Akarushi (5e Deity)
Akarushi, Dragon Goddess of Light[edit]
Alignment. Lawful Neutral
Domains. Light
Divine Rank. Lesser Deity
Appearance[edit]
Akarushi looks like a benevolant white dragon. Her body is made of pristine, beautiful white scales and her eyes are like fine gold. A series of spines travels from the end of her head to the start of her back. Her head is elongated, almost diamond shaped with two long horns that come from the top of her head and point backwards.
Personality[edit]
Akarushi, being a follower and commander of the light, is generally benevolant to her followers. However, her command of the light is very strict. Using and following the light requires complete and total obedience to it, and she refuses to allow any disobedience.
When not dealing with her followers, Akarushi is generally kind and caring, always seeking to bring in new followers to the light. However, for wielders of terrible dark power, she is known to be quite ferocious, even to the point of slaying them without even giving them a chance to speak for themselves on the matter.
Powers[edit]
Beyond the standard powers and godly senses of a deity of her rank, those who have seen Akarushi fight have said that she is a force to be reckoned with. Not only is she extremely capable of using her tails, claws, and biting while both in air and on the ground, her frost breath is unlike any other. It has been known to freeze even dragons in a single breath.
History[edit]
Akarushi was one of the first born white chromatic dragons. As she grew older, she noticed the treatment that her metallic brothers and sisters were being given by their mother and became furious at it. She attempted to instigate the other white dragons to rise up against their tyrant mother, but they would not listen. When dragons from the other tribes were having the same issue, she helped rally the defiant ones together.
After destroying Tiamat and being granted her goodhood, Akarushi began to take her role as a god seriously. She was granted power over the light, and saw its beauty. In this, she began to follow the light wholeheartedly and sought out followers who would do the same.
During the Age of Magic, she was one of the leading forces in the world. Many Paladins flocked to her as a goddess due to her sense of rightness and obedience to the light. This was the sort of thing Paladins desired above all else, and it was what gave them their power.
Under Akarushi, however, several "holy wars" were waged. Many have come to believe Akarushi and her white dragons are evil because of their sense of complete and unfailing demand of obedience to the light, and the wars that have erupted from them. Many innocents were killed in these wars because they did not follow the command of obedience to the light.
As the Age of Magic came to an end, and magic began to wane during the Age of the Gods, Akarushi fell under the promises of the Death Queen. She and her dragons forsook the promises of the light and attempted to revive their long-last mother, Tiamat. However, Akarushi was betrayed in the final moments of the ritual, and her soul was torn aside while her body was used as material to create the body of Tiamat.
Akarushi was sentenced to eternal damnation and powerlessness in the Underworld for what she had done.
Relationships[edit]
The metallic and chromatic dragons had always had a strained relationship. The metallics believed they were the true dragons, whereas the chromatics were a terrible, cursed offspring. Because of this, tension was always high between Akarushi and the metallic dragon gods.
Her relationship with Saryvero, Thelarojo, Naradysa, and Dolozul, however, was very high. The chromatics had always stuck together through thick and thin, especially as they were always scorned by the metallics. Out of these, however, Naradysa was the worst of her relationships between the chromatics.
As Naradysa's domain was the Grave, Akarushi did not often interact with her. She did not hate her sister for her task. She simply believed it wasn't a task that the light enjoyed. Still, she did have to commend Naradysa. Naradysa walked the fine line between commanding both life and death, and she always worked strongly to keep the dead just that, a task that Akarushi would help with on multiple occasions throughout history.
Worshipers[edit]
Surprisingly, many of Akarushi's followers are clerics or paladins. Being sworn to follow the light in complete obedience, Paladins flocked to her command. Many clerics who also followed the light to such a strict code also followed her. Beyond paladins and clerics, Akarushi also had the white dragons who worshipped her and followed her every command without question.
As it stood, though, Akarushi had followers from many different races and cultures. They all followed the word of the law of the light, and while some were considered good, just like Akarushi, some were considered bad for their deeds. Others settled in the more neutral positions, so long as their commands followed the code of the light, but they all tended to be lawful.
Most of Akarushi's followers don't dare speak here name, and instead call her the Sovereign of the Light or the Bringer of Day.
Clergy[edit]
Akarushi accepted only those who followed the strict obedience of the light. Those who did not were not welcome in her church, and those who would actively go against the light she deemed as her enemies.
Church of Akarushi[edit]
The church of Akarushi was regimented by a strict hierarchy of ranks and titles. The highest title that could be earned was her Avatar, which only one member could earn, but it gave them command over any and all of her followers. However, Avatar was a strict title that came with the strictest commands. And it was not uncommon for Akarushi to demote or off her Avatar if she felt the Avatar was not performing their duties seriously enough.
Below the Avatar came her Grand Justiciars. These were those who ran the churches of her followers. Below them, as the preachers and teachers, were the Justiciars themselves where actual ranking ended. Beneath the Justiciars were the paladins and clerics that followed her, followed by the simple priests and commonwealth.
The church of Akarushi followed the commands of total obedience to the light, and were known for turning away or even harming those who went against those commands. Many were even killed in the name of the light.
Orders[edit]
While Akarushi had several orders that followed her during her time as a goddess, a few stand out prominently from the rest.
The Order of the Scarlet Light was a powerful order that followed Akarushi's commands. They were best known for their moniker of "The light commands the rivers run red with the blood of the undead." The Order of the Scarlet Light attacked any and all undead, and would even sacrifice the living if they believed that living they were killing were touched by undeath. This was why their light was scarlet. The Order met their demise when their leaders were infected by undeath and turned the entire order into what they so strongly fight against.
The Knights of Radiance were also an elite force of knights that were well known during their time. They were a band of knights that spent much of their time in the underground, facing the new threat of the Underlords. Unfortunately, despite their strength, the Underlords proved to be their demise.
Temples[edit]
Humans love their places of worship. Among all of the races that worshipped Akarushi, the humans built more of them than any other. Dragons generally refused to build any shrines to Akarushi themselves, as they feared it allowed Akarushi to look over their treasure hoards.
Dogma[edit]
To Akarushi, total and complete obedience to the light was all that mattered. She believed that one could do no wrong if they were obedient to the light, as total obedience meant you were only acting in the will of the light, and thus you were right. Those who followed in the ways of darkness or refused to turn their allegiance to the light were the enemy, simple as that.
Rites[edit]
Clerics of Akarushi would pray for their spells at dusk as a prayer to bring back the light the following morning. Clerics also performed a ritual known as Tithing, where they gave of their money in a hope to appease the light and have the light grant them their prayers and desires.
Many of Akarushi's followers performed other ceremonies and rituals as well. The act of giving a gift every year at a designated time because a full-on holiday and ceremony which many people followed. It as believed that by giving, the light would give back in greater amounts, and some would take this to the extreme. It was not uncommon for the rich and wealthy to buy hundreds of gifts to give out, but the act was usually only done when there were a great many witnesses to be had at the event.
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