Diancastra is a deity in the giant pantheon, the Ordning. She is a minor trickster goddess, unlike her older sisters Hiatea and Iallanis. She values the pleasures in life. Diancastra is slowly becoming recognized as a minor fertility deity among non-evil giants, who invoke her name if they wish their romances to be blessed with children. The result is often children, called by the ominous name "Diancastra's brood," as cheeky and willful as Diancastra herself. Her cult is still very small, however, and she has few priests and shamans.
As an energetic and vibrant goddess, Diancastra appeals most to the rebellious or frivolous youths amongst the Jotunbrud, especially to those from settled firbolg and storm giant societies. Her followers are seen as troublemakers and carousers, who constantly stir up society for pleasure and enjoyment, although they are not considered malicious. Her priests and followers are also appreciated for the stories and excitement they bring when travelling, but they are also seen as bad influences on local giantish young. They are eager for new experiences and knowledge, and rumors of such can draw them to even the most remote of giant tribes. They have a great love of literary and historical writing, as well as poetry, and they make a point of stopping at any place of learning they find, after a visit to the local tavern or festhall. They are most welcomed by the clergies of Stronmaus, Hiatea, and Thrym, although only the priests of Karontor are hostile towards them. The priesthood of Memnor holds the followers of Diancastra in deep contempt, although they mask it well, using subtle comments about their negative influence on youths to make them unwelcome in some cloud giant communities. The Wanton Wanderer’s followers are also often made welcome in communities of elves, humans, and halflings that are very familiar with her priesthood.
Most of Diancastra's clergy are wanderers, traveling from place to place specifically to experience things unknown to them. They take great joy in pleasures of the flesh, food and drink, song and dance, and games of all sorts, but are also avid readers and collectors of lost knowledge. The rumor of a hidden cache of books or scrolls or covetous wizards holding lost or secret spells can easily send them off in an attempt to liberate such items. They are extremely outgoing, and love to share knowledge and experiences with those they meet. The Diancastran clergy often carries news and messages from giant tribe to giant tribe, although they are never entrusted with sealed messages. The idea of secret or hoarded knowledge is abhorrent to them, and they take great joy from stealing or tricking it away from those who hold it and sharing it with the world, especially if they can make the owner appear as a fool. While they are rarely focused enough to gain sage-like expertise in any field, they often tend to know a little bit about everything, especially where rumors are involved, and many are very well read. Many professional escorts who revere the Wanton Wanderer are known to be able to stimulate the minds of their patrons just as deeply as their bodies.
Vestments
When holding ceremonies, the clergy of the Wanton Wanderer wear clothing that couples comfort and beauty, typically of silk or soft leather. No particular style is favored, with individuals always choosing what suits them best; while not always of the current fashion, such clothing is rarely considered unfashionable. Heavy jewelry is avoided by the clergy, preferring light items that accentuate their appearance without appearing gaudy. Bright and cheery colors are favored, chosen to complement an accent or sash of sea green that symbolizes their faith. Hair styles are always worn for comfort, with women often wearing their hair long and free. Revealing and sensuous garments are especially favored by those clergy members who operate within taverns and festhalls. The holy symbol of the clergy varies, but always contains a component of bluish-green; priests are expected to create or find their own holy symbols. Sashes, cloth amulets, and necklaces with emeralds or aquamarines are common.
When adventuring, Diancastra's clergy prefer comfortable clothes of soft leather or suede, often forgoing armor entirely if the weather makes wearing such especially uncomfortable. They only do so when they feel that travel is relatively safe; if worried about bandits or monsters, prudence takes precedence over comfort. When not travelling, they are fond of fashionable clothing and jewelry that accentuates the best part of their bodies; silks and other exotic materials are common if they can afford them.
Temples
Temples dedicated to Diancastra are rare as her faith is still quite young, and many priests, even into old age, do not settle down. The few that exist tend to be grand buildings with bright paint and decorations, and more often than not double as a tavern, festhall, gaming hall, library, or some combination of those establishments. While most such buildings in a giantish community aren't likely to actually be a temple as well, few do not at least have a shrine dedicated to the Pleasureseeker in some part of the building.
Hierarchy
Novices of Diancastra are known as the Sheltered. Full priests of Annam's Unruly Daughter are known as the Seekers of Pleasure. No formal hierarchy exists amongst most of the clergy, with most treating each other as equals. Only those who are settled in established temples have a hierarchy and ranking, with each temple creating its own system of titles and rules for advancement. Specialty priests are called Delectants.
Rituals
Diancastra's priesthood observes no formal holy days. However, they see many events as a cause of celebration. In particular, they celebrate births, as everything that child experiences and learns will be new to them. When they can, they visit children whose births they attended as they grow, eager to hear about their lives, taking great joy in hearing the enthusiasm in their voices. They also celebrate the formal passage of a child into adulthood for similar reasons, as independence opens whole new realms of experiences and access to knowledge for the individual in question. All such celebrations vary wildly, based on the whims of the clergymembers and the tribe.
Orders
The nature of Diancastra's dogma does not lend itself particularly well to martial or monastic orders. However, her clergy sometimes informally leads guilds of professional escorts, thieves, bards, and scriveners within large or urbanized giantish settlements, or more rarely, non-giantish societies.
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Seek always the pleasures of life; neglecting neither the pleasures of the body nor the pleasures of the mind. Beware overindulging in either, for doing so atrophies the other. Seek to experience new things, see new places, and learn new things, and share such experiences with others. Liberate trapped or hoarded knowledge or experiences, freeing them for all the world to know. Those who keep such things from the world are fools, and should be made to be seen as the fools they are.
Diancastra has many faces and wiles, from a four-foot tall, slender elven maid to a 25' tall giant. Two traits remain constant in all her forms: her green-flecked amber eyes and the streak of sea-green skin along her left shoulder blade. She is sometimes accompanied by a magical owl.
Diancastra is both impudent and arrogant. She often defeats her enemies by taunting them until they are enraged beyond reason, and then ensnaring them in illusions. She enjoys worldly pleasures and drinks to excess. She can charm people, especially males, merely by gazing at them. She casts elemental spells as an 18th level wizard. She can walk on water and her skin has an automatically-renewing stoneskin effect.
Diancastra is the daughter of the creator god Annam and a mortal giant, most probably of the storm giant or cloud giant breeds. Like her half-sister Hiatea, she won divinity from her father through great deeds, but she did so through wit and guile rather than heroic feats in battle. Her father demanded that she circle the Oerth in an hour or less, and she did so by tearing a picture of the world from one of Stronmaus's atlases, walking around the image instead. Some believe the only reason Annam accepted this trick was that he believed that his only way back from his despair and ennui would be Diancastra and her wit and humor.
Her other half-siblings include Grolantor, Iallanis, Karontor, Skoraeus Stonebones, Stronmaus, Surtr, and Thrym. Memnor and Vaprak are also sometimes named as her relatives.
Diancastra's adventures and misadventures are long and storied. She has stolen a magic necklace from Blibdoolpoolp, snitched spellbooks from a demigod servitor of Surtr, won a drinking contest at the Seelie Court (who trained her as a bard), and solved the puzzles of Lyzandred. She has been the lover of Deep Sashelas, who gifted her with her sea-green mark and the ability to breathe in water. She often takes on lovers for the things they can teach or give her.
