Sera was the goddess of commerce, wealth, and fortune, both good and ill, from the world of Aebrynis.[1] She shared her home, the Marketplace Eternal, with Waukeen of Toril, Shinare of Krynn, and Zilchus of Oerth.[4]
Personality[]
The Lady of Fortune believed that a person made their own luck. She valued and rewarded hard workers, although she blessed fools with luck on occasion. Sera seldomly appeared on the Prime Material plane; however her worshipers believed that she was around when people gambled with high stakes and unlikely odds.[1]
Divine Realm[]
The Marketplace Eternal was the joint home for several gods of commerce, located in the Outlands. The gods Waukeen, Shinare, Zilchus, and Sera, decided to join their homes to create a much bigger and rich shared realm that neither one of them could create on their own.[4]
The realm was a giant sprawling bazaar that stretched for miles in all directions. The entire place was filled with merchants' stalls, tents, gambling dens, tent-covered taverns, and various street vendors. The realm was chaotic, confusing, crowded, often confusing, and disarming for newcomers, but it also was splendorous and lush.[4]
The Marketplace Eternal was broken into quarters, each controlled by one of the gods of wealth.[4] Sera's quarter, the one closest to the Spire, was called the House of Resolve.[3]
Relationships[]
Sera inherited her portfolio, divine powers, and place on the pantheon Aebrynis from goddess Brenna, taking over the role of the defender of the Brecht people. She married to Ruornil, the Moon God, the patron of arcane magic of their crystal sphere.[1] Together they parented the lesser goddess of night and thieves, Eloélé.[5]
Avatar[]
The holy symbol of Sera, Lady of Fortune.
When she graced the mortal realm with her presence, Sera's avatar was a slender, beautiful, and graceful woman. She looked mature yet ageless, had long dark hair, grey eyes, and held a gentle, knowing smile on her face.[2] She always appeared carrying a set of scales, her holy symbol and draped in expensive burgundy or midnight blue gown.[2] The goddess of wealth rarely engaged in combat and preferred to curse her enemies with remarkably bad luck as a lesson.[1]
Sera's avatar spoke very little, relying on imagery and her scales. These simple in appearance scales, however, were magical divine items. The goddess used these scales to weigh the nature of a person or creature she visited on the Prime Material plane and display the result. The scales' silver arrow determined her grace. If it went down, the goddess looked favorably on her subject, and if the dark grey arrow moved down - Sera withheld her favor and bestowed misfortune. The scales often were unpredictable as their chaotic and fickle owner.[2]
Worshipers[]
Good Brecht folk and most merchants, rogues, and gamblers of Aebrynis, venerated Lady of Fortune. All creatures of her Crystal Sphere who invoked the name of "Lady Luck" in reality invoked Sera's name. Her followers built temples, but more often, they acted as local officials of trade and commerce.[1]
Sera's devotees claimed that the goddess appeared to them every day. They just needed to know what to look for. The worshipers believed their goddess listened to every fair bargain being struck, while the clergy said that Lady Luck manifested herself as a premonition of dread when an unfair and harmful deal threatened her followers.[2]
Like her predecessor, Sera was believed to take on a shape of a domestic cat. Because of that belief, cats were never harmed by the followers of Sera, and many left out food and sweetened milk during holidays.[2]
History[]
Sera was a mortal and one of the champions of the world of Aebrynis. She reached apotheosis following the Battle on Mount Deismaar on her world when several of the old gods died, releasing a wave of divine energy. Sera, her husband, and several other champions were elevated to godhood as replacements for the perished deities.[6]
Appendix[]
Appearances[]
- Adventures
- For Duty & Deity
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 L. Richard Baker III, Colin McComb (1995). Birthright Campaign Setting (Rulebook). Edited by Anne Brown. (TSR, Inc.), p. 76. ISBN 0-7869-0143-8.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 Rich Baker, Dale Donovan, Duane Maxwell, Ed Stark (1997). Birthright: The Book of Priestcraft. Edited by Anne Brown. (TSR, Inc.), p. 36. ISBN 0-7869-0655-3.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Colin McComb (October 1996). On Hallowed Ground. Edited by Ray Vallese. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 163–164. ISBN 0-7869-0430-5.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Dale Donovan (May 1998). For Duty & Deity. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 57. ISBN 0-7869-1234-0.
- ↑ L. Richard Baker III, Colin McComb (1995). Birthright Campaign Setting (Rulebook). Edited by Anne Brown. (TSR, Inc.), p. 78. ISBN 0-7869-0143-8.
- ↑ L. Richard Baker III, Colin McComb (1995). Birthright Campaign Setting (Atlas of Cerilia). Edited by Anne Brown. (TSR, Inc.), p. 8. ISBN 0-7869-0143-8.