As we continue with our series on the Pantheon of Fenwrath, we move into one of the more unique deities. This god holds a lot of weight in the current campaign. The party’s paladin, Braelynn, worships Illira and upholds her righteousness through her Oath of Vengeance. I hope you find this next installment in the series interesting, and if you are one of my players right now hopefully you gain some understanding of your paladin’s motivations.
This is an excerpt taken from the book The Gods: Helpful Overseers Or Blatant Liars? written by Byrond Fleetwell.
Illira is considered to be one of the lesser gods in the pantheon of Fenwrath. While she does not hold as much power as most of the other gods, she can still take care of herself. Illira’s reign began sometime after the end of the Calamity. This means that in the Pantheon of Fenwrath she is the youngest of the gods.
Illira’s visage is that of a young woman. She has long flowing white hair that is braided in a tight knot down her back. It is speculated that when Illira attained godhood her hair took on a stark white contrast to its original color. She only stands about 5 feet 3 inches tall, but seems to have to capability to appear in much larger forms. She is adourned in long white and gold robes that mirror the followers of Celeste, however her right arm is covered from shoulder to hand with a shining silver plate armor piece. In some depictions she is seen wearing a heavy metal chest piece made of a strong adamantine.
During the Calamity Illira was just a mortal priestess, and devout worshipper of Celeste the goddess of Life and Light. Illira was caught in the middle of the never ending war with the demons of the Abyss, and the celestials of the Upper Planes of Existence. As the war raged on around her she realized that very few if any mortals were willing to raise a hand in defense of one another. They all just seemed to be at one another’s throats. All around her a war raged on and caught in the middle were these squabbling mortals fighting over scraps of food. Illira surmised that united under one banner they might stand a chance defending themselves agianst the onslaught they faced. Even if the odds were against them, they would face those odds together. This would mark the beginnings of the Way of the Light.
Illira dedicated herself to preserving humanity. Those under her command saw her as an inspiring leader and fearsome warrior. While she was not a soldier by trade, she had a significant amount of power that came from her devotion to Celeste and the cause. She wielded this power to destroy the demons that plagued the land. The only problem was that once destroyed the demons had nowhere to return to. The Calamity had effectively created one plane of existence out of many, so no matter how many demons her and her Way of Light destroyed they would always return. Through years of fighting, Illira made a name for herself amongst the demons. It was not long before Abbagore took notice and began sending more and more powerful demons to stop her. Illira refused to stop fighting all the Way of the Light needed was a permanent method of getting rid of the droves of demons that plagued the land, and she knew it had to be close.
This method took the form of Aegis, the god of Light and Civilization. Aegis appeared to Illira, and asked her to aid in his plan to correct the Planes of Existence. Aegis’s plan required Illira and the men and women under her command to be on the front lines against the demons and Abbagore himself. The Way of the Light would serve as a distraction, while the gods combined their power into an artifact that could return the Planes of Existence to their original state and lock Abbagore into his home plane of the Abyss. Illira and her compatriots would be right in the center of all the fighting. They would also be right next to Abbagore when they would attempt to bind him to the plane of chaos. This would mean that Illira and potentially most of her followers would be pulled into the Abyss with the demon lord. As Aegis spelled out the effects that this could cause Illira stopped him, already knowing what could happen, and simply said yes.
The events that happened next are still a bit of a mystery as most of the people that were at the epicenter of the attack are dead or trapped within the Abyss. From what I have gathered during the attack Illira and her comrades fought to the last man. This battle eventually culminated into Illira coming face to face with Abbagore just before the gods finished the ritual to correct the planes.
It seems after the battle Celeste took pity on the trapped Illira, and granted a portion of her power to Illira. This would be Illira’s rise to godhood. A section of the Abyss has sense become Illira’s domain.
The followers of Illira devote themselves to the annihilation of evil beings. This is especially so for any demons that walk the Prime Material Plane.
Fenwrath and Ebriom Homebrew 