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Yelorna StarbringerAs worshipped in the Old City of Pavis
By Ian Thomson (Additional ideas
Daniel Fahey, Wulf Corbett, and Peter Metcalfe)
Yelorna is the daughter of Yelm and Ernalda, though her affinities are much more strongly of the Sun than of the Earth. She is usually pictured as a young woman riding a unicorn, with rays of starlight about her head, and is normally shown in armor, carrying a bow or spear. In the Golden Age Yelorna was courted by several gods but refused all such ties, resolving to show her power as an individual woman within the Sky Tribe. Her companions were the Morning and Evening Stars, and her brothers Yelmalio and Yamsur. When the Gods War began, Yelorna remained with the other sparks of light, proving her right to be a warrior. She battled Zorak Zoran (known as Dark Eater in Prax) and other children of Dread Lady Night, and brought Polestar and some of his children to help. This earned her the title of 'Starbringer'. After witnessing the death of Yamsur to Chaos, she battled this new enemy even harder than she had fought against the Darkness. When Yelm returned she acknowledged the Dark's right to exist, thus helping to save the world. The Cult of Yelorna has never been large, but was popular during Nysalor's 'Bright Empire'. During this time Nysalorean Unicorn Riders brought her worship to the Unicorn Women of Prax who acknowledged her alongside their own Sun Daughter. Many Yelornans were killed during the Gbaji Wars, or afterwards by Arkat's Dark Empire, and the surviving fragments of the cult were later all but annihilated in the Dragonkill War. Throughout these conflicts Yelornan refugees straggled into Prax, seeking refuge amongst their Praxian Unicorn Tribe, which became the last active Yelornan group after the fall of the EWF. With the rise of the Lunar Empire, especially in the last century, worship of Yelorna has begun to grow in association with the revival of the old Sun Dome Temples. A new independent temple was also founded in Pavis in 1596. Morganeth Runestar of Old Pavis became the new High Priestess of Yelorna in Pavis in 1602. She had been raised by the Unicorn Women and had quickly proved her worth to them, becoming a war leader by the time she was 20 years old. Morganeth has rebuilt her ruined family home into a Temple to Yelorna and drawn followers from the Unicorn Tribe as well as the women of Old Pavis and Sun Town in New Pavis. Before the Lunar invasion she led her people as mercenaries across Prax and even into Dragon Pass, and they are a respected troop of medium cavalry, despite the bizarre mixture of beasts they use. When the Lunars invaded in 1610, Morganeth was faced with a test of loyalties, the choice between her ancestral home and friends, and the Solar connections of the Lunar Empire. She chose to support her home and friends, and the cult prepared to defend the Old City. In the event Pavis surrendered after only one day, and the Yelornans did not see battle. Morganeth signed the Treaty of Occupation along with all the other Priests and Priestesses who agreed not to fight. In Pavis, as everywhere else, the Cult of Yelorna is seen as an oddity. Other Solar Cults ridicule them because they are women taking the roles of men, the Lunars are wary of them because of their fiercely held independence, and the Heortlings distrust them because they are warriors of the sun. Their only allies are found amongst the Cults of Vinga and Pavis. The Vingans support them as fellow women warriors and haters of Chaos, and the Cult of Pavis in the Old City values them as part of the defence force and as a revived traditional Pavic organisation. Praxians see them as an abberation, much like the Unicorn Tribe, and the nomads abhor anyone related to the city out of principal. Nonetheless, the Pavic Yelornans are respected fighters and have often ridden as mercenaries alongside groups of nomad warriors. Not only do the Lunars resent the Yelornans for their active role in re-establishing the Old City, but Lunar-friendly Pavis Priest Cyrilius Harmonius has a personal grudge against Morganeth. He is responsible for administering Zebraside, and Morganeth despises him and makes no effort to hide this. She will not submit her Yelornans to his control, nor even acknowledge his right to the position. Cyrilius has campaigned against the Yelornans in recent years, trying to rally popular support against them, claiming that they are barbaric and the stealers of female children. Unfortunately there are those who listen to his lies. As with all solar cults, the Yelornans strive for purity. Initiates are not permitted to act in a promiscuous manner, and Devotees may only marry (and engage in physical relations) with Devotees within the Earth or Sky Pantheons. Unicorn Riders must be celibate, which is why many within the Cult never rise to this lofty position, remaining horse riders (or zebra riders in the case of the Pavic cultists). The Cult also possesses a one time only ceremony that can restore purity to any Initiate who so chooses.
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