Hydaelyn

Neutral Good goddess of life, light, and dreams.

Titles: The Mother Crystal, The Life of All, Steward of the Lifestream
Home Plane: Unknown – Currently drifting in the Astral Sea.
Power Level: Greater
Alignment: Neutral Good
Allied Deities: The Twelve
Rival Deities: Hades, Occuria, Zodiark.
Portfolio: Balance, Creation, Destruction, Dreams, Life, Light.
Domains: Magic, Good, Healing, Repose, Sun.
Favored Weapon: Power Rod
Artifact: Argos Horn
Sacred Gem: Moonstone
Sacred Color: White
Sacred Month: June
Deific Order: Crystalist

Lore

In an age forgotten by time, there was once a perfect world. This world was a utopia of knowledge and magic. Creatures and concepts could be conjured with but a thought by a perfect race. These ancient beings would be likened to deities in the current age, and they served as stewards of all creation. They knew naught but bliss, or so it would seem. One day, a great scourge came. It ravaged through this perfect world, manifesting the nightmares of the creatures that lived there into reality. A dark god was born of desperate pleas for survival, Zodiark. To bring him into being, half of the very existences of the ancient ones were sacrificed in his name. However, some of those remaining would not trust this new, hungry god.

One such soul was a woman who went by the name Venat, as she was known before her ascension. She gathered allies to bring into life a new god to counterbalance him. The light to match his darkness: Hydaelyn. When she was birthed into existence, the lines of fate were drawn between the two divinities. Light and darkness would forever after be drawn into conflict. The followers of the dark god would sacrifice their lives, the very essence of their being, to strengthen his power to outstrip that of light. To keep Zodiark weakened, the Goddess Hydaelyn sundered his essence into 14 planes of existence, along with the essence of all creation.

The Life of All created mortal life with this great sundering, and thus takes all of life as her charge. Exhausted, she now watches her mortal children, aiding them where she is able to resist the forces of darkness. She, too, recycles life and births new ones into being. However, the dark god’s followers, monikered as the Sundered, seek to bring back their god through great calamities. Hydaelyn has now chosen her Champions, the Warrior(s) of Light and a few chosen mortals blessed with the Echo, to combat this threat.

Hydaelyn, despite her weakened state, is a powerful goddess of light. While she may not take to the field often, her most well-known attack is the Heroes’s Sundering, sometimes called Heroes’s Radiance. She can also invoke the Blessing of Light, lash out with Crystallize, or use Dawn’s Mantle to alter her fighting style. She teaches the Light line of spells, as well as the Cure and Heal lines. She wishes for her followers to hear, feel, and think, thus she focuses on Intelligence and Wisdom. Hydaelyn is associated with Regen, Protect, and Shell.

Relationships

The collateral damage to existence itself in order to seal Zodiark’s power was great. Hydaelyn may have saved countless lives, but to do so she birthed a world of suffering. Opinions of divinities are split on her actions, but out of guilt for them, Hydaelyn remains distant even from deities who would take her side. She does, however, keep on good terms with The Twelve, who assisted her in becoming the goddess Hydaelyn. Were it not for their assistance, the dark god would have consumed every life in existence.

Hades was once considered a friend and colleague by Hydaelyn. Things changed once Hades supported the creation of Zodiark, the god of death having no qualms against such a loss of life to birth the dark god. With Hydaelyn’s ascension, the two are forever fated to be opposing forces of life and death. The goddess of life does not hold Hades’s duties against him, death is necessary for life after all, but even the greatest of gods must dance like puppets on the strings of fate.

Opposing Zodiark was the purpose for the goddess’s creation, the reason for being of the Mother Crystal. Unlike with Hades, there is no professional courtesy owed to the dark god. In order for the tragedy of old to not be repeated, Zodiark must be kept sealed away. Hydaelyn would stake her very existence to keep the lives of her children safe.

In the age of ancients, Hydaelyn went by the same moniker as a traitor to the Occuria; Venat. Whether the name was the same or if Hydaelyn was the betrayer of these ancient schemers, none in existence can say. Either way, her use of that name has earned her the ire of the Occuria, treated as if she was their traitor all along.

Appearance

Hydaelyn, in her most commonly seen incarnation, takes the form of a giant, radiant crystal. For her chosen blessed by the Echo, this is the form she will take when granting them visions. Behind the voice echoing from within the crystal, there is a woman with radiant white and light blue skin. She has feathery wings, a billowing white cloak, and a halo of crystals hovering around her head. This is Hydaelyn’s true form, unseen by all but her brightest champions.

In an age long past, Hydaelyn had a different form. A tall, pale woman with flowing white hair and glowing blue eyes. She is garbed in a white, hooded robe with a white mask, though she prefers to wear the mask and hood down. This form is how she appeared when she was Venat, and she will only appear in visions to her chosen in this form should they seek knowledge about the ancients.

Incarnations of Hydaelyn include: The Mother Crystal, Venat, the Word of Hydaelyn, and – arguably – the Oracle of Light.

Realm

Hydaelyn’s original plane is forever lost to her, through the sundering she inflicted upon Zodiark and all creation. She spends her days in the deepest reaches of the Astral Sea, tending to the Lifestream.

Followers

Followers of Hydaelyn can be found all over civilization, spanning the breadth of the planet. She is also worshipped by those who seek guidance through prophetic dreams.

Race: Loporrits are the most numerous of Hydaelyn’s followers, it is nigh impossible to find a Loporrit who doesn’t wish to do their utmost to support their Mother’s vision. Hydaelyn is widely worshipped among the enlightened races, though beastmen – Loporrits aside – tend to spurn her.

Class: Paladins, Clerics, and White Mages venerate Hydaelyn, wishing to spread her light in the world to combat the forces of darkness. Medics, Scholars, and Astrologians also have formed a following of Hydaelyn, hoping to gain favor by safeguarding the lives of her children. Surprisingly, the Mothercrystal also has devout among Dancers and Bards, as tales of heroic Warriors of Light make for some of the best performances.

Traits: Cleansing Light.

Rites

Hydaelyn’s favourite items are Enhancing Crystals and Greater Enhancing Crystals. When devotees place these items at an altar and channel aether through them, they may commune with the Divine Light. The greater the bonus on the enhancing crystal, the commune lasts longer and is more clear. When the light fades from the crystal, the commune is cut.

Hydaelyn will not appear before those who try to summon her, instead preferring to send her chosen champions visions. If one wishes to stand before Hydaelyn, one will need to go to her. Navigating the Astral Sea is perilous, and doing so without one blessed by the Echo – or another who can strongly resonate with Hydaelyn’s presence – would be tantamount to suicide, but it is rumored that arcane scholars have developed ways to navigate this aetherial sea.