Solanus

Goddess of the Sun and Healing

Greater God

Alignment: Neutral Good

Domains: Good, Healing, Strength, Sun

Symbol: A blazing sun inscribed with an open palm

Garb: Pale robes bearing the symbol of Solanus. The color of robes changes as adherents progress through the hierarchy of the church. Initiates wear robes of red which are then changed to those of orange, then yellow, and then white for the high priest. There are even multiple subtle shades between these main colors to denote gradations within their ranks.

Favored Weapons: Heavy mace, light mace, or quarterstaff

Form of Worship and Holidays: Regular worship on the first day of the week (Solsdag), special observances for the clergy at each dawn, major holidays on the summer and winter solstices (High Sol and Low Sol, respectively), and the Ides of the eighth month is devoted to Solanus as well.

Typical Worshippers: Rangers, bards, healers, soldiers, undead slayers

Solanus is the benevolent goddess of the sun, Sol as it has traditionally been named in Akados. She is a goddess of ancient Hyperborea who, as a founding deity of that culture, has known great popularity in Akados across the breadth of the empire. Her priests have often served as field medics in armies and once comprised an entire Legion of ancient Hyperborea. They have also commonly been the local healers in villages and small towns. Some hospitals were established in Solanus’ name in certain imperial centers (namely Remenos and Curgantium), but the practice never caught on in more remote settings where sufficient funds from the imperial coffers were frequently unavailable. As a result, her rural clergy remained principally scattered as individual practitioners while her central high church maintained a rigid hierarchy that often looked with disdain upon the rural church as disorganized or even bumpkins. Perhaps the church’s greatest claim to notoriety over the centuries, however, has been the propensity for members of her rural clergy to join adventuring bands. At one time in the empire’s history, it is likely that as many as 8 out of 10 adventuring parties, mercenary companies, or freelance knights was accompanied by a cleric of Solanus, bringing great acceptance and goodwill among the common folk far beyond what could have been managed by the central offices of the church tucked away in the great cities of the empire. Many of the older bardic hero tales composed in the classical style of those times include a warrior of Thyr, a wizard of Jamboor, a paladin of Muir, and a cleric of Solanus as heroic archetypes. (They also typically include a scoundrel character devoted to Moccavallo, though this is less likely to be acknowledged in polite company.)

In recent centuries, the church of Solanus has seen a steady, and in some cases precipitous, decline. This can be directly attributed to the equally steady rise in the encroaching faith of Mitra from the far reaches of the East after being embraced by the Foerdewaith overkings several centuries ago. In general, her worship becomes more common the farther west one travels across Akados, as the faith of Mitra has not yet spread that far. Solanus is one of the three matron/patron deities of the great city of Reme (alongside Dame Torren and Mithras) and still enjoys a great degree of popularity and worship there. Her High Altar remains in that city at the venerable Hospital of St. Jethra the Martyred, which still maintains 1,220 beds and accepts the sick and infirm from all over Akados who make their way to its doors.