Suulta is the goddess of calm, compassion, emotionlessness, treaties, and land Elwens. She is one of the Thirteen, the great gods of Arcadia, but less powerful than most of the others. She is most commonly called the White Lady.
Origins: Suulta was most likely dreamt into being, as were most of the other gods, by the black star Lafrenna and the silver star Laerfren. Some of her worshippers say that she came from outside the dream to act as a guardian of order in the world, but this is unlikely, since the goddesses she would then have to oppose (Nystze and Chilune among them) are much more powerful than she is.
Major Myths: Probably the most prominent myth about Suulta is that she bound herself to the land Elwen race when Laerfren created them, as a means of counteracting their burning passion with her own calm. When the land Elwen race dies, she will as well. Her clerics often capitalize on this myth, and speak of her as the one deity willing to sacrifice her immortality for a mortal race.
Suulta also has been said to wander the world in a mortal form (see "Physical Details" below), and it is claimed that on one such occasion, a great winged cougar with antlers like a deer saved her avatar's life. Suulta gave the creature honor for it, and called it by her own name. To this day it remains one of her most favored symbols.
Physical Details: When Suulta appears in avowedly immortal form, she has dark hair, extremely pale skin- so pale that her hair casts blue shadows on it- and eyes of many shifting colors, playing through the whole land Elwen spectrum. She always wears white, often a robe and shawl, and sometimes has a white owl on her shoulder. She rarely appears so unless she wishes to convey an unmistakable message, such as to personally approve a newly chosen High Priestess or Priest.
Her mortal avatars are generally pale in color, accompanied by white owls and suultai, and have eyes that change to reflect the eye color of the person they are speaking to at the moment. Though most of her avatars are women, Suulta has been known to manifest through men as well; her clerics practice no gender discrimination, and neither does the goddess.
Suulta's most common manifestation is a pair of eyes, either hanging in midair or appearing in a listener's mind. In this case, they will always be the color of a watcher's or a listener's own eyes.
Tenets of Worship: Suulta's priests are committed to spreading peace, often by offering to mediate conflicts or work on treaties when a war has ended. They also heal, freely offering their compassion-borne skill to all who need it. This sometimes makes them unpopular, since they are as likely to heal an enemy of their home city as the soldiers of that city.
Suulta's clerics also consider themselves bound by a great fellowship, and will never injure or hurt or obstruct one another if they can help it.
Suulta's priests practice meditation and trance-visions in order to stifle and destroy passion in themselves. This is something that others often find unnerving. They also have very strict rules in their temples which patients have to obey, often respecting which members of which gender may sleep where.
Priestesses and priests of Suulta wear white. They may not wield weapons (or fight in wars in any other way), own lands, have sex, or (if land Elwen) use emotional magic. Open expression of emotion is frowned on, as is the use of fire to cook food, drugs (other than trance-inducing incense), and wine.
Major Centers of Worship: Oak is the only land Elwen city in Arcadia that remains firmly under the control of Suulta's priests. For part of the Third Era, this was not so, as Oak's High Priest made the difficult decision to enter the Coramamira War next to Rowan and Pixaor. But the goddess returned to Oak thanks to the efforts of Melsinon Shirrindolor (as chronicled in Ever Here), and the old High Priest position has been restored to its very great power. There is a Council, but it has less power than in other land Elwen cities, and there is no Councilmaster, the High Priest or Priestess wielding secular as well as theocratic power.
Most land Elwen villages have a shrine or temple to the White Lady, and sometimes she is the sole deity of a village, but this has become rare. Land Elwens as a whole have long regarded devotion to a deity as a matter of individual preference, and few choose to devote themselves completely to Suulta.
Worship of Suulta has become prominent in some human villages. Humans pray for the patience to endure what they believe is a temporary, though very long, punishment for some ancient sin.
Other Names: White Lady, Lady of the White Shawl, Lady of the White Owl, Lady of Calm, Bright Lady.
Major Symbols: White owl, suulta, white shawl, white owl in an oak tree (Oak only), several pairs of colored Elwen eyes.
Relations with other powers: Suulta often works closely with Sarastaa, as they both have similar goals of spreading peace. Her main rivals are Nystze, and Chilune, since they represent highly chaotic opposing principles. To most other powers she is distant.
The Suultan Library:
Amoniorlun Suultaid- A land Elwen hymn to Suulta, in Aril. There is a translation on the same page. It means simply "We are calling to Suulta."
No Genius Without a Touch of Madness- A short story about the very beginning of Suulta's worship in Oak, featuring some unusual opposition.
(This section will grow. I have more hymns to Suulta; it's a matter of digging them out of the books they're in).
