Wysha

Wysha
Bast; Opal Eyes; Queen of the Cats; Sultry One

Symbol: A pair of slitted cat's eyes
Home Plane: Arborea
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Cleric Alignments: Neutral Good, Chaotic Good, Chaotic Neutral
Portfolio: Pleasure, comfort, art, beauty, womanhood
Worshipers: Artists, catfolk, foxkin, those who worship beauty or desire pleasure, women, treasure hunters
Domains: Charm, Darkness (Night), Luck, Magic (Arcane), Pleasure, Trickery (Deception)
Favored Weapon: Bagh nakh (same statistics as punch dagger)

Physical Description:
Wysha takes on many forms, changing them as suits her mood, though almost all of them are variations on a theme, rather than true shapechanging. Three forms stand out as Wysha's preferred ones. The first is that of a tall, shapely, and beautiful woman with dark skin and the head of a cat. Wysha's second favored for is that of an elegant small cat with fur the color of gold. When angered or needing to fight for any reason, Wysha tranforms into her third form, that of a midnight-dark large cat with claws and fangs of shining silver and eyes that blaze with fury in even the darkest night. In all her forms, Wysha has vertical-slitted eyes that shimmer like opals with a myriad of colors.

Description of Nature, Personality, and Dogma:
The Queen of the Cats, Wysha is the goddess of pleasure, of comfort, and of beauty. Her worshipers firmly believe in the importance of spreading these things whenever possible, and adventurers who worship Wysha tend to be those who are most interested in seeking out and acquiring objects of great beauty, many of them lost in the mists of time, so that they can be appreciated once again, or at least moving such objects into the possession of those who can better appreciate them (such as the treasure hunter). Desiring to spread Wysha's dogma regularly leads her clergy and other worshipers to spread the amenities of civilization wherever they go, including the regular practice of sacred prostitution. Unlike common prostitutes, however, those who work for Wysha's temples do so because they actually take pleasure from their work, and just happen to be paid for what they already enjoy, rather than out of desperate necessity, since temples of Wysha seldom have any lack of comfort for those who live therein. Overall, thanks to the many civilizing influences of Wysha's worship, she tends to be a popular goddess, and her temples can be found in all but the most conservative areas.

Wysha herself tends to be stereotypically catlike in her behavior. She is notorious for her vanity and also for her almost countless love affairs with mortals and immortals alike. The Sultry One is also notorious for her love for beautiful things and beautiful people, for her hedonism, but also for her occasional but always heartfelt moments of tenderness, made all the more precious for their rarity.

Clergy, Places of Worship, Important Rituals, and Servitor Races:
To be one of Wysha's clergy is at once easy and difficult, as personal beauty is a major factor in Wysha's choice of clerics. Surprisingly, however, most of Wysha's clerics are not the most gorgeous people from their communities. Instead, Wysha looks into the future development of her potential clerics, and selects those who begin life as "ugly ducklings," those who lack much personal attractiveness while they are in their developing years, but who become beautiful as they mature. This, Wysha feels, teaches her clerics to truly appreciate beauty, as well as ensuring that they do not become so vain as to challenge her, since Wysha does not like direct competition. She also has a liking for those who appreciate beauty, or who can create it, and so many young artists and treasure hunters also frequently receive Wysha's attentions and blessing, regardless of their personal attractiveness. Wysha calls her clerics by visiting them in dreams, most of which are quite steamy in nature. When those she visits in such fashion awake, they find that they are able to call on her for clerical magic.

The most common practices of Wysha's worship involve sacred prostitution. On a regular basis, Wysha's temples, all of which are beautiful buildings done in the best style of any area where she is worshiped and adorned with many precious things, are staffed by sacred prostitutes, many of whom are also her clerics, and who ensure that her temples are never without someone on duty at all times of day and night (this, incidentally, makes Wysha's temples popular places for adventurers in need of healing, because of their own irregular hours). In many areas that pay special attention to Wysha's worship, and where more lawful gods do not restrict the practice, it is common among these people to have the Sacred Marriage on a day in the waxing time of spring. On this day, every member of a community who has not taken part in this ritual before is expected to gather around Wysha's temple, while every member of the community who has taken part in the ceremony in the past brings a specially-made coin, collected from the temple on the day before. No one of those gathered around the temple of Wysha leave the area until offered one of Wysha's coins by someone else in the community. Once a coin has been offered, it must be accepted, whereupon the inexperienced community member deposits the coin into a large container at the front of the temple, and then goes off with the one who offered the coin. There is no coercion involved in this ritual, and if someone does not wish to go through with any act desired by their partner, there is no penalty in withdrawing, but it is considered bad form, and anyone who does withdraw must join the inexperienced ones the next year. Those who are already married do not take part in this ritual as a general rule, though they might if all of those in a marriage consent.

As befits their artistic nature, lilends are among Wysha's most ardent followers, and she is served by many of the most powerful of these beautiful muses of the gods.

History and Relations:
Rather than being approached by the gods, Wysha, one of the original titans, came to the gods herself, simply assuming that they wanted her assistance in driving back the forces of the Fallen Ones, and that of course they needed her to be one of their number, for what point would there be in living in a world without beauty? Bewildered at such vanity, the draconic gods were utterly at a loss, until Nimbus, in her mercy, and Lydia, in her love, reached out and formally accepted Wysha into the ranks of the gods.

Nimbus is deeply interested in Wysha's activities, and frequently acts as Wysha's confidant, helping to temper the Sultry One's selfishness, reminding Wysha of the importance of others, and gradually teaching her to care about others in a deep and personal way, rather than as mere playthings for the Queen of the Cats. Lydia, on the other hand, seeks to teach Wysha the same principles, but in a quite different fashion, since she is one of Wysha's most passionate lovers. Sylver is someone that Wysha considers a dear friend and close confidant, though Sylver mostly simply tolerates the Sultry One, as Sylver is an almost constant target of Wysha's flirtations and attempts at seduction, attempts which, so far, Sylver has ignored or rebuffed. It is one of Wysha's greatest delights to cause the consternation of Talus, who is so very easily embarrassed by Wysha's teasing and flirting, and though he has so far avoided any attempts on her part to take things any further than this, he is rather fond of her, and is sometimes willing to bend the rules for her sake, though officially and publically he is scandalized by her behavior and that of her worshipers. Jealousy burns brightly between Wysha, Bellakadina, and Zahir, and the Queen of the Cats despises these other two goddesses and would just as soon steal their worshipers if she could, the mere mention of their names enough to make her fly into a fury. While Wysha admires Tiamat, she is terrified of the Dragon Queen as well, and does her best not to draw Tiamat's attention, knowing that she would face someone with a more powerful personality than her own. Though Wysha is on good terms with most of the male-dominant deities, there are a few that she is unable to influence. The First Emperor is one of these, as the First Emperor is disdainful of Wysha, and regularly bans her worship from the lands that worship him as the dominant deity whenever possible. Swarm is another, as Swarm is seemingly immune to any lure of pleasure, and considers Wysha and her worship a waste of time for his followers, also tending to banish her temples from any lands that he controls. Bahamut is friendly enough with Wysha, but he treats her like a father figure, and their relationship goes no further than that; he also limits her rituals in areas where he is most dominantly worshiped, though he does allow her temples to have a place if those living there wish them. On the other hand, Karn and Fenrath are often manipulated by the Sultry One, and frequently her lovers. Gun is also a regular lover of Wysha, and also one of her dear friends, and the two together are responsible for inventing tantric meditation. Wysha despises Lugscar, who has so little appreciation for beauty and subtlety that she has a very hard time manipulating him, and loathes demeaning herself sufficiently to do so, so she usually will not except in extreme circumstances.

Favored Offerings and Justifications for Direct Intervention:
As befits a goddess of beauty, Wysha most appreciates offerings of works of art, cut gems, jewelry, and other objects pleasing to the senses. Wysha is also noted for being quite vain, and so she especially appreciates flattering depictions of herself. The most common offerings made to Wysha, however, are visits to the sacred prostitutes who staff her temples. The majority of offerings to Wysha are used to decorate her temples and other sites of worship, which tends to make them quite lavish affairs. Decoration, in this case, also means ensuring that the clergy who staff her temples are taken care of and are able to afford attractive clothing and other adornments.

Vain to a fault at times, Wysha is most an admirer of herself, and this, coupled with her inherent feline nature, can make her aloof to mortals at times. However, despite her inherent self-interest, Wysha also has a strong sense of interest in comfort and pleasure, and has found that comfort as well as pleasure grows greater still when it is shared. To this end, Wysha can be entreated to help someone in an uncomfortable situation, providing relief when times are darkest, though this relief tends only to be temporary. Besides this, Wysha also appreciates beauty, wherever it is found, and becomes inherently interested in protecting great works of art, ensuring their preservation, and that they do not become lost forever, and thus unavailable for appreciation. To this end, she is willing to help treasure hunters as much as she helps archaeologists and explorers. The most common blessing that Wysha provides to mortals is aid to petitioners who want help in improving their own personal attractiveness; Wysha firmly believes in the importance of physical beauty, and miraculous changes in appearance among those who seek her aid in this matter are not at all uncommon.