Desna (DEZ-na)

CG goddess of Dreams, Luck, Stars, and Travelers

The Song of the Spheres (a.k.a. The Great Dreamer, Starsong, The Tender of Dreams)

Blessed is the long road, the destination, the homeward path, and all who make the journey. Let each dream be a bright star in the night sky of your mind, lighting your path in the day.

-Prayer carved on a shine near Dulan

The night didn’t know beauty until Desna came into existence. While the other gods toiled away to create the world, she set her sights on the heavens, placing each star in the sky. After surveying her artistry, she hung the brightest star high in the north and made it her home. Her first gift to mortals was this beacon of hope, a twinkling sign in the dark sky that they could turn to when lost or unsure of themselves. Desna provides safe passage through the darkness to all, should they choose to follow.

Desna journeys without end, for the wonders of the universe are endless. She relies on instinct to guide her, paying no mind to planning or destination. Her lapsing attention may come off as uncaring or cold, but Desna simply prefers an untethered, carefree existence. Her confidence in herself and her followers frees her from the indulgence of worry. She knows fate can always be rewritten and encourages others to embrace all that life has to offer. Desna wants her followers to take chances, get messy, and live life to its fullest. Those who follow her teachings she rewards with a spot of luck—revealing unseen shortcuts, dangers to be circumvented, and undiscovered wonders.

Desna is an ancient being, born during the dawn of time, but her sense of wonder has never faded. Even so, she is no stranger to hardship, understanding that fate can be cruel and love can be lost. This only strengthens her resolve. She believes in good luck, and that people can make their own fortune in life. To Desna, no one is ever truly lost; they need only find their way back to the path. She revels in mystery, being herself somewhat of an enigma, but she can always be found on the side of hope. Light always pierces the darkness, and all nightmares eventually give way to dreams.

The goddess loves music and live performances. Legends say Desna played the world’s first song by ringing the stars to celebrate the gods’ completion of the material world. Her faithful have embraced her love of music and the arts and are often performers themselves, with many modern songs and dances having their roots in Desnan worship. Artists devoted to Desna have created some of the most famous poems and ballads on Golarion and often perform in conjunction with Shelynites. A sizable portion of Desna’s priesthood are bards,spreading her songs across the world on their travels.

Desna encourages her followers to chase their bliss, find what impassions them, and explore. She recognizes love in all its forms and remains committed to her lovers Sarenrae and Shelyn. She also shares a close relationship with Cayden Cailean has no reservations about taking on new lovers. Desna is protective of those she cares for and does not hesitate to strike back at any who would hurt or impede those she has placed under her protection.

When making a rare appearance to mortals, Desna appears as a beautiful woman with long dark hair and shining stars in her eyes. Brilliant, colorful patterns of pinks, purples, and blues trail behind her like a comet’s tail as her majestic butterfly wings fly her through the cosmos. If she wishes to make her desires known, she imparts wondrous dreams to her followers, allowing them the rare opportunity to dance among the stars with her.

There is little sense of authority within the Desnan church, though on Panaria it is a faith that dates as far back as ancient Arkosia. The church lacks any sort of hierarchy, and priests are valued by the tales of the journeys they’ve undertaken and the experiences they’ve had rather than for any seniority. A typical Desnan service is performed almost entirely in song, with interludes of dance, storytelling, and dream recollection interspersed throughout.

Most centers of worship for Desna are not ornate temples but instead small, unattended shrines. These shrines are most commonly found at crossroads, remote areas of beauty, or the tops of hills where the stars can be viewed unimpeded. Traveling Desnan priests clean and maintain these shrines as they encounter them, leaving their signatures behind as a way of marking their own journey.

Relations with Other Religions

While friendly toward most other deities, Desna is ultimately a lone wanderer who remains aloof, and her sometimes-tragic history has left her cautious about leaving herself vulnerable to others. She is aware that some find her remoteness enticing, however, and she coyly encourages even godly paramours to explore and discover new things while trying to court her.


Her detachment has not prevented her from acquiring enemies, most from long-standing feuds or old grudges. Her biggest enemy is Lamashtu, who murdered Desna's mentor, Curchanus. Desna also battles Zon-Kuthon, for she wants the night to be a time of wonder rather than of fear and oppression, and Rovagug, who contests her for the void of space. The goddess also watches for signs of numerous forgotten and departed deities from ages long past, guarding against their unlikely but ever-possible return.

Desna's only true sources of comfort among the deities are her lovers Sarenrae, who tends the wounds she receives in battling the evils of the night, and Shelyn, who reinvigorates her spirits and creates new wonders to be explored.

Desna's followers don't spend much time worrying about anyone else's faith, although they're happy to talk about their own if asked. They're not averse to paying their respects at shrines or temples to most other good-aligned gods, or welcoming members of other faiths with which Desna is friendly into the safety of their temples or homes when those guests are threatened or in need. As long as others respect their ways, they'll return such respect; the road to truth passes through different landscapes for everyone, and a Desnan would never interrupt someone else's journey unless that person were in mortal peril. Desna's footloose dreamers are polite but cautious-some might say aloof-toward followers of deities who encourage their faithful to settle down, such as Abadar's congregations and worshipers of Erastil; they are protective of their right to wander, and don't take kindly to attempts to tie them to one place. Though members of other faiths might see Desnans as flighty or disapprove of their amusement at religious practices they consider stodgy, Desna's faithful can be just as implacable as the adherents of any other good-aligned faith when it comes to opposing evil. They are especially dedicated to guarding against the return of ancient, evil gods, and to rooting out cults of Rovagug and Lamashtu.

Holy Books & Codes

The faithful of Desna care little for heavy tomes of holy doctrine or arguments over the most righteous path. They prefer their religion concise, entertaining to read, and easy to carry.
The Eight Scrolls: These eight short scrolls contain all the official doctrine of the church, summarizing Desna's early days as a goddess, her interactions with other deities, her discovery of her powers, and the fixing of the stars in the night sky. The fifth scroll contains the church's words regarding the behavior of mortals, which sparks many friendly debates among the faithful. Desna is a goddess of inherent contradictions; fortunately, her loosely organized church accepts all plausible interpretations of the scrolls that do not radically deviate from standard church teachings. The scrolls are short enough that they all fit within two scroll cases (one if the writer's handwriting is particularly fine).
Shrine Writings: Wayside shrines to Desna are typically covered in graffiti, most inscribed by traveling followers of the goddess. It is said that the goddess herself grants inspiration at such places, and that those who add drawings, scribbled verses, or life observations upon the shrine are granted safe travels and good luck.

Tenets of Faith

Edicts aid fellow travelers, explore new places, express yourself through art and song, find what life has to offer
Anathema cause fear or despair, cast nightmare or use similar magic to corrupt dreams, engage in bigoted behavior
Follower Alignments: Neutral Good, Chaotic Good, Chaotic Neutral

Holidays

Given their lack of unified structure and penchant for spontaneous celebrations, the church of Desna has few formal holidays. Two major festivals stand out from the dozens of minor occasions and celestial events.
Ritual of Stardust: This celebration takes place on the summer and winter solstices, bracketing the shortest and longest nights of the year (and thus the best day to travel and the longest night to view Desna's stars). A great feast starts at dusk with several large bonfires throwing sparks into the darkening sky. When dusk turns fully to night, the faithful sing until the fires burn down to glowing embers, then throw handfuls of sand laced with star gems (star rubies, star sapphires, or rose quartz) on the coals or into the air downwind of the festival. Pledges of friendship and journeys follow the stardust ritual, with the winking speckles of sand mirroring the stars in the sky and representing Desna bearing witness to the words. Some cultures include prayers for good harvests or mild winters, depending on the season.
Swallowtail Release: Legends tell of a portion of Desna's spirit plummeting from the heavens after a great battle with Lamashtu. A blind orphan nursed Desna's avatar back to health, and to thank the child, the goddess transformed her into an immortal butterfly. In this form, the child could forever fly around the world, seeing its wonders. In honor of this event, the church raises swallowtail butterflies, releasing them from a netted wagon on the first day of autumn in front of a crowd of the faithful. These "children of Desna" fill the air for the rest of the day's singing, feasting, and storytelling. Desna's followers believe it is good luck for a butterfly to rest on them during the festivities. Larger temples sometimes have enclosed gardens where they raise the caterpillars for eventual release on the holiday; smaller temples or those in climates that won't support butterflies might release dry leaves or corn husk fragments painted to look like butterflies.

Worship in Taldor

As a Non-The Seven deity, worship of The Song of The Spheres is officially illegal in Kingdom of Taldor.
Desna is a controversial exclusion from the Seven due to her intimate relationship with Sarenrae and Shelyn.  
Desna is a favored patron of Zamorian travelers, who are known to have hidden shines to the goddess inside their caravans.  Secret shrines to the Song of the Spheres can be found along many of the roads of the Kingdom where they might be removed by Templar patrols only to be replaced by a new shrine as soon as the templars have moved on.
Punishment for unauthorized worship is usually levied as a fine and/or confiscation of property in which a shrine was established. Imprisonment for unauthorized worship is almost never done.

Aphorisms

Desnans share songs, tales, and phrases as they travel the world. These are among some of the more common shared phrases.
A copper for the song, a copper for the road: It is customary to pay a Desnan bard 2 coppers. The first copper is out of respect for Desna, and the second is either to acknowledge the performer’s skill or a plea for the bard to perform elsewhere.
A star cannot see its place in the sky: When worshippers doubt themselves or their path, they are reminded that a single star cannot conceive the role it plays in the harmony of the heavens. Even when alone, they walk alongside Desna. Be ready for challenges and unexpected friends: Worshippers should train in combat or magic so they can overcome adverse situations in their travels.
Learn from what is different: Desna’s followers should accept others who espouse friendship, regardless of ancestry or faith.
You are never lost following butterflies: Desna’s faithful trust in their intuition and the signs their goddess provides them.

Religions

• Elven Pantheon
• Gods of Tengaria