Gaia, Mother of the Earth (3.5e Deity)
Gaia
| Greater Deity | |
|---|---|
| Symbol: | A beautiful woman made of nature |
| Home Plane: | The Outlands |
| Alignment: | True neutral |
| Portfolio: | Nature |
| Clergy Alignments: | NG, CG, N, CN |
| Domains: | Nature, Sun, Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Animal, Plant |
| Favored Weapon: | Magic
Author: Ixidor |
| “ | She is as beautiful as a wild stallion and as fickle as the west wind. | ” |
| —King Kyssezea, Elf King of the 4th Dynasty, 2nd Age | ||
Dogma
In the Primes, Gaia is revered as the mother of nature and its protector as well. It is believed she may be manifestation of Life presenting itself as the wife or consort of Adonai, the original Lord of Good. Her teachings include the sanctity of nature and respect for its power. People who wantonly defile nature or abuse its gifts are subject to her wrath.
Gaia, however, understands the needs of mortals and allows them to take of nature's bounty. She will bless a harvest or a hunt if it is taken with the intent to use it well.
Followers
Gaia's followers are most often druids or poeple who live close to the land. Druids can pray to her to recieve blesings or spells and are often well versed in her teachings. Most followers of Gaia live in small covens or villages with like minded people. These groups will maintain a sacred spot, whether it be glade or rocky slope, and construct a small altar there. The altars are almost never recognizable as such, they will look like something found in nature.
Followers of Gaia are zealous defenders of the land, often overzealous in fact. Druids faithful to Gaia have been known to attack hunters, lumberjacks and even people who mistakenly venture into thier sacred areas.
Many planeswalkers are also disciples of Gaia or at least revere her. She had a hand in crafting many of the planes and a knowledge of her, her history and her teachings, as well as a healty fear of her power are helpful to any who travel the multiverse.
Clergy and Temples
Gaia's Clergy teach the sanctity of nature and respect for its power. Its beauty is to be admired, but it is a primal force - one to be reckoned with. Followers pay their respects at wayshrines placed along most major roads trade paths. Often the tribute is something precious but right out of nature. A small uncut gem or a carafe of precious wine for the rich or a beautiful flower or pelt for the poor. Gaia also looks with favor upon works of the hand made in the image of nature. A small golden flower or a carving of an animal will do.
Gaia's Temples are always close to nature at its most powerful. Her temples are deep inside ancient forests, hidden behind roaring waterfalls, deep inside mountains and perched on top of volcanoes. Her clerics are very in tuned with their surroundings and often mistaken for druids by a passerby. They teach that every living and nonliving thing is connected in a web of forces called biota. They believe that one can add to the biota by doing good, protecting and servicing nature, and stopping those who would destroy nature.
When not preaching or patrolling the environment around the temple, Clerics of Gaia work on beautifying thier temple. For most it becomes thier life's work. All temples maintain a room with the environment. Their temple is perfectly maintained. The larger a temple is, the more rooms like this it will have. If a temple is able, it will have rooms from many different environs maintained, magically or naturally inside of it.
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