Arella, Lady of the Areya [World of Aurius]

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===== Arella, Lady of the Areya =====
Arella is known as the goddess of the transitional twilight, said to contain in her essence both the everlasting wisdom of the fading light and the ethereal voices of the rising darkness. Her clarity of both judgment and truth as given by the light allows her to peer through the various distortions of the darkness to see the ending, the time where the darkness has fallen and only the light remains as the clear day is brought about once more. These distortions carry the fragmented pieces of the life given by the light, the only evidence of their former existence being the ghostly echoes of an era long since passed as they had become divided and scattered within the chaos of darkness. Arella is also associated with dreams and mysticism, being considered the mother of the Areya as they are born from her, the Areya oftentimes appearing in the dreams of mortals to guide them and the Areya also being an instrument of the mystics of mortal kind. It is through Arella that light is brought to this darkness as it penetrates into it, purifying it through Arella’s message of expiation.\\
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The [[races:humans:ethrekasan:ethetia:start|Ethetia]] of [[planes:aurius:ethrekas|Ethrekas]] acknowledged Arella in her previous form, Venefica, who was a goddess composed of a pure darkness that possessed lordship of familiars that could be called forth. Thus, she was identified as one of the [[pantheons:class:avetad|Avetad]], and, as a result, worship of the being at this stage was found to be sacrilege against the true gods, the [[pantheons:class:elohad|Elohad]]. Nonetheless, she managed to find her way into dreams and the dreamlike mirages experienced by people, and often caused nightmares of an insidious nature as their presence degraded their sanity. Thus, her corruption could be seen, and she was feared as a powerful being who had the potential to kill them slowly.\\
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Throughout the [[planes:aurius:ethrekas:countries:grecydan empire|Grecydan Empire]], worship of Arella is outlawed as she is not considered to be one of the Elohad despite the purification ritual that she is thought to have undergone in order to become a different kind of being than was previous. However, many of the western coast worship Arella discreetly, as they have an affinity for female goddesses as a subculture that prizes their feminine attributes over those strictures of the Grecydan Empire. These individuals who belong to that culture believe Arella to be the mother of the Areya, spirits that can take on many forms but still possess the wings of benevolence that Arella also possesses.\\
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Among the people of [[planes:aurius:ethrekas:grecyda:start|Grecyda]] from many points in time, Arella was alternatively recognized as a worthy goddess by both the [[races:humans:ethrekasan:vespetia|Vespetia]] and the [[races:humans:ethrekasan:najetia|Najetia]], though in the former people, there was not found the presence of a complete unity of thought. Among some of these Vespetia, Arella was worshipped as a female idol of a divine nature that presented the fullness of magic and witchcraft, and it was through her that the Areya could be called in order to visit men in their dreams. However, among the Najetia, who did not possess such cultural values of idolizing femininity, Arella was simply that goddess who allowed them a spirituality, and it was through her that divine prophecy could be revealed.\\
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Despite this, in both cultures Arella is believed to have undergone a metamorphosis in her realization into a being of twilight rather than darkness, and she thus represents to the Najetia a kind of redemption. The Vespetia, on the other hand, profess worship of the being not as an example of purity, but as a powerful goddess that had become more actualized into a better being. Accordingly, it is thought that Arella bears some relation to the illuminating light of clarity, and furthermore facilitated the studying of astronomy by the Najetia through the Solaran Tower and, to the Vespetia, the ability of foresight.\\
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In both Vespetian and Najetian theology, the goddess was thought to be closely related to the fallen god [[pantheons:deities:nephraeth|Nephraeth]], as upon Nephraeth’s descent from his former status as bearing the title of Serapheth, he occupied the same space that Arella once did as Venefica. Thus, the goddess walked the path of enlightenment professed by [[pantheons:deities:solara|Solara]], eventually igniting her black substance with beams of light that, instead of ending her life, caused her to be reborn into a new form. Arella was born then, and her relationship to Nephraeth was of a complementary and dualistic nature as they represented aspects of the same magic and prophecy. Arella was considered to have once inhabited the same womb as Nephraeth, and they diverged significantly as they developed in this womb and after their births.\\
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The [[races:humans:ethrekasan:eretia:start|Eretia]] of [[planes:aurius:ethrekas:regions:tradarda|Tradarda]] acknowledge Arella as Venefica purified, and it is she who is thought to have brought into being the seventh sign of the ruler as she expiated the darkness from a spirit, though causing the rebel sign to be born from the remaining darkness. It is professed by the Eretia that Solara, the goddess of the sun, had passed to Arella the keys to the immortal plane, allowing her to ascend and descend as she saw fit. As the Eretia do not worship Solara, it is believed instead that Arella is the inheritor of Solara’s light, and it is she who is worthy of worship. Arella, then, is a being of light in alliance with the other signs as they had been bound to the stars, and it is from Arella that the knowledge of the formation of the stars had initially been made to their people.