Calistria

Divine Mysteries

Calistria is as sharp as the three daggers of her holy symbol, ever ready with a quick quip or backhanded compliment. She is the god of lust, trickery, and revenge. She considers herself above the arbitrary moral and societal sensibilities of mortals, and she encourages her followers to act the same. Though Calistria isn’t exclusively an elven deity, she is among the most widespread of elven gods and attracts followers from all over Golarion.

Trickery is one of Calistria’s concerns, but her schemes far surpass the designation of mere pranks or pettiness. At first, Calistria’s vengeance resembles kindness and even generosity as she leads the transgressor into false happiness with pleasant events and good fortune. Only once it’s too late does Calistria reveal herself as the architect of the culprit’s doom and shatters their idyllic life.

In addition to being one of the older gods on Golarion, Calistria has a long memory and never forgives a slight, nor does she forget once she has exacted her revenge. One of the most famous legends is “the Coldest Dish,” which illustrates Calistria’s preferred method of vengeance. Long ago, three gods against whom Calistria swore revenge died before she could exact her punishment. The exact offense the gods committed has been lost to time. Once per year, these dead gods cower before Calistria as broken husks of themselves, pleading for her forgiveness and begging her to abandon her vengeance. Every time, she smiles at them. In her honey-sweet voice, she tells them to try again next year and lets the threat of her retaliation loom over them. The priests who recount this tale gleefully note that this result is far more fitting than any vengeance Calistria could have enacted herself.

Calistria distinguishes between justice and vengeance; she isn’t a god of justice and is thoroughly uninterested in the concept. Instead, Calistria encourages her worshippers to define justice on their own terms, with their satisfaction as the only metric for success.

As an unabashed champion of personal freedom, Calistria is passionate in all things and embraces the entire spectrum of sexualities. Many of her followers pray for the confidence to emulate her uninhibited self-expression. Most scholarly records agree that Calistria’s primary form is a slim, light-skinned elf with dark eyes and long blond hair, outfitted in a yellow-and-black dress that accentuates her hourglass figure. However, there’s evidence that she takes on other forms; such accounts mention Calistria appearing with fewer curves, black trousers, and a wasp-colored jerkin and cape. Information on other possible forms is scant.

Wasps are Calistria’s symbol and her sacred animal, owing to their ability to live on after they sting their enemies. Her most common epithet is “the Savored Sting,” which refers to the pleasure she derives from her schemes. Other names for her include “the Unquenchable Fire” and “the Honeyed Venom.”

True to her own amorality, Calistria hears the prayers of the generous and the selfish alike. Whether or not she takes an interest in a mortal’s plight depends entirely on her whims. Her changeability arises from her independence; she has no desire to form emotional attachments or strong relationships. Calistria recognizes the distinction between sex and romance, and though she’s a masterful and attentive lover, she is largely disinterested in romance. There’s no predominant romantic tendency among Calistria’s followers, but she’s especially popular with those who desire sex with little to no romance.

Calistria rewards daring acts with blessings and wreaks inescapable vengeance on those who dare slight her or her faithful. When one is in her favor, Calistria may grant advantageous conditions for finding a lover, enhance physical pleasure, or create opportunities for deception and acts of vengeance. Those who incur Calistria’s displeasure may suffer lapses of sexual confidence or find themselves encountering angry wasps that sting incessantly.

The Church

Temples to Calistria are open to the public, regardless of faith. The Savored Sting welcomes prayers from individuals who only need her to help to satisfy their desire for lust, trickery, or revenge. Anyone can partake in the activities and services of any temple; all are invited to indulge in the pleasures within the back rooms or to seek an assassin to avenge a betrayed friend.

The church aims to help people satisfy their needs in ways that honor the god. It teaches that acting on lust, taking vengeance, and succeeding via trickery are fundamental mortal desires and are practical and enjoyable ways to solve one’s problems. Each temple serves its local community and may have rivalries with other temples.

Like the god herself, Calistria’s temples come in many forms, such as repurposed mansions, elegant brothels, or lively taverns. Common features include multiple rooms with locked doors, easy-to-clean surfaces, and comfortable alcoves for lounging. Calistrian temples are also notable for their salubriousness and lavish decor; there are always at least two statues of the god; one for visitors to admire and one in the inner sanctum where intimate rituals take place. Other iconic temple details include honeycomb shelves, erotic art, and wasps’ nests in the eaves.

There are no strict hierarchies in the church, though each temple has a high priest who has the final say over the management of the building. Long-serving or accomplished clerics can nominate themselves for that role, and every priest in the temple has the right to vote. The high priest remains in their position until they die or decide to retire, at which point an election is held.

Aside from the high priest, there is an administrative council that handles the temple’s finances, schedule, and other bureaucratic matters. Everyone else is either a cleric or an initiate, someone who has yet to pledge themselves to the church. Twice annually, a group of initiates undergoes a ritual called the Rite of the Triple Sting. Each initiate must conceal their identity and entice someone who wronged them in the past. Exploiting the target’s attraction to them, the prospective priest manipulates them into sharing compromising information. Once the target has done so, the priest must publicly reveal the target’s secrets and complete their revenge. If the initiate completes this ritual to the satisfaction of the high priest, the new cleric receives their first religious symbol of Calistria.

As Calistria cautions against becoming too consumed by love, the church very rarely performs marriage ceremonies. Such weddings are usually informal affairs, and there’s no stigma if the resulting union dissolves shortly afterward. The longest-lasting Calistrian relationships evolve over time, sometimes expanding to include other permanent (or temporary) partners. When a devotee of Calistria dies, their friends and loved ones gather at the temple for the funeral, often a hedonistic revelry in celebration of a life well lived. If the deceased died with unresolved grudges, the survivors plot their vengeance at the event.

The most common prayer to the Savored Sting isn’t a prayer at all, but an invocation of her name: “I shall remember you in my prayers to Calistria.” It might be an expression of gratitude from a lover after a tryst; a vengeful person may spit the phrase like blood as a threat to a rival; or an assassin may use it to bring their elaborate scheme to its denouement, ensuring it’s the last thing their mark ever hears.

Followers

The Savored Sting welcomes followers of all ancestries and cultures; she asks little of her non-clergy followers and only wishes for them to seek new experiences and keep an open mind, at least while they need her help. Calistria loves variety and abhors single-mindedness; even the most casual follower must appreciate the Savored Sting either by acknowledging all three of her aspects or worshipping her as one among other gods, else their prayers will go unanswered.

Long-term devotees of Calistria may choose to become priests. To honor Calistria’s edict of personal freedom, the only requirement is the display of her religious symbol—on a garment, as a tattoo, or as a jewelry piece. Priests are encouraged to dress in whatever style pleases them and can wear as much or as little clothing as they like.

A cleric’s duties include advising churchgoers about safer sex practices, scheming with the slighted to embarrass their rivals, and encouraging the vengeful to pursue their own justice. Though each priest chooses one as a specialty, they receive enough training in the god’s triad of concerns to handle any basic problem that a worshipper may present them with. The church pays them a salary and any additional money they make from other jobs they have in the community is theirs to keep, ideally to honor Calistria by spending it on their own pleasure.

Priests who focus on lust may be sex educators, sex workers, sex therapists, or makers of sex toys and accessories. They promote discussion of consent and boundaries, sex for pleasure, and events where sex is the main activity. Priests who concentrate on trickery may be spies, rumormongers, double agents, or illusionists. They seek concealed knowledge, keep abreast of the latest gossip, or work both sides of a conflict for as long as they can, feeding information back to the church. Priests who specialize in revenge may be poisoners, warriors, mediators, or spellcasters who specialize in subterfuge. They counsel the vengeful, conspire with the aggrieved, and provide equipment for exacting revenge. A few temples are even said to provide assassins for hire.

For the common faithful across the Inner Sea region, Calistria is a god for the thrill-seekers, the deceptive, the vengeful, and those who aspire to such descriptors. She is popular among sex workers, thieves, hedonists, performers, and anyone harboring a deep desire for vengeance.

Calistria’s aspects are particularly enticing to adventurers, especially those who took up the life after they were wronged. Vengeful adventurers follow Calistria hoping that she can guide them on a path to avenge the slights they suffered and harm those who once harmed them. Adventurers who value life’s pleasures may also gravitate to Calistria, whether just to relax in one of her temples or to forget the stress of adventuring by attending a party in her honor. Calistria is also an excellent choice for those who like to achieve their goals with trickery; as such, rogues are disproportionately represented among her adventuring faithful.

Relationships

Calistria’s church is amenable to working with other churches. If a temple to another god wishes to pool resources or exchange a favor with a Calistrian temple, the Calistrian temple considers the proposal based on how beneficial or pleasurable the offer is for them. If another temple pleads for assistance with an act of vengeance, the priests of Calistria’s temple vote on whether the cause is worth their time and effort.

Some stories claim that Calistria has had intimate personal relations with

. Their churches are friendly with one another and their faithful get along well. Cities and towns that have temples to both the Savored Sting and the Accidental God often enjoy cohosted parties, with Calistria’s priests supplying the entertainment and Cayden Cailean’s priests supplying the beverages. Calistria desires as a lover, but Shelyn denies her advances, as Calistria’s attraction is solely lustful. Nevertheless, their churches are also on friendly terms, and Calistria’s worshippers find commonality with Shelynites over their shared appreciation for the beauty in eroticism. Calistria also respects ; devotees of the Song of Spheres are welcome to express their freedom and seek new experiences at Calistrian temples.

The Calistrian church is ambivalent toward all other churches—with one notable exception. Calistria played a pivotal role in the battle against

, the Rough Beast, and helped the other gods to seal him away long ago. Consequently, Calistrians view Rovagug’s followers as an obstacle to their hedonism and often refuse to work with them. Calistria encourages her followers to ignore nuisances like Rovagug’s clergy and congregation—unless said people disrespect them, of course. Interlopers are rarely worth time and effort that could be better spent enjoying oneself or plotting revenge.

Calistria’s followers are known for being amicable and unprejudiced; as individualists, they’re more concerned with another person’s character and actions over their social status, ancestry, or faith. However, this amiability only goes so far; Calistrians are quick to anger if affronted. Most worshippers of the Savored Sting live in densely populated cities across the Inner Sea region, where there are more opportunities to indulge themselves and meet partners.

Divine Allies

Calistria counts a number of azatas, proteans, and demons among her servants, though her favorite agents are divine wasps and other stinging insects. Much like the goddess herself, Calistria’s chosen are usually beautiful, entertaining, and completely untrustworthy.

Menotherian: Appearing as either a beautiful elf with unblemished features or a bear-sized wasp, Calistria’s herald is exceedingly curious about mortal creatures. Elves are her favorite target of observation, and she will often appear among them to join in revelry or pluck up a lover for the night. Her playful interest in others lulls many into a false sense of security, however, as Menotherian is a being bereft of any scruples or conscience. She is a personification of lust and vengeance made manifest, and will lie, trick, steal, seduce, or murder any creature necessary in her service to Calistria. A favored plaything one day might be messily devoured the next, their final, grisly remains wiped from the herald’s jaw with no trace of sentiment.

Divine Intercession

Signs of favor or displeasure from the Savored Sting are sometimes subtle and other times incontrovertible. Calistria typically grants her boon to those on the path toward great vengeance and curses those who slight her followers, particularly if those followers are sex workers, though her fickle heart rarely commits to any absolute guidelines.

Minor Boon: Calistria smiles on the riskiest deceptions. Once, when you roll a failure on a check to

, you get a critical success instead. Calistria typically grants this boon for an extremely consequential lie.

Moderate Boon: A foot-long wasp finds and befriends you. It serves you as a

as long as you maintain Calistria’s grace. The wasp always has the and familiar abilities.

Major Boon: Calistria guides you towards vengeance. You always know the direction and distance towards the nearest creature that has wronged you and thus far gone unpunished.

Minor Curse: Whenever a new person desires vengeance against you, you suffer a painful sting and are afflicted with

at stage 1.

Moderate Curse: People react as though you’re insulting them, even in normal conversation. Whenever you attempt to

, the outcome is one degree of success worse than the result of your roll. If you converse with someone over a long enough period of time but don’t attempt to Make an Impression, you still insult them, and you suffer the effect of a critical failure to Make an Impression.

Major Curse: You have wronged those unable to obtain revenge for themselves, and Calistria’s curse grants their revenge its own life. Whenever another creature imagines vengeance upon you but can’t pursue that vengeance because you’re too powerful, well connected, or otherwise untouchable, a creature of roughly your level manifests out of their imagination and performs their desired revenge. Once the revenge is complete or the manifestation is destroyed, the summoned creature vanishes from existence.