Akadi

Akadi: Queen of Air, the Lady of Air, Lady of the Winds, Queen of Air Elementals

Symbol:A white cloud, often upon a blue background
Home Plane: The Elemental Plane of Air
Alignment: N
Portfolio: Elemental air, air elementalists, movement, speed, flying creatures
Domains: Air, Travel, Trickery
Worshipers: Animal breeders, elemental archons (air), rangers, rogues, sailors
Aliases: N/A
Cleric Alignments: N, NG, NE, LN, CN
Favored Weapon: A whirlwind (heavy flail)

History/Relationships: Akadi (Ah-KAH-dee) is the whispering wind and the blinding gale storm, her form changing from season to season. Her kiss might be moist and sweet or bitter and cold. Uncaring, she carries sounds and scents along on her journey, but she never pauses to impress upon a traveler the importance of her travels. In religious art she is often portrayed as a huge, translucent blue woman with gigantic feathery wings that trail away into clouds. Her wings are said to toss the winds about the surface of Faerun.

Like all the elemental lords, Akadi is relatively uncaring of her followers on Abeir-Toril. Her reactions are difficult to gauge, and she seems almost an alien being in her responses to most mortals not native to the Elemental Plane of Air. The relative inaction of Akadi and the other elemental Lords has led to their being viewed as only lesser powers in the Realms and their followers being classed as cultists. Akadi is known as Teylas in the Hordelands, a god of the Elemental Plane of Air. The distinction between a female and a male form of the Lady of the Winds makes no difference to the faith.

Akadi does seem to have some small affection for her followers, but most often displays that affection when they make large offerings to her by burning precious incenses that waft to her on the winds-so it could be argued that she only cares when she is bribed to do so. While appeals to Akadi to change or still the winds, provide good flying currents, or bring gentle rains meet with her approval, she grants no prayers to raise or quell harsh storms, as storms lie within the purview of Talos and Umberlee (though she occasionally manages a whirlwind of brief duration but stunning force). During the Time of Troubles, she was not spotted in the Realms.

Dogma: The teachings of the Akadian church amount to a doctrine of finding one's own enlightenment. The church feels that one can only find truth in what one is interested in and as soon as interest fails, all chance of finding spiritual growth has left an activity or place. Therefore, the faithful must move from activity to activity, from place to place, pursuing a personal dream or series of interests and growing through the changing experiences each new day brings. The church pays little attention to resistance to its doctrine; such obstacles will be worn down over time. Few matters are ever deemed so important that the church feels the need to commit itself to a particular cause. The only stance that the Akadian faith takes adamantly is that its members and its priests should not be fettered or imprisoned; such a condition rapidly leads to the onset of depression among the faithful and a languishing death.

Novices in the Akadian faith are charged as follows: "The eternal Akadi is change personified. Each new day reveals to us a new side of her. Strive to be as flexible as she is. Pursue everything that interests you in turn. Look at problems from as many viewpoints as possible to achieve the most creative answer. View life as an art form to create anew around you each day to your benefit and that of Akadi. The freedom to move about and to soar on the breeze of life is one of the inherent rights of every living thing. Fly forth and spread the word of Akadi and show though your works the fresh new life she brings."

Avatar/Manifestations: Akadi has only been seen twice in written record in avatar form on Abeir-Toril. The Queen of Air normally appears as a huge column of swirling winds resembling an immense tornado that towers from the earth into the clouds above (although it only does tornado-like damage when she forms a whirlwind-see below). Her voice can range from the whisper of the slightest breeze through the trees to an insistent roar that can be heard for miles in every direction. She casts spells from the elemental air, healing, and weather spheres and the elemental air school.

Akadi has sent manifestations to the Realms more frequently than she has sent an avatar, but even these appearances are extremely rare compared to the frequency with which other powers manifest. The Lady of Air has appeared in the form of almost any normal flying creature, and her voice has been heard as a gentle whisper upon the breeze. She frequently sends an aerial servant to deliver private messages (or demands) to those she deems worthy or useful. A rising breeze or a change in the wind is usually seen as a sign of her favor.

The Church of Aerdrie Faenya: The church of Akadi is organized into small sects that follow the Whisper (working behind the scenes), or the Roar (working openly). Listening to the wind, traveling beneath the stars, pursuing personal interests of the moment, and speaking to others of the glory of Akadi dominates most priests' lives. Some priests become almost obsessively involved in "life experiments" of a practical or esoteric nature. Yet, once a project is no longer fun or interesting, Akadian priests drop it like a lead weight and move on to something new no matter how much time they have invested in the activity.

Day-to-Day Activities: Each day is an important day in the eyes of an Akadian. The faithful typically rise before the sun emerges to whisper their prayers on the morning breeze and stay up to watch the moon rise over Faerun or glide the dying thermals of the waning day and joyfully speak their evening prayers.

Major Centers of Worship: Few permanent temples to Akadi have been erected. Many of her shrines are tended by a rotation cycle of priests as they travel the countryside, leaving the shrine when a replacement arrives. The holiest site of the Arcadian faith is the mound of the First Shrine of the Queen of Air in the ruins of Blaskaltar in the Shaar. The structure is long gone through ages of neglect; however, the faithful gather here yearly to remember the history of their church and it's great members so that they do not lose their past and thus become doomed to repeat it.

Affiliated Orders: The order of Akadian crusaders is known as the Knights of the Wind's Four Quarters. Its members tend to pursue personal quests and errands for church elders or carry out the ongoing vendetta against the church of Grumbar. Mystics of the faith being to the Companions of the Summer Wind, who tend to be good-aligned, the Disciples of Spring's Breeze, who are mainly Neutral, or the Alliance of Midwinter's Teeth, who are evil.

Priestly Vestments: Priest of Akadi dress for rituals in robes of white, light gray, and light blue, representing the many faces of their goddess. Silk is a preferred material in vestments, as its flowing nature pleases the goddess, and rare silks dyed in flowing or rippling patterns of blue or white are highly prized. When adventuring or on the road the priests of Akadi dress practical, though they favor clothes or accessories of white, light gray, or light blue.

Adventuring Garb: Adventuring priests and Akadian clergy members on the road dress practically, though they favor clothes or accessories of white, light gray, and light blue. They recognize that traveling through the countryside on the enemy element of earth requires heavier clothing to shield oneself from that harsh element. They typically confine their use of silk to a scarf or decorative vest and pack their ceremonial vestments carefully to protect them.