Mana, the deceptive goddess

Birth and origins

Mana was the daughter of Meleth, goddess of sex and erotism and Aorell, a spirit of the forest. Myth tells us that Mana grew up in the forest near modern day Teloduro, raised by her parents. She was said to be as beautiful as her mother and have the ability to control the magic of the forest like her father.
She enjoyed hunting when she was young and everybody said she was very kind towards other people (gods, mortals, demi-gods). In fact, her best friends were two demi-gods, Aymon and Athyas, whose loss would ultimately be the cause of her turn to darkness.

by WOTC

The story goes that there was a chimera that not even Alara, the goddess of hunt and memory dare to face. Mana wanted to impress all the other gods, including her mother, by hunting this beast. He tried first alone but both the goddess Alara and her mother Tyr, goddess of nature appeared in front of her advising her not to try facing the beast alone, so she gave up.

But little Mana was stubborn and a couple of centuries later, a great banquet celebrating the anniversary of the marriage of Abbon Shabai and Tyr took place . Mana wanted to impress the king and queen of the gods by gifting them a carpet made of the skin of the Chimera. So, she remembered the advice of the two goddess about not to face the beast alone, so she asked her best friends Aymon and Athyas. Together they went to the forest to hunt the Chimera, but the monster was too powerful for young Mana and the two demi-gods, who were mortally injured by the monster, so she cried for help to the gods in heaven, but instead of receiving help, she received a reprimand from Tyr and Alara, who refused to help her (without knowing Aymon and Athyas were dying). In a last attempt she invoked a teletransport spell and fled from the area with her two friends, who died in her arms.
Since then, she swore vengeance upon the house of the gods, and all relatives of Tyr and Alara. She fled to the East and Khair, god of death and evil, took her under his custody teaching her dark magic and treacherous tricks.

Her role in mythology

Mana is one of the antagonists of some myths and mythical stories. One of the oldest records in the myth of Prince Arjuna and princess Sita, a very important and famous myth of the elves which takes place in the South of Teria; where after watching the reflection of each other at the same time in two ponds they fell in love and decide to abandon their palaces in search of each other. It was prophesied that from the union of both elves a great people would be born that would fight the forces of darkness. So, the god of Death sent Mana to try to seduce Arjuna and prevent the lovers to meet each other.
At first, she tried to seduce Arjuna by approaching him while he was medidating trying to restore his magic singing a very beautiful song. He felt amazed by the young woman and, believing she was a local from a nearby village, he offered her food. They had a meal, but when she was finally achieving her goal Arjuna talked about the face he had seen in the lake and how he desperately wanted to find her lover, and resumed his march unaware that she had almost fallen into a trap.
A couple of days later she tried again. This time by creating an illusion with her beautiful song, disguising herself as princess Sita. The illusion seemed to work but inside it an unexpected guest appeared, it was Athiphyn, Arjuna's cousin who had died at Durstolon because of Mana's tricks. He warned him about what was happening and Arjuna was thus able to avoid giving in to her spell. Angry because her plans had been frustrated and scared because of the apparition of this ghost, she decided to flee.

Related also to this myth is the story of how Mana was captured by Kuchi, Davidion's son when he visited Unhellion to help its king fight the dwarves, around 2000 years after the Siege of Dorstulon, the city of the Ten Walls when he and his people settled in Karia. Mana wanted to seduce the hero by creating some illusions in the midst of the battlefield, but his lover (and later wife) the goddess Pyria warned him in time and he not only avoid being trapped by her schemes but he also captured Mana and turned her into his slave.
Ikarian myths also tells us that before trying to seduce Kuchi she tried to seduce Ikaros as she knew he was dating the goddess Zerah, goddess of Storm and Thunder and she thought her master, the god of Death would be pleased, because it was also said that if both the goddess and the hero had children, they would be one of the most staunch fighters against evil. It was said that Ikaros was spending sometime in the island of Aros when Mana appeared to him disguised as Zerah and she began teasing him, and when they were about to kiss, Zerah appeared suddenly between the hero and the evil spirit and she waved Mana away with a wave of his crow feather fan. It is said that she was almost petrified of fear by looking at Zerah's angry and glooming eyes, and in the end she escaped the island dodging lightning.
In elven mythology, the goddess of Thunder also had a son, many millennia before marrying Ikaros, this god is Alphias, the god of wind. Mana tried to get revenge on Zerah by seducing her son, and in a certain way she achieved that, because from their union a new race of creatures was born, harpies, beautiful as their mother and with the ability to fly like their father.

Redemption

Myth also tells us that Mana underwent a "redemption arch". After spending two decades as Kuchi's slave, she was very sad, she lamented her fate, and all the things that she had done that lead to her current situation. So, the Sun God, in his infinite wisdom, took pity on her and appeared to Kuchi, ordering him to freed her and Kuchi, being as pious as his father, agreed immediately.

Abina ( Seris version of Abbon Shabai) by Callyxtus

Once she was freed Abbon Shabai appeared to her and granted his pardon for all the evil things she had done with one condition, that she had to undergone a transformation in order to become good and renounce evil, which Mana agreed.
Abbon Shabai then placed her inside a giant egg inside a boat and sent it across the sea, the boat travelled southwards across the Interior Sea reaching an island in front of Teria, there the boat landed on the beach with such force that the egg was thrown out and landed on the beach. There it broke and a transformed Mana emerged from it, free of any trace of evil. She then accompanied the king of the gods to their Heavenly Palace and apologized sincerely to all the gods and souls of the heroes that she had done harm in the past.

Then, Abbon Shabai made her the goddess of adventurers and friendship in remembrance of the previous bonds she shared before turning to evil. After this event her main role is to be the protector of the adventurers and to be a witness of the oaths of friendship and hospitality and to make sure they are kept.
One of her fist tasks, it was said, after becoming a "good" goddess was to visit her daughters to deliver them a prophecy: That one day the moment will come where they should worship the Sun as she finally did, but they should keep this hidden from the god of evil.

Iconography

Mana is represented as a young very beautiful woman dressed in a beautiful green elven dress and a piece of silk fabric around her elbows. She has a pink hair and a hairstyle and makeup similar to that of some of the court ladies in Seria.
As goddess of adventurers her green dress changes to a bright white one, symbolizing her purification, she carries an oil lamp on one hand (symbolizing her guidance and protection over the adventurers) and a daga on the other symbolizing her fight against monsters and evil.

Protector of adventurers

It is believed that after becoming the goddess of adventurers, Mana still used her "old tricks" to attract monsters and evil forces for either killing them or send them far from the adventurers.

Anything for you darling... hehehe

— Mana's supposed answer to an adventurer

She is also the responsible of regenerating magic and life inside dungeons, so there are a carved images of her at the gate of many dungeons, and it is said that every adventurer that wants to go inside must touch or kiss the image of the goddess first.