Lyara
Lyara, Goddess of Fire (a.k.a. Mother of Dragons)
One of The Elemental Gods, Lyara is the Goddess of fire, passion, sex and war and daughter of Zaren. She was created by one of The Elder Gods, Thaevn in thanks of Zaren's efforts to turn around the destruction of the world.
History
Lyara was created by Thaevn and given to Zaren as his daughter. Zaren imbued Lyara with the power of fire and thus, she became the Goddess of fire.The First Dragons
Lyara wandered The Material Realm, observing the many beasts that made it their home. She was filled with wonder at their many differences and marvelled at their ability to adapt to the many different climes of the world. Inara saw her fascination and introduced her to Edur, who showed Lyara how he had created each of the beasts and all of the land. With his guidance, Lyara tried her own hand at creating a being and the first dragons were created - proud and honourable creatures that claimed large swathes of land as their habitats. As a result, Lyara is popularly known as 'Mother of Dragons' for her role in their creation.The Goddess of Love
As she spent more and more time in his company, Lyara fell in love with Edur, and he with her. They spent many days walking through the vast valleys and forests that he had created, and their nights were spent dreaming of a time when they would have children of their own. After a time, Lyara gave birth to twins, the God Xoius and the Goddess Zithys. Teaching them all she knew of Edur's creations, Lyara imbued within them the power of the wind and they became Gods of this domain. Edur and Lyara had one more child several moons later; the Goddess Taya. Instantly taken by her marked beauty, Lyara loved her daughter fiercely and wished for her to rule over the domain of passion and love alongside her. The God Aohr however, was also taken by the child's beauty and sought to steal her for his own. One night, as Lyara and Edur lay sleeping, Aohr crossed into the Material Realm and stole the child away, taking her back to The Void with him when he returned.The Anguish of War
Lyara awoke and instantly saw that her child was missing. She spent many days scouring the lands searching for her, even calling upon her dragon creations to assist however they were unable to locate her. Lyara flew into a rage, ordering her dragons not to rest until the child was returned to her. Her husband, Edur guessed that Aohr may be responsible for the disappearance of Taya and sought out his father Thaevn to request assistance. Thaevn saw the anguish that Lyara was so obviously feeling and agreed to travel to the Void to find their missing daughter. Not sure what he would find, Thaevn eventually located him with the missing girl and his fury took over. Thaevn created The Abyss and cast Aohr into it's depths, sealing him there for all eternity. Turning to his granddaughter, he tried to gently coax her to return to the Material Realm and to her Mother and Father, but Taya refused. Thaevn slowly came to realise that Aohr had done much more than simply kidnap the child, but had manipulated and twisted her love for her parents into a deep-seated hatred, one that would only be satiated with the death of her Father's creations. Thaevn considered what he should do, when Aryssa came to him, swearing to remain in the Void with Taya and look after her. Thaevn decreed that in exchange for her service, he would require that the spirits of all living things be sent to the Void. Those that were wicked would be given to Taya to torture for all eternity, whilst those that were honourable would be reincarnated by Aryssa and sent back to the Material Realm. Those that Aryssa deemed to be the most honourable would be sent to Gehenna, to become Lesser Gods and live in an eternal paradise, ready to heed the call of Thaevn and to fight for order should they be required in the future.Domains
Lyara holds dominion over the Cleric domains of War and light. In practice she is primarily responsible for the element of fire in it's basest form, but also fire in it's emotional form - love and passion. And as a result of her burning rage at the kidnapping and manipulation of her daughter, she also reigns over war within the world.Iconopgraphy
Throughout the world, Lyara is represented by either a dragon claw, symbolic of war and her creation of dragons, or a burning flame, symbolic of her sensuality and passion.
Worship
Aside from her statue in The Temple of the Gods in the city of Chalice, there are temples dedicated to Lyara throughout Allansia. Every adventurer's and warrior's guild throughout the world holds a small shrine to the Goddess but none come close to her temple in the South-Eastern city of Lyaris. Temples and shrines of Lyara are full of fire, candles and torches adorn the walls and small rivulets of burning oil make intricate designs across the floors. Priestesses of the Goddess are almost exclusively female and all are forbidden from having children of their own. Such an affront to the Goddess who lost her own daughter would bring eternal damnation upon them. Within each temple is a large, enclosed room where daily orgies are held among Lyara's followers - and only her followers. Anyone attempting to gain access to these sacred rituals is subject to castration, branded on the forehead and ejected from the city, left to roam the countryside until they die. Worship to Lyara can take many forms. For love, burning sweet smelling flowers in the temple flames, or at a campfire for those not able to get to a city. For strength in battle, a ritual can be taken where the blade of a small dagger is heated until white-hot and then placed into a container of wine before being shared amongst the party. It is believed that doing so will transfer Lyara's flame into the wine, thus lending her power to those that imbibe it before battle.
Divine Classification
Elemental God
Realm
Children
Domain of Light
Domain of War