Stell'Arya
Goddess of Light, Stars, Celestial Bodies
Goddess of Fate, Fortune and Prophecy
Sacred Symbol: Tarot card with seven stars
Sacred Animal: Lamb
Colors: Light Orange, Blue and White
Sacred Weapon: Morning Star
The Star goddess is known as the first born of the Astral divinities, and she is recognized as the great recorder of the universe. Stell'Arya is usually depicted as an eternally youthful girl, and wearing robes woven from constellations of stars and cosmic bodies. Artistic interpretations of her also include veils that cover her eyes, for she is imagined to only reveal her eyes to the stars. Her seemingly blind nature opens her acuity for divining into future affairs. The goddess of the Stars shares a similar role as her mother, Aes'Thera, as a patron divinity of wisdom and knowledge. For this reason, she is often depicted alongside her mother as divine inquirers. Later stories of Stell'Arya also give her authority over the domains of communication, and so many depictions will show a young, winged girl traveling across the night sky, a divine messenger of both the gods and the children.
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Goddess of Light, Stars, and Celestial Bodies
Being the first born of the Astral divinities, Stell'Arya gained dominion over the engulfing Light and many shapes near and far, binding them to her will. Of the three Astral divinities, Stell'Arya is most like her mother, Aes'Thera. This is written about in the scriptures, as she also holds dominion over the domain of Light. She is also recognized as the goddess of the great expanse of the Astral, similar to her mother, tethering the celestial bodies to her will and observing their endless motions across the Astral.
The Astral plane itself is considered a realm of chaos, grand and expansive. A sea of aether and manifests and dissipates. Some very concentrated locations exist, where the aether solidifies into masses of structures and land. Where light blinds travelers and the celestial bodies become enumerable. It is in this realm that Stell'Arya makes her domain. She taught her siblings how to tether their celestial forms to Lumis and from the vantage of the our world does she study the night sky and the astral charts. One of the fascinating aspects of the goddess of the stars and Light is the fact that she is blind. The goddess is unable to directly observe the forms of the material realm, and her vision is reserved for the stars and expanse of the Astral. Stell'Arya is known to wear silken blindfolds, removing them on starry night skies to study and read the signs that present themselves within the stars. Her followers often do perform the same symbolic practice- blindfolding themselves from the material world so that they may reserve their gaze to the stars at night. Temples of Stell'Arya act as observatory buildings, with great mechanical wonders aimed at the heavens and the realms of the goddess. She blesses her chosen worshippers with wondrous scenes in the stars and dreams of cosmic knowledge that they may use to pull fates and futures from.
Lumis is but one of the celestial bodies that astronomers study under the guidance of Stell'Arya. The official list of named and recognized stars grows and their movements are recorded by the chosen of Stell'Arya.
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Goddess of Fate, Prophecy, and Time
Many scholars take note of the saying of Stell'Arya, known as the Seer. Here influence over the marking of time and its flow through history is a subject much debate amongst students of the Studium and other organizations. The goddess of the Stars is written about in the scriptures as an individual who would mark significant events in the creation stories by 'marking the stars.' This is to say that the goddess of the Celestial Bodies would mark their positions on the nights of significant events, in order to record events. These ancient writings point us toward one of the most fascinating aspects of the goddess. Stell'Arya is also recognized as the goddess of Fate and Prophecy. There is a large body of work that dives deep into this philosophical curiosity: are we tethered to a fate that is already prewritten for us, or is the goddess merely an observer and recorder. Two schools of thoughts have developed on the matter.
Those who believe that our fates are woven in the positions of the stars on our name days, are called Astrologians. These individuals use the tools that the goddess herself gifted to mankind: the Star Charts. In ancient days, they were used by wayfinders to travel the lands by night, using the stars as markers. Advances in navigational technology had made them obsolete, if not for the ingenuity of the Astrologians, who looked to Stell'Arya to guide their endeavors of using the charts to mark history and events in the lives of the Children. When a person is born, an Astrologian is acquired to mark the positions of the stars and the celestial bodies. They take these Star Charts and try to decipher the secrets of the goddess of Stars and her mother, Aes'Thera, goddess of Mysteries. Their order believes that these charts hold the key to knowing one's fate and they may make out hidden prophecies that Stell'Arya herself buries within them.
The second school of philosophy that blossomed from the blessings of Stell'Arya are the Archivers. The orders of Archivers believe that the goddess of the Stars retains more dominance over the Domain of Time. They reference the many occasions in which the goddess is not, in fact, involved in the forseeing of future events, but instead is merely an observer who watches and records. Though many contemporary stories see her as the 'The Seer", they argue that at no point had any of the gods cared to mark the fates of the Children as defined by their will. They believe that free will was the ultimate gift of the gods, whatever fates or prophecies they may develop, are but paths that we have the power to take or stray from. Archivers spend their lives on a mission to record and archive all manners of information, from historical records, to population information, events of natural phenomena, and even folklore of lands near and far. The Achivers use relics known as Tome Stones, crystalline structures capable of storing a myriad of different sources of information. Legends say that the goddess herself forged the Tome Stones, and sent them to the Children via showers of light that streak across the night sky. If any of those lights ever land on Lumis, there may be a chance that a Tome Stone is found the middle of the crater left behind.
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Prophecies, Great and Peculiar
The Lion and The Bull
"The Lion shall one day become King.
His Rule will strike fear in the Gods,
They will send a Bull to kill Him.
The two great Beasts shall spill Blood,
And it shall blend into a Covenant.
Brothers they shall be,
Their Rule shall strike fear in the Gods."
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The Warrior and The Lover
"To die young, and live on in Glory,
Or die old, and fade into Nothing.
The Warrior shall weight his Fate,
The Lover shall fight for his Fate.
The Lover will live on in Glory.
The muses shall sing of the Warrior's Rage,
and he too shall live on in Glory."
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The Wall and the Serpent
"The Raven shall demand a Great Wall,
and the Builder shall make it.
The Sun, the Moon, and the Bride,
The Builder shall take.
The Raven shall agree,
and the Snake shall intervene.
The Snake shall bear a Steed,
and the Builder shall fail,
The Sun, the Moon, and the Bride,
Shall be the Raven's to Keep."
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Red Sand and Black Sand
"Two Brothers shall desire the Throne,
Only One shall lay claim.
The Red brother shall take the Throne
to the Red Sands to the West.
The Black brother shall take the Throne
to the Black Sands of the East.
The Red Brother shall kill the Black,
The Black Sands, his blood shall nourish.
The Black Brother shall rise again,
As the Sun rises in the East.
The Black Brother shall take the throne,
and exile the other to the Red Sands,
as the Sun sets in the West."
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"The Crimson Star"
"From ancient blood and ancient song,
a People shall rise, and a People shall fall.
Swept away in the River's Flow.
From ancient blood and ancient song,
Shall their Descendants call forth.
A Crimson Star to be born,
of ancient blood and ancient song.
A Vessel of their past, carrying their Legacy,
A Son of ancient Blood and ancient Song."
