Waukeen, The Coinmaiden

Liberty's Maiden, The Golden Lady, Merchantsfriend, Merchants' Friend, Our Lady of Gold, The Coinmaiden

Waukeen (pronounced: /wɑːʌˈkin/ wau-KEEN or: /wɑːˈkin/ wah-KEEN) was a lesser deity of the Faerûnian pantheon known as the Merchant's Friend, Liberty's Maiden, and the Golden Lady. Her portfolio included everything related to commerce and the accumulation of wealth through free and fair trade, as well as the beneficial use of wealth to improve civilization. Those that venerated and appeased her included merchants from lowly peddlers to the wealthy owners of trading companies, investors, accountants, entrepreneurs, caravan guides, warehouse owners, philanthropists, deal-makers, moneylenders, and so on. Waukeen was also the goddess of illicit trade and the patron of many smugglers, fences, black marketeers, and "businessmen" on the shady side of commerce. Collectively, her worshipers were known as Waukeenar.

Description Waukeen was portrayed as a slender, young woman with long, lustrous golden hair; always splendidly dressed. Some depictions included a pair of golden lions resting at her feet. Her avatar was 10 ft (3 m) tall and typically had eyes that appeared as solid gold. She wore a gown woven from strips of precious metals polished to a gleaming finish and sprinkled with all manner of gemstones. Her sash was of spun gold and her cloak was a lattice of gold coins. On her feet were boots of laced pearls with gold soles. On occasions where subtlety was more appropriate, the Golden Lady sometimes manifested as a sprouting of daffodils to give a sign of favor, hope, or inspiration. Often she would provide money in unexpected places, like a coin, face-up, to indicate the correct path at an intersection, or nuggets of gold, citrines, pyrite (also known as fool's gold—perhaps as a sign of disfavor). Slightly less subtle was a pair of golden eyes observing from a curtain of impenetrable darkness; or a large stack of gold coins that writhed like a snake, flying or wrapping itself around something or someone to which she wanted to draw attention before it shattered and scattered, often causing a scramble to collect them. All such tokens from the goddess were highly valued by Waukeenar as "divine essence of the goddess". When more interaction or aid was needed she could send creatures such as golden-colored cats, lock lurkers, golden lions, palomino horses, eagles (preferably golden ones), or extraplanar creatures such as ferrumachs and plumachs from the Outlands.

Personality

Waukeen was an active and enthusiastic deity who enjoyed the ebb and flow of goods via commerce and the rapid pace of business in a thriving marketplace full of spirited bargaining—so much so that rumors of her presence at particularly intense negotiations involving one of her worshipers became legendary. Her side always got the best bargain, but the other party usually walked away also feeling satisfied about the terms of the deal. Waukeen was driven to accomplish a goal and move on to the next one and, rather than being frustrated when the usual business practices failed to work out a solution, she was willing to try alternate methods. This manifested itself in her church sometimes allowing the ends to justify the means. Her stubbornness and dogged persistence occasionally got her in predicaments and likely led to her imprisonment during the Time of Troubles.

The Church

Ornate temples to the glory of the Golden Lady were usually found in centers of commerce from Tashalar in the south, up through Amn, all around the Sea of Fallen Stars (Chessenta, Cormyr, Sembia, the Vast, Impiltur) and over to Thesk on the Golden Way. Her clerics and other worshipers traveled the trade routes aiding merchants and caravans or worked in the opulent temples as hosts for wealthy donors, moneylenders, currency exchangers, venture capitalists, warehousers, fences (covertly, of course) and, most importantly, security guards.

Divine Domains

Knowledge, Trickery

Divine Symbols & Sigils

Holy Symbols

• Upright coin with Waukeen's profile facing left

Favored Animals

• Eagles
• Golden cats
• Golden lions
• Palomino horses

Favored plants

• Daffodils

Favored minerals

• Citrine 
• Gold nugget

Favored colors

• Gold 
• White

Miscellaneous

• Shower of gold coins
• Gleaming golden eyes (in dreams)
• Coins found unexpectedly

Divine Classification

Lesser Deity

Church/Cult

Church of Waukeen