Wee Jas
| Greater Power, "The Raven Queen, The Witch Goddess, Stern Lady, The Taker" | |
|---|---|
| Pantheon: Oerthian Pantheon | |
| AoC: Magic, death, law, love | |
| Worshippers: Any | |
| AL: LN(E) | WAL: LE, LN, NE, TN |
| Symbol: Red skull before a fireball | |
| Home p/l/r: Acheron/Tintibulus/Patterned Web | |
| Allies: Boccob, Norebo, Fraternity of Order, lawful Suel deities | |
| Enemies: Myhriss, Mystra, Nerull, chaotic Suel deities | |
| Favored Weapon: Athame | |
| Domains: Charm, Death, Law, Magic, Repose | |
| Subdomains: Arcane, Baatezu, Divine, Love, Lust, Psychopomp | |
| Known Proxies: None | |
Originally hailing from the world of Oerth within Greyspace, Wee Jas — the Raven Queen — has in recent years begun to stake out increasing prevalence across the Prime, while simultaneously increasing her prominence in the wider planes. Having held numerous significant and key portfolios, her breadth has appealed to many, with special interest from the Fraternity of Order due to her position specifically as a deity of the laws of magic and death. Oddly for a deity of death, though, she and her followers are often set against the Dustmen, as her stance of death as a gentle end and her rejection of undeath in all its forms are quite at odds with their belief in the True Death.
Aiding in the spread of her faith is her personal expertise in the nature of divinity, a knowledge matched by few even amongst the powers. In fact, owing to her long study in this area, Wee Jas is noted as one of the few powers able to manipulate her own divine nature, able to concentrate her essence and store it within an artifact of her own creation in order to mislead other powers as to the degree of her strength; noted upon Oerth as simply an intermediate power, apparently the better to aid her interactions with her contemporaries, upon her increased prevalence across the planes she revealed herself as a greater power who had maintained a significant amount of her personal manifestation apart from herself. This key awareness of the nature of divinity has also drawn interest from the Godsmen, though for now this interest is largely one-way.
Between the knowledge available and the breadth of portfolio (itself initially an artifact of her lower profile and cultural specificity preventing concern and strife from potential competitors), as the people of Oerth have gained increasing broad traction on the planes, her faith has gained footholds in a number of worlds under the more generic name of the Raven Queen.
Physically, Wee Jas always manifests as an attractive human woman, though the specifics of her appearance vary from occasion to occasion, with no particular consistency or pattern. Ocasionally she will include nonhuman characteristics — appearing, for example, to possess slight elven blood, or signs of a planetouched — but owing to her origins in a culture that held strong views of human superiority, this is rare. Thankfully, as her faith has spread, this aspect has declined in prominence in her general outlook, though certain such sects do still exist.
Followers of Wee Jas are most often found around great confluxes of magic and/or death, occasions where they can gain greater knowledge of the ways of things. Noted examples of long-term study include the Sargasso of Entropy upon the Negative Energy Plane, the Bonecloud upon the Astral Plane, and (with cautious permission) certain noted connections to the Modron Energy Pool within Regulus.
History
Wee Jas originated within the Suel Imperium, one of the major powers of Oerth, over a millennium ago; the details of her name are unknown, but are believed to refer to her role as a goddess of magic in some ancient Suloise dialect. Initially, she was a goddess of magic alone, and the laws and functioning thereof; given the Imperium's status as a magocracy, though, this granted her great prominence in this society. Upon the Rain of Colorless Fire and the destruction of the Imperium, her followers led the Suloise diaspora out of their land. It was during this fearful, dangerous time that she obtained the additional aspects of love and death, from the bonds forged by the escapees over the decades hence and the horrific deaths and tragedies that struck the psyche of each of the survivors. (It is believed that Wee Jas first began her relationship with Norebo, Suel god of luck and risk, at this time, perhaps due to mutual sorrow, and perhaps even an additional contribution to her taking on her romantic aspect. Being the only chaotic deity Wee Jas has any level of respect for, and the two having been romantically and sexually linked since the days of the Rain, many stories have spread as to the nature of their bond and how it formed.)
Over the thousand years following, her faith spread across the continent of the Flanaess. Though at times being set at odds with potential challengers to her titles, she was able to hold firm through wit and wisdom: Boccob, being focused more on application and the maintenance of magic, was apathetic as ever towards Wee Jas's claims to a more theoretical approach; Nerull, being a god of murder, violent death, and undeath, stood at odds to Wee Jas without either conflicting with the philosophies of their respective faiths; Pholtus, though viewing himself as the ultimate expression of law, held more interest in mortal law than laws of reality, and viewed Wee Jas as a being of no consequence.
As her faith spread, she began to forge contacts beyond her crystal sphere, as many powers have. Though she was noted as having connections with many deities whose interests overlapped with her own, she was known to have been especially close friends and allies with the original Mystra of Realmspace due in part to their very similar outlooks towards magic and the laws underlying it. Since her death, however, Wee Jas seems to have little more than disdain for the mortal who took her mantle, and has withdrawn generally from any more than the shallowest of communications towards powers beyond Oerth.
Priesthood
Priests of Wee Jas tend to focus on a particular area of concern of hers, serving as sages, arbitrators, natural philosophers, funerary guides, or the like. They tend to be somewhat aloof as a whole, though their love for life and death alike are often noted. When they do form bonds, those bonds tend to be filled with passion and emotion even should they end.
Dogma
Magic is the key to all things. Understanding, personal power, security, order, and control over fate come with the study of magic. Respect those who came before you, left their knowledge, and died to make room for you; there will come a time when your life is over and those who come after will honor your learning and your memory.
References
- Dragon #350 - Core Beliefs: Wee Jas, pp.19-33
- From the Ashes - Campaign Book, pg.93
- Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, pg.187
- On Hallowed Ground, pgs.47,167
- Planar Handbook, pg.185
