Allianah

at a glance

• Patron deity of the Sudan.
• Symbol: red hand.
• The Guardian of the Council of Originals.

Click the headings below to expand them.

character profile

Name: Allianah (ah-lee-ar-na)
Gender: Cisgender female
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Nationality: Nubian (Sudanese)

Magic:

• Identifiable by the colour red (e.g. when she creates light, it is red-tinted).
• Allianah excels in combat magic and fire & earth elemental magic.
• Allianah is more practically-minded and has little time for magical theory.

Appearance: Allianah is dark-skinned and tall with a muscular structure. She has high cheekbones and a permanently haughty expression. Allianah strides rather than walks and tends to bulldoze anything in her path, both physically and verbally. She typically wears her desert warrior outfit, composed largely of leather protecting the vulnerable parts of the body, while 'on duty'. While 'off duty', she usually wears long, white robes reminiscent of Ancient Greece. Allianah's hair is long, dark and generally braided for convenience. While fighting, she ties the braids back into a ponytail or bun.

Looks favourably upon:

• Women
• Warriors
• Members of the Alliance

Looks unfavourably upon:

• Criminals and rule-breakers
• Relations of Mallos
• Men
• Damsels in distress

Personality: Allianah is a difficult person to get close to. She is very stubborn and inflexible, slow to adapt to new situations and people. She's a radical feminist and prefers the company of women to men. Men typically have difficulty winning her respect. Allianah is very authoritarian and follows rules inflexibly; she has great difficulty in situations where the rules go against her moral code. She's more of a soldier than a general, preferring to fight in battles rather than lead them, and will regularly defer to Rhaegar over battle strategy. She likes order and routine.

Relationships with other deities:

• Detests Lorraine and Mallos.
• Likes Gwythr's sense of order and authoritarian nature but disapproved of his leadership style.
• Has mixed feelings towards Rhaegar. Allianah liked him many years ago and respects his fighting ability, but disapproves of his immoral tendencies.

epithets

Native language: Arabic (Sudanese)
Native term: sitt
Epithets: wer-pekhti ("one who has great strength"), khepesh ("strong arm"), kheneti ("the Nubian")

council role

Allianah is currently serving as the Guardian of the Council of Originals. She is the head of the Alliance, the military and intelligence organisation.

monotheistic cult

Allianah's cult could be considered very small, and worship of her is primarily focused in tribes and villages solely in the Sudan. They are completely decentralized and methods of worship vary greatly from place to place; a common theme is the placement of Allianah's symbol within the tribes and villages. This symbol can be worn by those who have pleased her through righteous battle as war paint or tattoo, or cloth flags outside of a headwoman's domain to show her/the tribe's dedication to the goddess. Directly calling on the goddess is typically frowned upon unless the individual is in an extremely dire situation; most of Allianah's followers believe that showing her their own inner strength and perseverance guarantees her favour far more than prayer or sacrifice. This leads to common traditions in many different tribes and villages that revolve around proving strength, physically, emotionally, and mentally. Tasks are assigned to worshippers at different ages.

• Five-years: leaving toddlerhood and infancy for childhood, a child must show responsibility for their own actions and caring for the tribe.
• Early teens: Leaving childhood for the start of adulthood, a villager must show responsibility and loyalty to the tribe through hunts and other feats of strength. Survival is another common task for this stage, and returning to the village from the journey.
• Late teens/early 20s: A true adult will participate in battle and must show courage and fortitude. Defeating an enemy without killing them, or sparing an enemy in battle is a common task, but it is not the only possible situation.
• 60-years: should a villager attain this age, they may become an elder if they prove themselves as helpful advisers to younger members of the tribe. They also must have been honoured in battle or in another task by Allianah.

On occasion, villagers who have a particularly difficult lot in life or personal problems will be given tasks to address these issues. Often they are said to be tasks given to the villager by the goddess herself.

role in polytheistic cults

Allianah is a lesser god in polytheistic cults, in part because she appeals to a small portion of any population (favoring warrior women over all others), but she features in a number of myths and worship of her is still more prominent and widespread in her polytheistic roles than in the monotheistic cults.

She most commonly appears as a goddess of war and combat; she has been associated with archery and battle strategy. Victory is hers to claim, and that of her followers. She brings good fortune to the worthy, heals those injured in battle, and looks over those in need, particularly the weak (women and children traditionally). She is the patron of soldiers at war, who make evoke her image for good luck. She is a guardian of order and a destroyer of evil. She often appears in mythology as the warrior, standing tall, proud, and victorious, or as the guiding hand that helps a hero bring down evil at just the right moment. In the myths, she is frequently inflexible and single-minded, which can be both a benefit and a hindrance. She is portrayed as one of the deities most able to achieve goals quickly, but sometimes at the cost of ignoring other matters.

reputation on shaman

Fairies on Shaman view Allianah with in a more neutral light, since she has not had a great deal to do with this world. Those who have met her have often found her intimidating or difficult to deal with. More people have had contact with her Alliance members, who are now forming a branch on Shaman. The Alliance tends to be viewed positively.

Allianah is the sort of deity that the ordinary fairies speak of with a tinge of awe in their voices; many view her with a lot of respect and at least a bit of fear (for some reason, young fairy children in particular seem afraid of her!). On the outside, Allianah appears extremely fearsome and the sort of person you would not want to tangle with for any reason, meaning she is often treated with a sort of overly rigid, overly stiff respect (everyone afraid to step a toe out of line in her presence). While this is true - Allianah is a powerful warrior and not one to trifle with - she is not as unreasonable or unfeeling as many fairies may believe, and actually can be quite helpful under the proper circumstances. With her fellow originals, Allianah can be particularly stubborn and has in the past irritated them by being such a stickler for rules and regulations; she is also one of the deities who will pursue others for breaking the law.

Find out more about...

Other deities