Avandra

The Changebringer, She Who Makes the Path

The goddess of change, Avandra delights in freedom, trade, travel, adventure, and the frontier. Her temples are few in civilized lands, but her wayside shrines appear throughout the universe. Halflings, merchants, and all types of adventurers are drawn to her worship, and many people raise a glass in her honor, viewing her as the god of luck. Her commandments are few, but these are shared across all of her exarchs:

• Luck favors the bold. Take your fate into your own hands, and Avandra smiles upon you.
• Strike back against those who would rob you of your freedom and urge others to fight for their own liberty.
• Change is inevitable, but it takes the work of the faithful to ensure that change is for the better.

Avandra & The Living Gate

Each god has contributed in his or her own way to the new Living Gate. The gods collectively represent the powers of creation and order, the antithesis to the chaotic and alien Far Realm, and each of them has a specific role to play in the grand lattice of the new Living Gate.
Avandra's part is perhaps the most ill-defined of all the roles of the god's. She is the goddess of change and freedom, and so it seems almost contrary for her to be involved in the maintenance of the greatest lock in creation. Her contributions are subtle and far more important than the appear at first glance. The Far Realm is a place of ever-changing chaos and alien desires and attitudes, it is a place where thoughts and emotions are as real as anything in the physical world. As such the Living Gate cannot remain constant, for constancy will always eventually be overcome by chaos and change. Avandra guides the changing nature of the Living Gate, it is she that set the seasonal (and daily) changes of the stars. It is she that put in place the cosmic cycle on which the entire Living Gate turns. This cycle is so vast and involves so great a period of time that mortal minds are incapable of perceiving more than a small segment of it, but it is this cycle that has, in part, kept the Far Realm at bay.
Avandra's other major spheres of influence are less obviously supported by her role in the Living Gate. She is the goddess of freedom and her followers believe that the greatest expression of that freedom is the freedom to exist, a freedom that exists largely because of her role. She is also the goddess of luck and her followers most often approach this responsibility through the lens of one of her exarchs, all of whom are associate with luck in one way or another.

The Retinue of Change

Like nearly all of the gods, Avandra has a small cadre of powerful servants that channel her remaining divine energies. Avandra's pantheon, most often refered to as the Retinue of Change, are often viewed by divine scholars as a group of rogues, wanderers and adventurers. They are more like a troupe of minstrels or a group of carnival people than some of the more ordered pantheons, but they fit Avandra's personality and nature quite well. As one would expect Avandra's retinue is not constant or permenant and there have been changes to the roster over the eons. The Retinue of Change also has the virtue of being one of the most diverse groups of exarchs in the greater pantheon of gods. Its numbers include a former dragon, a primordial, two former mortals, an incarnation of misfortune and a divine coautl. Avandra's current exarchs are listed below:

• Aasterinian, The Swift Wing
• Akadi, The Queen of Air
• Beshaba, The Maid of the Misfortune
• Garl Glittergold, The Sparkling Wit
• Olidammara, The Laughing Rogue
• Lliira, The Lillend Queen

Divine Domains

Avandra is the goddess of freedom, trade, travel, adventure, and luck. She encourages her followers to venture into the unknown. Her nature leads to few temples dedicated to her in the centers of civilization, but they can be found near well-traveled roads. Her worshipers include merchants, free spirits, and adventurers.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Avandra is usually depicted as a dark-skinned young woman with light brown hair that changes into a road behind her.

Divine Classification

God

Alignment

Chaotic

Realm

The Celestial Core

Sex

Feminine