Wee Jas

The Witch Goddess, Ruby Sorceress, Stern Lady, Death’s Guardian, God of Magic, Death, Vanity, and Law

Symbol: Red skull wreathed in flame
Home Plane: Acheron
Alignment: Lawful neutral
Portfolio: Death, magic, vanity, law
Worshipers: Necromancers, wizards
Cleric Alignments: LE, LG, LN
Domains: Arcana, Death, Grave, Order
Favored Weapon: Dagger

Wee Jas (WEE jas) is portrayed as a stunning woman dressed in a beautiful gown, wearing some piece of jewelry with a skull motif. She promotes the utilization of spells and magic items (though many of her Suel followers insist she favors the creation of such things). She gained her death aspect when the survivors of the Rain of Colorless Fire looked to their goddess of magic for assurance that the dead were being escorted to the afterworld. Her allies are the lawful Suel gods while the chaotic ones are her enemies (except Norebo, who is her lover despite their philosophical differences). She respects Boccob, dislikes the beauty goddess Myhriss, and ignores most other deities. Her symbol is a red skull, sometimes in front of a fireball.
Wee Jas is a witch goddess of death with the mixed portfolio of magic, death, vanity, and law. She thinks of herself as a steward of the dead. Though she is a relatively benign death goddess. She and her followers put undead into two categories, the Leashed and the Unleashed. The Leashed include mindless undead, incorporeal undead tied to an area or task, and undead created as guardians. The Unleashed includes any undead with the ability to create their own minions, and most intelligent undead.
Leashed undead are acceptable as servants, guardians and for other tasks, but the Unleashed need to be either brought to heel or destroyed. Wee Jas's clergy have the most enmity for vampires, liches, and other so-called undead masters and will work against these creatures whenever possible. Though there are rumors of former clerics of Wee Jas who have taken the path of lich and are bound to the church.

Appearance, Manifestations

Wee Jas always appears as a highly attractive human female; other than that, details of her appearance vary wildly. It has been suggested that she could appear as another humanoid race if she so wished, and that her appearance varies by what her followers in the area would consider most attractive. Wee Jas normally wears her holy symbol as a piece of jewelry.

Relationships & History

Wee Jas is a daughter of Lendor. She and her sibling Norebo have been romantically linked. She bears great enmity toward Phyton, for his dominion over beauty. She jealously dislikes Myhriss for her claim of dominion over love and beauty. Among the other Suel gods, she is closest to Phaulkon and Bralm, and also considers herself an ally of Boccob, Lendor, Fortubo, and Osprem.
She is close to all lawful deities, for she favors Law above all things, and will work with deities such as Heironeous and Hextor as the need arises. Demons and other chaotic beings generally despise her for this reason, which makes her on-again, off-again romance with Norebo that much more unusual. She can summon lawful undead or dragons to do her will.
Wee Jas is uncontested in her domains of Magic and Death. Boccob and Nerull, greater gods with which she shares the domains of magic and death, are not Suel deities; as a Suel deity, Wee Jas is more or less outside their sphere of influence. It has been suggested that this uncontested power means she will one day expand her influence, possibly to other planes.
Wee Jas considers Beltar, Dalt, Phaulkon, Phyton, and Vatun to be her foes because of their chaotic alignment. She is occasionally at odds with Norebo for the same reason.

Dogma

The Ruby Temple teaches that each life is like an hour glass, the sands slowly running out until your time is up. When a character dies but is brought back to life through magic, it wasn't that characters time to die...just yet. They believe that death is immensely powerful, and the moment when a soul crosses over permanently is a moment of extreme magical power.
Magic is the key to all things. understanding, personal power, security, order, and control over fate come with the study of magic. Respect those who came before you, left their knowledge, and died to make room for you; there will come a time when your life is over and those who come after will honor your learning and your memory.
She expects her followers to abide by these commandments: Hold no pity for those who suffer and die, for death is the natural end of life. Bring down the proud who try to cast off the chains of fate. As the instrument of Wee Jas, you must punish hubris where you find it. Watch for the cults of Orcus and stamp them out whenever they arise.
All things end. All things die. So the world turns as it always has and always will. Death is the single truth on which all mortals can agree, because none can escape this particular doom. Death is the great leveler. In the final moments, farmer and king are the same, subject to that final moment, including the rue and panic it creates. Both kobold and dragon must face the realization that all that has been will be no longer, and the great secret of what is to come will be known soon in the great and final revelation.
Death has no name, yet it looms everywhere. One can hear it in a mother’s wail and in the rattling breath slipping out between spittle-flecked lips. One can spy it in a predator’s eyes or in the glassy-eyed stare of the freshly slain. Its heralds screech as they wheel over ripe fields, grown fat from war’s excesses.

Worshipers, Clergy & Temples

Followers of Wee Jas are known as Jasidin. Wee Jas is especially popular with Suel wizards and sorcerers, and many necromancers revere her. As a death goddess, common people look to her for safe passage into the afterlife (rather than harsher deities like Nerull). She is also honored by those involved with upholding and interpreting laws (judges, magistrates, justicars, etcetera). Followers of Wee Jas will often exclaim "By the Ruby Lady!" or "By the sands of time!" a curse said to enemies would be "May your sands run quick."
Clerics of Wee Jas, known as Karuth, are most often women, although men are not discouraged to participate in the Ruby Temple. Clerics of lower level are expected to defer to ones of higher level at all times.
Clerics of Wee Jas commonly administer funerals, and aid in the transition into the afterlife. Using various kinds of magic, priests are called to aid those that are dying (calming loved ones, easing the dying's pain, or even speeding a person's transition). With permission from the family, a member of the church will oversee the death a person, silently observing and taking notes. When the body does finally die, the church also handles all matters with the burying of the body as elegantly as possible.
Clerics also arbitrate disputes, give advice on magic, investigate magical curiosities and create magic items. More powerful clerics use their magic to fortify their temple and city. Priests are also responsible for keeping libraries of magical information and aiding the research of new magical spells.
Wee Jas’s priesthood has a strict hierarchy. Her clerics are known for their discipline and obedience to their superiors. Clerics of Wee Jas arbitrate disputes, give advice on magic, investigate magical curiosities, create magic items, and administer funerals. Clerics of lower level are expected to defer to ones of higher level at all times. They wear black or gray robes.

Vestment

Priests of Wee Jas wear layered full-length hooded robes of alternating gray and black. They wear hoods that include a veil to cover their eyes. They wear jewelry with skull and gem motifs on their arms and necks as well, and carry staves. Their favored weapon is the dagger, but they will use many weapons of the sort favored by mages. Priests of the Raven Queen wear black robes.

Temples

Temples to Wee Jas are few and far between, but she counts many powerful sorcerers and wizards (especially necromancers) among her worshipers. They usually contain extensive libraries of arcane lore and large collections of items that once belonged to great wizards from past eras.
Temples to the Ruby Mistress include underground crypts and catacombs that are used to protect the bodies of the dead. These crypts are believed to house the bodies of wealthy nobles and powerful spellcasters (sometimes buried with their personal magic items). Commoners are buried outside in graveyards.
Temples have various mages researching spells on a permanent basis. Each temple will specialize in a school of magic, although most necromantic formulas are shared between the various temples. Priests are also responsible for aiding people on to the afterlife, although the specific nature of this aid depends on the alignment of the priest.

Rituals

The church recognizes the following holy days:
Nights of a Waxing Moon: On those nights when Celene or Luna are waxing, Jasidin light magical bonfires, create illusions, and offer praise and sacrifice to their goddess.
Goddess' Blush: On the 4th of Coldeven, Jasidin gather at a temple to burn a piece of jewelry as a sacrifice to the Taker.
Ruby Convocation: A holiday mainly for clergy and laity of high status, the Ruby Convocation is held every ten years. On this festival, modeled after an extravagant ball, contacts are made and reinforced, stories are told, and knowledge is exchanged. At the end, the guests drink wine out of a goblet with a ruby sitting in it; this is known as the Ruby Toast, and is given in thanks to the Ruby Sorceress. After the drink, the ruby is cast into a fire.

Scriptures

The Abominable Devastation: This is a short text considered heretical by most of the Jasidin church. It suggests that Wee Jas deliberately removed the defenses of the Suel Imperium, leaving them vulnerable to the Rain of Colorless Fire in punishment for their sins against magic.
The White Book: This tome, over a hundred pages long, explains in a detailed manner the funerary customs of the Suel. Its rites and prayers, which differ according to a corpse's former status in life, can be used to prevent a spirit from rising as one of the undead.

Divine Domains

Arcana, Grave, Knowledge

Divine Classification

Intermediate God

Ethnicity

Suel