darkness to all, should they choose to follow.
Desna was one of the first creation deities, but while her peers burdened themselves with the task of creating the material plane, she spent her time building the heavens, for she knew that there would be plenty of time for her and her followers to explore the many wonders of the world afterwards. She's changed little since those earlier days, and she and her followers delight in exploring the world.
She is often described as a beautiful elven woman, with butterfly wings containing all the beauty of a clear night sky. She is oft depicted as having dark hair, silvery eyes, and a coy but distant smile, wearing diaphanous gowns and sometimes accompanied by swarms of butterflies.
The church of Desna has few temples to its name, and its priests rarely settle in a single location. The faithful of the Great Dreamer can be found on the roads, among the caravans and others who wander and call the beauty of the wilderness home.

Rites, Holidays, & Trials

The Tranquil Voyage

The Song of Spheres delights in the act of travel, of seeing unfamiliar places and undergoing new experiences. Many adventurers take to the road to wage battle, to hunt and to slay; the Tranquil Voyage asks the faithful to walk the path of discovery with their blade sheathed, and to create and experience, rather than to destroy. At the end of the voyage, the pilgrim is expected to have learned more about and given more to the world around them than they have taken.

The Tranquil Voyage is a sacred, peaceful pilgrimage voluntarily undertaken by the Desnan faithful to become more in tune with the holy act of travel and discovery. The Voyage serves to broaden one's horizons, open one's eyes to the beauty of peace and of the world around them, to inspire future dreams, and to make their mark upon a path they have traveled.
Traditionally, a Desnan pilgrim undertaking the Tranquil Voyage is asked to either leave their weapon behind at a Desnan temple or shrine, or to strap it with ritual bindings or chains.
The Tranquil Voyage, like many Desnan rites, is not strictly defined, and is more about the spirit of the act than the details. The typical form of the pilgrimage is as follows.

• A pilgrim affirms their desire to undertake the Voyage with a priest of Desna or a contacted aligned outsider, such as an Azata serving the Great Dreamer. The administrating priest or outsider then either confiscates the armaments of the pilgrim, or wraps them in enchanted bindings, such as rope, chains, or strands of unicorn hair. These bindings are not unbreakable, but breaking them under any circumstance is considered a failure of the rite.
• The pilgrim then names their destination, be it a specific location ("The shrine of Desna outside of my home village") or a vague one ("A moonlit glade that will inspire me to create art"), and sets out on their journey. Pilgrimages visiting multiple locations (especially multiple shrines to the Song of Spheres) are encouraged.
• While on the voyage, the pilgrim is expected to refrain from acts of violence, destruction, or conflict, and is encouraged to avoid entities such as bandits or roving monsters that would force a confrontation. Stealth and avoidance are paramount to the Voyage.
• The pilgrim may be accompanied by companions or escorts who are not bound to the same restrictions and can protect them from threats. Even so, it is up to the pilgrim to ensure that the spirit of the rite - to leave behind more than they found in the world - is upheld, and ideally these companions should remain as peaceful as possible on the journey.
• Upon reaching the destination (or steps along the way), the pilgrim completes the rite by engaging in an act of simple creation. Whether they create a painting, compose a song, invent a new dance, plant a tree, or simply record the story of their travels, the act of creation is a critical component of the rite.
• The pilgrim may return to reclaim their weapons and be evaluated by the presiding dignitary, but this is not strictly necessary for the rite's completion. The Tranquil Voyage is considered complete when the pilgrim feels it within their heart, or when they receive a divine blessing from Desna.

Ritual of Stardust

The stars above are more than beacons of light for travelers to follow on their quests; they are also emblematic of hope for the future, and their beauty is beloved by Desnans as a source of inspiration and dreams for a better tomorrow. The Ritual of Stardust is held by communities to embrace the stars and all which they represent, to behold their beauty and to embrace the longing for kinder days that they promise.

The Ritual of Stardust is a communal holiday observed by the followers of the Great Dreamer, held on the summer and winter solstices; the longest and shortest nights of the year, and thus the best day for travel and the longest night to view Desna's stars.
Followers of Desna gather at dusk and light enormous bonfires and hold feasts, watching the sparks and embers float out into the darkening sky. After it is fully dark, the celebrants chant and sing songs as they watch the fires burn low. When only embers remain, sand mixed with ground star gemstones (such as star sapphires, star rubies, or rose quartz) are thrown onto them or into the air downwind.
At this point, it is common to make proclamations of love and friendship and of promised journeys to come. The twinkling of the sand is thought to mirror the night sky and demonstrate Desna's witnessing of these pronouncements.

The Swallowtail Release

The Swallowtail Butterfly has long served as Desna's holy symbol, and they are considered to be the goddesses' eyes on Lloegyr. The presence of a swallowtail is a great comfort to the faithful, reminding them that the Great Dreamer is with their spirit.

Also known as the Swallowtail Festival, the Swallowtail Release is a holiday held in honor of Desna on the first day of autumn.
The festival serves to commemorate a legend in which an avatar of Desna fell to the mortal world after a fierce battle with a rampant demon lord that inflicted terrifying nightmares upon mortals. She was discovered and nursed back to health by a blind and ill orphan girl. To express her thanks, Desna transformed the child into a beautiful, immortal swallowtail butterfly so that she could explore the wonders of the world for all eternity.
To celebrate the festival, priests of Desna release a wagon full of swallowtail butterflies in front of a crowd of believers. Worshipers consider it a good omen if a butterfly rests on them for a short time. The remainder of the day is spent in celebration and can include activities such as feasting, storytelling, and singing.
In preparation for this event, larger temples of Desna often have enclosed gardens in which they raise swallowtail butterflies year round. In colder climes, where the raising of butterflies is difficult or impossible, faithful will sometimes substitute colored leaves or painted corn husks for the actual insects.

The Dreamer's Sacrament

The mind of a mortal can be a mystery even to the mind itself. The waking world of reality is not so different from the unconscious, and messages both physical and divine can be interpreted from the visions of a sleeping mind. Desna speaks to her beloved children through their dreams, and chasing the meaning of one's nighttime imaginings is a treasured and sacred pastime of the faithful.

Keeping a dream journal is a common practice among Desnans, but they are also able to take this practice further by partaking in the Dreamer's Sacrament. The Sacrament is a devoted analysis of one's recorded dreams, in which a faithful shares their visions with a priest or with their loved ones and friends, and charts the course of these dreams and discussions to find meaning in them over time.
The gathered readers speculate on the meanings of the dreams, share their own visions, and recall dreams that they have had in the past. These discussions and observations are also recorded, and after a period of time deemed fitting by the dreamer, these observations are gathered and explored for commonalities, meanings, and inherent narratives.
Upon determining their own interpretation of the dreams, the faithful then makes use of their determination. Although the sacrament can end by simply taking direction and advice from their dreams, often the observations are made into the basis for an act of creation. Many famous and enduring Desnan songs and parables are the results of the Dreamer's Sacrament, born of the visions of the unconscious mind and brought into form by the imaginations of dreamers.

The Eight Scrolls

The Eight Scrolls is the name given to Desna's main holy text. It consists of eight brief scrolls that contain all the doctrine of her church, along with her histories and legends; her dealings with the other gods, how she guides the stars across the heavens, and her triumphs over various evil powers.

• The first scroll describes, in highly vague terms, how Desna came into being. An ancient deity, she was formed from the primordial darkness itself as half of a pair, with her other half being lost to memory and time.
• The second scroll details Desna's early deeds, and how she garnered her initial faithful by guiding them from the darkness of the unknown with her invention of the stars.
• The third scroll names Desna's allies among the common deities; her chief confidantes are Freya, Solanus, and Narrah, but she also counts several racial deities, such as Aelbwynn and Mick o'Delving, among her friends in the cosmos
• The fourth scroll describes the duties of Desna's sworn clergy, how to best beseech the goddess for divine spells, and the ways in which priests may guide the Desnan faithful in search of guidance and aid.
• The fifth scroll deals with how mortals should behave, but is written with enough internal contradictions that it sparks much discussion among the faithful. Particular care is given to outline conduct as a traveling visitor in a foreign land, or as a guest in places of rest.
• The sixth and longest scroll contains several prayers, well-wishes, and minor rituals for the faithful to practice. It also offers guidance on dreams, how to interpret them, and how to avoid or banish nightmares.
• The seventh scroll charts the most commonly known constellations in the night sky, placing particular emphasis on The Archer, The Chalice, and The Dragon, and describing their meanings and movements. This scroll can often vary from culture to culture, depending on which constellations their astrologers recognize.
• The eighth and final scroll contains simple guidance for travelers, common tricks for finding one's way or marking one's passage, how to heed the stars to determine direction, and how to best share the road with companions.

The clergy of Desna generally accept most interpretations of the Eight Scrolls, as long as they don't veer off too far from the standard practices and teachings.
Desna's informality is reflected in the fact that the Eight Scrolls are short enough to easily fit into two scroll cases (or one if the transcriber's handwriting is small enough).

Divine Classification

Deity