Shekinester

Shekinester was the powerful multi-aspected greater deity of the nagas and pterafolk.

Description
The appearance of the Naga Queen's avatar depended on what aspect of her being was being manifested, though they were usually about in length.

The Seeker appeared as a child-like naga. The Empowerer appeared as a young and attractive female water naga, but could also appear ugly, with pitted skin and limp, greasy hair. The Preserver appeared as a middle-aged guardian naga with beautiful features. The Acquirer appeared as a harsh-faced naga struggling to hold on to her fading youth. The Weaver appeared as a spirit naga crone with a crystalline heart.

Personality
Shekinester was a truly complicated deity, her complexity paralleling her great wisdom. She was highly pragmatic but simultaneously unpredictable, adhering to no fixed sense of morality or ethics. She was, at once, an inquisitive explorer and harsh hoarder, sometimes guiding the unwise and utterly destroying them at others. This was because Shekinester was a multi-faceted deity, and there was no telling which part of herself would be expressed when one went to her. Despite this divided nature, however, Shekinester's many aspects were not several separate beings but the reflections of one, each an undeniable part of the overarching intelligence that was the Naga Queen.

It was difficult to say what alignment, if any, Shekinester could be said to fall into. The mere existence of her Seeker and Acquirer aspects was not always evident, although whether known as the Three-Faced or Five-Faced Queen, her overall, gestalt alignment was considered to be truly neutral. Also confusing matters was that, while it was clear what alignment the Seeker, Weaver, and Acquirer represented (chaotic good, chaotic evil, and lawful evil respectively) it was debatable whether or not the Empowerer represented lawful good while the Preserver represented true neutrality or vice versa. Furthermore, even the evil aspects of the Naga Queen could be said to serve higher purposes; the Acquirer hoarded knowledge in danger of being lost and the Weaver advocated destruction for the purpose of clearing room for new creation.

Further complicating the nature of the Naga Queen was that it wasn't clear where some of her aspects ended and others began. The Empowerer for example (already sometimes confused with the Preserver) could also be bi-aspected, possessing both beautiful and ugly forms which served different roles. Conversely, the Weaver was a singular aspect that could serve two very different functions, both destroying and giving gifts and lessons in her own extreme way. Existing outside this system altogether was the aspect of Ssharstrune, a serpent god of megalomania and acquisitiveness, as well as curiosity and destruction, absorbed by Shekinester long ago.

Aspects
The child-like Seeker was filled with curiosity.

The Empowerer was generally seen as merciful and kind, if forceful in her delivering of wisdom.

The Preserver was seen as a mother figure, protecting the dead and giving succor to non-evil peoples in extreme peril.

The Acquirer was shrewish and coveted wisdom.

The Weaver sought to destroy those unable to use their strength and wisdom (or the gifts and wisdom she concealed) to overcome her.

Powers
Her avatars' combat attributes and abilities were just as diverse as her personality. However, each form shared the same traits: immunity to gaseous attacks, poisons, death magic, mind-control, and paralyzation. Her avatars were significantly powerful in that they could access every single sphere and school of magic. However, different forms were suited to different subschools of magic and used them as they felt appropriate.

As the Weaver-Crone, she employed lethal poison bites that would often kill her opponents instantly. This form was equally skilled in the wizardly and clerical arts, and she was particularly proficient in necromancy, illusion magic, and evocation.

The Empowerer-Maiden was very charismatic, though not as intelligent as her other aspects. In such a form, her bite could paralyze opponents. This form was very proficient in usage of the Power, and somewhat proficient in the Art. She preferred to use alteration, enchantment, and abjuration spells.

The Preserver-Mother was robust and was highly resistant to magic. Her bite could, strangely, act as a symbol of persuasion. This lawful good aspect was an exceptional cleric, and often used all sorts of spells from all spheres (except war and chaos). The Preserver-Mother could cast wall of force at will, and several other powerful spells every few minutes or so.

Possessions
Shekinester, particularly her Preserver aspect, was the guardian of the Arching Flame, kept within the innermost chambers of her domain. According to myth, the fire was supposedly the fuel by which all the workings of the multiverse ran on, though various other "eternal flames" belonged to other powers on other planes.

The Flame was also allegedly the "light of the dead", and regardless of whether it was true the light did not harm the undead, and indeed they fed off its energy and the more dangerous ones seemed pacified by it. The Flame served as Shekinester's final test, the means by which the spirit was burned clean, purging survivors of all injury, insanity, disease, mental compulsions, and even the "sins" of their past. Failure meant being disintegrated, which was more likely to happen the more times one had strayed from their chosen alignment.

Despite all this, it was hard to say that the Arching Flame was really Shekinester's possession. None, not even she, could quench its fire, for in reality it was just another aspect of herself. Preserved within the eternal flame was the knowledge and wisdom originally held by the World Serpent, the Naga Queen fragmentation being the guardian of secrets and a personification of the very concept of wisdom.

Divine Realm
Shekinester dwelt in a palace of the Court of Light, which was in the Outlands.

Her original divine realm was also split into three parts, as were her aspects. These parts of the realm were known as the Loom of the Weaver, the Hall of Tests, and the Arching Flame. These realms were, as a system, three concentric rings.

Activities
The curious Seeker aspect of Shekinester drove her need for exploration and learning.

The Empowerer served many roles; she was a guardian of the young and unlearned, asker of riddles, granter of safe passage, and initiator who bestowed wisdom. She actively sought to share her secrets, even to those that didn't realize they needed them, but her unannounced and startling appearances sometimes made her an unwelcome messenger, forcing unwanted understanding that caused students "growing pains". Compensating for this was her uglier aspect, which acted as a kind of herald. They would first draw the attention of the young, naïve, unwary or uninitiated to opportunities for growth and understanding, guiding the new seekers of knowledge to the actual Empowerer.

The Preserver was seen as the great maintainer of existence, the keeper of light and knowledge and guardian of the dead. If allowed, she would protect the deceased souls under the jurisdiction of other gods in addition to those of her own nagas, and also recorded the dead spirits that passed by her. She greeted the dead with sustenance typically symbolized as water, fruit, and bread, but was also a preserver of the living. Non-evil mortals of the Prime Material Plane threatened by overwhelming forces, mass starvation, extinction, or similar level threats would be provided with sustenance.

The Acquirer represented Sherknister's desire for control and urge to possess, and in this aspect sought to collect information and insight in danger of being forgotten or otherwise lost.

The Weaver embodied the principle of active destruction, making room for the new by clearing away the old. She was a guardian of lost and decaying places who would destroy trespassers unless they could overcome her, whether by using their own wisdom and capabilities or that which she hid from them; for example, her magical webs could be a blessing in disguise. In contrast to the Preserver, who simply maintained what already existed, the crone-faced aspect of Shekinester was both destroyer and creator. She was the Weaver in the sense that she embodied connections, weaving new understandings in the minds of the unenlightened by tying together disparate strands of information.

Relationships
The goddess of the nagas was an ally of Labelas Enoreth. She had several other allies, as she believed alliances were extremely valuable. Shekinester was said to value deities of the Mulhorandi pantheon very highly.

Worshipers
Homage was paid to Shekinester as a full goddess, though many of her worshipers often felt closer to a specific one of her aspects.

Nagas worshiped two main deities, which inherited the features of the World Serpent. These deities were Shekinester and Ssharstrune (who was an aspect of Shekinester).

After the fragmentation of the World Serpent, the pterafolk began to worship the Five-Faced Queen. They acted as her agents, and believed that the agents of creation were also those of ruination.

The favoured weapon of Shekinester was the tail scythe, and her signature weapon was the +1 sure striking tail scythe.

History
Two fragments of the World Serpent, Ssharstrune and Jazirian, tried to become involved with the Shekinester, who was at the time known as the Three-Faced Queen. Shekinester chose the latter and eventually bore his child. Raging with jealousy, Ssharstrune attacked the Naga Queen himself, and she swallowed him whole. After this, she had not only three forms, but five, and thus became known as the Five-Faced Queen. As a result, the nagas divided into five individual races: the water nagas, the spirit nagas, the guardian nagas, the dark nagas and the iridescent nagas.

Shekinester later gave birth to her son, Parrafaire, who became known as the Naga Prince.

Appearances

 * Card Games
 * Blood Wars