Chapter 288 Extra: Lady Breeze, the Goddess of the Four Elements, ‘Arkady’

The four elemental lords, the air elemental lord.

Akadi is a goddess and the only female among the elemental gods. Both a whispering breeze and a blocking storm, her form changes with the changing seasons. Her kisses could be moist and sweet, or bitter and cold. She walked along carelessly carrying the sounds and smells, but never stopped to emphasize the importance of her journey to travelers along the way.

In religious art, she is usually depicted as a large, translucent blue woman with a pair of huge wings rising into the sky behind her. It is said that it is her wings that flap the wind on the surface of Faerûn.

Like all the other Elemental Lords, Arkadi is relatively indifferent to his followers on the planet Abeir-Toril. Arkady's reactions are unpredictable, and to most mortals who did not grow up on the elemental plane of air, her various responses would be like those of an alien.

The relative inaction of Arkadi and the other Elemental Lords has resulted in their existence being viewed as minor deities in the Realms, and their followers being classified as heretics. In the Hordelands she is known as Teylas, and is considered a god from the elemental plane of air. The differences between the female and male forms of the Lady of the Winds have no effect on the faith.

Arkadi seems to have a little bit of affection for her followers, but this thin curtain is mostly only used when devotees make generous offerings (lighting expensive incense and letting the wind drift towards her) Revealed - so it could be said that she only cared about them when bribed to please them.

While calling upon Arkadi to redirect or still the winds, to provide good airflow for flight, to bring gentle rains may be granted by her, she does not grant the supplicant the power to cause or calm violent storms, for storms are Talos. Talos and Umberlee's purview (although she occasionally manages a group of brief but powerful whirlwinds). During the Year of Troubles, she was not found in the Realms.

Incarnation of Arkady

In written records, Arkady's incarnation appears only twice on the planet Abor-Toril. The Queen of Air usually appears in the form of a huge cyclone column, like a vast tornado that touches the earth and reaches the sky (but only when she forms a whirlwind will she cause tornado damage - see below for details) .

Her voice can be as faint as a whisper in the forest, or as loud as a constant roar that can be heard for miles around. She casts spells from the following domains and schools: Domain: Elemental Air, Healing, and Weather; School: Elemental Air.

Special Attack/Defense:

Arkadi usually attacks with blasts of compressed air and casting spells. In any crystalline system in which he is present, as long as there is air for him to move around, Arkadi is considered a native of the Material Plane. This makes her immune to the harmful effects of spells such as Antimagic Field, Protection from Evil/Good, and Holy Word on creatures from another plane.

Once per turn, Arkady's incarnation can form a whirlwind that lasts for 3 rounds. Her cyclone is 160 feet tall, 10 feet in diameter at the base, and 90 feet in diameter at the top (if she stretches the cyclone to its full height).

The height at which Arkadi's cyclone form is stretched has no effect on the damage it inflicts, but if she is stretched to only half her maximum height, her top diameter will be only 45 feet; if she is stretched to only one-quarter of her maximum height, the top diameter will be only 45 feet. 1, the top diameter will drop sharply to 25 feet.

The incredible winds of Arkadi's cyclone form will instantly kill any creature with less than 6 Hit Dice within 360 feet. Creatures with 7-9 Hit Dice are stunned for 1d4 rounds, and creatures with 10 or more Hit Dice are stunned for 1d4 rounds. Survivors caught in the attack suffer 4d8 points of damage.

Flying creatures will be temporarily grounded by the arrival of Arkadi's avatar form, unless the Queen of Air Elementals weakens her winds to allow them to fly. She usually behaves this way, as being shot down is an insult to all flying creatures, including herself. Creatures knocked down while flying take normal falling damage unless Arkadi chooses to cushion their fall.

At any time, Arkady can spend 2 rounds merging with the atmosphere and leaving the battlefield or the Material Plane, after which she disappears into the mist.

Other apparitions

Arkadi sends manifestations to the Realms more frequently than she does avatars, but even so, her manifestations are extremely rare compared to the frequency of other divine manifestations. The Lady of Air may appear as almost any normal flying creature, and her voice sounds like a whisper in the wind. She often sends aerial servants to deliver messages (or orders) to people she considers valuable (or useful). A rising breeze or a change in direction is often seen as a sign of her favor.

church

All specialty priests, cathars, occultists, and shamans of Arcade receive religion (Faernian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. In addition to their required proficiencies, Akadian priests are strongly encouraged to learn Weather Sense and to learn techniques for playing instruments that produce sound by vibrating the air (such as woodwind instruments, brass instruments, organs, and bagpipes).

Before the Time of Troubles, all elemental cults had clerics in their ranks. Currently, only specialty priests remain. It is unclear why Arcades has worked over the years to convert his clerics to specialty priests, but Arcades church teaching states that the change was made to allow specialty priests to focus on their master's elements and not other tasks. Since the Godswar, Arcades' orders have added a small order of occultists and a cathar order to carry out duties that have been adversely affected by the loss of Arcades' clerics. In primitive or nomadic societies, Arcades is often served by shamans.

Few priests of Arcade settle in any one place, so few communities feel threatened or benefited by the presence of an Arcade priest. Arcade priests enter a town or city on the morning wind, but are usually gone by sunset.

The philosophy of constant movement and wanderlust is so ingrained in the church of Arcade that few churches dedicated to the Lady of the Wind exist. These temples are usually circles of poles adorned with feathers and streamers that flutter in the wind. Priests of the faith travel across Faerun, spreading the word of Arcade at every opportunity.

They often preach the joys of Arcade's freedom, but rarely stop to argue with those who wish to argue semantics and principles, choosing instead to continue sowing the seeds of Arcade and continue to go "wherever the wind blows." This tendency to talk too much has led to more than one Arcade priest being called a "windbag" - both literally and figuratively.

The priests of Arcades are divided into two factions: the Whisper and the Roar. This is not a hierarchy within the church, or even a division between those who follow parochialism and those who have more adventurous tendencies. Rather, it is a division of philosophical action.

Those who follow the Whisper usually work behind the scenes, rarely showing their faces to the members of the Arcades church. The members of the Roar are more openly involved in the affairs of Faerun. The heterogeneous and decentralized nature of the Arcades' activities means that they are rarely seen as a threat of any kind in Faerun, although some ambitious members of the church sometimes wreak havoc in a particular area.

The priests of Arcades are mostly organized into "covens", which consist of a particularly charismatic Arcaden and a small group of followers. The membership of such a small group will change and flow over time, as group politics will cause some members to rise in status, others to fall in status, some to leave in disgust, and some to start new cults in distant new places at the inspirational words of their leader.

This organization is very unstable and often confuses outsiders, as these guys can never be sure who will take power in the next ten days to fulfill the agreements and contracts. Because of this serious problem in the faith organization, most Arcades have a reputation of being "untrustworthy".

When the time comes for an Arcade to fulfill their promises, the most common answer is: "I'm sorry, but that's not my job anymore." - If you can still find the Arcade with whom you made the original agreement.

Novices of Arcades are called Fledglings. They will be promoted to full priests in a personal ceremony (usually involving flight) supervised by at least two senior clergy. In ascending order, the common titles used by their priesthood are: Winged One (full priest), Air of the Goddess, Breeze of Light, Zephyr (senior priest), Misttal, Sirocco (leader of a large "cult"), Whirlwind (leader of a very large cult or very experienced priest).

A priest who has killed or completely defeated an enemy of the church (usually a high priest of Grumbar, or a powerful earth-based creature) can add the prefix "High" to the beginning of his title. The exclusive priests of Arcade are called airwalkers.

Doctrine:

The teachings of the Arcade church amount to a doctrine of finding self-enlightenment. The church believes that a person can only find truth in what he is interested in, and once interest is lost, all opportunities to further explore his soul will also leave this activity or place.

Thus, the believer must move from activity to activity, place to place, pursuing his or her personal dreams or set of interests, growing in the changing experiences that each new day brings. The church pays little attention to resistance to its teachings, believing that such obstacles will disappear with the passage of time.

Few things are important enough for the church to feel the need to devote itself to a particular cause. The only position that the Akkadian faith maintains is that its members and its priests should never be imprisoned or imprisoned; such situations quickly lead to depression and death among the believers of the faith.

Novices of the Faith of Arcades are commanded as follows: "Eternal Arcades is the embodiment of change. Each new day reveals a new side of her to us. You should strive to be as flexible as she is. Pursue whatever interests you in turn.

Look at problems from as many angles as possible to arrive at the most creative answers. See life as an art form, and recreate it around you each day, and you and Arcades will benefit greatly from it. It is the birthright of every living thing to move and fly freely in the breeze of life. Fly, spread Arcades' words, and show the living vitality she brings through your words and deeds.

Daily Activities:

Most Arcades priests spend their days listening to the wind, traveling under the stars of Faerûn, pursuing passing personal interests, and telling others of the glory of Arcades. The faith favors magical ships, which can spread Arcades' words to distant lands. . Some priests are almost completely obsessed with practical or esoteric "life experiments".

For example, some priests may delve into the study of how to breed faster, sleeker and shinier falcons or high-speed hounds, others may decide to see how orcs adapt to fierce and strange storms, and still others may spend countless hours trying to give cats artificial wings. Once any project no longer becomes fun or interesting, no matter how much time has been invested in it, the Arcade priests will throw it away like lead and start some new activity.

Holy Days/Important Rituals:

Every day is an event in the eyes of Arcades. The faithful usually rise before sunrise, whispering prayers in the morning breeze, and stay up late to watch the moon rise over Faerûn (or glide in the fading heat of the sunset), and then recite their evening prayers cheerfully.

The Fellowship of Flight Fellowship ot Flight is a celebration performed by specialty priests of the Cult of Arcades when their abilities reach a certain level of proficiency, allowing them to call forth an air elemental from the Elemental Plane of Air. The ceremony begins with a solemn prayer of one hour, after which the elemental is called forth. When it responds, it returns to her kingdom accompanied by sweet scents, chants, a scattering of petals, and hymns to Arcades.

On Midsummer, the church holds its only calendar festival. To participate in this festival, all believers who are able to do so must travel before the tenth of Midsummer. They will travel to the Shayah, located in the The ruins of Blaskaltar in Shaar contain the first known shrine of Arcades in Faerun, though it has been lost to the hands of time and the changing seasons of wind and rain.

Here, all present chant hymns of the faith's heroes, adding new names to honor those who have died in the past year.

Major Centers of Worship:

Few permanent temples to Arcades have ever been built. Her many shrines are tended by priests who travel the countryside on a rotating basis—leaving the shrines when their replacements arrive. The most sacred site of the Arcades faith is the First Shrine of the Queen of Air, a hillock in the ruins of Blaskaltar in Shaar.

This building disappeared many years ago; however, the faithful still gather there each year to remember the history of their church and its great members, so that they will not forget the past and be doomed to repeat it. (End of Chapter)