| The Divine Brianna |
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All rights reserved. |
Symbol: A pair of feminine lips superimposed on a harp
Home Plane: Dalarisia
Alignment: Neutral
Portfolio: Women, Passion, Music, Knowledge
Worshipers: Women, Musicians, Bards & Druids, Archers
Cleric alignment: NG, N, CN
Domains: Charm, Trickery, Knowledge
Favored Weapon: Composite Longbow
Brianna is an ascended mortal in the Egyptian pantheon. She is a close ally to Hathor and Isis, who sponsored her ascension.
She appears as a stunningly attractive tiefling woman with purple eyes and long flowing black hair, dressed in clothes that accentuate her curves, bedecked in jewelry, carrying a long bow. Although her small fangs and long prehensile tail tend to disturb those meeting her for the first time, her charming demeanor and brilliant personality soon smooth over any initial discomfort.
She has always been very much a "hands on" deity (both literally and figuratively), frequently wandering through the worlds of the Prime Material plane, recruiting devoted worshipers, personally instructing her priestesses in the ways of her faith, and collecting new knowledge and rare volumes of lore, before retreating to her godly realm on Dalarisia, her personal demiplane. Since achieving the rank of lesser goddess and gaining the ability to manifest avatars, she tends to send her avatars into the mortal realms to perform those tasks while she works on projects at home.
Dogma
Brianna's key doctrine is that physical pleasure, especially sexual passion, is essential to the physical and emotional well-being of all beings, and that having new experiences, learning new things, and hearing new music is essential for any sentient creature's mental and spiritual well-being. She holds that although this applies to everyone, women are inherently more capable than men at achieving enlightenment through the senses - and at doing anything, for that matter.
Clergy and Temples
Brianna's clerics are exclusively women. They wear the white robes common to most Egyptian clergy, but embroider them with elaborate designs in purple, red, and green. Tattoos, especially of leafy vines or ravens, are common. They tend to be talented musicians or dancers. All must be sexually active, but it is their own call whether they are in a committed relationship or spread their love widely - and whether they share their passion with men and/or women.
Her temples resemble bardic colleges, with resident musicians and a good library, in addition to the priestesses and sacred hetaerae who comfort and instruct the faithful. Itinerant bards and scholars of all sorts frequently visit and are welcome to stay as guests to share songs and knowledge for as long as they desire.
Avatars
Brianna creates her avatars to resemble her divine form, but since she (and therefore they) is a versatile shapeshifter, they tend to appear as a beautiful woman of any race. She sends them to enjoy the company of mortal women, to attend notable musical performances, and to visit her temples to inspire her priestesses and worshipers.
History
Brianna was born in the city of Skuld in Mulhorand on the continent of Faerûn on the planet Toril. After escaping from the household of the High Priest of Set, where she had been a slave, she spent her youth wandering through Faerûn, both in the settled lands and in the wilderness. She entertained humanoids and fey with her songs and tales wherever she went, making friends and taking lovers, before moving on. When she stumbled through a portal into Sigil, the great cosmopolis of the planes, her eyes were opened to the full scope of creation. She established her home base in that city and never looked back; thereafter her wandering extended over all the planes of the multiverse. She joined the faction of the Society of Sensation - the Sensates - in that city, identifying immediately with their goal of achieving enlightenment via the accumulation of experiential knowledge through the senses.
Eventually she hooked up with the adventuring party who were later recognized as The Starborn and her independent exploration of the planes was curtailed. She continued her musical and amorous activities whenever and wherever she could, but also started accumulating a comprehensive library full of reference material on topics of special interest to her. After saving the multiverse from destruction during its Darkest Hour, she settled back into the role of sage and entertainer to the rich and powerful of Sigil.
When the Starborn were called to, yet again, perform a great task in service of the gods, after achieving the goal, they were all granted the status of quasi-deity and, thereby achieving bodily immortality (not that different from countless celestials and fiends, but certainly a rarity for formerly mortal beings).
Brianna could hardly be more pleased. She created Dalarisia as her planar sanctum and spent several years growing and furnishing it. She came up with idea of becoming an accomplished shapeshifter, in order to experience the sensations of the multiverse in forms other than that she was born with, and honed her magical skills until she'd acquired the knowledge to develop and cast epic spells.
At this time, the divine patrons of her youth (Hathor) and adulthood (Isis) appeared before her and revealed that Brianna had long since caught their attention and that they were well pleased with her. They appreciated both her accomplishments and her current plans and made a proposal to her: if, while she progressed through her pursuit of shapeshifting, she developed at least half a dozen epic spells, established the worship of the Egyptian pantheon on at least half a dozen worlds where it was not yet known, and recruited at least a hundred devoted followers on each world, they would personally sponsor her for ascension as a demigod into their pantheon.
It was an offer she could not refuse; she accepted the quest with enthusiasm. It took ten years, but as she progressed through mastering shapeshifting, she evangelized for her patrons and established temples to them in many places where they had previously been unknown. In each, she also established a cult to her self, with devoted followers and even priestesses, who, perhaps, were not aware that it was not Brianna, but her patrons, who was the source of their spells.
When Brianna had accomplished all that had been required, Isis and Hathor appeared to her and escorted her to Fair Ament, where they presented her to the benevolent deities of the pantheon. They argued her case before them and in the end, all agreed with the intent of her patrons and Brianna was ascended into the lowest rank of godhood, as a demigod of rank 1.
As a demigod with limited portfolio sense, Brianna continued to spend much of her time on the mortal planes. As a deity, she was no longer allowed in to Sigil, but, fortunately, she'd moved her base to Dalarisia, leaving her property in the City of Doors in the hands of her priestesses; her former residence was now a temple. She spent many years traveling through the planes, spreading her doctrine, recruiting worshipers, training priestesses, and founding temples. Over the course of five generations or so, she grew in power and influence and eventually achieved the rank of Lesser Goddess.
Even at this rank, her portfolio sense was fairly limited, but finally she did not need to physically travel to visit her followers; she now had the power to create Avatars and send them to represent her wherever her presence was desired - except in Sigil; her Avatars had the powers of a demigod of at least rank three and were thus not allowed. Brianna crafted artifacts, spread her cult widely, gained tens of thousands of worshipers, and aided her patrons in many ways. Her power and influence grew, and over the course of five hundred years, she achieved the rank of Intermediate Goddess.
Divine Rank 11: Intermediate Goddess
At this point, everything changed. As a deity of this level, her portfolio sense was vastly more sensitive and she sensed pertinent events involving only a single creature. Who knows if there is further advancement in the cards for her? Her message potentially resonates with half of all creation!
