Illovia
Goddess of Light and Healing
Intermediate Goddess

Epithets:	the Healer, Lightbringer, Lichbane, Sunvisage
Alignment:	Neutral good
Symbols:	Sun, golden rapier
Colors:	Yellow, gold
Gems:	Topaz, yellow diamond
Primary followers:	Healers, foes of the undead
Special mark:	Rapier wielded by clerics and Knights

     The true form of Illovia the Lightbringer radiates a perpetual aura of dazzling gold, a light so intense that it can easily blind the mortal born. But the Healer, a gentle, considerate Power, is not averse to dimming her radiance so that mortal kind may know her better.

     Stripped of her aura, Illovia appears as a frail wisp of a human girl not yet out of her teens. Her narrow, delicate face is marked by a pair of gold-irised eyes and a cascade of wavy platinum blonde hair that flows to her waist. Illovia’s skin is as milk, and her voice is as a sunbeam on a summer’s day. There is an airy, almost ethereal quality about the goddess, a lightness of being that only the most inspired of mortal artists can possibly capture.

     The Lightbringer usually dresses in a sleeveless, form-fitting gown of spun gold, adorned only by a pale yellow shawl of gossamer silk and satin slippers. A magnificent ring cut from a huge yellow diamond graces her right hand. This ring, or so the tales tell, has the power to cure any malady, bind any wound, restore any limb, or cleanse any toxin, even when worn by a mortal.

     Illovia’s epithet of the Healer is well deserved. The goddess possesses full knowledge of all the medical arts possessed by mortal kind, and is believed to harbor a far greater store within her own mind and soul. It is said that Illovia is willing to part with this knowledge, but only to those mortals who do their utmost to pursue such knowledge on their own.

     The Lightbringer has another aspect to her divine nature, embodied in the golden glassteel rapier known simply as Blaze. This weapon is anathema to all forms of undead, from the freshest zombie to the most ancient lich. Upon Illovia’s command, Blaze does just that, its holy radiance cirring all forms of animated undead to ash. Free-willed undead, sensitive to sunlight or not, are blinded instantly, and consigned to oblivion but moments later. Liches are the only undead that can survive Blaze’s initial flare, but even they are blinded and wracked with excruciating pain, making escape virtually impossible.

     Illovia was the second of the True Gods to arrive from Beyond. The first was Gyula, goddess of plagues, whose decaying touch came close to exterminating all the nascent life brought forth by Sephri, the Creator Goddess. Exhausted and desperate from centuries of fighting the Ravager, Sephri welcomed the offer of aid from this unknown Power from Beyond. It proved a wise decision, for Illovia’s healing powers, radiating from the sun itself, reduced Gyula’s ravaging of the world to a shadow of what it once was. This tale from the Astarith’s First Book tells how the balance between sickness and healing was struck, the first of many such balances that would insure the survival of the infant world.

Avatars: The issue of Illovia’s avatars has been a source of endless and heated debate ever since the Age of Mists came to a close. Though her visitations were fairly common in the days of the Astarith, the goddess has now seemingly withdrawn from the face of Minarra.

     A smattering of tales down through the centuries speak of the Healer wandering the dreams and musings of her faithful. But when asked about the image of shimmering gold revealed to the mind’s eye, none could recall anything more a profound sense of peace and comfort. Stories about a tireless cleric of the Order, rallying her exhausted fellows in the wake of some disaster, are told throughout the Four Continents—but no one can honestly say whether that heroic priestess was the goddess herself or a mortal instrument of her divine will.

     If appearances by the True Goddess are in doubt, those of her Servitor are certainly not. The Lightbringer would be hard pressed to find a more loyal and spirited companion than Kelsiev, Prince of the Ki-rin. There isn’t an altar to the Healer anywhere in Minarra that doesn’t bear a likeness of Kelsiev, no matter how humble, for it is through these gold statues that the Servitor enters the world to fulfill the wishes of his mistress.

Mortal Servants: Perhaps no other religious Order commands such universal appeal and popularity than that of the Healer. Little wonder, given a world where disease is omnipresent (as much from poor sanitation as from the ravages of Gyula) and effective non-magical treatments are few and far between.

     The attire of the Order is bold and striking. Adepts dress in robes of bright yellow, usually with a gold waistband if the material can be had. Graces of the Order are marked by their all-gold robes, with Serenities set apart from their senior priests only by their staffs of office and their rapiers of golden glassteel. The staff is usually of white pine or similar pale wood, exquisitely encrusted with Istari glyphs of topaz and yellow diamond. The glyphs are actually spells of great power, to be used as the Serenity wills.

     The holy symbols of the Order are always of pure gold. Those of Adepts are engraved with a sunburst pattern, while those of the Graces have the design inlaid with topaz, and the Serenities’ with yellow diamond.

     Perhaps the most desirable trait for an Acolyte of the Order is an iron constitution where physical suffering is concerned. During their training, the next generation of priests master the more mundane healing arts, including such unsettling tasks as stitching combat wounds, draining infections, and restraining those in need of amputation. When not caring for the sick and wounded, the young are thoroughly trained in the fundamentals of herbalism, alchemy, medicine, and anatomy, both human and not. It is only when these skills become second nature that Acolytes receive their first instruction in magical healings.

     As a whole, the Knights of the Sun are a surprisingly grim and somber lot. This is understandable, since most Knights see it as their sacred duty to combat the undead wherever their foul ilk are found. Lord Knights take great care in training their young charges, carefully matching their skills to the dark might of their opponents. No expense is spared to create magical items to aid in this cause and, in extreme cases, clerics and Knights band together to take the fight to wherever the undead exist. This professionalism has created a lethal host that even vampires and liches are hesitant to challenge.

     Despite itself, the Order of the Lightbringer ranks among the wealthiest in all Minarra. Always endeavoring to keep their families, servants, and armies in the best of health, the laity of means have no compunction about keeping clerics and even Knights on retainer, often for exorbitant sums. The Order tries on occasion to convince their "employers" that they live to serve the goddess, regardless of worldly reward, but self-interest and paranoia blind its patrons this simple truth. Resigned to this misguided state of affairs, the Order prudently entrusts their excess funds to the care of an elderly dragon (gold, of course), to be disbursed at the noble beast’s wise discretion.

     Almost every city of Minarra has a major temple devoted to the Healer, and most small towns have a chapel with a resident cleric. Manpower permitting, urban churches will send a portion of their staff into the hinterland on a rotating schedule. Formal worship is held on the eve of each month and on New Year’s Eve.

Philosophy/Tenets of Faith: These are best summed up by the following passage from The Soul of the Healer, a sacred text of the Order. Countless servants of Illovia down through the centuries have embraced this text as their personal mantra:

     "The eye of the Healer is blind to evil, to vengeance, to prejudice, to fealty. The heart of the Healer beats strong with the blood of all that lives; beast or being, it matters not. The hand of the Healer touches all. The voice of the Healer comforts all. The soul of the Healer weeps for all. Blessed be the Healer who honors this glorious wisdom."

---