Title The Eternal Rose ,The Incorruptible, The Eternal Maiden
Portfolio Beauty, art, love, music
Alignment Neutral Good
Worshipers Artists, poets, lovers
Worshiper Alignment LG,NG,CG,N
Domains Air, Charm, Good, Luck, Protection
Subdomains Agathion, Cloud, Defense, Fate, Love, Purity
Favored Weapon Glaive
Symbol Multicolored songbird
Allows creation or rising of undead: No
Favored Animal(s) Songbird
Sacred Colors All
Obedience
Paint a small picture, compose a short poem or song, dance a scene from a ballet, or create another work of art, whispering praise to Callie’s beauty and grace as you do so. The art piece need be neither large nor complex, but heartfelt and made to the best of your ability. Gift the piece of art to a stranger and pay her a sincere compliment as you do so. If there are no suitable individuals around to receive the gift, leave it in an obvious place with a note praising Callie and asking whoever finds it to take it with your warmest wishes. Gain a +4 sacred bonus on Craft and Perform checks.
Dogma
Before she became the goddess of love, Callie was flighty and shallow. Since discovering the capacity intelligent beings have for loving people and things that lack beauty, she tends to look for beauty in everyone and everything. "Beauty comes from within" is a relatively recent saying she introduced to Erin and it is a philosophy she not only practices herself, but she requires from her clerics. In this way, it is quite possible for a physically unattractive person to become a cleric of the goddess of beauty.
Callie focuses just as much attention on internal beauty as external, and she is considered also to have the most beautiful personality, which changed greatly when she became goddess of love. While lesser beauties might inspire jealousy in those who see them, she does not; nor does she herself feel jealous when another receives attention. She encourages the growth and appreciation of beauty, regardless of its source or admirers, and thus she is never jealous. She surrounds herself with flowers, colorful birds, artworks, and other things of beauty.
She never uses her beauty as a weapon and she punishes that sort of behavior in her followers. Callie gently and kindly rejects all potential suitors. Some call her the Eternal Maiden, while others claim she is the lover of several gods, goddesses, and lesser beings; the truth is unknown.
Callie has watched over the multiverse with a gentle heart and generous eye since the beginnings of sentience, encouraging mortals, peace and love and reveling in even their crudest artistic awakenings. A passionate and creative artist in both matters of the heart and works of beauty, she teaches that true beauty takes many forms, that kindness is its own form of strength, that no force is more powerful than love, and that every person is beautiful in some way. She has experienced enough pain herself to recognize the sting of sacrifice, and has soothed enough broken hearts to know that love and beauty are not easy things. Yet despite the realities of pain and loss, she remains an eternal optimist, helping to mend the deepest pains and turn the coldest hearts toward love and light. No mortal, monster, or deity is immune to her power.
Callie represents all aspects of love, whether a parent's devotion to his child, companionship with a beloved pet, the steady tenderness of an old couple, the chaste adoration of a paladin for a deity, or the passion of new lovers. She prefers relationships based on more than just carnal desire; while she does not oppose such relationships, she hopes that such physical trysts blossom into something deeper. Likewise, she does not consider greed or craving true love, whether directed toward riches or an uninterested person.
Callie is always shown as a young woman with eyes of blue or silver (or sometimes one eye of each color) and ankle length hair adorned with colorful strands. She is usually depicted as a human, though other races often illustrate her as one of their own, from elves to half-ores. Callie always wears tasteful clothing and jewelry that accentuate her beauty without revealing too much of it. Her physical proportions vary depending on the artist and regional standards for beauty: she is strong and sturdy in some depictions, voluptuous in others, and slender in still others. When she chooses to appear to mortals, it's usually as a brown-haired woman of average proportions and exceptional beauty, dressed in attractive but comfortable clothing. Her avatar is the embodiment of passion, energy, and devotion, and nearby objects and even the air and light themselves bend toward her as if in ecstasy.
Callie is the daughter of an unknown mother and Elishar the Holy Light. In primordial times, Elishar roamed the mountains, forests and skies, singing his feral ode to life, song, and love. From his many unions came two children greater than he: his daughter Callie and his son Callin, who as the only close relatives among the major deities of Xilrin shared the divine portfolio of love, beauty, art, and music. Ages ago, the siblings quarreled, and Callin departed to regions past the edge of the Great Beyond, abandoning his divine interests and responsibilities.
When he returned, he was transformed into the dark god Rajuk, twisted by the things he'd experienced beyond the borders of existence into a dark mirror of his former self. His devotion to beauty had become mastery of mutilation, love had become misery, music had become screams, and the art of creation had become the craft of torture. When Callie reached out to greet her lost brother, he pierced her hand with his black nails, and responded to her tears and pleading with violence. The siblings battled again, and eventually the goddess wrested his glaive from him (thinking it was the source of his corruption).
The two declared a truce, a tenuous peace of silence and avoidance. Despite the hurts he has caused, Callie believes that her brother still exists within the twisted thing that he has become, and hopes to someday redeem him. Her story of love and devotion despite sorrow inspires mortal friends and lovers to persevere in adverse circumstances, bards to craft epic songs and tragedies, and artists to create works that touch the soul.
Callie sometimes contacts her faithful directly, but she prefers to work through reassuring thoughts, reminders of loved ones, or memories of favored music. Songbirds are sacred to her church, their presence being considered good luck. Most of her temples include feeders on the roof or in nearby trees to encourage birds to visit and nest nearby. Especially blessed artists may receive visions of Callie's realm to inspire their works, and bereaved lovers may experience dreams of walks in the realm's rose Gardens with their deceased loves. Callie's displeasure manifests in a number of ways, such as a brief glimpse of a repellent reflection in a mirror, a lover's quarrel, a bird singing off-key, or wilted roses. She is greatly saddened by those who betray the ones they love, and haunts such folk within her congregation with guilt and the subtle sounds of those they betrayed until they either genuinely ask for forgiveness or abandon her faith entirely.
Callie's holy symbol is a songbird with rainbow feathers, and her weapon is the glaive Whisperer of Souls, seized from her brother Rajuk and claimed as her own. She keeps the weapon as a reminder of her brother's transformation and to show her worshipers that it is sometimes necessary to fight for the things you love.
The Church
People of all alignments and social status are moved by beauty and long for love. Good and neutral folk seek Callie's counsel in finding love or inspiration, or reuniting with a strayed love or lost muse. Evil folk turn to her when they realize their lives are empty without love and beauty: many scoff at her faith as being full of weaklings, dandies, dreamers, and fools-but in her presence, they cannot help but love her, for all things are subject to her power. In truth, many who call on Callie in the moment are drunk on love or beauty; they believe these things are sword, shield, food, and drink. Most of her lifelong followers, however, know that while love is intangible, a journey, and a source of inspiration, it must be tempered with common sense. Her faithful strive to be open to love when it offers itself, honest in mourning a broken heart, and courageous enough to risk love again when they have healed.
The intensity of the love struck is mirrored in the intensity of artists. The musician who forsakes all other pursuits to craft the perfect song and the dancer who practices for hours on blistered feet both honor Callie, obeying the obsessive urge to create something that will inspire others for generations. The goddess doesn't ask mortals to attempt this level of devotion, but she understands and respects the heartfelt desire to create, whether out of love, grief, the desire for fame, or the edge of madness. At the same time, however, she is aware of the dark side of obsession, and how easily the blessings of love and passion can be twisted to jealousy and unhealthy compulsion. Equally important to her followers is correcting those who would cite Callie's name to justify unworthy actions or covetousness.
Among Callie's worshipers are artists, actors, musicians, young lovers, romantics of all stripes, and enchanters and illusionists who strive for beauty above all else. The broken-hearted weep her name, and those participating in arranged marriages petition her in hopes that love will blossom in their union. Marriage for love pleases her, as does finding love outside a marriage when doing so does not hurt the spouse. Callie does not require fidelity, but teaches that you should not be reckless with other peoples' hearts, nor should you tolerate those who are reckless with your heart, for an oft-broken heart is slow to heal. Parental Love is powerful and usually the first love any creature knows, and therefore she supports both reproduction and adoption no matter the organization of the family unit, as long as loving parents raise the children.
Though she considers divorce a sad thing, she understands that hearts may change, and it's sometimes better to end a marriage than to fight too hard to save something doomed to fail. Worship services for Callie may be quiet and slow paced or loud and upbeat, but they are always heartfelt; dance and music are central to any ritual. Food, particularly large group meals where every person or family contributes a different dish, is common at evening ceremonies, and is often used to welcome new members of the community to the faith.
Temples and Shrines
Callie's roomy temples are surrounded by gardens (most with at least one rosebush) with romantic statues and gorgeous views that serve as havens for lovers, as well as popular wedding locations. Inside, the temples are filled with music and adorned with paintings, sculpture, and framed calligraphy of poems from her holy book. Many of these works are available for purchase, and are considered a prestigious gift when presented to loved ones. Often the temple art was donated, created, or Sponsored by those who found love and approval from the church when all others opposed them; priests of the temple usually create the rest.
Individual Callite temples may focus on one type of art, such as painting or dancing or a type of musical instrument, particularly if the temple is small. Larger ones are often multidisciplinary, with an emphasis on orchestral performance or theater, particularly in Aranthi.
It is said that once a year, the goddess herself walks hidden among the faithful here, personally blessing those who best embody her qualities. However, no one knows exactly which day it is that this occurs, and so the temple sees a constant flow of worshipers. Many temples are associated with one or more Agathions, and these temples usually have iconography and art relating to their Agathions and the noble animals they resemble. For example, a temple associated with a notable leonal might be decorated with lion artwork, and might even be home to many friendly cats. Even temples that don't have a patron Agathion still usually have an unusual number of songbirds living nearby.
A Priest's Role
Callie motivates her followers to inspire creativity, teach others to see beauty, and encourage love and devotion between deserving individuals. Natural peacemakers and mediators, Callites recognize that the world contains ugliness and evil, and are not afraid to fight to change it so that everyone can appreciate the beauty and joy of existence. Her clergy treasure wisdom and talent, and prefer informal organization and decisions made as a community, but they also recognize that great art is rarely created by committee. If an individual disagrees with a decision, she is free to follow her own path. Most of Callie's clergy are clerics or bards, serving as artists and teachers, as well as healers of both body and soul. Her clergy do not use their magic to seduce, but may use it to intervene in conflicts or prevent evil from being done, to ease the hurt of a broken heart. Those paladins who serve Callie often focus on courtly love and seek to shield beauty from forces that would consume or destroy it.
The rare inquisitors of her church hunt cultists of Rajuk, redeeming them if possible but preventing them from spreading their poison at all costs. Priests endeavor to create something of beauty each day, usually by composing music or painting, though some may choose less conventional means of artistic cultivation such as gardening, mentoring others in dance or other arts, or aiding a local theater. Among more militant priests, beauty may come from the perfection of acrobatic and aesthetically appealing martial arts and weapons routines.
Those less entranced by the creative process may instead care for artists, scout for upcoming talent, or arrange patronages between nobles and young geniuses. Wealthier priests often own theaters, concert halls, art galleries, or their own schools. Priests serve as matchmakers, counsel those with broken hearts or relationship problems, and preside over weddings. While devoted to beauty, Callies's followers recognize that mortals can be superficial about physical attractiveness, and that individuals' appearances can be a source of pain and despair. Her temples often counsel supplicants on how to recognize and enhance their own unique beauty, teaching them to move with grace that celebrates their bodies, aiding them in learning to speak with eloquence and confidence, helping them to select clothes and hairstyles that express the qualities in which they take pride, and highlighting positive aspects of their personalities. The most respected practitioners of these arts believe they can see their goddess's qualities in each person they encounter, and the delight with which they gaze upon each new face makes any who approach them feel beautiful in their presence.
Training for clergy involves instruction in the appreciation, history, and theory of the performing and visual arts to better understand and value them, as well as education in deportment, fashion, and rhetoric. As such, all priests have at least a rank in a Craft or Perform skill. Before initiation into the priesthood can be considered complete, a new acolyte must perform three acts of beauty: uncovering beauty in something not generally seen as beautiful, restoring a piece of artwork that has been defaced or neglected, and creating a new and lasting work of beauty in their surroundings. They must also perform three acts of love: getting a family or community to recognize love that its members have rejected, undoing a misunderstanding that has gotten in the way of love, and introducing two people who fall in love. Most aspiring priests labor for years to complete these works to a standard they believe worthy of their goddess.
Taboos
In your quest to bring beauty to others, you must first stamp out the ugliness in your own character. While you might see ugliness, envy, and smallness of spirit in your soul, you are never permitted to let them find expression, and you must atone by creating works of art and striving to love deeply and truly. If you stand by while a work of art is destroyed, you must help the artist create a new one if possible; if it's not, you must create a work inspired by that. If you see a place of natural beauty despoiled, you must first attempt to stop the destruction, and then work to turn that destruction toward positive ends.
Holy Text
Callie's holy book is Melodies of Inner Beauty, and as its name suggests, it's more a hymnal and collection of poetry than a prayer book. Stories about the goddess, her family, her history, and her doctrine are expressed through songs, epic verses, and dramas to be performed and enjoyed among the faithful. The book glosses over the ugly parts of the stories (particularly about Rajuk), though other divinely inspired documents of the church reveal more details of Callie's deeds and relationships.
Holidays
The church of the Eternal Rose has no universal holidays except Crystal hue. However, vow renewals between loving couples are often celebrated by an entire temple, as are any other anniversaries of loving relationships. For a temple associated with a specific patron Agathion, that celestial's birthday, wedding anniversary, or confirmation in the church may be a local holiday.
Crystalhue (Winter Solstice): This day of artistic creation is traditionally a time for courtship and romantic proposals. During the day, people hang crystal prisms and glass baubles in order to spread light and scatter rainbows in the streets. Celebrants exchange small gifts, typically handmade, as tokens of appreciation or as peace offerings to those they feel they wronged during the year. Worshipers often dye colored streaks in their hair or wear colorful patchwork coats called melaros to which they add new patches every year. In the evenings, celebrants place lanterns on porches and in windows to line the streets with communal light. Town squares or other community gathering spaces host feasts around bonfires, and these gatherings are a popular time to perform marriage ceremonies, especially for worshipers without the means to throw such elaborate celebrations for themselves.
The sole dark note of Crystalhue is the Rajukian doll. In some Callinite congregations, a child chosen to be the "sibling" passes this strange little doll, made from scraps of leather and cloth and sewn with red thread, among neighbors. The townsfolk give it symbolic gifts and tell the doll happy memories or whisper apologies for those they've wronged during the year. The "sibling" child then casts it into the wilderness or sets it afloat to drift down a river, in the hope that it will find its way to the Midnight Lord and relate his sister's kindness, mercy, and goodwill in the face of the dark place he now resides.
Relation With Other Religions
Callie's nature is to b e loved, and no deity is immune to her charm. However, the gods' responses vary in accord with their natures: Yarnos would use her to seduce the incorruptible,The Eternal Rose has loved many minor and major deities,
but refuses to bind herself to any of them and has borne no children. Alessa and Callie amuse each other and understand the need for both lust and love in a passionate relationship. Gavet, similarly, amuses her with his heartfelt and often inebriated attempts to woo her, but most believe her love for the god of freedom to be that of a patient older sister. Samaria, Lyvalia, and other deities who actively crusade against evil often see her as naive or a bit frivolous, but such objections tend to melt away in her presence as she reminds them that the eradication of evil is meaningless if crusaders forget what they are fighting to preserve.
that their worshipers have different views of these qualities. She counts many empyreal lords among her friends and allies as well: Callie is the only deity who has any regular contact with her brother Rajuk, and it has been ages since he attacked her, though she remains wary that whatever evil force controls him might one day change its mind. She also recognizes the longing in his eyes when he sees her glaive, and suspects that somehow the alien thoughts that emanate from the weapon are the key to freeing her brother from the shadow that consumes him.
She also has a strained relationship with Zephyra, not just because of Zephyra's spiritual ugliness, but also because of some offense she committed against the goddess of undeath in centuries past. Neither goddess is willing to speak of the friction between them.
In general, the faithful of Callie have excellent relations with all of the other good and neutral religions, and even the servants of evil gods find much to love about the goddess and her followers. Like their deities, followers of crusading gods may sometimes dismiss Callinite as out of touch with reality or hampered by artistic temperament, until they stumble into a Callinite temple, battle-weary and heart sore, and find peace, healing, and renewed faith among its comforts. On rare occasions, Callinite' suggestions that this faith's temple would be much improved by a bit of redecorating or that faith's ceremonial robes could be adjusted to be more flattering irritate their neighbors, but most recognize the impulse as the genuine desire to share beauty, and a minor flaw compared with Callinite' bounty of attractive qualities.
Callie's Paladin Code
The Paladins of callie are peacable promoters of art and beauty. They see the ugliness in evil, even when cloaked in the form of beauty, and their missson is to defend those who devote their lives to the creation of beauty, bring it forth themselves, and prevent the weak and foolish from being seduced by false promises. Their tenets include the following adages.
- I see beauty in others. As a rough stone hides a diamond, a drab face may hide the heart of a saint.
- I am peaceful. I will come first with a rose rather than a weapon, and act to prevent conflict before it blossoms.
- I never strike first, unless it is the only way to protect the innocent.
- I accept surrender if my opponent can be redeemed and i never assume that they cannot be. All things that live love beauty, and i will show beauty's awnser to them.
- I live my life as art. i Will choose and art and perfect it. When i have mastered it, i will choose another. The works i leave behind make life richer for those to follow.
- I will never destroy a work of art, nor allow one to come to harm, unless greater art arises from its loss. I will only sacrifice art if doing so allows me to save a life, for undold beauty can arise from a awakened soul.
- I lead by example, not with my blade. where my blade passes, a life is cut short, and the world's potential for beauty is lessened.
The following content has been adopted from the god, Shelyn, created by Paizo. Due to the game's individual setting, races, names and locations may be altered or removed entirely. Please recognize that these gods are not canon to the world of Golarion, so any comments, complaints, or concerns can be directed to the game's admin staff for further inquiry and answers. Thank you in advance.
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