Sarenrae

Sarenrae
Symbols of Sarenrae.
Deity information
Type	Prime Deity
Also known as	Luz Raei
Title	The Everlight The Dawnflower The Redeeming Light Redeemer of All
Province	Atonement, Compassion
Common symbol	Humanoid, feminine phoenix
Gender	Feminine
Pronouns	She/her/hers
Alignment	Neutral Good
Home plane	Fields of Elysium Tengar (originally)
Realm	Island of Renewal
Worship
Major temples	Temple of Renewal
Associated domains	Life Light Peace
Appearances
First seen	"Skyward" (1x15) (stream) "Hell to Pay" (LVM3x04) (animated)
Last seen	"A New Age Begins" (3x121) (stream)
Television	The Legend of Vox Machina (2 episodes)
Stream	Campaign One (7 episodes) Campaign Three (4 episodes) Specials (1 episode)

Sarenrae, the Everlight, also known as Raei, is a goddess of redemption, healing, and temperance; she also has minor associations with the sun and the dawn. Pike Trickfoot is a cleric of Sarenrae, who redeemed her family line, which helped bringing back the worship of the goddess.

Description

Appearance

Official art of the Everlight, by Hannah Friederichs and Cael Lyons.

Sarenrae is usually depicted as a very beautiful, strong woman with dark golden skin, golden-brown eyes, and long hair made of solar fire wreathing her head, which sometimes looks like a bright white mane. She has two large ivory-feathered and pearled wings, sometimes flaming. She sometimes wears light blue robes.

Personality

Although Sarenrae shares influence over certain domains with other gods, she is neither jealous nor territorial. She could expand her influence by taking a more interventionist role in mortal affairs, thereby accumulating more followers, but she remains somewhat aloof from the world. For example, she sent visions to Pike in the Underdark and even manifested an avatar of Pike to aid Vox Machina in Whitestone, but Pike is rather private and non-proselytic about her devotion to Sarenrae. Sarenrae could have chosen another worshipper that would have praised her before the masses and encouraged the building of temples, but Pike simply completed Sarenrae's objectives and moved on.

Sarenrae is also willing to forgive and redeem the transgressions of her followers. When Pike unnecessarily slit the throat of an unconscious duergar foe with her Mace of Disruption in Emberhold, her holy symbol of Sarenrae cracked, and her connection to Sarenrae's divine energy became strained. However, when Pike later sought to atone for her cruelty, Sarenrae not only restored the connection but empowered her with stronger divine energy (completely healing Vax'ildan's lava-damaged foot) and chose her for more important tasks in the future (including the Whitestone Rebellion and pursuit of Vestiges of the Divergence).

Commandments

“

Commandments of the Everlight

• Lead with mercy, patience, and compassion. Inspire others to unite in fellowship.

• Aid those who are without guide. Heal those who are without hope.

• Those who are beyond redemption, who revel in slaughter and remorseless evil, must be dispatched with swift justice.

”

– 

from the Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn

[!h]

Biography

Background

Screenshot of the Everlight from "The Legend of the Cast of The Legend of Vox Machina".

Sarenrae is a minor deity with spheres of influence that overlap some of those of more influential deities, such as Pelor with his Sun and Healing domains.

At the beginning of the Calamity, Sarenrae's belief that the corrupt can be redeemed led to a betrayal by the Lord of the Hells that left most of her following decimated, even though she made a brave attempt to perform a miracle to atone the Lord of the Nine Hells. Presumably around the Battle of the Barbed Fields, she and Pelor drew Torog above ground, defeated him, and—with the help of a trap built by Moradin and Sehanine—banished Torog to a portion of the Far Realm that borders the Underdark.

Fan art of the Matron with the Everlight, by Nico Silva.

During the first century of the Calamity, after being betrayed, she was part of a plan created by the main pantheon during their truce, to infiltrate Aeor and deal with their anti-divine technology. To do so, Sarenrae incarnated as a mortal avatar, a human called Trist, who lived for several decades, becoming a teacher, falling in love, and even having two children with her husband. She and other avatars went to Aeor, and although during their time there they met a follower of the Everlight, Cassida Previn, willing to help them, due to the conspirations of the Lord of the Hells it was inevitable to destroy the entire city. Trist was the last mortal avatar standing in the falling city, hugging the Matron of Raven and asking her to go home, abandoning mortality too at the very last moment. As the Everlight, when they joined the rest of the Prime Deities, she told the goddess of death she didn't understand how she could handle her divine duties and all the loss, and when asked if she was ready to fight again in the war, she admitted that she was, but only if necessary. Raei, remembering Trist's children, asked the Raven Queen to keep them alive as long as possible, and to resurrect them if necessary. The goddess of death told her that she could not do that, but she summoned their threads of fate, very shiny and close together, explaining to the goddess of compassion that Haylie and Topher were destined to do great things, and that eventually they would reunite with their mother. After reflecting about her time as a mortal, the Everlight told the other gods that she realized that regardless of how long a lifetime was, what mattered was its purpose, and admitted she would be willing to live another life like that; then, after telling them how much she loved them, she returned to her realm.

Despite her involvement in some battles before and after losing her followers, the Everlight was absent in most of the processes sealing the Betrayer Gods, and after the Divergence, her influence diminished even more, with her ancient temple in Vasselheim falling to ruin.

In the following centuries, for followers of Sarenrae, religious activity and worship was mostly private and passed down through tradition rather than centralized at temples and institutionally trained.

Campaign One: Pre-stream Arc

Wilhand Trickfoot chose to break away from his family's history of thievery after receiving a divine dream from Sarenrae. He taught his descendants the ways of Sarenrae and ultimately was responsible for Pike choosing the life of a cleric.

When Pike was killed in a fight with a glabrezu, the other members of Vox Machina rushed her to the small Temple of Sarenrae in Emon, where she was successfully resurrected in a ritual.

The traumatic experience filled Pike with a determination to be stronger to face the evils of the world. She changed from a Life domain cleric to a War domain cleric, and spent four month as a sailor building her physical strength, allowing her to wear plate armor.

Campaign One Arc 1: Kraghammer and Vasselheim

After a brutal coup de grâce on an incapacitated duergar during the Emberhold assault, Pike's symbol of Sarenrae cracked and caused her to lose some of her power.

When Vox Machina traveled to Vasselheim in 810 PD, they got word that a temple to Sarenrae had been just recently discovered in the city's Braving Grounds District beneath the cursed ruin of the tower of Syrac, having been lost to time for hundreds of years; Pike led the effort to restore the temple.

Fan art of Sarenrae and Pike, by Truffery.

Pike later returned to the temple of Sarenrae because of her fractured connection with the goddess, aware that she had tapped into her darker side since traveling abroad on the ship. Pike spent six hours over two days in the temple, in silent prayer reaching out to her deity, to reconnect and tune in as well as apologize and confess.

After an intense communion with Sarenrae, she felt all of the steps and missteps that she had gone through over the past six or seven months, trying to find her path, rediscovering herself, and explaining to Sarenrae that the love never left and that this was all with the ultimate purpose of achieving her ultimate purpose as her instrument, and Pike wishes not to cross that again, and if there’s any way to redeem herself, to let it be known.

At the end of that, Pike felt the thread reconnect, the warmth filled her, and the sweat stopped as her entire body seemed to be humming with energy. For a brief second in Pike saw Sarenrae smiling at her as she reached down and touched the side of Pike's cheek and said, “Be forthright. Be grand. Burn bright and beautiful, and I shall always be at your side.” And with that, she released Pike's cheek and vanished.

"Whispers" (1x29)

Vax'ildan, who was casting about for purpose, sewed a symbol of Sarenrae onto the back of his glove while gearing up to help liberate Whitestone from the undead.

"Hope" (1x56)

At one point, when Pike asked Vax'ildan why he was avoiding her, he admitted that he had decided that the next time he saw her, he was going to ask to join her in service to Sarenrae, but that he had to make the deal with the Raven Queen to save his sister in the Sunken Tomb.

"Vorugal" (1x71)

In the battle with Vorugal, Pike stepped out and used Divine Intervention, praying to Sarenrae for assistance, and succeeded. Sarenrae's hand came down and punched Vorugal out of the sky, knocking him to the ground.

"Unfinished Business" (1x100)

When Pike was affected by Feeblemind she entered the anti-magic field from the orb in Whitestone to be able to pray to Sarenrae for guidance. Sarenrae granted her a vision of the world beyond the orb: a desolate, gray landscape with a single obsidian tower at its center.

"The Fate-Touched" (1x103)

When Pike tried to contact Sarenrae, she kneeled at an altar to pray. She was rewarded with a vision of the goddess, who told her to come visit and gave her a tuning fork attuned to the plane of Elysium.

"Elysium" (1x104)

Fan art of Sarenrae offering a fragment of divinity, by Linda Lithén.

After Vox Machina arrived on the Island of Renewal, only Pike and Scanlan were able to enter the crystal palace where they saw from the flames a vision of Sarenrae, who spoke to both of them. They told her that they had fought Vecna, and that he was seeking to ascend to godhood, much the same way as the Raven Queen once did.

Sarenrae responded that the Ritual of Seeding, used previously by the mortal who became the Raven Queen, is forbidden knowledge that had been sealed for eternity by Ioun. However, if Vecna was indeed able to complete the ritual and ascend, it would fall on Vox Machina to seal him away. She recommended that they visit Pelor to learn how to do such a thing.

Fan art of Sarenrae, the Everlight, by Christian Thor Lally.

Sarenrae thanked Pike for her role in restoring worship at her temple, and showed her how the pearl-like granules on the beach are actually the souls of worshippers come to live with her. As a parting gift, she granted Pike the Blessing of the Everlight.

After a bit more discussion, during which Pike and Vex gave back the pearls they had taken from the beach, Sarenrae offered to transport them to Pelor's realm. With a flash, they found themselves in an orchard, no longer on the Island of Renewal.

"The Search For Bob" (Sx45)

Pike called on Sarenrae in Pandemonium to grapple a dust titan. Sarenrae apparently appeared in person, and though her grapple didn’t last very long, it was long enough to ensure that Vox Machina avoided taking three slam attacks and possibly an engulfing.

Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting

As of 812 PD, Sarenrae's faith had only recently been rediscovered. Her holy days had been long forgotten, and her followers had yet to reach a consensus on how and when to celebrate her festival.

In the story hook Monolith of the Hells, one of Sarenrae's celestial messengers gives a dying request to the adventurers to address a mysterious crisis in K'Tawl Swamp. A virtually identical hook is in the Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn.

The Re-Slayer's Take

In 839 PD the Everlight's champion, Pike, tracked the dark activities of the Timberblight and his agent, Grimm Heldwell, across Issylra, after discovering they were harming nature. When she finally found the corrupted wizard in the Thorain Tundra, fighting the Re-Slayer's Take, she intervened, but even then one of the adventurers, Farah Vallari, was killed. Pike prayed to Sarenrae and cast True Resurrection, bringing the fallen half-elf back, and then created a Temple of the Gods to give shelter to the group for some hours. While they were all there, the cleric answered their questions, including her relationship with her goddess, and when Heera Agneheart asked if she could help someone get rid of dark influence, Pike confirmed there was always a possibility for redemption. The Everlight, through one of her symbols in the temple, communicated with her champion and let her know she wished to grant a boon to the Re-Slayers, and using Pike as the channel, she granted each of them a bit of additional health.

Campaign Three: Bells Hells

When the Exandrian Accord was preparing to attack the Hellcatch Valley to defeat Ludinus Da'leth's allies, Pike prayed to the Everlight before going to bed. The following day, during the assault itself, arcane weapons shot at the skyship that was transporting Vox Machina, but they were protected by golden wings that blocked the projectiles. Later in the same battle, the goddess of healing granted Pike's Divine Intervention petition and resurrected Vex'ahlia after she was slain by Ozo Cruth.

The Everlight and the rest of the main pantheon attended the meeting in which Bells Hells and the Matron of Ravens proposed to use the latter's Rites of Catatheosis to turn them into mortals and avoid Predathos. During the conversation Raei asked what would happen to their realms, and the goddess of death responded that if the deities were destroyed so would their realms (although the souls that they had would return to the cycle of rebirth), but that by using the Rites, the gods themselves would keep existing by being reborn and learning each time about the world and their purpose on it; later, as part of the persuasion, Fearne reminded the goddess of redemption about her life as Trist, and how she had fallen in love and have children (after that she also asked Asmodeus if he knew how much the Prime Deity loved him, but neither of them replied). Eventually the gods present agreed to the plan and through the Matron's ritual, bound their souls to Exandria itself and were reborn as mortals. About 15 years after the end of the Era of Reclamation news spread that the mortal incarnation of the Everlight had been identified, and several of her followers (including her champion, Pike) set out to find her.

Relationships

Known followers

Fan art of Vax'ildan helping Pike at a shrine to Sarenrae in the Temple of Renewal, by Megzilla87.

• Pike Trickfoot: A member of Vox Machina and devout member of Sarenrae's clergy, following in her great-great-grandfather Wilhand's footsteps. Led the effort to restore the Temple of Renewal.
• Wilhand Trickfoot: Coming from a long line of thieves, Wilhand's life (and the destiny of the Trickfoot family line) changed forever when Sarenrae came to Wilhand in his dreams and redeemed him. In his twilight years, helped with small tasks around the emerging House of the Everlight on the northern edge of Westruun.
• Father Tristan: Head cleric of the Temple of Sarenrae in Emon.
• Gesyra: A painter who met Pike at the newly-discovered Temple of Renewal, accompanied by the only two other followers of Sarenrae she knew in Vasselheim: a blond young man in simple clothes and an older gnome with a crutch.
• Acolyte Sheila: Helped Pike restore the Temple of Renewal and became one of the first acolytes there.
• Acolyte Vincent Clor: Keeper of knowledge and scripture at the Temple of Renewal.
• Coraline: One of the head priests of the Temple of Renewal.
• Ayden: Mortal incarnation of The Dawnfather who became a cleric of the Everlight after she lost most of her mortal followers.
• Archmage Cassida Previn: Aeorian wizard and member of the Society of Primes.

Places of worship

• Temple of Renewal (Vasselheim): Ancient and long buried under a cursed tower until its restoration under Pike Trickfoot starting in late 810 PD
• Temple of Sarenrae (Emon): A small temple where Pike was rushed to be resurrected
• House of the Everlight (Westruun): Built in Wilhand Trickfoot's twilight years on the northern edge of the city.
• Hearth of the Everlight (Whitestone): Built in the years after 812 PD, a humble stone temple that hosts lively celebrations as of 836 PD

Appearances and mentions

Appearances

• Campaign One
  • "Skyward" (1x15) (first appearance)
  • "Vorugal" (1x71)
  • "Unfinished Business" (1x100)
  • "Race to the Tower" (1x102), voice only
  • "The Fate-Touched" (1x103)
  • "Elysium" (1x104)
  • "The Final Ascent" (1x113), voice only
• Campaign Three
  • "Downfall: Part Three" (3x101)
  • "A New Age Begins" (3x121)
• Specials
  • "The Search For Bob" (Sx45)
• The Legend of Vox Machina
  • "A Silver Tongue" (LVM1x08)
  • "Hell to Pay" (LVM3x04)

Mentions

• Campaign One
  • "Attack on the Duergar Warcamp" (1x04) (first mentioned)
  • "Breaching the Emberhold" (1x06)
  • "The Throne Room" (1x07)
  • "Glass and Bone" (1x08)
  • "Escape from the Underdark" (1x13)
  • "Shopping and Shipping" (1x14)
  • "Loose Ends" (1x84)
  • "Daring Days" (1x86)
  • "Curious Tides" (1x89)
  • "One Year Later..." (1x95)
  • "Family Matters" (1x96)
  • "Thar Amphala" (1x101)
  • "The Fear of Isolation" (1x105)
  • "Scaldseat" (1x107)
  • "The Ominous March" (1x109)
  • "The Climb Within" (1x110)
  • "Vecna, the Ascended" (1x114)
  • "The Chapter Closes" (1x115)
• The Re-Slayer's Take
  • "The Broken Beacon" (RT2x19)
• Campaign Three
  • "A Dark Balance" (3x38)
  • "Downfall: Part One" (3x99)
  • "Downfall: Part Two" (3x100)
  • "Reconciliation" (3x102)
  • "The Cradle's Convocation" (3x104)
  • "Assault on the Malleus Key" (3x113)
  • "Fight for the Bloody Bridge" (3x114)
• Specials
  • "The Story of Vox Machina" (Sx06)
  • "Critical Role: Bar Room Blitz" (Sx21)
• Vox Machina Origins Series II
• The Legend of Vox Machina
  • "The Terror of Tal'Dorei - Part 1" (LVM1x01)
  • "The Feast of Realms" (LVM1x03)
  • "Shadows at the Gates" (LVM1x04)
  • "Fate's Journey" (LVM1x05)
  • "Spark of Rebellion" (LVM1x06)

Quotations

• "For everything great that we [the gods] may have created, you continue to create far better. Our existence brings threat. We've brought two calamities before. We try and avoid a third. Whether we diminish in time or just maintain this balance, it's you, and your children, and your children's children, that hold the keys to the future of your lives, your people, your culture, and us."

Trivia

• Although most of the primary deities in the Critical Role campaign are from the Dawn War pantheon, Sarenrae was imported into the fifth edition D&D game from the cast's original Pathfinder game so Ashley Johnson wouldn't have to switch deities.
• Sarenrae is never mentioned by name in the Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, as she is considered Product Identity of Paizo under the Open Game License. Instead, she is known exclusively by her title, The Everlight. She is also renamed "Raei" in the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, as the book was published by Wizards of the Coast, becoming under this name (at least technically) an official D&D equivalent of Sarenrae.
  • This also makes her the only deity of the Exandrian pantheon with two known names after entering reality, until the third campaign, when it was revealed that Melora is called "Serataani" in Marquesian. The Raven Queen is in some places of that continent known as the "Duskmaven", but in that case is a title/epithet rather than a name.
    • The name the Everlight used before entering reality, Luz, means "light" in Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician.
• In Pathfinder, Sarenrae is a former empyreal lord and the niece of the archdevil Asmodeus, the Lord of the Nine Hells, but this appears to be untrue in Exandria given the two gods' role in the creation of reality.
• In The Legend of Vox Machina the Everlight's cult seems to be a bit less uncommon, since Pike was able to find a temple dedicated to her easily.
• Her minor role as the goddess of dawn gives her a certain parallelism with the Matron of Ravens as the goddess of twilight, since in both cases it is a less prominent function of the deity and overlaps with the portfolios of other members of the pantheon.
• The Everlight was held in high regard by Zerxus Ilerez, a godless paladin of the Age of Arcanum who, despite not being her worshipper, shared her beliefs.
  • Because of the Calamity, the goddess and the paladin would share a common experience: betrayal by Asmodeus.
• Sarenrae is the only Exandrian deity known to have borne mortal demigods (through her mortal incarnation, Trist).
• Even after her mortal avatar, Trist, disappeared physically, the Everlight kept her coat, to remember her beloved Amaris.

References

Art: