Ijana

Hunting is natural. Death is natural. Birth is natural. All things in cycle.

Ijana is the goddess of the hunt and of the natural balance. She once hunted a Nightmare Knight that had stolen an Unspoken's heart for 4 eons across the astral plain without rest. The hunt ended when the Knight pleaded with Ijana to send it back to the nightmare to rest if she would only cease chasing it.

A priestess of the Blind Lady once demonstrated such skill with a lute that Ijana grew jealous. Ijana convinced the priestess to take up the bow and worship of the huntress instead. In sorrow at witnessing this betrayal, the Blind Lady decreed her former priestess would never know the peace of rest, so instead she runs with the Great Stag and protects him while he sleeps.

To maintain the balance, when Ijana intervenes, she always takes the side of the relatively weak in a conflict, or she abstains to let nature take its course. A king who worshipped Teverius tried to trick the Huntress once by provoking a fight with his neighbours when he himself appeared weak and helpless, but Ijana cannot be easily deceived. The king's armies were all beaten and he was forced to run through the muddy streets of his own city and beg for forgiveness from all the temples. Strangely, Tevarius himself has never tried to trick Ijana this way, perhaps because he also has a soft spot for the weak who try to stand against the strong against all odds.

Symbol

A wooden carving of a stag.