Shelyn
Shelyn watches over existence with a kind and loving eye, encouraging mortals
to make the best of their lives by spreading love, art, and beauty as best they
can. Even the crudest artistic awakenings are worthy of praise in the goddess’s
eyes, as they represent an individual’s expression of life’s trials and triumphs.
She believes every creature is worthy of love and capable of creating art in their
own way. Shelyn’s religion does not require chastity, fidelity,
or a particular relationship structure, as the passion of early
romance is a facet of love just as important and valid as
the comfortable trust between a long-married couple.
However, she does make the distinction between courtship
and pure carnal desire, and she prefers that trysts blossom
into more meaningful relationships along the way.
As the goddess of art and beauty, Shelyn’s appearance
changes drastically depending on the cultural norms
of the artists who depict her. She has been portrayed
as nearly every ancestry, though usually with some
distinctive similarities: her ankle-length hair is
marked with festive rainbow streaks and her eyes are
blue, silver, both, or one of each color.
While she is well aware that love and art are not easy things and
can even be sources of pain at times, she remains a steadfast optimist
with the knowledge that even broken hearts may be mended, and
that even a turbulent experience with love can be an educational
and healing journey. But she also recognizes that some creatures may
distort love into jealousy or warp the urge to create into greed or
obsession. While she appreciates passion and perseverance in the face
of adversity, Shelyn never asks her followers to forsake the well‑being
of themselves or others to pine obsessively, aggressively pursue an
uninterested person, or endanger themselves for art. It is equally important
to her followers to spread love as it is to correct those who would use Shelyn’s
name to justify selfish, covetous, or cruel deeds.
No matter the season, Shelyn’s temples
are adorned with flowers, art, and images of her religious symbol: a songbird
with vibrant rainbow tail feathers.
DIVINE INTERCESSION
When creatures perform pleasing acts, such as spreading beauty, or displeasing actions, such as betraying loved ones, Shelyn may respond accordingly. Minor Boon: Once, when you roll a failure on a Diplomacy check, you get a critical success instead. Shelyn typically grants this boon only when the Diplomacy check would serve to increase love or offer a chance of redemption. Moderate Boon: You are inspired to create great works and become a virtuoso at all arts. You gain the Specialty Crafting feat and the Virtuoso Performer feat in all categories of Crafting and Performance. Major Boon: Your inner beauty and love surround you in an aura. As long as you bear them no ill will, all creatures other than fiends, undead, and mindless creatures start with an attitude of friendly toward you, unless they would have been helpful instead. This doesn’t mean they are willing to change their life or plans for you, and this boon does not prevent their attitudes from worsening if you try to thwart them. This effect doesn’t work against deities and similarly powerful creatures. Additionally, the love you share with your friends inspires them. You and your allies gain a +3 status bonus to saving throws and skill checks as long as you can see each other. Minor Curse: You heart churns with remorse. Each day, you are sickened 1 as a specific misdeed plays out in your mind over and over in guilt. You can’t remove this condition, though it abates enough for you to quickly eat and drink when necessary. If you make amends or otherwise earnestly pursue redemption for the misdeed, the sickened condition fades completely that day. Moderate Curse: Others subconsciously recognize your past betrayals. Whenever you attempt a Diplomacy check and roll a failure, you get a critical failure instead, and if you roll a critical success, you get a success instead. Major Curse: Those who spread misery via false love face Shelyn’s greatest curse. You lose the ability to distinguish any living being from another through appearance, voice, scent, or similar sensory means. You can make out physical size (so you wouldn’t mistake an ant for a horse), but nothing further. If you were merely shallow, every creature you see has generic, bland features, but if your deeds were vile, you see only the faces of those you have wronged.
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