HOME | DD

Description
This is a commission drawn by If you like it, please fave the original here: Mab

Chaotic Neutral Greater Deity, Sorcerer 20, Druid 20
Medium-Sized Outsider
Divine Rank: 18
Domains: Charm, Feast, Illusion, Liberation, Life, Renewal, Trickery, Weather
Holy Symbol: A silhouette of a naked, dancing woman set against a full moon

Salient Divine Abilities

Call Creatures: Mab can summon any creature of the fey subtype. The total HD of each summoned creature cannot exceed 18. She can summon a number of fey equal to her divine rank each day.

Clearsight: Mab can see illusions, transmuted creatures and objects, and disguised creatures or objects for what they really are, provided they are within 180 feet of her. This ability is similar to the true seeing spell, except that it does not reveal creature's alignments and it does foil mundane disguises.

Control Creatures: Mab can control fey. The total HD of each controlled creature cannot exceed 18. She can control a number of fey equal to her divine rank each day. This is similar to the spell dominate monster, except it is not mind-influencing. Mab seizes direct control of the creature.

Divine Beauty (Unique Salient Divine Ability): Mab’s beauty is such that merely looking upon her in her true form can affect mortal minds. Any mortal looking at her must succeed a will save (DC 38) or suffer one of the following effects of Mab’s choosing. All effects are permanent unless Mab, or a deity of equal or higher rank, dispels it.
   Devotion: The mortal becomes so completely smitten with Mab’s beauty that they act as if they were under the effect of charm monster spell. When not in her presence, the mortal will think of Mab regularly and take any excuse to talk about her, and will adamantly defend her honor if they hear someone make any negative comment about her.
   Blinding Beauty: Mab’s beauty is so overwhelming that the mortal cannot bear it and is immediately and permanently struck blind.
   Self-Loathing: The mortal is so struck by Mab’s beauty that it cannot bear the thought of how ugly it is by comparison and will seek to hide themselves from others. The mortal will seek to wear clothing to cover itself, especially the face, and will hide from sight whenever possible. The mortal suffers a -10 penalty to all skills and attack rolls if its face is not covered, as well as a continuous -5 penalty to charisma.

Divine Blast: Mab can unleash a bolt of divine energy at those who anger her. This effect appears as a shimmering ray of multi-colored sparkles and deals 28d12 points of damage. If the subject is slain with this ability, their body explodes into a cloud of rainbow-colored butterflies, treating the corpse as if it had been destroyed via the disintegrate spell.
   No form of energy resistence can reduce the damage, nor can it be blocked by a prismatic wall, prismatic sphere, wall of force, or sphere of invulnerability and it instantly destroys such effects, striking the target for full damage as if no spell had ever been in place. Only a god’s divine shield ability can block damage from this attack.
   She may use this ability 13 times per day.

Divine Blessing (Charisma): Once per day, Mab can grant mortals a +6 enhancement bonus to Charisma. She can grant this bonus to up to 18 mortals with each use of this power.

Divine Fast Healing: Mab heals 38 points of damage every round and is capable of reattaching severed limbs or body parts by pressing them to the wounded area.

Divine Inspiration (Love and Desire): Mab can inspire love and desire in mortals. A love effect causes the target to fall in love with the specified creature, seeking every opportunity to be near that creature and making every effort to win the creature's affection. A desire effect is similar, but the target seeks any opportunity to become physically intimate with the specified creature. Subjects can attempt will saves (DC 38) to resist the effect. This is a mind-affecting compulsion effect.

Divine Spell Focus (Illusion, Transmutation, Enchantment): The DC to resist spells from any of these schools increases by 18.

Gift of Life: Mab can restore life to a dead creature, no matter how long the creature has been dead or what the condition of the body.
   Note: This ability works like the true resurrection spell, except that there is no material component and the amount of time the subject has been dead is irrelevant. This ability can restore a creature to life against its will, but only the permission of Shyn, the god of death. This ability can resurrect an elemental or outsider and can resurrect a creature whose soul is trapped, provided the soul is not held by a deity of higher rank than Mab. This ability cannot restore life to a creature that has been slain by the Hand of Death ability of a deity of higher rank.

Extra Domain: In addition to her normal three domains, Mab can grant spells and abilities from the Charm, Illusion, Feast, Trickery, and Weather domains.

Increased Spell Resistence: Mab gains a +20 bonus to spell resistence, bringing her total spell resistence to 70

Instant Counterspell: When any spell is cast within Mab's line of sight, she can counterspell it as a free action, provided that she is capable of casting the spell immediately, or has it as a spell-like ability and makes the required spellcraft check. the use of Instant Counterspell counts against the normal number of free actions she is allowed each round.

Lay Quest: Mab can enchant creatures so they are compelled to perform some service of her choosing. This ability works like the geas/quest spell, except that it works only on mortals and it can be removed only by a deity of equal or higher rank than hers. She can affect up to 18 creatures at once, bu tno more than that number each day. All must be within her line of sight when first affected.

Possess Mortal: Mab can possess any mortal in any location she can sense. Unwilling mortals can attempt a will save (DC 38) to resist. Spells that prevent possession grant the subject of this power a +10 bonus to resist and spells that drive out possessing creatures grant a second will save. This is not a mind-influencing affect; Mab takes direct control of the mortal, in effect making it an avatar. The mortal possessed gains a bonus to all rolls of +18, an additional 18 hit points, +9 to armor class, and its ability scores become 5 points lower than Mab’s (or remain the same if they are higher). The mortal is also able to use all of the deities skills as well as their own. If the mortal has the same skills as Mab, use the higher score. Mab can possess up to 20 mortals at once, but no more than that many each day.

Rejuvenation: If Mab suffers an attack that should destroy her, she simply disperses and reassembles later. Roll 10d10 to determine the number of days before she returns. If she is slain in her home-plane, subtract 18 from that number. She always takes at least one day to revive. This ability is ineffective if she is slain by a deity of higher rank.

Supreme Fey (Unique Salient Divine Ability): Mab possesses all of the special qualities of the Gentry, including spell-like abilities, immunities, resistances, and access to the unique methods of spellcasting available to the fey, but she suffers none of the usual drawbacks, such as the weakness to cold iron, or other magical maladies fey are capable of contracting, although she is still subject to the stipulations of fey compacts.

Senses: Mab can use all five senses up to a distance of 18 miles. She can also choose to perceive anything within 18 miles of her followers, of temples or sites dedicated to her. She is able to have as many as 20 remote sensing locations at a time. Additionally, she can see anything taking place in Eire, or in a place significant or somehow marked by the fey. She can also sense every birth, or act of conception in the world, as well as any person in Avalon who is either fishing or sailing.

Favored Weapon: Nine Shimmering Stars: These weapons function as a set of +5 returning shuriken. The shuriken deal no damage, however, each shuriken has produces a different magical effect on the creature it hits. Creatures struck by the shuriken may attempt an appropriate save (DC 38) and these effects are treated as spells cast by a sorcerer of 20th level, except as otherwise noted.
1 - Sleep: The target is immediately falls asleep as if effected by the spell sleep, except there is no HD limit.
2 - Suggestion: the target will immediately perform the next action that Mab suggests. This effect is exactly the same as the spell of the same name.
3 - Confusion: The target will act randomly until the duration expires, exactly as the spell of the same name.
4 - Paralysis: The subject is frozen in place, as per the spell hold monster.
5 - Away with you!: The subject immediately vanishes and reappears in a random location somewhere with in 180 miles of their current location, as per the teleport spell. Mab has no control over where the subject ends up.
6 - Transformation: The target is immediately transformed into an animal as if it had been effected by the baleful polymorph spell. Mab usually transforms targets into birds or butterflies.
7 - Humor: the subject falls into a bout of uncontrollable laughter, as if they had been effected by hideous laughter.
8 - Dance: The subject immediately begins to dance, as if under the effects of irresistible dance.
9 - Clumsiness: The subject suffers a -6 penalty to dexterity, as if under the effects of bestow curse, except that the duration is 20 minutes.

Relations

Good Terms

Morrigan: Mab is on good terms with her daughter and helps her however she can.

Arieth: Mab’s followers are known for their wild celebrations and, as the goddess of mirth and celebration, Arieth appreciates them and, by extension, their goddess.

Seldarim: As her beloved younger brother, Seldarim is very close to Mab and she respects his wishes, including his protection of the elves.

Seirune: Although rumors of the two being lovers are unconfirmed, Mab and Seirune are close friends as deities who share many similar aspects in their respective portfolios.

Shyn: As a goddess of life, Mab keeps on good terms with the god of death.

Artemis: As a good friend of Seirune, Artemis is also a friend of Mab.

Hecate: Mab has been like a second mother to Hecate and so there is a strong relationship between the two, as well as a strong relationship between witches and the fey.

Bad Terms

Mordieth: Death is a part of life, as Mab knows quite well, but that doesn’t mean she condones murder, especially when one has murdered another god. Mab has no trust for the assassin god and is always keeping an eye on him.

Typhus: Typhus’s alliance with Mordieth means that Mab is wary of him as well.

Luther: Mab may be the enemy of his enemy, but Luther dislikes Mab’s flighty and permissive nature. The two are not bitter enemies, but they are hardly friends, either.

Gyrin: Mab has never trusted demons and she never will. This includes gods who used to be demons.

Personality and History

   One of the oldest of Gaea’s deities, Mab is a being of abundant passion and overwhelming vitality. As a goddess of life, she is similar in many respects to Seirune, but while the god of nature oversees the form life takes, it is Mab who is responsible for the vital essence that separates the animate from the inanimate. Although she has branched out into a number of different domains over the years and is known more for her role as the matron goddess of the fey, her primary sphere of influence is still life itself and she remains the most powerful of all fertility deities worshiped in Gaea. Even in places where Hestia is more commonly worshiped, Mab is still frequently invoked in prayers for pregnant and nursing women.
   In addition to being a fertility deity, Mab is also worshiped as a goddess of love and beauty and she regularly receives prayers from young adults in search of future spouses. She is also a preferred goddess of prostitutes and courtesans and many a bordello houses a shrine to her. Her churches and temples are often recognized as places where one might find a woman (or man) willing to negotiate their affections.
   On the island of Avalon, Mab is also worshiped as a goddess of fishing and sailing, though she receives little recognition for this anywhere else.
   In person, Mab is known for her fiery passion for life. She not only enjoys life, she revels in it, appreciating its every facet and aspect, good and bad. She craves new experiences and rarely says no to any proposition if it seems like a worthwhile opportunity. Mab’s passion also extends to her love – and associated activities – and knows no bounds. Men or women, Mab is a near indiscriminate lover and encourages all her followers to be more open and honest about their feelings and passions. After all, love – and associated activities – is the beginning of and driving force for all life in the universe.
   Mab was one of a handful of deities who were there in the beginning of the world, when Gaea was first formed from the raw essence of existence by the Progenitors. She helped Seirune sew and spread life in the world and the god of nature consulted her regularly over matters of how the shape life on the planet should take. It was during this period in history that some myths claim she bedded the god of nature, giving birth to two children, her daughter, Morrigan, and Shyn, the god of death.
   Not a warrior, Mab served as a healer during the Gods-War, saving as many as she could from the destruction the infernal armies wrought upon the universe. The Gods-War was particularly terrible for Mab, as she lost two of her good friends, Lillith and Ashtoreth, to the temptation of the infernal powers and it is said she still grieves for their loss. Following the Gods-War, Mab became relatively inactive in the world – save for her most vital duties, of course – and it was not until the arrival of the fair-folk that she became a major presence in Gaea again. Mab felt a closer kinship to the fey than she did for any other beings on the planet, as their passionate and revelrous nature was very much like her own. Even as the times have changed and the fey have lost their position of dominance over the world to humanity and its various off-shoots, Mab still keeps her chosen true-form as that of the Gentry.

----

Boy, isn't this a lovely pic? Chicharia was offering commissions at a discounted price and I thought, "I'd be stupid if I turned that down." Although she's stopped doing the discounted prices due to an urgent need for money to help her family, I'd still recommend checking her out if you're looking for some art. She won't disappoint you. I love the colors and style of this image. I hadn't really come up with a complete description of Mab before, but this will certainly work as an official design for the character now.

Something about Mab that I kinda want to talk about that's not related to the world itself directly, but just something about narratives in fantasy is the question of how sexuality is treated in fantasy. This is something that has, on occasion, bothered me in various published fantasy books. It even came up when I did the character creator contest a while back. It seems that it is just an automatc assumption that religion, especially if that religion is in someway oppressive, is going to be down on homosexuality, or any non-traditional sexuality. This came up in my contest because one of the entrants made a gay character who's backstory was they'd fled from Adun to escape persecution at the hands of the Fists of Luther. The character idea had a lot of potential, but it forced me to ask myself a question: Does Luther's religion really persecute gays?
The inevitable question aksed of me in response to this question, if I shared it, was "why wouldn't they?"

But I argue this: why *should* they? We have this sort of automatic assumption that any religion that is oppressive in some way is going to have all the same tennants of the traditional Judeo-Christian belief system and will also be full of all sorts of other prejudices as well becuase that's what religion does. Aside from finding this outlook extremely offensive as a born and raised Christian, as a student of anthropology I find the automatic assumption of racism and/or homophobia to be baffling. The consideration of homosexuality as a sin is one that arises out of some very specific cultural and social factors as does the kind of homophobic persecution that has been common for a large part of European history. It's not some kind of automatic thing for a religion to decide that sexuality is something that needs to be regulated.

And yet, I see this trope in fantasy all the time. Every strict religion, and especially religious fanatics, are going to be both racist and homophobic (and possibly also eat babies, depending on just how much of a hack the writer is). No thought to the actual context of the development of the religion or the nature of the god of said religion is given, racism and homophobia are just thrown as cheap way of trying to make the audience automatically hate them.

How does this apply to Mab? Well, here's this thought: one of the oldest major goddesses in Gaea is bisexual and encourages the free-sex idea and supports prostitution as a source of income. Given that the gods are real in this world, their religions affect each other. So, if this is the case, does it really make sense that Luther's church persecutes gays? I say that, on its own, no it really doesn't. There could be some reasons why, but to assume that Luther's church is going to be intrinsically racist or homophobic shows a significant lack of forethought. At the time of writing, I'm still not sure whether or not sexuality is a matter Luther's church has any interest in regulating. On the one hand, I just said that it's used as a shortcut to make the audience react a certain way to the characters, which I think is a really cheap writing tactic. But on the other, if I did go that way, it could be an opportunity to really go into an examination of the cultural and social factors that go into the way we perceive sexuality. The question is, which approach do I want to take? Do I want to make a bigger point out of "Fanaticism doesn't automatically mean racism and homophobia," or do I want to have the discussion of "What really is at the root of homophobia and racism?" of course, I've already made it cannon that Adun is more xenophobic than racist (generally speaking, they don't care what race you are as long as you were born in Adun and have demonstrated your loyalty to it) and I'm currently inclined to not make sexuality a big deal to Luther's church, because a) homosexuality is a hot-topic and a lot of people will latch onto that while ignoring the bigger issues I'd like the Church of Luther to be addressing, and b) it would be doing something different from what most people do over the issue.

Anyway, those are my two cents on the matter.

Description
This is a commission drawn by If you like it, please fave the original here: Mab

Chaotic Neutral Greater Deity, Sorcerer 20, Druid 20
Medium-Sized Outsider
Divine Rank: 18
Domains: Charm, Feast, Illusion, Liberation, Life, Renewal, Trickery, Weather
Holy Symbol: A silhouette of a naked, dancing woman set against a full moon

Salient Divine Abilities

Call Creatures: Mab can summon any creature of the fey subtype. The total HD of each summoned creature cannot exceed 18. She can summon a number of fey equal to her divine rank each day.

Clearsight: Mab can see illusions, transmuted creatures and objects, and disguised creatures or objects for what they really are, provided they are within 180 feet of her. This ability is similar to the true seeing spell, except that it does not reveal creature's alignments and it does foil mundane disguises.

Control Creatures: Mab can control fey. The total HD of each controlled creature cannot exceed 18. She can control a number of fey equal to her divine rank each day. This is similar to the spell dominate monster, except it is not mind-influencing. Mab seizes direct control of the creature.

Divine Beauty (Unique Salient Divine Ability): Mab’s beauty is such that merely looking upon her in her true form can affect mortal minds. Any mortal looking at her must succeed a will save (DC 38) or suffer one of the following effects of Mab’s choosing. All effects are permanent unless Mab, or a deity of equal or higher rank, dispels it.
   Devotion: The mortal becomes so completely smitten with Mab’s beauty that they act as if they were under the effect of charm monster spell. When not in her presence, the mortal will think of Mab regularly and take any excuse to talk about her, and will adamantly defend her honor if they hear someone make any negative comment about her.
   Blinding Beauty: Mab’s beauty is so overwhelming that the mortal cannot bear it and is immediately and permanently struck blind.
   Self-Loathing: The mortal is so struck by Mab’s beauty that it cannot bear the thought of how ugly it is by comparison and will seek to hide themselves from others. The mortal will seek to wear clothing to cover itself, especially the face, and will hide from sight whenever possible. The mortal suffers a -10 penalty to all skills and attack rolls if its face is not covered, as well as a continuous -5 penalty to charisma.

Divine Blast: Mab can unleash a bolt of divine energy at those who anger her. This effect appears as a shimmering ray of multi-colored sparkles and deals 28d12 points of damage. If the subject is slain with this ability, their body explodes into a cloud of rainbow-colored butterflies, treating the corpse as if it had been destroyed via the disintegrate spell.
   No form of energy resistence can reduce the damage, nor can it be blocked by a prismatic wall, prismatic sphere, wall of force, or sphere of invulnerability and it instantly destroys such effects, striking the target for full damage as if no spell had ever been in place. Only a god’s divine shield ability can block damage from this attack.
   She may use this ability 13 times per day.

Divine Blessing (Charisma): Once per day, Mab can grant mortals a +6 enhancement bonus to Charisma. She can grant this bonus to up to 18 mortals with each use of this power.

Divine Fast Healing: Mab heals 38 points of damage every round and is capable of reattaching severed limbs or body parts by pressing them to the wounded area.

Divine Inspiration (Love and Desire): Mab can inspire love and desire in mortals. A love effect causes the target to fall in love with the specified creature, seeking every opportunity to be near that creature and making every effort to win the creature's affection. A desire effect is similar, but the target seeks any opportunity to become physically intimate with the specified creature. Subjects can attempt will saves (DC 38) to resist the effect. This is a mind-affecting compulsion effect.

Divine Spell Focus (Illusion, Transmutation, Enchantment): The DC to resist spells from any of these schools increases by 18.

Gift of Life: Mab can restore life to a dead creature, no matter how long the creature has been dead or what the condition of the body.
   Note: This ability works like the true resurrection spell, except that there is no material component and the amount of time the subject has been dead is irrelevant. This ability can restore a creature to life against its will, but only the permission of Shyn, the god of death. This ability can resurrect an elemental or outsider and can resurrect a creature whose soul is trapped, provided the soul is not held by a deity of higher rank than Mab. This ability cannot restore life to a creature that has been slain by the Hand of Death ability of a deity of higher rank.

Extra Domain: In addition to her normal three domains, Mab can grant spells and abilities from the Charm, Illusion, Feast, Trickery, and Weather domains.

Increased Spell Resistence: Mab gains a +20 bonus to spell resistence, bringing her total spell resistence to 70

Instant Counterspell: When any spell is cast within Mab's line of sight, she can counterspell it as a free action, provided that she is capable of casting the spell immediately, or has it as a spell-like ability and makes the required spellcraft check. the use of Instant Counterspell counts against the normal number of free actions she is allowed each round.

Lay Quest: Mab can enchant creatures so they are compelled to perform some service of her choosing. This ability works like the geas/quest spell, except that it works only on mortals and it can be removed only by a deity of equal or higher rank than hers. She can affect up to 18 creatures at once, bu tno more than that number each day. All must be within her line of sight when first affected.

Possess Mortal: Mab can possess any mortal in any location she can sense. Unwilling mortals can attempt a will save (DC 38) to resist. Spells that prevent possession grant the subject of this power a +10 bonus to resist and spells that drive out possessing creatures grant a second will save. This is not a mind-influencing affect; Mab takes direct control of the mortal, in effect making it an avatar. The mortal possessed gains a bonus to all rolls of +18, an additional 18 hit points, +9 to armor class, and its ability scores become 5 points lower than Mab’s (or remain the same if they are higher). The mortal is also able to use all of the deities skills as well as their own. If the mortal has the same skills as Mab, use the higher score. Mab can possess up to 20 mortals at once, but no more than that many each day.

Rejuvenation: If Mab suffers an attack that should destroy her, she simply disperses and reassembles later. Roll 10d10 to determine the number of days before she returns. If she is slain in her home-plane, subtract 18 from that number. She always takes at least one day to revive. This ability is ineffective if she is slain by a deity of higher rank.

Supreme Fey (Unique Salient Divine Ability): Mab possesses all of the special qualities of the Gentry, including spell-like abilities, immunities, resistances, and access to the unique methods of spellcasting available to the fey, but she suffers none of the usual drawbacks, such as the weakness to cold iron, or other magical maladies fey are capable of contracting, although she is still subject to the stipulations of fey compacts.

Senses: Mab can use all five senses up to a distance of 18 miles. She can also choose to perceive anything within 18 miles of her followers, of temples or sites dedicated to her. She is able to have as many as 20 remote sensing locations at a time. Additionally, she can see anything taking place in Eire, or in a place significant or somehow marked by the fey. She can also sense every birth, or act of conception in the world, as well as any person in Avalon who is either fishing or sailing.

Favored Weapon: Nine Shimmering Stars: These weapons function as a set of +5 returning shuriken. The shuriken deal no damage, however, each shuriken has produces a different magical effect on the creature it hits. Creatures struck by the shuriken may attempt an appropriate save (DC 38) and these effects are treated as spells cast by a sorcerer of 20th level, except as otherwise noted.
1 - Sleep: The target is immediately falls asleep as if effected by the spell sleep, except there is no HD limit.
2 - Suggestion: the target will immediately perform the next action that Mab suggests. This effect is exactly the same as the spell of the same name.
3 - Confusion: The target will act randomly until the duration expires, exactly as the spell of the same name.
4 - Paralysis: The subject is frozen in place, as per the spell hold monster.
5 - Away with you!: The subject immediately vanishes and reappears in a random location somewhere with in 180 miles of their current location, as per the teleport spell. Mab has no control over where the subject ends up.
6 - Transformation: The target is immediately transformed into an animal as if it had been effected by the baleful polymorph spell. Mab usually transforms targets into birds or butterflies.
7 - Humor: the subject falls into a bout of uncontrollable laughter, as if they had been effected by hideous laughter.
8 - Dance: The subject immediately begins to dance, as if under the effects of irresistible dance.
9 - Clumsiness: The subject suffers a -6 penalty to dexterity, as if under the effects of bestow curse, except that the duration is 20 minutes.

Relations

Good Terms

Morrigan: Mab is on good terms with her daughter and helps her however she can.

Arieth: Mab’s followers are known for their wild celebrations and, as the goddess of mirth and celebration, Arieth appreciates them and, by extension, their goddess.

Seldarim: As her beloved younger brother, Seldarim is very close to Mab and she respects his wishes, including his protection of the elves.

Seirune: Although rumors of the two being lovers are unconfirmed, Mab and Seirune are close friends as deities who share many similar aspects in their respective portfolios.

Shyn: As a goddess of life, Mab keeps on good terms with the god of death.

Artemis: As a good friend of Seirune, Artemis is also a friend of Mab.

Hecate: Mab has been like a second mother to Hecate and so there is a strong relationship between the two, as well as a strong relationship between witches and the fey.

Bad Terms

Mordieth: Death is a part of life, as Mab knows quite well, but that doesn’t mean she condones murder, especially when one has murdered another god. Mab has no trust for the assassin god and is always keeping an eye on him.

Typhus: Typhus’s alliance with Mordieth means that Mab is wary of him as well.

Luther: Mab may be the enemy of his enemy, but Luther dislikes Mab’s flighty and permissive nature. The two are not bitter enemies, but they are hardly friends, either.

Gyrin: Mab has never trusted demons and she never will. This includes gods who used to be demons.

Personality and History

   One of the oldest of Gaea’s deities, Mab is a being of abundant passion and overwhelming vitality. As a goddess of life, she is similar in many respects to Seirune, but while the god of nature oversees the form life takes, it is Mab who is responsible for the vital essence that separates the animate from the inanimate. Although she has branched out into a number of different domains over the years and is known more for her role as the matron goddess of the fey, her primary sphere of influence is still life itself and she remains the most powerful of all fertility deities worshiped in Gaea. Even in places where Hestia is more commonly worshiped, Mab is still frequently invoked in prayers for pregnant and nursing women.
   In addition to being a fertility deity, Mab is also worshiped as a goddess of love and beauty and she regularly receives prayers from young adults in search of future spouses. She is also a preferred goddess of prostitutes and courtesans and many a bordello houses a shrine to her. Her churches and temples are often recognized as places where one might find a woman (or man) willing to negotiate their affections.
   On the island of Avalon, Mab is also worshiped as a goddess of fishing and sailing, though she receives little recognition for this anywhere else.
   In person, Mab is known for her fiery passion for life. She not only enjoys life, she revels in it, appreciating its every facet and aspect, good and bad. She craves new experiences and rarely says no to any proposition if it seems like a worthwhile opportunity. Mab’s passion also extends to her love – and associated activities – and knows no bounds. Men or women, Mab is a near indiscriminate lover and encourages all her followers to be more open and honest about their feelings and passions. After all, love – and associated activities – is the beginning of and driving force for all life in the universe.
   Mab was one of a handful of deities who were there in the beginning of the world, when Gaea was first formed from the raw essence of existence by the Progenitors. She helped Seirune sew and spread life in the world and the god of nature consulted her regularly over matters of how the shape life on the planet should take. It was during this period in history that some myths claim she bedded the god of nature, giving birth to two children, her daughter, Morrigan, and Shyn, the god of death.
   Not a warrior, Mab served as a healer during the Gods-War, saving as many as she could from the destruction the infernal armies wrought upon the universe. The Gods-War was particularly terrible for Mab, as she lost two of her good friends, Lillith and Ashtoreth, to the temptation of the infernal powers and it is said she still grieves for their loss. Following the Gods-War, Mab became relatively inactive in the world – save for her most vital duties, of course – and it was not until the arrival of the fair-folk that she became a major presence in Gaea again. Mab felt a closer kinship to the fey than she did for any other beings on the planet, as their passionate and revelrous nature was very much like her own. Even as the times have changed and the fey have lost their position of dominance over the world to humanity and its various off-shoots, Mab still keeps her chosen true-form as that of the Gentry.

----

Boy, isn't this a lovely pic? Chicharia was offering commissions at a discounted price and I thought, "I'd be stupid if I turned that down." Although she's stopped doing the discounted prices due to an urgent need for money to help her family, I'd still recommend checking her out if you're looking for some art. She won't disappoint you. I love the colors and style of this image. I hadn't really come up with a complete description of Mab before, but this will certainly work as an official design for the character now.

Something about Mab that I kinda want to talk about that's not related to the world itself directly, but just something about narratives in fantasy is the question of how sexuality is treated in fantasy. This is something that has, on occasion, bothered me in various published fantasy books. It even came up when I did the character creator contest a while back. It seems that it is just an automatc assumption that religion, especially if that religion is in someway oppressive, is going to be down on homosexuality, or any non-traditional sexuality. This came up in my contest because one of the entrants made a gay character who's backstory was they'd fled from Adun to escape persecution at the hands of the Fists of Luther. The character idea had a lot of potential, but it forced me to ask myself a question: Does Luther's religion really persecute gays?
The inevitable question aksed of me in response to this question, if I shared it, was "why wouldn't they?"

But I argue this: why *should* they? We have this sort of automatic assumption that any religion that is oppressive in some way is going to have all the same tennants of the traditional Judeo-Christian belief system and will also be full of all sorts of other prejudices as well becuase that's what religion does. Aside from finding this outlook extremely offensive as a born and raised Christian, as a student of anthropology I find the automatic assumption of racism and/or homophobia to be baffling. The consideration of homosexuality as a sin is one that arises out of some very specific cultural and social factors as does the kind of homophobic persecution that has been common for a large part of European history. It's not some kind of automatic thing for a religion to decide that sexuality is something that needs to be regulated.

And yet, I see this trope in fantasy all the time. Every strict religion, and especially religious fanatics, are going to be both racist and homophobic (and possibly also eat babies, depending on just how much of a hack the writer is). No thought to the actual context of the development of the religion or the nature of the god of said religion is given, racism and homophobia are just thrown as cheap way of trying to make the audience automatically hate them.

How does this apply to Mab? Well, here's this thought: one of the oldest major goddesses in Gaea is bisexual and encourages the free-sex idea and supports prostitution as a source of income. Given that the gods are real in this world, their religions affect each other. So, if this is the case, does it really make sense that Luther's church persecutes gays? I say that, on its own, no it really doesn't. There could be some reasons why, but to assume that Luther's church is going to be intrinsically racist or homophobic shows a significant lack of forethought. At the time of writing, I'm still not sure whether or not sexuality is a matter Luther's church has any interest in regulating. On the one hand, I just said that it's used as a shortcut to make the audience react a certain way to the characters, which I think is a really cheap writing tactic. But on the other, if I did go that way, it could be an opportunity to really go into an examination of the cultural and social factors that go into the way we perceive sexuality. The question is, which approach do I want to take? Do I want to make a bigger point out of "Fanaticism doesn't automatically mean racism and homophobia," or do I want to have the discussion of "What really is at the root of homophobia and racism?" of course, I've already made it cannon that Adun is more xenophobic than racist (generally speaking, they don't care what race you are as long as you were born in Adun and have demonstrated your loyalty to it) and I'm currently inclined to not make sexuality a big deal to Luther's church, because a) homosexuality is a hot-topic and a lot of people will latch onto that while ignoring the bigger issues I'd like the Church of Luther to be addressing, and b) it would be doing something different from what most people do over the issue.

Anyway, those are my two cents on the matter.