Skyla (SKY-la)
The Thunderer, The Rainmaker, Soaring One
Neutral Raptorkin Sky Goddess
Depicted as an elegantly tall raptorkin with wide white feathered wings, bearing a clutch of lightning bolts as javelins, wearing a blue tabard adorned with a silver thunder-bird motif (which is also her holy symbol).Worship of Skyla runs the gamut regionally, depending heavily upon the character of the weather in a particular area. In places that enjoy comfortable weather she is typically regarded as a remote but basically benevolent deity. In places that suffer from less enjoyable climate, she is viewed correspondingly less charitably. Regardless, extreme and unexpected weather are routinely attributed to her temper by common folk.
Farmers, sailors, and others who are particularly concerned with favorable weather tend to offer up prayers to her as a matter of professional obligation or common sense, rather than devout fervor. There are also some remaining homogenous raptorkin tribes in the remote high places; worship of Skyla tends to be a serious affair among them, and some lineages are blessed with the power of Storm Sorcery.
- Clerics: Tempest, Nature, Vengeance
- Paladins: Oath of Vengeance
- Rangers: Hunter
- Sorcerers: Storm Sorcery
The Sad Tale of Stryxa and Skyla
A particularly ancient story of the mythos tells of when Skyla took offense that some early mortals dared to confuse the role of Stryxa, owlkin Goddess of Night, worshipping her as a Sky deity. Such an indignity could not be suffered by the tempermental Skyla, and soon her thunderous fury was turned upon the undeserving Stryxa in sudden assault. Before any could intervene, the blistering battery of Skyla's lightning struck Stryxa down from the heavens, and never was she heard from again.
Some of the owlkin people of the time refuted Skyla's violent attack and bereft of a divine patron they withered away. But some of the owlkin folk were more pragmatic and took up the worship of Skyla, for had she not ably proved to be the greater god? Skyla showed favor to these owlkin; they were culturally absorbed and have been simply one of the variations among the raptorkin ever since. A few Storm Sorcerers are born among their descendents each generation, a reminder that Skyla can be terrible as a thunderstorm but also kind as a gentle breeze.