Ratri was a deity of darkness and night in the Vedic pantheon,[1][2][5] who was a bit unlike other deities of darkness.[1] There was no evidence that this deity was directly worshiped in the Realms.[1][3][note 2]
Description[]
The avatar of Ratri typically took the form of a beautiful,[2] well-proportioned woman.[5] It bore a swarthy complexion, along with hair and eyes of a black hue. Beyond her avatar, Ratri never sent omens to her followers,[2] though she sometimes manifested through her favored animal, the monkey.[6]
The goddess's true form was merely a silhouette, one of a voluptuous woman covered by innumerable stars that acted as her eyes.[2]
Personality[]
Ratri was a fickle and chaotic individual, who would not hesitate to punish worshipers that offended her even slightly by spotlighting them in bright, revealing light[1][2] until they either made amends or were caught by authorities.[1] She did not consider herself to be a personification of darkness, but rather a shepherd over it,[2] and was more than capable of appreciating light.[1]
Powers[]
Ratri's avatar possessed a number of unique innate abilities. She could inflict blindness upon anyone that crossed her shadow or inflict harm upon someone just with a look of anger from her eyes.[5] She could create or dispel darkness within a 50 feet (15 meters) radius area at will. And she could perceive anything that occurred under the cover of night.[2]
In regards to spells, Ratri's avatar could cast from any school of magic.[2] She particularly liked to cast darkness, 15' radius. In regards to psionics, avatars generally exhibited two major and one minor power, as well as a number of psionic attack and defense modes. These attack modes were ego whip, mind thrust, psionic blast, and psychic crush. While the psionic defense modes were mental barrier, mind blank, and thought shield.[5][note 3]
Possessions[]
Ratri wore a magical cloak that could cause any person or object that touched it to be cast into the Ethereal Plane.[5] She always carried a golden sitar, that could charm any creature by being played. And she wielded a +2 sword that could inflict blindness upon those struck by it.[2]
Realm[]
She lived on the plane of Grey Waste,[5][1][3][7][8] and as a demigoddess had no divine realm of her own. Instead Ratri traveled throughout the three layers of the Grey Waste, stealing whatever she could from Greater Powers. Most often she made herself an unwelcomed guest in the halls of the Olympian power Hades and the Norse power Hel.[8]
After becoming a lesser power, Ratri settled a divine realm in the layer of Niflheim,[1][3][7] known as the Dark of Night.[1] With her being a chaotic neutral deity, the reason for her divine realm residing on this plane of neutral evil was a matter of debate among planar scholars. Uniquely, her realm was free of the life draining that affected much of the Gray Wastes,[1] making it a sort of safe haven for those few travelers who managed to find it.[3]
The exact location of the Dark of Night within the Gray Wastes was unknown, for as befitting her chaotic nature Ratri had it moved whenever she pleased.[1][3] When this occurred her petitioners would be left behind, but their spirits would feel drawn towards its direction.[1] And on occasion, this moving stole a bit of ground away from the divine realms of other deities in the Wastes.[3]
Relationships[]
Among her fellow Vedic powers, Ushas was good friends with Savitri and Ushas, deities of day and dawn respectively. However, she had some sort of rivalry with Surya, the Vedic god of light. Among the Faerûnian pantheon she maintained cordial relations with Mask and Shar,[1] two other deities of darkness that also resided in the Gray Wastes,[9] though she was by no means allied with them. According to rumors she kept Mask at an arm's length, due to the interest he showed in her power.[1]
During her days as a wandering demigoddess, Ratri often used her abilities to dominate the various demodands and yugoloths she encountered in her travels.[8] Whatever proxies she had were widely unknown, as their skills in stealth kept them anonymous.[1]
Worshipers[]
Ratri was worshiped by a number of robbers, thieves,[1][2][5] murderers, and other sorts of scoundrels.[2] However, she was not primarily a patron of such behavior and did not value thieves over others.[1][2] Those who prayed and performed the proper sacrifices might receive aid from her in having their activities concealed, but she was equally feared as much as she was venerated due to her fickle nature.[2]
Being a goddess of the night, the priests of Ratri conducted their activities during that time and slept during the day. They typically wielded daggers, slings, and swords.[2] They kept their heads bald and they wore dark grey robes as part of their priestly vestments.[6] Priests had access to spells from the all, astral, divination, guardian, healing, necromantic, protection, summoning spheres. They particularly were gifted the spells darkness, 15' radius and light. Additionally, they were gifted with the ability to see in total darkness.[2]
In the Domains of Dread, Ratri was once worshiped in the domain of Sri Raji.[10]
Appendix[]
Notes[]
- ↑ On Hallowed Ground states that Ratri's priests could be of any alignment, while Legends & Lore stated that her priests could only be of any chaotic alignment.
- ↑ There were no known worshipers of Ratri in the Realms, particularly in Malatra where some other Vedic powers were worshiped. However, Ratri is detailed on this wiki because of her relations with the Faerûnian powers Mask and Shar, as detailed in On Hallowed Ground.
- ↑ This deity is listed in the cited source as being a Class V psionics user. On page 6 of Deities & Demigods and its repackaged printing Legends & Lore, Class V users are listed as having the Psionic Attack/Defense modes "A,B,C,E/F,G,H". According to the 1st edition Players Handbook, page 110, these attack letters correlate to psionic blast, mind thrust, ego whip, and psychic crush respectively; the defense letters correlate to mind blank, thought shield, and mental barrier respectively.
External Links[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 Colin McComb (October 1996). On Hallowed Ground. Edited by Ray Vallese. (TSR, Inc.), p. 156. ISBN 0-7869-0430-5.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 James M. Ward and Troy Denning (August 1990). Legends & Lore (2nd edition). (TSR, Inc), p. 136. ISBN 978-0880388443.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Colin McComb (December 1995). “Liber Malevolentiae”. In Michele Carter ed. Planes of Conflict (TSR, Inc.), p. 48. ISBN 0-7869-0309-0.
- ↑ Skip Williams (March 1994). “Sage Advice”. In Kim Mohan ed. Dragon #203 (TSR, Inc.), pp. 79–80.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 James Ward, Robert J. Kuntz (August 1980). Deities & Demigods. Edited by Lawrence Schick. (TSR, Inc.), p. 72. ISBN 0-935696-22-9.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 James Ward, Robert J. Kuntz (August 1980). Deities & Demigods. Edited by Lawrence Schick. (TSR, Inc.), p. 123. ISBN 0-935696-22-9.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Bruce Barber (September 1986). “Welcome to Hades”. In Kim Mohan ed. Dragon #113 (TSR, Inc.), pp. 11–12.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Jeff Grubb (July 1987). Manual of the Planes 1st edition. (TSR), p. 107. ISBN 0880383992.
- ↑ Colin McComb (October 1996). On Hallowed Ground. Edited by Ray Vallese. (TSR, Inc.), p. 184. ISBN 0-7869-0430-5.
- ↑ William W. Connors (July 1993). Web of Illusion. Edited by Dezra D. Phillips, C. Terry Phillips. (TSR, Inc.), p. 55. ISBN 1-56076-618-2.