Leira

Lady of the Mists, Mother of Illusionists, the Guardian of Liars, the Mistshadow

Leira has worn many masks, and more than once has been thought to be dead or to be another deity altogether. Perhaps such a reputation is only natural for the goddess of illusion and deception. Her faithful agree that whatever the "truth" might be, their Lady takes great delight in the confusion sown by her various incarnations. Even the faithful of Cyric once taught that their god killed Leira, but now they espouse the strange idea that somehow she is his daughter.
Leira isn't viewed as malicious or as a trickster but is seen as enigmatic, quiet, and retiring. She is credited with inventing Ruathlek, the language of illusionists and the spoken tongue of Nimbral.
The faithful of Leira seem to be scarce, although it is difficult to know this for certain, because those who favor her rarely make their inclinations known. Leira is the patron of illusionists and liars. She receives little regular worship except from illusionists, who pray to the Mistshadow for potency in their magic, and con artists, for whom she is a kind of champion. Most people pray to her when they hope to keep something secret, or placate her with a prayer before making an important decision when they fear being deceived. Some folk perform a swirling motion with a finger behind their backs when telling a lie as a way of beseeching her for aid.
Her priests wear vestments of white and mist-gray, and their faces are covered by smooth, featureless masks. Only in Nimbral do temples to Leira exist, and shrines dedicated to her found across the continent are usually disguised as-other kinds of sites, marked with signs that only the faithful would recognize.

Divine Domains

Arcana, Trickery

Divine Symbols & Sigils

A triangular plaque of cloudy, swirling gray mists, point downward

Tenets of Faith

Leirans believe that the Lady can be anything, anywhere, that is not what it seems. They are taught to make folk everywhere doubt what they believe and see in order to restore Holy Mystery to the world. Leirans are to give as well as take, to raise hope as well as dashing hopes. Leirans must never tell the truth when less can do and never use a half-truth when a lie would serve better. They should speak truth whenever possible only to fellow worshipers of Leira.
Novices in the faith are charged by the whispering mists of the goddess that: "The Lady is never quite what you think she is. Truth is a worthless thing to know and worth even less to speak aloud. Never speak truth when falsehood will suffice. Cherish and further illusions and rumors, for distortion and legend are what make folk happy and life alluring. Hiding a thing gives it value by the very act of cloaking."

Holidays

Leirans lie face-down on the ground and pray to the Lady every morning and on every moonlit night. They go walking whenever they encounter fogs or mists to chant praises to Leira and speak with the Lady (who is said to sometimes answer as an echoing whisper out of the surrounding mists). They also hold brief ceremonies at altars of Leira (when assigned to a temple) on a daily basis to allow nonbelievers who wish to appease Leira's caprices to make offerings and to hear and guide the prayers of lay worshipers. In all cases, formal worship of Leira consists of kneeling prayers and standing hymns and chants made while facing her horned altars whose upswept arms frame only empty air.
The most holy rituals of Leira are the Unmasking, and the Invocation. The Unmasking is performed as purification by novices entering the priesthood, priests rising in rank, or priests doing penance for slighting their faith (telling the truth too often, for example). In this ritual, the bare-faced supplicant walks down ranks of priests holding tall lit candles between reflecting pools of water and mirrors. The Invocation is held when the Lady is called upon directly for guidance, and during this ceremony chanting priests swing censers to make thick smoke so that She may appear in the heart of its concealment and speak to them.
Leirans gather for six Conclaves every year at different places and slightly different times; word of where and when spreads quietly throughout the priesthood, but it is not revealed to outsiders. It is believed that by holy writ only truth is spoken at such gatherings and that the clergy members use such occasions to share information, to allow members to transfer from temple to temple, and to permit church elders to vote on the most important missions the faith should undertake.

Divine Goals & Aspirations

Day-to-Day Activities

Clergy of Leira spread false rumors—and if they can, create illusions—in return for fees. They are charged with the task of making folk everywhere doubt truth by encouraging (and then revealing) false beliefs, setting up hoaxes, and the like. Leirans are masters of disguise and rent or sell costumes and (for stiff fees) apply makeup for everyone who desires it (usually folk in some trouble). They also aid others in deceptions by acting as actors-for-hire, often pretending to be wives, husbands, collection agents, brigands, paramours, escorts, thieves, or even clergy members of rival faiths as they assist some less-than-honest person in working a deceit on others. When not bent on such dark purposes, most Leiran clergy members work on alternative personas or roles they can adopt "out of mask" to work swindles on others, enriching and entertaining themselves (though it is a tenet of the church that someone they rob must later be aided by Leiran hands to make up for the loss).

Priestly Vestments

Leiran clergy members all dress alike: in long, cowled, bottom-fringed robes of russet to ochre, lined and streaked with green, tied with sashes of the same material, and worn with gloves and distinctive smooth, silvered glass masks. These masks entirely cover the face, projecting out below the chin to allow normal breathing, and their wearers can see normally (if dimly) through them. These silver masks reflect gaze attacks, and although their wearers may still gaze through them and so still may meet something's gaze, they give their wearers a +3 bonus to their saving throws against gaze attacks or effects. Vampires, who hate mirrors, seek to slay Leiran priests whenever possible.
Leiran silver masks are tinted: Red is worn in the morning, blue after highsun, rust at dusk, and gray after the full darkness of night comes. The most holy rituals call for a mask of the same green hue as the robes. All clergy are taught to make the silvered masks (a difficult task requiring much dexterity and patience), and they tend to have several sets (hidden in well-padded traveling cases) in addition to their everyday set. A wealthy Leiran cleric will often hire a wizard to cast glassteel spells on his or her masks just to be rid of worries about breakage.
A priest caught without a silver mask will wear a gauze headsack. Every robe has one sewn into the cowl and another in a concealed inner pocket to be sure that a supply is always near at hand. Although it is no sin to go barefaced, Leiran clergy members are usually paranoid about showing their faces in public when their robes or residency make nonbelievers aware of their faith and profession: Many a priest of Leira has bathed or entertained private company while stubbornly still wearing (only) his or her mask!

Adventuring Garb

When traveling, Leiran sometimes adopt alternate identities and dress as these types of people would, but most often they wear their ceremonial robes and silver mask. The robes are covered by russet cloaks with green gemstone-adorned clasps. These cloaks are cloaks of displacement and the "gemstones" are tinted glass shapes that can be slid aside to reveal a small hiding place in the locket-clasp where priests typically store gems, magical rings, or vials of sleep gas. This gas is a favorite weapon of Leiran clergy. It fills a roughly 20-foot-cubic volume in about five rounds if the stopper is left off the vial, or it can be poured onto a cloth and applied to a victim's nose and mouth. In either case, victims exposed to it must make a successful saving throw vs. poison or fall asleep (as in a sleep spell) every round they are exposed to it. It disperses or evaporates in 10 minutes after filling the cubic area of effect or being poured onto the cloth.

Symbol: A triangular plaque of cloudy, swirling gray mists, point downward
Home Plane: The Courts of Illusion
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Portfolio: Deception, illusion
Worshipers: Illusionists, liars, con-men
Cleric Alignments: CN, CE, CG
Domains: Arcana, Trickery
Favored Weapon: Dagger
ALLIES: Mask, Azuth

Divine Classification

Lesser Power