Venari

Goddess of Survival, Vengeance, and Bloodlust

Stalker Under the Red Moon

Venari is the goddess of survival, the hunt, adaptation, and vengeance. She is the deity of beasts, monstrosities, and the bestial. Her children once roamed the Prime, but have sense been killed or locked away out of fear, the greatest of which was Veiðrir, the Dread Wolf, a beast of enormous proportions strong enough to combat - and in several accounts kill - gods. With her children now gone she nurtures the survival instincts in others, watches for those with promise who respect the wilds and learn to survive them, and looks over those who hold the blood of her offspring within their veins.

Tenets of Faith

• Survive and adapt. Remain alert. Remain alive. Only the strong survive.
• Do not fear the hunt, embrace it.
• Cull the weak and the old so that all may prosper.
• Let no slight go unanswered. Seek vengeance against those who have acted against you.

Church of Venari

The venarites revere the deep, wild places where survival of the fittest is the reigning law and civilization has yet to reach. They delight in the act of the hunt, going so far as to view every task of import as a hunt. They work against those who cut back and attempt to settle wild places, and those who kill beasts for sport or solely because they are dangerous.
Venarites are often looked upon with disdain and distrust, seen as bloodthirsty savages who delight in slaughter and bloody mutilation, but those that do act as such are few within the faith of Venari. In fact, venarite hunters are taught not to slay the young or pregnant and to respect the way of the wilds.
They do have some strange customs and beliefs among some sects, for instance some see the curse of lycanthropy as a gift and seek it out, others have a tradition to taste or mark themselves with the blood of those they slay. Regardless of their beliefs, good or ill, it is a religion that is unwelcome in many places and its public worship has been outlawed in the Aestaran Empire.

Worshipers

Those who worship the Mother of Beasts are usually hunters, druids or those who tend to beasts like hounds, but others find themselves called to her faith when their survival is in question. Her tenets, focused on adaptation to survive resonate deeply with druids who focus their skill on beast-shaping, and on those with the curse of lycanthropy. It has even been said that those druids who master the way of Venari could shape themselves into great monstrosities and lycanthropes who did the same could evolve their form to something greater or even control their form fully.
Calenard stands as one of the few territories that has had wide-spread open worship Venari in the past, and though the Empire has outlawed its practice, there are still some traditional rituals undertaken and worship performed on certain days of the year in reverence to her, albeit in secret.

Clergy

Most clergy of Venari are druids. Few true clerics follow the path, but those whose magic is of natural bent such as rangers are also known to act as the officials of the unstructured churches of the Wolf Mistress.

Temples and Shrines

Venari is not a god that requires or even desires large temples in her name. Many of her shrines and holy places are in the deep, wild places of the world, often marked by offerings of trophies of the hunted and more than likely guarded by some predator to test those who would tread upon her holy spaces.

Holidays

Crimson Rise

Once per year, on the final cycle, the red moon makes its appearance, and with it those who follow the Mistress, those touched by her or her children and wild beasts feel the vengeance of Venari well within them to be released. For a number of days the moon remains full before it fades for another year, during which all those affected have their senses hightened and their bloodlust unsated.

Physical Description

Identifying Characteristics

She is often depicted as a woman with wild eyes and clawed hands, sometimes with antlers or fangs.
Her will manifests as many different things. As the goddess of adaptation and survival her will may come in the form of animalistic eyes, natural weapons, elongated teeth, or any change that might give the one blessed by her an edge.

Social

Contacts & Relations

Due to her history she has more than a few deities with whom she quarrels.
She despises Envau, god of war, for his betrayal in the binding of her child, Veithrir, Örd, god of creation, for creating the bindings that hold him, and Bahamut, god of wisdom, who counseled against allowing the rampant spread of her children to go unmitigated.
She has constant disagreements with Silrae, goddess of nature, whom she believes is too easy on mortals.
Umos is one of the few gods she respects in some degree, being one of the only ones to speak out against the killing and binding of her children. He is said to have caused a change to the moon's light that would free the wild spirits within those "cursed" by the blood of her children, such as lycanthropes, when the moon grows full.

Title(s): Wolf Mistress, Stalker Under the Red Moon, Mother of Beasts

Symbol: An eye drawn in blood

Adjective: Venarite

Areas of Concern: Survival, Adaptation, Evolution, the Hunt, Bloodlust, Savagery, Vengeance, Lycanthropy, Monsters

Worshipers: Hunters, Rangers, Barbarians, Survivalists, Druids, Lycanthropes, Beastmasters, the Vengeful, Red Vampires, Rebels

Domains: Nature, Tempest, Blood, Wrath*

Favored Weapon: Bow or Natural Weapons

Sacred Animal: Wolf

Sacred Monster: Lycanthropes

Sacred Colors: Red, Black, Yellow

Constellation: Red Moon

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Religions

• Old Imperial Pantheon

Veiðrir, The Dread Wolf