Ryuugami
Contents
Ryuugami in Brief
| Ryuugami | |
| other names | Ryuumah, Alexandria, Alex |
| domain | patron goddess of dragonkind |
| special family ties | Ishtar, Kazeros, Khar, Nakibe, Nekogami, Numian, Reshtaha, Shelby, Stacey |
| original creator/expert | pdRydia (RPer) |
| tie-ins | countries--Baron, Colena, Gunnir, Riva, Solasia, Terumahilana; races--dragon, draken, dray'kin, griffon, Gre'par'thian human, long; worshippers of note--Chy'ak, Richard Danera Storm, Sizer; etc--Temple of Ryuugami; What links here |
| misc Since Alexandria's return to Gaera in the early 1300s, good health and magical talent amongst those who worship her have begun to slowly increase. Occasionally, a worshiper may find him- or herself unexpectedly visited by the goddess for a chat, offer of race change or paladinship, or just for the goddess to say "Thanks!" | |
Ryuugami in Detail
Duties and Personality
As direct reparations for the actions of the lesser pantheon in the Gods' War, Ishtar placed Alexandria in the role of caretaker of dragonkind. Alexandria carries out this duty with magic that improves the quality of dragons' lives--primarily benediction magic centered around improving the health and socially important superficialities of dragonkind. Secondarily, Alex provides defensive, evasive, and some offensive magic to paladins, her personal servants on Gaera, who serve to protect and bless dragonkind in many places at once. She also considers it to be an important duty to make her presence on Gaera known, so that dragonkind knows it has a goddess who cares for it.
Stemming from the origins of the dragon race, Alex highly values free will. Because of this, she considers it important that the recipients of her blessings and benediction magic are willing to receive such. Not entirely unlike mortals themselves, Alex is prone to straining against and occasionally abandoning her ethical code. Such actions are sometimes brought about by extreme emotion, dire circumstances, or the idea that the end justifies the means.
Personally, Alex has a love of aesthetics and finds nothing more beautiful than the dragon--a trait which usually manifests itself to others as an apparent obsessiveness with the race. As far as she is concerned, the more dragons the better the world, an attitude she fully expects her dragons to share; thus, the goddess assumes that all dragons have a healthy interest in sex and, one hopes, resultant reproduction. Likewise the goddess herself is no slacker in the creation of new dragon races, her most recent creation the ryuuneko. Her concept of the race is very inclusive, encompassing the large and small, flightless and winged, furred, feathered, and scaled, and also including those of partial dragon heritage as though they were full-blooded.
Much like her sister Stacey with fluffiness, Alex thinks the world would be much improved if everyone were dragons--it would, at least, be much more beautiful. When meeting another she doesn't actively dislike, it is not unlikely for the goddess to offer a permanent or "trial-based" race change. As far as Alex is concerned, any reasonable person shares her beliefs concerning dragons and would love to be one. However, she reluctantly recognizes and usually respects that the world of Gaera is full of many unreasonable people.
Relations
Alex looks up to her sister Nekogami as a role model and caring, older sister figure. Nekogami is who Alex turns to when she wants, and is prepared for, proper advice. Nekogami is also a source of comfort when she needs something more solid than what Stacey can provide. However, Alex tries to leave her sister alone as much as possible so as to not 'bother her' or 'be a nuisance.'
Ryuugami holds great respect for Kazeros, who she refers to as her uncle as a sign of deference. She rarely interacts with him, however, ashamed of her inability to dedicate herself fully to respecting free will.
The goddess is close to her sister Stacey, a confidante and playmate. The two approach their domains with similar enthusiasm and philosophies. Given that philosophy--"my domain is the bestest"--and the fact that their domains do not always overlap, it isn't entirely uncommon for the two to quarrel, but holding a grudge is rare.
Due to her closeness with Stacey, Alexandria also spends a great deal of time with Nakibe. The two are on good terms, Alex finding in Nakibe a good conversation partner--if not so great a playmate as Stacey. While contention with Nakibe is more frequent due to conflicts between their domains, nonetheless the three deities of Stacey, Nakibe, and Ryuugami frequently form a trio who are generally on good terms with each other.
Like most of the pantheon, Alex has a working relationship with Reshtaha, who processes souls after death. It is the responsibility of the Ryuumah to make sure Reshtaha knows which souls to direct to her domain after their death. Alex has a similar relationship with the goddess of love, Shelby, from whom she gets technical advice for the reproduction aspects of her peoples.
With little surprise, the dragon goddess is on perpetually bad terms with Khar, the god of war, whose methods and domain she actively and especially dislikes. While she is similarly unfriendly with the god of battle, Numian, the two are capable of getting along at family reunions.
Ishtar is mother to Ryuugami, and is in fact, Ishtar is directly responsible for Alex's personal selection for ascension; Alex has largely overcome her personal issues with this, though still is uncertain about the ethics involved, and largely plays the game of "Mom can't forbid the activity until she knows of it."
Origins
It was over 200,000 years before Doma and Riva signed the treaty which would initiate the Era of Peace. The lesser gods of Gaera each had a separate plan for the care of the world and its mortals. Unwilling to compromise, the lesser gods warred. As their weapons, each commanded flights of creatures called dragons. Created from the wyrms, like their brethren the dragons were powerful yet non-sentient creatures, the perfectly guiltless tool.
Great waste was laid to the world as each god targeted another's creations. Innumerable dragons fell but not a single of the lesser gods kept track of something so little. Yet as was inevitable, eventually all came to an end when Ishtar and Primaer discovered their children's quarrels and resultant destruction.
Primaer declared that the gods were to never war amongst each other again in such a manner, upon pain of the return of all to pure chaos. As the lesser gods began to repair the injuries made to Gaera, Ishtar, for her part, worked toward reparations to the dragon species.
Ishtar gifted a young female dragon with sentience and brought her into the pantheon as the caretaker of dragonkind. This dragon would later identify herself as Alexandria, the Ryuumah.
Notable Past Activities
Creation of Dragoons
In the mid-100s BT, Alexandria was attracted to the nation of Riva by its lancers, who modeled their armor after the dragons of their homeland. There, she educated the Rivan humans about the reclusive dragons of the land and began to introduce the two races to each other. After finding out that, no, they really didn't want to be dragons, Alexandria offered to the lancers a more palatable deal: if they would like, she could lend knowledge, powers, blessings and good health to faithful lancers. In return, said lancers would worship her and--naturally--help defend and aid the dragonkind of the area.
Only a few lancers agreed at first. When Alexandria turned out to really be a goddess and actually keep her end of the deal, more signed up. Over the course of roughly three generations--while lancers still remained--the lancers of the Rivan military had completely been replaced by dragoons: the word which had developed to distinguish between lancers who had and had not agreed to Alexandria's deal.
The pact of dragoons would later be made also with the people of Baron.
Absence
In 661 EP, Alexandria left Gaera with the intent to visit and learn from the dragon deities of other realms. With the understanding that her followers would need her power in her absence, and could not call upon powers outside of Gaera, she created a large power well and set it inside her home on the deitic plane for safe-keeping. There, whenever a follower called upon her, they would have an answer--a slightly automatic answer, but it would work.
Of course, there are only so many ways for a goddess to create so much power at once, and really, Alexandria didn't have that within her means. She did, however, have her body, a gift from her mother Ishtar. By destroying her body, she created enough power to nearly fill her home. After making some cursory checks to make sure that her followers' prayers were still answered correctly without her direct intervention, Alexandria left Gaera.
In the 700s, a large group of dragons in Argovia called upon Alexandria's power in an attempt to redirect the flow of magma feeding Mount Chóle. The spell failed, nonetheless draining a phenomenal amount of the power Alexandria had left behind while also taking a piece of her home and merging it with the physical plane. Here, the power began to slowly leak over into the Colenan portallands.
By the late 900s, the waning power of Alexandria could be felt by all her followers, and it had been an undeniable fact that the goddess had not appeared personally to anyone in centuries.
In various lands, dragoons debated whether or not their promise to Alexandria still held if she were not keeping up her side. In Baron, the consensus came to a "yes," and remained so even when the last bit of energy ran dry.
In Riva, meanwhile, the answer was a "no." Public opinion was quickly swayed by power-minded and charismatic individuals such as Sandy Milar, who discovered that better sources of power were to be had than Alexandria in the death of her followers. It is from the work of Sandy Milar and his co-conspirator, Hall Jacobs, that we have the first Ishtarian texts edited to justify human supremacy.
In the 1000s, dragon-hunting in Riva was becoming enough of a problem to worry the populace of northern neighbor, Solasia; however, it wasn't until the practice of the Bloody Brood and razing that the Solasian government roused to act. By this time, the Rivan dragoons were of a greater force and the Solasian Dragon Knights had no option but to die or disperse.
Return
Alexandria returned to Gaera in the early 1300s to find her dragons and world in disarray. The loss of Solasia and the betrayal of the Rivan dragoons hurt her deeply, and for a handful of years she stayed in her home plane, recovering. When she reemerged, she set to work in eastern Igala.
No longer having one of her own, Alexandria has to possess a physical body in order to do work on the physical plane. Originally, she possessed Dia Rai, until her Mother, Ishtar, found out and made sure she understood that the possessed has to be willing.
The first 5 or so years of Alexandria's work consisted of talking to Solasians and telling them she was really, really sorry--would they forgive her? She answered questions and offered blessings. Understandably, this didn't work so well, and was quite awkward for Alexandria. Nonetheless, every other week she appears in Solasia to do this.
It wasn't until the later 1310s that Alexandria even noticed the country of Colena, and the fact it had appropriated part of her home. She now visits this country once a month, which is a happier chore. She also does her best to visit Baron and Gunnir once a month each.
Activities Today
Twice a month Alexandria visits the country of Solasia, to answer questions, apologize, ask forgiveness, and offer blessings. She really doesn't like to do this but never fails to do so. On the first Istarus of the month she appears at Rai Icham and on the third she appears at Yutopia.
Once a month unfailingly, Alexandria visits the midlands of Colena. She does this on the first Ashurarus of the month. She also does her best to visit Baron once a month on the fourth Numius. Once every month or so, on the second Falisus, she tries to visit Gunnir. In these places she does much the same as she does in Solasia, though there is a great deal less uncomfortable questioning and more blessings.
Alexandria is finding it difficult to work in Riva, given her followers' reasonable reluctance for entering the nation and her own inability to move alone. She is currently looking into a way to address this.
