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Shei
The Ibis Matron (planar ardeidal guardinal companion [she/her] / NG)
Portfolio: Age, life, self-actualisation
Realm: Elysium / Eronia / Lake of Spring-Thawed Ice
Shei, the Ibis Matron, is the companion of aging, life, and self-actualisation. She’s the embodiment of the wisdom a cutter gains through life’s journey, and the freedom that comes with finding self-acceptance. Towering at 8 feet tall, her slender form is both graceful and enigmatic, her glossy black feathers mostly concealed beneath tightly wrapped bandages. She has a long neck and ibis-like head, and an inscrutable gaze which bores into your soul. Her favoured weapon is a silver sickle named Imminent Harvest, which symbolises the cycle of life, and is the bane of any berk who’d seek to who rob others of their potential.
Shei’s philosophy teaches that every stage of life holds its own beauty and value, from the curiosity of youth to the reflection of old age. Through patience, service to others, and introspection, her followers learn to embrace their true selves and find fulfilment in their unique paths. Shei’s personality is both nurturing and fierce; while she guides mortals toward enlightenment with compassion, those who exploit or corrupt others face the full force of her wrath, particularly fiends who steal vitality or prematurely age their victims.
Shei’s realm is a floating palace of woven rushes on the tranquil Lake of Spring-Thawed Ice in Eronia, where time seems to flow as gently as the water itself. The palace is as a sanctuary of reflection and healing. Its wicker halls are filled with dragonflies flitting between mirror-surfaced pools that reflect a viewer’s face but not the face of now—they see themselves as youthful or elderly. Shei’s sacred dragonflies remind her followers that life is fleeting and because of this, beautiful.
Her clergy, known as Chronicle Keepers, act as storytellers, counsellors, and guides for those struggling with change. The Keepers wear robes that constantly shift in hue from top to bottom, symbolising the full spectrum of life’s stages. Their teachings resonate with parents nurturing new lives, teachers guiding students toward their potential, and elders reflecting on the legacy of their love lives. For these cutters, self-actualisation is not a destination but an ever-evolving journey. After all if you can’t understand yourself, how are you going to be able to understand anyone else?
Source: Chronicle of the Righteous [PF1e] p23; Inner Sea Gods [PF1e] p324; Jon Winter-Holt