Avenshir



Avenshir is the benevolent god of the sea, a kind and forgiving counter-balance to the monstrous and violent Rammak. Avenshir is known and beloved all over the world due to his universally important domain, sea travel. He has many local names and aspects, but is one of the universal deities of the Shattered Isle.

In Ferranain he is Aven Shyr: God of the Maer, and is more spiritually focused than usual. In Ridahn he is Avenshir: God of the Sea, and is considered the protector of sailors. In Taugoria he is Aensharn the Shipmaster, master of the longboat. In the coastal territories of Haketa’Dan he is Ave'Shari, and has particular importance as the source of wealth via trade to the west. Even as far away as the Isles of Ankaru and Kaida he remains the undisputed protector of boatmen.

In all cases he is a reminder of the good qualities of the sea. Because the sea is often used as a metaphor for the chaos of the Deep Plane by students of the planes, and because the demon Rammak chooses to manifest as a sea monster, the oceans are sometimes treated with fear and contempt by the people of the Isle. Avenshir and his priesthood have made it their solemn duty to remind people not to live in fear, but to enjoy, explore and profit from the sea. The sea is a part life in the Isles, and to ignore it out of religious fear is to deny a major part of life.

Avenshir also makes it his duty to protect sailors and fishermen, whom he considers his children. He expects them to remain reverent of the power and danger of the sea, but otherwise encourages them to take to a life at sea, and fills them with an adventurous seafaring spirit. Any who would travel by sea when given another choice have his approval, and all those who live of the sea of choose to make their life on it have his constant goodwill.