About Yidhra, Goddess of Paradoxes
Yidhra, Goddess of Paradoxes
The Dream Witch
Appearance
Alignment: LN/CN
Domains: Chaos (Whimsy), Law (Legislation), Liberation (Self-Realization), Madness (Insanity), and Void (Dark Tapestry)
Favored Weapon: Dagger Pistol
Centers of Worship: The Maelstrom and the Dreamlands
Worshipers and Minions: Yidhra is worshiped by small numbers of most mortal races. She also has many followers in the Dreamlands, which she seems to have a particular affinity for.
Description: Yidhra is the Goddess of Paradoxes - a strange being who embodies mutually-contradictory ideas and somehow manages to make sense even when she's making no sense at all. Most people try to avoid thinking too deeply about this, finding that trying to properly define her simply makes their heads hurt. To summarize how it looks from the outside, however... what Yidhra says is often contrary to what she does, what she does is often contrary to the end result of a situation, and the end result of a situation is usually in her favor. She is an Outer God, one of the true deities of the Dark Tapestry alongside entities like Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth. At times, Yidhra has also acted as a harvest goddess and protector of livestock, though she's never bothered to explain this. Her followers are well aware that trying to find sane and reasonable explanations for everything Yidhra does is a fool's errand (which doesn't stop some of them from trying anyway).
Appearance: Yidhra often takes the form of a young humanoid female with piercing blue eyes, though she has been known to change her race to better suit the creatures she interacts with (and, indeed, this may only be the part of her that mortal minds are capable of perceiving). While most of her body appears similar to whatever race she's imitating, her long silver-hued hair (which is present even on creatures that don't normally have hair) frequently sprouts eyes or mouths and moves according to her will. It's also known to shorten or lengthen as she desires, forming everything from hands to colossal monsters.
The Church: Yidhra's church has often been described as a perpetual meltdown where dozens of minor factions are struggling to implement the 'true' version of her church. Each claims to have been directed by Yidhra herself to 'correct' the church - and perhaps more relevantly, all of them receive divine spells from her, suggesting that she's pleased with their efforts. Despite this, however, actual violence within the church is rare - those who actually hurt other members of the church immediately find that Yidhra's favor pulls away from them... and from the outside, it's widely agreed that this combination of simultaneously encouraging and discouraging conflict is yet another manifestation of Yidhra's madness. What nobody else has picked up on yet is that Yidhra is not only perfectly sane, but she's having a good laugh at all of this - and plans to make the first priest who figures out her real goal the Higher Priest of her faith.
Yidhra's unusual alignment also means that she is an acceptable deity for people from many different walks of life - in fact, only purely good and purely evil people have nothing at all in common with her. Yidhra herself is difficult to apply morality to, and the few scholars who have studied the matter tend to agree that trying to do so is futile at best.
Temples and Shrines: Yidhra's faithful are scattered across the multiverse, and rarely exist in large numbers (outside of the Maelstrom, at least - despite the fact that she's also Lawful, the Proteans get along with her extremely well, and she's a popular deity among them). Accordingly, most of her churches are simply rooms that are rented out on a regular basis. Yidhra's never really directed people to build churches - "worship where you feel like worshiping" seems to be the rule of thumb.
A Priest's Role: Every follower of Yidhra is officially a High Priest of her church, duly empowered with all the rights, duties, and responsibilities of that position (conducting marriage ceremonies, blessing babies, negotiating treaties with other churches...). The directives to each High Priest include, but are not limited to:
-Spreading the faith and teachings of Yidhra, or not
-Working to earn the church greater acceptance within cities and nations, or not
-Studying the teachings of Yidhra, or not
-Establishing a sensible and easily understood doctrine, or not
-And anything else that a High Priest feels they should do, or not
Essentially, High Priests are basically allowed to do whatever they feel like doing in regards to the faith - unless they get a message starting with "Yidhra Says", in which case they're actually obligated to do it (and failure to do so is promptly punished).
Adventurers: Yidhra's followers are often individualistic, and see themselves as free to worship her however and whenever they see fit. This individualism often works well with adventuring parties - and in keeping with her paradoxical teachings, most members of her faith are actually very good at supporting their allies and companions.
Clothing: Yidhra's followers generally wear whatever they feel like wearing, but it's not uncommon for members of her church to wear at least one article of clothing (or, for truly dedicated members, a magical item) that has no purpose or usefulness for them. Popular choices are items that improve class abilities they don't have. People who inquire about this are usually treated to amused looks from the High Priest in question.
Holy Text: The Church of Yidhra has at least 23 holy books, all of which claim to be the True Holy Book of her faith. When asked whether or not a given tome really is, Yidhra's answer is "Yes" - even when the tomes in question are completely incompatible with each other. This is why onlookers rarely watch a theological debate between High Priests for too long - there are simply too many contradictions, all of which she seems to approve of. Her holy texts have been known to spontaneously convert themselves to another of her texts when nobody's looking. Clerics who follow the old book's teachings instead of studying the new ones tend to lose their powers until they convert.
Holidays: Several of Yidhra's holy texts say that the church should have a holiday whenever a High Priest feels like it should have one. Several others specify particular days throughout the year - generally the most normal days one could imagine - and still others have incredibly complex calculations citing specific movements of elements of the Maelstrom as deciding when to have a Holiday. All of these seem to be blessed equally.
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Home Realm: The Land Of Fantasy
Yidhra's home realm is often referred to simply as the Land of Fantasy, an area of the Dreamlands (itself a stable demiplane within the greater Dimension of Dreams). This is a divinely morphic region that changes with Yidhra's shifting whims, so few elements remain constant and even accurately marking its borders is a dubious proposition at best.
The Land of Fantasy is reactive to visitors and has been known to form creatures or even entire towns out of nothing to welcome guests. As a mirthful goddess, Yidhra is more apt to prank visitors than attack them, so all who come peacefully can pass through her lands unharmed - and those who provide good reactions to her jokes may even find themselves rewarded on the way out. Of course, any dream can become a nightmare, so those who threaten the Land of Fantasy find creatures of impossible geometries and paradoxical existence crawling out to greet them. The Denizens of Leng and the Night Hags studiously avoid the Land of Fantasy, having long ago learned that it does not welcome them.
