[ Eladrin ] [ Aestetica | Paragons | Court of Stars ]
Lada / Lado
Lady of Dance, Khorovodnitsa (planar firre/tulani eladrin empyreal lord [she/he/they] / CG)
Portfolio: Dancing, celebration, community
Realm: Arborea / Arvandor / The Khorovod (Wandering Court)
The origins of Lada are shrouded in mystery. Her poetically inclined followers claim that she was born from the very notes of song itself—but then every empyreal lord has this kind of screed surrounding themselves. Truth be told, Lada’s past is unimportant now. Most often, Lada presents themselves as a young maiden in a long white dress embroidered with beautiful red patterns. Sometimes they fancy a more masculine or androgynous form. While they present themselves as a handsome young man, Lada usually uses another name—Lado.
Lada loves dancing, though unlike her friend and counterpart Ashava, she loves it mostly for the sense of community it brings. Her favourite dance parties include dozens of people all spinning around in a circle dance. Lada’s presence sometimes graces marriages and celebrations, especially between high-ups in Arborean social circles. She’s usually the life and soul of the party, plain and simple. Her followers include dancers, singers, troubadors, bards, and cutters who simply likes having fun. Lada has made many eladrin friends in many tulani courts, but she is also close to the Slavic pantheon. It isn’t uncommon to see her in the Tsardom of Gold, Lukomorye or even on Buyan. She’s a great friend of Cayden Caillean, the Accidental God of the Golarion pantheon. Some whisper Lada is one of the hoax-gods, though this does seem quite unlikely.
Her realm, the Khorovod is more of a wandering ballroom than a palace or court; wherever the realm travels, there is endless music, song and circle dancing. The food and drink is free-flowing and the guest list inclusive. The challenging parts are firstly, keeping up with (finding and following) the party, and secondly, keeping up with the guests—mostly wild eladrin whose sturdy constitutions allow them to dance for days hardly tiring at all.
Source: Bestiary 1 [PF1e] p23 (mention only); Margarita; Jon Winter-Holt. Canonwatch: ‘lada’ is likely a meaningless refrain in Slavic songs, but monks visiting the people who sang those songs assumed it must be the name of a goddess. Pathfinder rolls with this, and mentions Lada among lesser-known empyreal lords.