Ausalai, The First Seed

Ausalai, The First Seed, is the goddess of nature and the sea and one of the earliest members of the Eternal Court.
It is believed that she was born when a bird dropped a seed into rich soil where the land met the sea. While the Originate had viewed Aorna from afar, Ausalai was the first of the gods to walk the Material Plane herself. Tending it for millions of years, she acted as a gardener, fostering life but never creating it herself. She so loved the beings that resided there that she ultimately chose to step away and allow nature to take its course. Still, she keeps a watchful eye on the planet to ensure that no one attempts to tip the fragile balance.
Witnessing Estus, The Purifying Light's restorative effect on Aorna, Ausalai began to fall in love with the god of the sun and through that love, three children were born. Irinia, The Emergent was chosen to tend to the life on Aorna, keeping it from becoming unruly and overgrown as in the Wellspring. Mox, The Eruption was chosen to feed the life the water and nutrients it needed to live, touched by the elemental chaos and ruling over the roiling storms that covered Aorna's surface. Nezer would ensure the cycle of life would continue by watching over the domain of death.
There are also those who believe that Ausalai had a fourth child, her experiment with creating life from whole-cloth, often called Xavast, The Sunken Mind. But she grew to loathe her creation, as it felt aberrant, and not of Aorna itself, which led to her banishing him to the Void.
Ausalai is militant in her love for Aorna and often tries to undermine the progress of civilization, which she views as an aberration. She resides with her family in The Wild Garden, a realm of nature in perfect balance, a recreation of primordial Aorna.

Divine Domains

Goddess of Nature and the Sea

Holy Books & Codes

• The Book of the First Seed: Chronicles Ausalai's birth and her first walk across the lands of Aorna.
• The Oaken Tome: A retelling of Ausalai's relationship with Estus, The Purifying Light, as well as the birth of her children - Mox, The Eruption, Irinia, The Emergent, and Nezer Damos, The Chasm.
• The Codex of Interconnection: A dense collection of ongoing research conducted by Ausalai's followers regarding the natural state of the world.

Divine Symbols & Sigils

• A seedling sprouting from soil. 
• An owl grasping a branch. 
• A waterfall pooling. 
• A fish sprouting legs and walking on land. 
• The sun shining over three flowers: white, red and black. 
• The Eternal Oak. 

Tenets of Faith

1. Protect the cycles of nature, for its bounty only lasts as long they spin.
2. Life begets death which begets life. It is the way of things. Find comfort in the temporary.
3. Peace can be found in a forest glen, a raging storm or a falling snow, never in the trappings of the civilized.
4. Wildness is holy.
5. The smallest seed is a universe in waiting.

Holidays

• The First Walk (1 Selshandee) - Typically held on the first day of summer, The First Walk is a druidic ceremony meant to commemorate Ausalai's first walk on Aorna. Adherents take a long walk through a sacred natural place, stopping to appreciate and thank the living beings they meet along the way.
• The Planting (36-40 Raeldesh) - A mass pilgrimage event, during which Ausalai's most dedicated adherents travel to a pre-arranged location, which is different every year, and tend to its environment. Most typically, this involves the planting of trees, enough to create the foundations of a new forest, however, adherents have also been known to help with clean up after ecological disasters.  

Divine Goals & Aspirations

1. To ensure that the "Garden of Aorna" is well-kept. 
2. To prevent the rampant spread of "civilization" - the unneeded taming of the wild. 
3. To thwart undeath and other unnatural forces. 

Physical Description

Body Features

Ausalai has appeared in many forms in myth, including a solitary owl, a wandering dolphin, ivy climbing up a wall and many others. 
In reliefs and statues she is depicted with one arm outstretched, pouring water from her fingertips, flowers springing to life below her. Her other arm reaches out to stroke the head of a mountain lion. Behind her are five stacked skulls. She looks away from the sun out of spite.
In visions, Ausalai often appears as a beautiful woman with a mane of flowery red hair. Her skin has a green tint from her head to her torso, then slowly begins to blend with an almost translucent, blue, watery texture down her hips and legs. She never looks the same from moment to moment, her nature is the same as life - always changing. Where she steps, flowers grow, then wither and die. And if you look close enough, lightning crackles behind her eyes.

Divine Classification

Goddess

Religions

• Church of the Eternal Court