Amber and Blood

Appendix MINA

Lesser Deity

Symbol: An amber teardrop.

Celestial Symbol: None.

Home Plane: Ethereal Plane/Krynn.

Alignment: Neutral good or neutral evil.

Portfolio: Grief, loss, mortality.

Worshipers: The desperate and the abandoned; the grief-shattered; those feeling trapped, suicidal; those who have lost all hope.

Colors: Black, purple, yellow.

The embodiment of the sorrow of the gods in the face of the world’s many tragedies, Mina (mee-na) is a mysterious divine agency who does not stand among the other gods of Krynn. Once the divine power of innocence, Mina was corrupted by and subsequently liberated from the plots of Takhisis and the other gods of Darkness during the Age of Mortals. Her trials have irrevocably changed her. Now, she is the patron of the faithless, the hopeless, and those who, either through their own fault or despite their best efforts, have lost what they hold most dear. She brings comfort in the face of sorrow, yet she is a constant reminder to the grieving that their pain is a real and necessary part of a mortal’s existence.

Mina is the daughter of Mishakal, Goddess of Healing, and Paladine, the Platinum Dragon. She was born out of their sheer joy in the creation of the world. Sister to Kiri-Jolith and Solinari, Mina was not counted among those gods who brought forth the world during the Age of Starbirth. Indeed, her existence was known only to her divine parents and to their wise counselor, Majere, who knew that if she joined them in the pantheon of Light, her existence would upset the divine Balance between Good, Neutrality, and Evil. Such an imbalance would be an excuse for the Queen of Darkness to manipulate events to her advantage, and thus Paladine and Mishakal bade Majere hide Mina away, safe in eternal slumber deep within Krynn’s primal oceans. Her divine essence was thus housed within Krynn itself, unseen and unknown, until the world was stolen by Takhisis after the Chaos War. Takhisis, thinking herself alone, felt Mina’s holy power, and set out to find her. She awakened the god-child and tricked her into believing herself mortal. Thus began the sequence of events that led to the War of Souls and the rise of the Beloved.

As a goddess, Mina sets herself apart from the other gods. Chemosh opposes her, though her relationship to the other gods of Darkness is less clear; most would like to recruit her into their pantheon if they could. Among the gods of Light, she is respected and supported by Mishakal, Majere, and their mortal agents, but she does not forget their role in her eons-long slumber, and cannot join them in Light after the pain and sorrow she has endured as a mortal. Nor is she aligned with the Gods of Balance, though Gilean and his fellow neutral gods accept her presence in the universe, and he has added her to the roll of Krynn’s divine powers.

Mina is a special case, much like the Highgod and Chaos. She is a goddess who has no clerics and does not grant clerical powers to those who worship or give offerings to her. Instead, she appears to those who need her, regardless of their alignment or their ethos, usually in the form of an aspect. Her blessings are rarely given, but always to those who truly need her help. She does not discriminate between those who walk in light and those who dwell in darkness. No matter what evil deeds a mortal has committed, if that mortal comes to her, she will listen without judgment and try to assist. She is both black and white. She may urge those who are suffering to accept and embrace their fates. She may urge them to rebel against fate. She has a vigilant eye open not only to the innocent victims of war, crime, and violence, but also to the perpetrators. Thus, she makes an exceptional element of an adventure in which the consequences of these tragic events are explored or witnessed or enacted by the player characters. When Mina gets involved, it is almost always because somebody has appealed to her, perhaps at one of the numerous roadside shrines that have sprung up across Ansalon, or they have “hit bottom” in the moment of deepest despair. The heroes may be present when Mina manifests, either as neutral witnesses to her involvement or as active participants in whatever events transpired to summon her. Although she will not usually direct her godly powers against mortals, she is not above altering the circumstances of the situation to spur the activity of those who might support her cause.

During the course of her time as a mortal, Mina took several forms, all of them characterized by her red hair and amber eyes. Mina’s aspects are always female, and usually human, though she is as likely to appear a member of another race if the circumstances demand it. The aspect may appear, physically, to be that of a young girl, about six years old, or as a mature warrior woman as she was during the War of Souls. She will never appear as a priestess of Chemosh, for she wants nothing to do with the Lord of Bones. Mina can appear innocent or she may exert her power and seem terrifying and vengeful. Mina’s aspects are always appropriate to the situation at hand. Although Mina has no clerics, her aspects may embody the clerical domains of Charm, Liberation, Meditation, or Protection.

Note: Mina’s dual alignment reflects her unique nature, outside of the strict divisions of the Gods of Light, Darkness, and Balance. Although she is not one of them, she is yet bound by the edicts of the Highgod, and thus she exists as a counterpoint to herself. In this way, she does not upset the Balance of powers in Krynn’s universe.