Aasterinian (a-ster-IN-ee-in)

Messenger of Io, the Messenger, Io's Daughter, the Playful, the Dawn Reveler

Aasterinian the Dawn Reveler is the draconic deity who embodies the chaos that new ideas and experiences bring to life. She is seen as the force of change, the element that makes each day different from the last. She is youthfully energetic despite her status as one of the oldest draconic deities, serving her sire, Io, as a messenger to mortal and divine beings alike, although typically with less decorum than her siblings feel is due such a role.
In her role as a messenger, Io’s Daughter maintains contact with all the other members of the draconic pantheon, as well as many deities outside of it. She is well known to the heads of other pantheons, although this contact does not make her an ally to them. In her delivery, she can be impudent and cheeky, but never compromises the meaning of the messages. Timeliness, on the other hand, can be problematic, as she is easily distracted by new or pleasurable experiences; luckily for her, Io rarely makes such messages urgent, and her lateness has yet to cause irreversible harm. When delivering her missives, she is surrounded by a palpable aura of The Concordant Dragon, such that even her true foes dare not raise a claw against her for fear of his retribution.
When left to her own devices, Aasterinian spends a considerable amount of time visiting other powers who delight her sense of curiosity. She visits Bahamut often; the Platinum Dragon is one of the most well connected deities known to the multiverse and he supplies her with, as she calls it, “all the gossip of the planes.” Such stays are never particularly long however. Her favorite companions amongst her brethren, at least when on fun-filled romps, are Hlal and Nathair Sgiathach; their pranks and jokes are said to have caused such havoc on one visit to Lendys that he banished the three from ever visiting his realm together, referring to them as the Triple Terror. Outside of the other draconic deities, Aasterinian maintains close ties with her neighbors, the dwarves of Nidavellir, taking on a dwarven form to inspect their new inventions and creations. She is a regular visitor to Farlanghn’s Caverns of Rest; at least on those occasions when the Finder of Trails is home. She is also known to be a frequent if short term companion on his wanderings, usually in the guise of a young, copper-haired dwarf. Similarly, she is a frequent visitor to the gnomish realms of Nebelun and Garl Glittergold. Finally, she has been a travel companion of Olidammara on a number of his exploits having struck up a friendship due to their similar roles as messengers.
Despite her impudence, the Dawn Reveler has not earned the wrath of many other deities. Often this is the case because her actions are too embarrassing to those who might hate her for her actions to act upon them, or give their reasons for their hatred. She is also an expert at diverting blame back onto her targets. The only real exceptions are the deities Tiamat and Faluzure. The former resents her role and status, and desires the power Io invests in her as a messenger, although she dares not act against her directly. Faluzure, the Night Dragon, on the other hand, is a special case. Some draconic legends state that Aasterinian and Hlal were once one and the same being, with the Jester being a simple aspect of the Dawn Reveler. In this guise, it is said that she played a particularly embarrassing trick on Faluzure, who swore he would hunt Hlal down even if it took him all eternity, and destroy her. In an effort to not jeopardize her duties, Aasterinian split off her Hlal persona as a full-fledged power unto herself; while this new deity has served to be Faluzure’s target, the Night Dragon still considers Aasterinian his enemy. Of course, this may just be a myth; Faluzure is known to need little reason to desire the death of another being.
Aasterinian is more active on the Prime Material Plane than most other draconic deities, and would likely be so even if she were not Io’s Messenger. As part of her duties, she carries messages to mortal dragons of wyrm status or older, passing on warnings and information from The Nine-Fold Dragon himself. She also carries queries and responses from these dragons back to her sire in his hidden location on the Outlands. When not carrying out her duties, she often wanders the worlds of the Prime Material Plane in avatar form, usually in the disguise of a dwarf, gnome, or human, examining new inventions and gadgets, and generally getting into trouble due to her desire to shake up the status quo.

Manifestations

Aasterinian appears as an enormous brass dragon with a near-perpetual smile. Her turquoise forehead bears a golden eight-pointed star in the center, and her azure eyes twinkle with mirth and a lust for life. She often takes the form of a female mountain dwarf or rock gnome wearing comfortable, nondescript traveling clothes.
She sometimes manifests as a bright star located near the horizon that guides followers to a place she feels they need to be. Such stars can be seen clearly even during the daytime or in overcast skies, but are only visible to her followers, and they twinkle with a brass or turquoise color. Followers who must travel a long distance on a mission of great importance to dragonkind may find themselves granted the boon or a triple-strength long flight spell, or a haste spell if combat is preventing them from completing such a mission. Finally, she may animate sunlight in order to aid a follower in desperate combat, and can draw sunlight even into the darkest of nights or deepest of caves in order to do so.
Aasterinian is served primarily by a small brass-colored bird known as the dawn swallow; besides the brass plumage, these birds have a turquoise mark on their forehead. Such birds are seen as messengers, and followers carefully interpret their actions to divine the message she is sending. In addition, Aasterinian is served by chaotic dragons and dragon-kin and migratory birds of all types, as well as asuras, azmyths, constellates, fensir, firestars, foo creatures, fremlin, greater and lesser winged cats, hollyphants, light aasimon, lillendi, messenger tasked genies, mountain dwarves, oreads, pegasi, radiance quasi-elementals, radiant mephits, ratatosk, reigar, rock gnomes, sunflies, tinkerers, translators, tressym, and will o’ dawns. She expresses her pleasure through the discovery of stream-polished turquoise in unexpected places, star sapphires, azurite, and quartz with star-shaped rutilations, as well as blue and orange flowers, particularly morning glories, chicory flowers, and aster flowers. She shows her displeasure in clouds obscuring the rising sun or setting morning star where there were no clouds visible before, any of the aforementioned flowers that wilt on sight, or turquoise that disintegrates into dust when it is picked up.

The Church

CLERGY: Dragon priests, dragonkin priests
CLERGY’S ALIGNMENT: NG, CG, N, CN, CE
DOMAINS: Light or Trickery

Aasterinian is favored by young, curious, and restless dragons, especially amongst the less serious metallic and gem species. Her followers are typically cheerful to a fault, and ever the optimists. Dragons who are flighty and fickle are often said to be “of Aasterinian’s brood;” whether this is seen as an insult or a compliment tends to vary from species to species. Followers of the Dawn Reveler get along very well with those who worship Hlal and Nathair Sgiathach, and surprisingly well with followers of Bahamut, although their flighty nature can be frustrating to the latter. Aasterinian’s worshipers often secretly befriend followers of gods of invention and travel, using magic to keep their draconic nature a secret through the use of magic.
Temples built in honor of Aasterinian are almost unheard of; many of her followers wander too much to take the time to build them. Shrines are common in places with spectacular views of the rising sun, especially on mountain peaks and ridges. Such shrines are very simple, usually with a clear crystal in the shape of an eight-pointed star designed to catch the sun’s light as it rises. Turquoise insets and brass fittings are also common. Magic or natural disguises may be created for these shrines to prevent theft from local humanoids, although they will usually have a subtle design that is instantly recognizable to Aasterinian’s followers. Those temples that do exist are usually near locations heavily visited by dragons. They may feature written works and devices discovered by followers, and there is an implicit agreement that such items can be taken from the temples if suitable replacements are left behind.
On Oerth, along with most other worlds, dragons do not form organized priesthoods, as there are too few of them, and they are far too individualistic. Only worlds with very dense dragon populations or very structured dragon cultures will develop hierarchical priesthoods, and the form they take are likely to be unique to those worlds. Clerics of Aasterinian are known as provocateurs. Naturally chaotic dragons are the most common members of Aasterinian’s clergy, with brass, copper, crystal, mercury dragons, and weredragons making up the bulk of the priesthood, although dragons of nearly any species may join. Half-dragon adventurers are especially fond of Aasterinian and may become clerics, although none are allowed to join the formal clergy or become true priests.
Dogma: Every day is a new beginning; a new day to learn, a new day to have fun, and a new day to cause mischief. Do as your whims dictate, and be unpredictable; life will reward you for it. Always think for yourself, rather than relying upon the opinions and dictates of others. Never take yourself, or others, too seriously. Those who do deserve good natured mockery and embarrassment. Shake up the staid order imposed by others and disturb the status quo; new thoughts and ideas thrive in such environments. Search out new or forgotten ideas and knowledge, and always look for new experiences. Not trusting in yourself and your own capabilities is the worst sin a dragon can commit before Aasterinian.
Day-to-Day Activities: Followers of the Dawn Reveler are curious, flighty, and unpredictable. Things catch their attention easily, and they become bored of them just as quickly. Unlike other dragons, they often spend more time away from their lairs than in them, and they prefer to collect unique and interesting treasures over boring items of great value; an orrery made of brass and simple colored stones is of far greater interest than a platinum ring set with a large diamond. Those capable of changing their shape will often visit dwarves and gnomes to see what new things they’ve created. In addition, Aasterinian’s followers are voracious readers, but their interests are haphazard, and they prefer to know a little about everything than becoming an expert on just one subject; as such they are frequent visitors of libraries and those dragons who hoard knowledge. Lost knowledge fascinates them, and they are quick to go flying off based on rumors of hidden libraries and ruined wizards’ towers. In this way they often supply new material to followers of Arcanic or Kereska, once they’ve finished perusing anything they’ve found.
Important Ceremonies/Holy Days: Holy days dedicated to Io’s Daughter occur during conjunctions between the morning star and other planets. No specific ceremony or observance is held on such a day, although individual dragons or priestly sects may develop a ritual they perform when these events occur. Aasterinian’s followers consider embarking on a new journey or beginning a new experience on these days favored by their goddess.
Major Centers of Worship: The only known temples dedicated to Aasterinian are located in the Outer Planes. In Io’s Blood Isles, shrines to Aasterinian can be found in many brass, copper, and crystal dragon clans, but the only temple is located in a grotto on the eastern coast of the All Clans Island. Followers of Io’s Daughter make a point to spend time there whenever visiting the Council Aerie. The temple overseen by a mated pair of adult copper dragons, Miloraughan and Ballifornan, although at any given time, there is a fifty percent chance one of the pair is out exploring or visiting other followers of Aasterinian amongst the other clans. They maintain a reasonably sized library of books, scrolls, and technical documents, although they are completely unsorted and frequently traded to other dragons for materials the pair has never read before. The entrance to the temple is located in such a way that anyone perched at the mouth can watch the rising sun, regardless of the time of year. The interior of the temple was designed and built by dwarves of the Isles, with heavy use of white marble and turquoise accents and brass fittings. Gnomes, and to a lesser extent dwarves, are common visitors to the temple, for their inventions and creations are much appreciated by Aasterinian’s followers.
Affiliated Orders: None.
Priestly Vestments: The holy symbol used by the priesthood usually takes the form of an eight-pointed star of gold, brass, or clear crystal set within a brass-bound disk of turquoise, magically bonded into a single piece. However, the symbol of the grinning dragon is also used profusely. Clerics and worshipers who favor Aasterinian’s more roguish nature will often adorn their gear with this latter symbol in favor of the more formal usage of the eight-pointed star.

Demigod

Draconic Pantheon

Titles
Messenger of Io, the Messenger, Io's Daughter, the Playful, the Dawn Reveler
Sphere of Influence
Learning, invention, pleasure
Alignment
Chaotic Neutral
Symbol
A grinning Dragon's Head is profusely used by most followers, though an eight-pointed star of gold, brass, or clear crystal set within a brass-bound disk of turquoise is the more formal symbol used in temples
Home Plane
Ysgard

Superior
Io
Allies
Bahamut, Farlanghn, Garl Glittergold, Hlal, Nathair Sgiathach, Nebelun, Olidammara, Tamara
Foes
Falzure, Tiamat
Worshipers
Chaotic dragons, dragonkin, free thinkers
Worshiper's Alignments
CG, CN, CE
Domains
Light, Trickery