Shelyn (shay-LIN)
NG goddess of Art, Beauty, Love, and Music
The Eternal Rose
Fill your heart, eyes, and mind with the beauty of the world. Without beauty and love, we are nothing.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.-Melodies of Inner Beauty
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 areblue, silver, both, or one of each color.
Shelyn’s mother is unknown, though some claim she was born of an ancient goddess of love. Shelyn’s father was the spirit-wolf Thron, who roamed Panaria in primordial times singing feral praises to love, life, and the universe. Though Thron had many partners and children, he had only two children who grew to surpass him in power: Shelyn and Dou-Bral. After a fight between the siblings, Dou-Bral rejected his divine responsibilities and disappeared beyond the edge of the Great Beyond. He eventually returned, but changed: possessed by some malevolent spirit and reshaped as the twisted and corrupted lordZon-Kuthon.
The two siblings clashed once more, this time coming to a truce only when Shelyn wrested her brother’s gold-plated glaive, Whisperer of Souls, from his hands, believing it to be the source of his corruption. Though Zon‑Kuthon remains evil, going so far as to mutilate and reshape his own father into a grotesque herald, Shelyn still believes that her brother exists somewhere beneath the corruption, and she hopes to one day redeem him.
This tragic schism in Shelyn’s family contributes to her belief that all creatures deserve love, and that even those who have turned to evil still carry love within them, along with the possibility of healing and redemption. While Zon-Kuthon, Asmodeus, Rovagug, and Urgathoa are sometimes considered enemies of her faith, in truth Shelyn doesn’t look at any creature in a way that fits the mortal concept of “enemy.” Even evil deities and their faiths tend to look more kindly on Shelyn and her worshippers than they do the other good gods.
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.
Shelynites gather at her temples on the holy day of Crystalhue, a winter celebration full of creation, friendly gatherings, and courtship. Many couples get engaged or married on Crystalhue, and the temples host grand feasts in the evening for the whole community to gather and enjoy food, company, and performances long into the night. 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.
Relations with Other Religons
Shelyn's nature is to be loved, and no deity is immune to her charm. However, the gods' responses vary in accord with their natures: Asmodeus would use her to seduce the incorruptible, while Rovagug would place her within his eye to watch as he gloriously destroys all creation. The Eternal Rose has loved many minor and major deities, and is currently lovers with both Sarenrae & Desna but she refuses to forever bind herself to any of them and has borne no children in her time. Calistria and Shelyn amuse each other and understand the need for both lust and love in a passionate relationship. Cayden Cailean, similarly, amuses her with his heartfelt and often inebriated attempts to woo her, but most believe her love for the god of freedom to be that of a patient older sister.Bahamut and other deities who actively crusade against evil often see her as naive or a bit frivolous, but such objections tend to melt away in her presence as she reminds them that she eradication of evil is meaningless if crusaders forget what they are fighting to preserve. Shelyn has a close friendship with Bolka, the dwarven goddess of love and beauty, although both recognize that their worshipers have different views of these qualities.
Shelyn is the only deity who has any regular contact with her brother Zon-Kuthon, and it has been ages since he attacked her, though she remains wary that whatever evil force controls him might one day change its mind. She also recognizes the longing in his eyes when he sees her glaive, and suspects that somehow the alien thoughts that emanate from the weapon are the key to freeing her brother from the shadow that consumes him .She also has a strained relationship with Urgathoa, not just because ofUrgathoa's spiritual ugliness, but also because of some offense she committed against the goddess of undeath in centuries past. Neither goddess is willing to speak of the friction between them.
In general, the faithful of Shelyn have excellent relations with all of the other good and neutral religions, and even the servants of evil gods find much to love about the goddess and her followers. Like their deities, followers of crusading gods may sometimes dismiss Shelynites as out of touch with reality or hampered by artistic temperament, until they stumble into a Shelynite temple, battle-weary and heartsore, and find peace, healing, and renewed faith among its comforts. On rare occasions, Shelynites' suggestions that this faith's temple would be much improved by a bit of redecorating or that faith's ceremonial robes could be adjusted to be more flattering irritate their neighbors, but most recognize the impulse as the genuine desire to share beauty, and a minor flaw compared with Shelynites' bounty of attractive qualities.
Holy Books & Codes
Shelyn's holy book is Melodies of Inner Beauty, and as its
name suggests, it's more a hymnal and collection of
poetry than a prayer book. Stories about the goddess,
her family, her history, and her doctrine are expressed
through songs, epic verses, and dramas to be performed
and enjoyed among the faithful. The book glosses over the
ugly parts of the stories (particularly about Zon-Kuthon),
though other divinely inspired documents of the church
reveal more details of Shelyn's deeds and relationships.
Tenets of Faith
Edicts be peaceful, choose and perfect an art, lead by example, see the beauty in all things
Anathema destroy art or allow it to be destroyed, unless saving a life or pursuing greater art; refuse to accept surrender
Follower Alignment: Lawful Good, Neutral Good, Chaotic Good
Anathema destroy art or allow it to be destroyed, unless saving a life or pursuing greater art; refuse to accept surrender
Follower Alignment: Lawful Good, Neutral Good, Chaotic Good
Holidays
The church of the Eternal Rose has no universal holidays except Crystalhue. However, vow renewals between loving couples are often celebrated by an entire temple, as are any other anniversaries ofloving relationships. For a temple associated with a specific patron agathion, that celestial's birthday, wedding anniversary, or confirmation in the church may be a local holiday
Crystalhue (Winter Solstice 1st of Ardos): This day of artistic creation is traditionally a time for courtship and romantic proposals. During the day, people hang crystal prisms and glass baubles in order to spread light and scatter rainbows in the streets. Celebrants exchange small gifts, typically handmade, as tokens of appreciation or as peace offerings to those they feel they wronged during the year. Worshipers often dye colored streaks in their hair or wear colorful patchwork coats called melaros to which they add new patches every year. In the evenings, celebrants place lanterns on porches and in windows to line the streets with communal light. Town squares or other community gathering spaces host feasts around bonfires, and these gatherings are a popular time to perform marriage ceremonies, especially for worshipers without the means to throw such elaborate celebrations for themselves.
The sole dark note of Crystalhue is the zonzon doll. In some Shelynite congregations, a child chosen to be the "sibling" passes this strange little doll, made from scraps of leather and cloth and sewn with red thread, among neighbors. The townsfolk give it symbolic gifts and tell the doll happy memories or whisper apologies for those they've wronged during the year. The "sibling" child then casts it into the wilderness or sets it afloat to drift down a river, in the hope that it will find its way to the Midnight Lord and relate his sister's kindness, mercy, and goodwill in the face of the dark place he now resides.
Crystalhue (Winter Solstice 1st of Ardos): This day of artistic creation is traditionally a time for courtship and romantic proposals. During the day, people hang crystal prisms and glass baubles in order to spread light and scatter rainbows in the streets. Celebrants exchange small gifts, typically handmade, as tokens of appreciation or as peace offerings to those they feel they wronged during the year. Worshipers often dye colored streaks in their hair or wear colorful patchwork coats called melaros to which they add new patches every year. In the evenings, celebrants place lanterns on porches and in windows to line the streets with communal light. Town squares or other community gathering spaces host feasts around bonfires, and these gatherings are a popular time to perform marriage ceremonies, especially for worshipers without the means to throw such elaborate celebrations for themselves.
The sole dark note of Crystalhue is the zonzon doll. In some Shelynite congregations, a child chosen to be the "sibling" passes this strange little doll, made from scraps of leather and cloth and sewn with red thread, among neighbors. The townsfolk give it symbolic gifts and tell the doll happy memories or whisper apologies for those they've wronged during the year. The "sibling" child then casts it into the wilderness or sets it afloat to drift down a river, in the hope that it will find its way to the Midnight Lord and relate his sister's kindness, mercy, and goodwill in the face of the dark place he now resides.
Aphorisms
Followers of Shelyn share a number of sayings that they weave into their poetry, songs, or everyday expressions.The creation of beauty is the highest art: Any effort to make the world a more beautiful place is considered by Shelynites to be a blessing. This includes visual art, music, literature, or expression through makeup or clothing.
Love and beauty belong to all: All beings are capable and worthy of love, even those who have been twisted or corrupted by such facets of love as jealousy or possessiveness. Love is a power that has the strength to redeem and unite, and it is as varied in meaning as all the creatures who feel it in their hearts.
Love is the greatest of all things: Shelyn’s greatest teaching is that love is the most powerful of all forces. It drives the actions of mortals and gods alike, and it endures beyond knowledge, language, and ambitions. Painful emotions such as anger or fear are echoes of a love that is missing, and therefore can be soothed only by love.
Religions
Children
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