Guidestar of Desna

The Guidestar of Desna is a haunted lighthouse and former temple to Desna located on Phahalen Island's southern cliffs. Despite being unmanned, its light still serves as a beacon for ships traveling around the Eye of Abendego.

History

The Guidestar's Desnan clergy were among the last religious folk to be killed or exiled by enforcers of Rahadoum's Laws of Mortality, which banned all practice of religion once enacted between 2555–2560 AR. Its priests proclaimed in defiance that "the guiding light can never be extinguished".

Secular forces of Rahadoum attempted to occupy the Guidestar, but all were killed by a disease during their first winter, leading to rumors that the lighthouse was cursed despite reports that it still shone to desperate travelers.

As a dragon lair

The lighthouse eventually became the lair of Maghara, a copper dragon drawn by the lighthouse's reputation. He continued to operate the lighthouse in secret, which only added fuel to its legends. Maghara pursued the copper dragon Rokiere of the Shackles as a mate, but was killed by Aashaq the Annihilator when responding to a message from Rokiere to meet her near Motaku Isle, where—unbeknownst to Maghara—Rokiere had laid a clutch of their eggs.

As a haunt

Rather than releasing Maghara's soul to the afterlife, however, Desna guided it back to the Guidestar and told him his work there was not finished. The dragon has haunted the isle and Guidestar since, and the site has become a focus of covert Desnan worship, which in turn has drawn renewed attention from Rahadoum's Pure Legion.

Inhabitants

As of 4713 AR, the pirate captain Keltran Fain of the sloop Fortune planned to use the island as a treasure cache but had so far failed to gain access to the sea caves that Maghara had once used.