Lliira
| Game background | |
|---|---|
| Title(s) | Our Lady of Joy, Mistress of Revels, Joybringer |
| Home plane |
2E: Brightwater (Arborea) 3E: Brightwater |
| Power level | Lesser |
| Alignment | Chaotic Good |
| Portfolio | Joy, Happiness, Dance, Festivals, Trade, Money, Wealth |
| Superior | Sune |
| Design details | |
Lliira (/ˈlɪərə/ LEER-ə)[1] is a fictional character, a goddess in the Forgotten Realms setting of Dungeons & Dragons. She is also known as Our Lady of Joy, Mistress of Revels and the Joybringer, and is the Faerûnian goddess of joy, happiness, dance, festivals, freedom and liberty.
Publication history
Ed Greenwood created Lliira for his home Dungeons & Dragons game, set in Greenwood's Forgotten Realms world.[2]
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition (1977-1988)
Lliira (pronounced “Leer-a,” with a trill on the “ee” sound) first appeared within Dungeons & Dragons as one of the deities featured in Ed Greenwood's article "Down-to-earth Divinity" in Dragon #54 (October 1981). Lliira is introduced as Our Lady of Joy, goddess of joy, careless feeling, contentment, release, hospitality, happiness, dance, patron of festivals; she is a chaotic good demigoddess from the plane of Olympus. Lliira is described as being "allied to Milil and Sune, and is invoked and offered to at all joyous occasions. She is usually depicted as a young, dancing, sensuous lady, laughing and carefree. She cannot abide violence and ill feeling, and a sword bared (save in solemn ceremony) any place is said to be enough to drive her, or her favor, away." The article also notes that "Milil often works directly with Lliira," and "Lliira and Selune serve Sune." Lliira is commonly worshipped by chaotic good thieves and clerics, and bards of any alignment.[2]
Lliira later officially appeared as one of the major deities for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Set's "Cyclopedia of the Realms" booklet (1987).[1]
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition (1989-1999)
Lliira was described in the hardback Forgotten Realms Adventures (1990),[3] the revised Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (1993) in the "Running the Realms" booklet,[4] and Faiths & Avatars (1996).[5]
Her role in the cosmology of the Planescape campaign setting was described in On Hallowed Ground (1996).[6]
Lliira is described as one of the good deities that celestials can serve in the supplement Warriors of Heaven (1999).[7]
Dungeons & Dragons 3.0 edition (2000-2002)
Lliira appears as one of the major deities of the Forgotten Realms setting again, in Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (2001),[8] and is further detailed in Faiths and Pantheons (2002).[9]
Priests
Lliira's priests and priestess are the apple of her eye. They are called "joy bringers". With the job of leadership and plan-makers of festivals.
Followers
Followers of Lliira are called Lliirans and wear brightly colored outfits, and dress themselves with rubies and sapphires. They are known for always having a smile on their lips, and it is unheard of to see one with a frown.
Lliira also has an organization of rogue/warriors called the Scarlet Mummers, founded when Loviatar killed her lover. They kill in an elaborate dance, using bladed boots, leaving a single red rose behind.
References
- 1 2 Ed Greenwood, Jeff Grubb and Karen S. Martin (1987). Forgotten Realms Campaign Set. Wizard of the Coast. ISBN 0-88038-472-7.
- 1 2 Ed Greenwood, Dragon magazine #54 - "Down-to-earth divinity" (October 1981)
- ↑ Grubb, Jeff and Ed Greenwood. Forgotten Realms Adventures (TSR, 1990)
- ↑ Ed Greenwood (1993). Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. ASIN B000K06S2E.
- ↑ Martin, Julia, and Eric L Boyd. Faiths & Avatars (TSR, 1996)
- ↑ McComb, Colin. On Hallowed Ground (TSR, 1996)
- ↑ Perkins, Christopher. Warriors of Heaven (TSR, 1999)
- ↑ Ed Greenwood; et al. (2001). Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. Wizard of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1836-5.
- ↑ Boyd, Eric L, and Erik Mona. Faiths and Pantheons (Wizards of the Coast, 2002)