Arazni

The Unyielding

Areas of Concern the abused, dignity, unwilling undeath

Alignment NE (LN, N, NE, CG, CN)

Divine Font

Divine Ability Constitution or Intelligence

Divine Skill Intimidation

Domains confidence, freedom, pain, protection

Alternate Domains sorrow

Cleric Spells 1st:

, 2nd: , 6th:

Edicts act with dignity, do whatever it takes to survive, despise and never forgive those who have hurt you

Anathema create unwilling undead, insult Arazni

Favored Weapon

More than anything, Arazni is a survivor. Once, long ago, she was a force for good, a warrior-mage who sought to improve the quality of life for residents of her homeland. Long after her mortal death, she returned as a herald of the god Aroden and fought alongside mortals during one of their darkest hours. But humanity and her patron alike abandoned her—first to the Whispering Tyrant, then to the necromancer Geb—and the torments she endured because of it changed her deeply. Still she survived, her broken body reanimated against her will as a powerful undead monstrosity. For over a millennium she was held captive as the lich queen of the undead nation of Geb, and her view of mortals, and humanity in particular, soured.

Only recently was Arazni able to reclaim her autonomy, manipulating the Whispering Tyrant into using his own magic to shatter her arcane bonds. The Unyielding defends her reclaimed freedom with unparalleled vigor, scorns those who supplicate her, and exacts swift retribution against those who wrong her. She treats petitioners who honored her in her despised role as queen of Geb, or who pray to her only now that she has reclaimed her power, with pure contempt. Arazni might have learned the art of unflinching cruelty and found ways to embrace and savor what power she had as a means of self defense, but she holds a deep-seated disdain for those who think that what she has become is worthy of veneration.

Arazni feels little kinship with either humanity or undead, save a faint affinity to those who have been denied agency as she was. She also recognizes, grudgingly, that the Knights of Lastwall share her hatred of the Whispering Tyrant; a number of these dispossessed knights, disenchanted and embittered by the failure of their leaders to keep Tar-Baphon imprisoned, even consider Arazni something of a patron. Yet these disparate followers are few and far between, less a church and more a scattering of worshippers who see in the Unyielding something of themselves.

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When casting the

spell, a worshipper of Arazni gains the following additional abilities.

Arazni Speed 70 feet,

, immune to immobilized; Melee rapier (deadly 3d8, reach 15 feet), Damage 6d8+6 piercing; Ranged call blood (range 120 feet), Damage 6d6 persistent bleed damage

Knights of Lastwall

Arazni has a closer association with Lastwall than virtually any other deity. As Aroden’s herald, Arazni was known as the Red Crusader: an angel with furious zeal and indomitable will, protecting all who fought against evil. She was the patron saint of the Shining Crusade, and the knights who followed her in battle felt her fervor as their own. That fervor shattered at the Battle of Three Sorrows, when the Whispering Tyrant slew Arazni and cast the angel’s broken body amid the stunned crusaders like a wrecked toy. Her body was stolen by yet another megalomaniac necromancer, Geb, and forced into undeath as a further insult to her legacy. For centuries, Arazni was trapped within the nightmarish confines of undeath.

Relying entirely on her own power and cunning, Arazni freed her soul from the torments of these two men, and in so doing, reached the heights of divinity. While many believe that her ascension to godhood was due to Arazni’s proximity to Aroden and other powerful figures, Arazni’s apotheosis was an achievement she claimed entirely on her own, and this self-reliance is something that drives her to this day.

Arazni is no longer an angel or hero but rather a grim and proud survivor. She has no need or desire for supplicants or disciples, as she feels little but contempt for those who once venerated her in her role as the humiliated and imprisoned queen of Geb. Nevertheless, she spares some affinity for those who have suffered as she has. Though she has gained a cruel streak and a thirst for vengeance, she understands that standing with dignity in the face of abusers and oppressors is the greatest possible victory.

Arazni has no centralized church or hierarchy, as befits followers who are often trapped in hostile conditions. She is worshipped by broken warriors, fallen crusaders, and those forced into awful circumstances beyond their control, including unwilling undead.

Knights of Lastwall who revere Arazni do so for varied reasons. Many thirst for the resilience and inner strength that she exemplifies, believing that if one determined woman could stand up to the world’s greatest evils, perhaps they, too, can overcome their own challenges. Some, none too secretly, see her suffering as symbolic of the flaws in Lastwall that led to its failure and destruction. Though Arazni provides little contact or comfort for these worshippers, their desperate pragmatism and common foe sometimes spark her favor. Others see Arazni’s battered honor as the epitome of Lastwall’s fallen glory, believing a faint ghost of the Red Crusader lies buried deep within her and will someday roar forth again. Arazni considers these believers to be foolish idealists similar in nature to the crusaders who led to her many downfalls.

Impossible Lands

Within Geb, Arazni is seen less as a deity and more as the secular head of state put in place by the Ghost King. Initially reviled due to her former role as Aroden’s herald, many among the undead ruling classes treated her with a contempt that she gladly returned. Over the centuries, her skillful administration brought a stability to the region that won the begrudging respect of those same detractors. Her departure has now created a power vacuum among the Blood Lords of Geb. Those who had prospered under her leadership, or simply missed her efficient governance over Geb’s petulant whims, seek to bring her back. The more reverent among them seek even more: to follow in her footsteps and create their own fates.

Finally free from the bonds that have shackled her to Geb over several millennia, Arazni cares not for any of the petty squabbles of those she has left behind. With her current whereabouts unknown, she does whatever it takes to avoid being bound to anyone or anywhere again. Some scholars believe she might be hunting for the things that could be used against her: the Bloodstones of Arazni. These special canopic jars contain her preserved internal organs, removed prior to her reanimation as a lich.

Outside of Geb, Arazni has few priests or followers beyond solitary devotees who silently practice their faith. Though she’s often an indifferent patron, Arazni is willing to spare a spark of her power to kindred spirits—especially when it comes to breaking the bonds that control unwillingly created undead. Undead who venerate Arazni likewise find it easier to keep hold of their original personalities, rather than losing themselves to the demanding hungers of their new existence.

Arazni’s contempt for many of the gods and their worshippers is well known, but she has a complicated relationship with her own faithful. While she resents followers for worshipping what she has become, she finds a small amount of satisfaction through the vicarious fulfillment of having a following. She values and guards her privacy staunchly, however; any adherent who tries to divine her location or secrets might wake up shortly without their powers.