Orias

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Nastiness Rating 5/10
Nastiness Rating 5/10

The Celestial Prince

Orias appears in the form of a lion, but with the tail of a serpent. He bears in his front claws a pair of great hissing serpents and rides a mightily-thewed warhorse.

He can reconcile all but the most bitter enemies and any summoner who finds his favour will be subject to assistance in acquiring honours and dignities. He is a prophet of great wisdom, but guards this knowledge tightly, prefering that others become known for their predictions, while he merely acts on it, being unconfrontationally in the right place at the right time, every time.

Known Agents and Followers

  • Clarissa d'Ornay, but only to his maternal aspect (the 'Moon Goddess' Inanna). Yeah, really.

Priests and Churches

  • In Bandorion there is an elven holiday camp, containing a ruined temple consecrated to Orias by the Coven of the Unicorn's Eye.
  • In Alfheim the noble and very traditional family of Arandil leads the Cult of the Blood Moon, which has various temples and religious rites.

Activities and Known Interests

  • To emphasise and promote Celestial magics and influence, and to gain political influence in the mortal realms to aid this.

Aspects

Orias is one of the demons that has several distinct aspects in addition to his integrated 'horse-riding lion' persona that he usually presents to humans and other mortal races.

Drow Aspects

Orias often manifests to Drow as one of the following aspects:

  • The Moon Goddess Inanna; a two-faced ever-watchful mother/madness figure.
  • The Dark Goddess Eriskigal; a cruel and twisted goddess of death and undeath.

These names are taken from the dragons Inanna, and Eriskigal, but there seems to be no metaphysical connection.

Elvish Aspects

To Elves, particularly Celestial Adepts, Orias usually manifests as one of the following aspects:

  • Soma, Lady of the Full Moon; a strict maternal figure
  • Mitra the Wanderer; a Sage and Prophet
  • Aryaman, Master of the Dark
  • Bhaga, Maker of Stars
  • Surya Sunlord; a charming manipulator
  • Daksa of the Hidden Face (only during the New Moon)

Unlike the drow manifestations, the similarly of Aryaman with the dragon Ahriman appears to be coincidental. There appears to be no shadow branch amongst the elven aspects; however "Mārtanda the Corrupter" appears to be the aspect that the other aspects blame when anything goes wrong, and is reportedly a shadow-weaver. In addition, the aspects Soma and Daksa have some sort of ancient rivalry.

History

A Chronology of Events and Encounters

  • In Deconstructing a Fictional Girl, Inanna (a moon aspect of Orias, not the dragon) was indirectly behind the deaths of several Lil'rissas (mopey teenage elves) in Sanctuary, and a couple of attacks on a Guild Party. This was part of a cunning plan, centuries in the making, to find (or breed) a person who would reunite a lost Celestial Branch, thus giving Inanna more power relative to other aspects of Orias.
  • In A Civilised Ending, Orias sent a party back to the Maryn Consociation, seemingly to reunite a family or Celestial Branch. It appears that the disunited elements were in fact part of Orias himself formed during The Dakhini Cataclysm, and the reason why he fell from being a Demonic Prince to a mere Demonic Marquis, and had various incompatible lunar, stellar, solar, shadow, and dark aspects. By pre-conciling his irreconcilably shattered elements, Orias regained his former glory at a very minor cost.