Gyronna

Gyronna

(Deity)

Titles

The Angry Hag, Hag Queen

Adjective

Gyronnan

Realm

Muravelara, Outer Rifts

Alignment

Chaotic evil

Areas of Concern

Hatred
Extortion
Spite

Worshipers

Fallen or destitute women, called Gyronnans

Edicts

Expose hypocrisy in others, make others miserable, demand bribes to spare others from your torments

Anathema

Allow others to slight you without retaliation, seek the approval of society, forgive those who have wronged you

Follower Alignments (1E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Domains (1E)

Chaos, Destruction, Evil, Madness

Subdomains (1E)

Demon, Insanity, Nightmare, Rage

Follower Alignments (2E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Domains (2E)

Ambition, nightmares, pain, zeal

Favored Weapon

Dagger

Symbol

Single bloodshot eye

Sacred Animal

Black cat

Sacred Colors

Pink, white

Images of Gyronna

Source: Inner Sea Faiths, pg(s). 52–57 (1E)
Gods & Magic, pg(s). 130–131 (2E)

Gyronna is the goddess of hags, as well of unabashed hatred and spite. She is known as the Hag Queen or the Angry Hag. Those who follow her are those who value wreaking pain and vengeance above all else. While she may act as a patron to mortal women outcast by society, she is no benevolent protector. Gyronna offers no comfort, only seething thoughts of revenge, spreading of misery, and the death of the hypocrites that society guards.

History

Few sources agree on Gyronna's origin and her cults quietly hunt down anyone who investigates it. Common theories propose that she was once a very powerful fey of the First World who crossed a powerful rival, such as Baba Yaga, and was left deformed and hateful; or that she was a trio of bickering mortal sisters who suffered the same fate and combined into a single, hateful whole. Regardless of the truth, Gyronna's faithful have existed since before the death of Aroden.

Realm

Gyronna claims many realms as her own, including the Abyssal realm of Muravelara, a wooded hunting ground. Muravelara is an horrific forest with a bloodshot-red moon, stalked by giant toads and feral cats, alongside night hags and female vrocks. Gyronna's hags and petitioners enjoy trapping mortals and trespassers for drawn-out disembowelments and sacrifices, only to be regenerated and tortured again and again, until being burned alive as torches during ceremonies to the Angry Hag.

Appearance

Gyronna's appearance is constantly shifting, even mid-conversation, with the single consistent aspect of her being one massive bloodshot right eye. At times she variously appears vibrantly young, beautiful, withered, dead, jubilant, weeping, or raging. Artwork typically shows her as an old crone with tattered clothing and messy ink-black or snow-white hair.

Church of Gyronna

A cleric of Gyronna.

Gyronna is not a popular deity, as many fear her and her clergy, which is entirely female. These are usually the throwaways of society: disfigured prostitutes, wives caught in adultery, or pregnant teenagers disowned by their parents. Priestesses are renowned for their ability to foster hatred and turn friend against friend, but are not above simply killing someone in cold blood if it betters suits their purpose. Her priestesses are also known to swap young babies for hideous monstrous creatures birthed from their own womb.

The priesthood itself has no canon or book of scripture, or temples; instead, they favor small shrines of simple piled stones. Some of these piles have cat's-eye gemstones on top or a painted representation of one, from which (it is rumored) Gyronna, herself, may peer and curse defilers of the shrine. Later canon claims that Gyronnans do have religious texts: black ledgers filled with blackmail material, identities of fellow zealots, lists of enemies and the myriad wrongs they have committed. The most well known of these ledgers is the Black Ledger of Macy Swain, which contains the writings of a Gyronnan witch. Macy Swain's hatred was so legendary, even as she was executed via poison, hanging, disembowelling, drowning, beheading, and finally burial, she still screamed curses at her accusers all the while.

Organizations

The Black Sisters of Gyronna are blamed for causing the downfall of Heibarr in the River Kingdoms. The ruins of the town are now a site of pilgrimage for some priestesses.

Relationships

Gyronna despises most other deities and busies herself with plotting their downfalls, enjoying tormenting and blackmailing the other gods' worshippers. In particular, she utterly despises the demon lord Mestama. The Lord of Deception and the Angry Hag both claim that they are the true goddess of hags, causing the two to compete for followers. She also hates Pharasma for taking souls that Gyronna perceives as being rightfully hers.

However, the Angry Hag has learned to tolerate Hanspur, another god popular in the River Kingdoms and among the Kellid. The Water Rat's followers are expected to allow followers of the Angry Hag safe passage and shelter along the waterways, while Gyronnans spare Hanspurites their usual violence and extortions. Lamashtu also sees Gyronna as a kindred spirit and there is occasional overlap between the human worshipers of both gods.

References

Paizo published a major article about Gyronna in Inner Sea Faiths.

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