Calistria

This article reflects recent canon updates. Recent canon sources have significantly updated fundamental facts about the subject of this article. Editors are planning or making changes to this and related articles. You might encounter awkward formatting, contradictory or unsourced information, or other undesirable elements. Learn how you can help with these updates on the discussion page.

Calistria

(Deity)

Titles

The Savored Sting
The Lady in the Room
The Unquenchable Fire

Adjective

Calistrian

Realm

Gardens of Deceit and Delight, Elarian, Elysium

Alignment

Chaotic neutral

Areas of Concern

Lust
Revenge
Trickery

Worshipers

Elves, hedonists, performers, scorned lovers, thieves

Edicts

Pursue personal freedom, seek hedonistic thrills, take vengeance

Anathema

Be consumed by love or vengeance, let slights go unanswered

Follower Alignments (1E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Domains (1E)

Chaos, Charm, Knowledge, Luck, Trickery

Subdomains (1E)

Azata, Curse, Deception, Lust, Memory, Thievery

Follower Alignments (2E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Domains (2E)

Pain, passion, secrecy, trickery

Favored Weapon

Whip

Symbol

Three daggers

Sacred Animal

Wasp

Sacred Colors

Black, yellow

Images of Calistria

Source: Inner Sea Gods, pg(s). 28–35 (1E)
Gods & Magic, pg(s). 16–17 (2E)

Ⅰ

Ⅱ

Calistria (pronounced kah-LISS-tree-ah) is the goddess of lust and revenge who takes on many faces and guises. She is held in especially high regard by elves, who often identify with her moods and changeable nature. A fondness for wasps has earned this vengeful deity the title the Savored Sting; such creatures live on after harming their enemies, a trait Calistria's followers hope to emulate when pursuing their goals.

Dogma

Calistria is not only vengeful, but vindictive when she has been wronged by another; she will take her time returning such disfavor, maneuvering in order to attain the best position from which to enact her retribution. Her legendary trysts are well-documented, although it is difficult to conclusively determine whether these tales are tales are truth or nothing more than fantasy.

History

During the Age of Creation, Calistria was responsible for distracting Rovagug while Torag and Gorum forged the shell of the Dead Vault, which would serve as the Rough Beast's prison after his defeat.

Appearance

Calistria usually appears as a female elf of otherworldly beauty with elongated ears and limbs, and a suggestive smile playing across her face. She wears revealing clothes of flowing yellow silks that do little to hide her lithe and graceful form, and she is often depicted in the company of giant wasps.

Relationships

Calistria is seen as a desirable partner by a number of other gods, and stories of her trysts can be found in numerous religious texts, including her own. One such tale claims that Cayden Cailean took the Test of the Starstone because of a failed attempt to win the attention of the goddess, who claimed that no mortal could survive her charms. The two deities remain allies and intermittent lovers, though Cayden has learned to be wary of her after more than one bitter occasion where Calistria has gotten the best of him.

She is also an ally of Desna, Norgorber, and Shelyn—deities of dreams, secrets, and beauty, respectively. Lust and love often go hand in hand, though Calistria finds Shelyn's deep dedication to love to be a weakness. Norgorber can often be interesting for Calistria to work with, though even Norgorber wonders if he is somehow being manipulated by her. Finally, while Desna has Calistria's respect, she finds that Desna can be too hung up on past failures.

She has an ongoing feud with Urgathoa, as the two goddesses often vie for the same followers because of their similar portfolios: Calistria represents lust, while Urgathoa champions physical excess of all kinds. Calistria does, however, in theory, respect Urgathoa's lust for life.

Realm

Calistria holds a relatively small (though still large by standards of the Universe) palace at the centre of the Gardens of Deceit and Delight, a shifting maze within Elarian, the shared divine realm of the elven pantheon on Elysium. It is a place where lust and passion are freely shared and the darker aspects of each are fully embraced.

Providence

Calistria holds wasps of all varieties in high regard, and people who displease the Savored Sting may find themselves plagued by swarms of the insects. Alternatively, one that pleases the goddess of lust may find themselves succeeding in pursuits of the flesh, the focus of such attentions unknowingly serving as an expression of her favor.

Servants

Calistria's divine servitor race are the vendenopterixes, elven-looking, insectile-winged seductresses who punish those who oppose the goddess. The empusas serve as Calistria's handmaidens and agents who hide within mortal societies to achieve vengeance. On Elysium, and sometimes beyond, Calistria is also served by a number of races that share her philosophy or portfolio, including azatas, fey, proteans, demons, and her favorite agents: divine wasps and other stinging insects.

Unique servants

Menotherian

Menotherian appears as either a bear-sized black wasp or a beautiful unblemished elf. She is a personification of lust, vengeance, and trickery, as Calistria's herald and most loyal servant.

Threv

This frog-like shapechanging sorcerer is obsessed with vengeance, and prefers gifts of poison or ranged magic to allow him to carry out vindictive murder.

Velvet Wing

This tan elven seductress with slightly ragged insectile wings is a vendenopterix and faithful servant of the Savored Sting. As one of Menotherian's direct offspring, Velvet Wing and her race are often mistaken for succubi.

Church of Calistria

Worshipers and clergy

A follower of Calistria with a giant wasp companion.

The faithful of Calistria can be found across Golarion, but her tenets of lust and vengeance have taken especially firm root in Absalom, Galt, Kyonin, Nex, the River Kingdoms, the Shackles, Taldor, and Varisia.

Elves hold Calistria in especially high regard. She is also popular among humans, such as as Keleshites, Taldans, Tian, and Varisians. Amongst other ancestries, Calistria is followed by aiuvarins throughout the Inner Sea region and cambions.

The followers of the Lady in the Room fulfill varied roles wherever they are encountered, anything from spy, thrill seeker, to prostitute and beyond, but always in support of their goddesses' mercurial nature. Such individuals deal in trickery and mischief, encounters of the flesh and knowledge that is both secret or dangerous, and the pursuit of these goals can often lead these faithful to wander the world in order to achieve them.

Her clerics usually clothe themselves in scant garb in shades of yellow, often accented by henna dyes used on the skin.

Temples and shrines

A human priestess of Calistria.

In human lands, Calistria's temples host numerous sacred prostitutes (though rumors of all her temples being brothels are untrue), and act as centers of gossip and information, assuring its continued growth in popularity. In elven lands, buildings dedicated to the Savored Sting more often resemble thieves guilds, and usually cater to those seeking information or retribution rather than more carnal pursuits.

Religious texts

The Book of Joy

This book details the various passions held sacred by the goddess known as the Unquenchable Fire. Some versions of this book even include illustrations. More conservative cities often try to ban its citizens from owning a copy.

Blood for Wine

A collection of holy poems, these verses are sometimes quoted by assassins loyal to Calistria before they fulfill their grim tasks.

Holidays

Even though there are no specific holidays that honor Calistria, the winter month of Calistril is named for her. Each individual temple may establish their own holidays to commemorate taking revenge for old slights or grand acts of trickery.

Organizations

Order of Vengeance

A secret order operating in Galt from the city-state of Gralton.

Wasp Queens

A group of exclusively elven and aiuvarin thieves who venerate Calistria's aspects of trickery and revenge.

Favored animals

Gods are often associated with certain animals, either because they possess a quality that the god favors, or because the god's faithful feel a special kinship to it. Calistria's favored animals include wasps—insects renowned for their painful, relentless, and seemingly gleeful retribution—and poisonous animals.

References

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.