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Love for me does not mean sentiment, nor passion. Love means honoring the agreement we have made.
– 
The Lawbearer[5]
[!h]

Erathis, the Lawbearer, is the goddess of civilization and laws. She is commonly worshiped by leaders and judges.[4]

Appearance and symbols[]

The Law Bearer - Hannah Friederichs-Cael Lyons

Official art of the Lawbearer, by Hannah Friederichs and Cael Lyons.[art 3]

The Lawbearer is shown as a hooded, armored woman sitting atop a throne or a throne of pillars, her face obscured or expressionless. She is often depicted with light brown skin and a strong but lithe body.[4][6] She is described as one of the two most dutiful and self-sacrificing of the Prime Deities, alongside the Platinum Dragon.[7]

Places of worship[]

Issylra[]

The Lawbearer is worshiped by the denizens of the Quadroads District in Vasselheim.[8] Her temple is called the Crown of Erathis;[9] the Holy Paramours of the Crown of Erathis approve magically-binding[10] contracts under which the Slayer's Take hunts monsters and other creatures around Vasselheim.[11][12][13]

Her temple in Vasselheim also keeps texts recording times near the Founding, referencing the existence of two forgotten deities of the Exandrian pantheon, as well as a time prior to the creation of Ruidus. These texts, however, were stolen by agents of the Grim Verity.[14]

Tal'Dorei[]

The Lawbearer is one of the most worshiped gods across Tal'Dorei, from the Lucidian Coast, across the Dividing Plains to the Bladeshimmer Shoreline, and down in the Rifenmist Peninsula (outside the Iron Authority, which is devoted to the Strife Emperor).[15] The cathedral to the Lawbearer is one of the two biggest in Emon's Temple District,[16] and a dual statue of the Lawbearer and the Wildmother stands in Azalea Street Park in one of the city's oldest neighborhoods.[17] A short rest taken here grants inspiration to a character once a week.[18]

In Whitestone is a small temple to the Lawbearer called The Lady's Chamber.[19] By 836 PD, it is known as the House of the Lawbearer and is both a place of worship and a stately courthouse. A permanent Zone of Truth spell is active on the premises, and all who enter are sworn to tell the truth by vigilant clerics. The protection is fallible but sends a clear message to all visitors.[20]

During the occupation of Westruun by the black dragon Umbrasyl and the Herd of Storms, the temple to the Lawbearer in the city was partially ruined,[21][22] but that temple is noted as one of the three largest shrines in the city's Temple Ward a year later,[23] and the High Priest of the Lawbearer blessed the unveiling of the Black King, a construct intended to defend the city in times of crisis and otherwise stand as a statue.[24] A newer temple to the Lawbearer, in the Underwalk Ward, shows up in the adventure hook Down Below in the original Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting sourcebook, set in 812 PD.[24]

By 836 PD, the First Bastion in Westruun, dedicated to the Lawbearer, is the most magnificent temple the Temple Ward. It is an opulent sanctuary of decadent gold-and-marble exterior that can't be imagined by most to be something that sits on the Material Plane, seeming like a building from the realm of the gods themselves, and is a common attraction for folks of all faiths. The First Bastion was a secret refuge while Kevdak occupied the city, and many Westruun survivors turned to worship the Lawbearer afterwards because of her protective grace.[25]

Yearly, clergy of the Lawbearer send champions to the Godsbrawl Ring in Emon for the annual Godsbrawl celebrating the Stormlord but rarely take it seriously because they scorn the Stormlord's notion of "might makes right".[26]

Wildemount[]

The Lawbearer is one of the deities that is approved for worship in the Dwendalian Empire,[27] and her holy day is celebrated with feasts in honor of the laws of the Dwendal bloodline, with one seat at each table left open for the king to dine with them in spirit.[28] The Prime Arbiter of the Dwendalian Empire delivers judgements in the Temple of Writ, the central temple to the Lawbearer in Rexxentrum.[29] Next to the temple is the Claykeep Prison, providing a reminder to anyone doing business in the surrounding Vigil Circle of the swift consequences for theft.[30]

The aarakocra city of Vol'antim prominently features dual temples to the Lawbearer and the Wildmother, and the laws are built around the Wildmother and her respect for the Lawbearer.[31] Rural folk persist in believing that aarakocra are angels of the Lawbearer despite the aarakocras' attempts to explain they are not.[32]

The Mother's Lighthouse by Nicodranas was built from stone produced by the union of the Lawbearer and the Wildmother.[33]

There is a temple of the Lawbearer in Uthodurn.[34]

Commandments of the Lawbearer[]

Commandments of the Lawbearer


  • Utilize the company and aid of others. The efforts of the individual often pale against the capabilities of community.

  • Strive to tame the wilds in the name of civilization, and defend the points of light and order against the chaos of darkness.

  • Uphold and revere the spirit of invention. Create new settlements, build where inspiration strikes, and expand the edicts of the Lawbearer.

Known worshipers[]

Yuana Bretei by Marissa Mulea

Fan art of High Cleric Yuana Bretei, by Marissa Mulea.[art 4]

The Emissary acted very briefly during the Calamity as the Lawbearer's herald, and saw her as a mother,[46] a feeling that was reciprocated by the goddess, who saw him as her son.[47]

History[]

Background[]

Goddesses in Balance - Zuzanna Wuzyk

Official art of the Wildmother and the Lawbearer, by Zuzanna Wuzyk @zuzartii. Artwork from Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn..[art 5]

The Lawbearer has a tempestuous and furious romantic relationship with the Wildmother, the goddess of nature (considering her her wife), that is "tempered only when civilization and nature are in balance."[4] When this balance is disrupted, "civil unrests and riots bloom in her beloved cities".[6] Zehir, the Cloaked Serpent, detests both goddesses, and sends his followers to destroy civilization and deplete nature.[48] The Lawbearer also despises the Strife Emperor, seeing his reign as a perversion of law into authoritarianism; the Strife Emperor is also an enemy of the Wildmother.[49]

The Lawbearer and the Wildmother created humans through their passionate love as the third race on Exandria. They granted humans passionate hearts as well but also a chaos that blessed them with the ambitions, mirth, and curiosity of their two creators but also cursed them to be too short-lived to fully fulfill these impulses.[7]

Gods battle at Vasselheim - Exandria Intimate History

Official art of the Lawbearer and the Platinum Dragon battling the Lord of the Hells and the Ruiner at Vasselheim, by Kent Davis from "Exandria: An Intimate History" (Sx61) at 3:53.[art 6]

Erathis vs Asmodeus by Kent Davis

Official art of the Lawbearer again battling Asmodeus during the Calamity, by Kent Davis.[art 7]

The Lawbearer was among the Prime Deities who fought against the Betrayer Gods in defense of Vasselheim when the Calamity started, and again in the following battles.[50] Certain artifacts of the Lawbearer were crafted and repaired at the Underforge within Kravaraad.[51] However, during the first century of the conflict they reached a decades-long truce during which the gods agreed to send mortal avatars to Aeor to stop the city's plans against divinity. The Lawbearer was meant to send an avatar of her own, but she found that in order to do so she would have to break certain promises. She also realized that an avatar of hers would be willing to break any rule in order to help/save the avatar of Melora. Thus, in order to help in the divine plan, she sent an herald instead, a genasi-like entity of her creation known as the Emissary, who joined the other mortal incarnations of the gods and reached Aeor successfully. There, in an old temple known as the Chamber of Seasons, the Emissary communed with her through a statue of the Lawbearer. She asked how the Wildmother's avatar, Asha, was feeling (angry) and shared some explanations with her herald about his existence and her absence; she also asked him to tell Asha she loved her.[52] The Emissary tried to do so, and revealed to the Wildmother's incarnation that the Lawbearer had planted a forest for the first time to honor her divine lover: two saplings in either of his palms, which became the weapons the Emissary used to fight with.[53] After the Factorum Malleus (along with the Emissary) was destroyed and Aeor crashed, the Prime Deities that had been part of the mission gathered in Eiselcross and were joined by the Lawbearer, who informed them that Asmodeus wouldn't take long to gather his forces and attack them again. When the Knowing Mistress asked her why she didn't send an avatar like the rest, the Lawbearer explained her reasons, stating that her love for her wife would have become a potential obstacle; she also took a moment to thank the Matron of Ravens for taking care of the soul of the Emissary. After the Lawbearer remembered the words of Acastriel about the gods not following the rules their children had to obey, the deities spoke briefly about the possibility of leaving Exandria to stop hurting it (although not everyone agreed with the idea), and eventually decided to return to their realms. The Lawbearer, remembering the conversation between Asha and the Emissary, asked her wife to tell her everything about her son, and the two goddesses walked away together, as the Wildmother started talking about the brave child that was the Emissary.

At some point toward the end of the Calamity, there was a battle between the Crawling King and the Lawbearer, which resulted in the destruction of the city of Ozana and the death of many of its citizens.[54]

The records of the Scalebearers state that, at the end of the Calamity, it was the Lawbearer and the Platinum Dragon who came to Vasselheim and declared that the Prime Deities would also leave Exandria. Though this was initially met with protest from both the divine and mortal, the other gods ultimately agreed, finding this "unimpeachable and just". Thus, the Divine Gate was created, an event broadly known as the Divergence.[55]

Soon after the 730s PD[56][57] Lady Melanie von Musel de Rolo, who had become the sole ruler of Whitestone after her husband's death, initiated a project to expand Whitestone after a third of it ended up destroyed in the Great Whitestone Fire, occupying land in the Parchwood Timberlands encompass an old holy site of the Dawnfather where a proper temple would be built. However, Lady Melanie didn't show the Lawbearer due respect as the goddess of civilization, so the Prime Deity started causing troubles: many accidents took place in the construction, wild animals attacked people, and some talked about visions and phantoms appearing (even claiming to have witnessed the late Lord Wolf de Rolo himself); only the Temple of Pelor was completed with minimal incident. It was Melanie's cousin, Ivan von Musel (a cleric of the Lawbearer who had been studying in Whitestone for a year), who identified the problem and ended up solving it (killing a grey direwolf sent by the Lawbearer to test him and mark how far the city-state should expand). Ivan was rewarded with titles and responsibilities in the city-state, and his bravery created a precedent for similar problems many years later: for any slight against the goddess of civilization, a citizen of Whitestone must answer the call and go to the Parchwood, where they will be tested. The outcome of said test determines the Lawbearer's current disposition.[58] That tradition might have been connected to the interrupted attempted expansion of the city-state to the east between 812 and 836 PD (monsters from the Parchwood attacked the project)[59] and the so far successful expansion in 843 PD.[60]

As of 812 PD, clerics of the Lawbearer and druids of the Wildmother worked together to keep civilization and nature in balance.[61]

Appearances and mentions[]

Trivia[]

  • The Lawbearer's holy day is Civilization's Dawn, celebrated on the autumnal equinox (22 Quen'pillar).
    • Ironically, on Civilization's Dawn in 810 PD, while traveling to the cradle of civilization in Vasselheim, Vox Machina was attacked by lawless pirates at dawn.[62]
    • In Emon in 842 PD, a party called the Everdawn began on Civilization's Dawn and promised to continue all the way into the new year[63] more than two months later. The symbol of the Everdawn is the double-bladed axe of the Lawbearer turned into a chalice.[64] The Crown Keepers attended this party the night before the events of the first episode of Exandria Unlimited Prime.
Hestavar by Madeline

Fan art of Hestavar, the Bright City, by Madeline.[art 8]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 21.
  2. See "Downfall: Part One" (3x99) at 0:36:42.
  3. See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 16.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 22.
  5. See "Downfall: Part Two" (3x100) at 0:23:24.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 29.
  7. 7.0 7.1 See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 13.
  8. See "Trial of the Take: Part 1" (1x18) at 46:51.
  9. Or "Erathis's Crown."  See "Hubris" (1x17) at 3:12:00.
  10. See "Hubris" (1x17) at 3:05:10.
  11. See "Trial of the Take: Part 1" (1x18) at 39:07.
  12. See the written contract from Alchemist Ozwyn Gruude.
  13. See "Trial of the Take: Part 3" (1x20) at 39:32.
  14. See "Dark Portents" (3x29) from 2:54:59 through 3:02:26.
  15. See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 43. See also pp. 52, 76, and 87.
  16. See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 90.
  17. See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 93.
  18. See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 136.
  19. See "Whispers" (1x29) from 1:56:59 through 2:02:59.
  20. See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 78.
  21. See "Best Laid Plans..." (1x50) at 2:46:18.
  22. See "Best Laid Plans..." (1x50) from 2:56:31 through 2:59:47.
  23. See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 59.
  24. 24.0 24.1 24.2 See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 61.
  25. See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 92.
  26. See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 138.
  27. See "Steam and Conversation" (2x09) at 0:46:11.
  28. See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, pp. 22–23.
  29. See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 106.
  30. See "Frigid Propositions" (2x109) at 1:58:36.
  31. See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 92.
  32. See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 165.
  33. See "The Ruby and the Sapphire" (2x33) at 3:04:13.
  34. See "Hope Within History" (3x55) at 0:59:33.
  35. See "Collecting Legends" (3x105) at 1:11:15.
  36. See "Hubris" (1x17) at 3:11:47.
  37. See "The Search For Grog" (Sx42) at 32:16.
  38. See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 121. The page mixes up the "Changebringer" and the "Lawbearer", so that Kwynn is called a paladin of the "Changebearer". Presumably the page was intended to say Lawbearer, given the content of her warning to her squire.
  39. See "Rush for the Bloody Bridge" (3x82) at 2:01:08.
  40. The Chronicles of Exandria - The Legend of Vox Machina Volume II, p. 92.
  41. See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 37.
  42. See "Steam and Conversation" (2x09) at 2:53:35.  The Herald is named earlier.
  43. See "Whispers" (1x29) from 1:56:59 through 2:02:59.
  44. See "Breaking and Entering..." (3x20) at 2:55:51.
  45. See "The Hallowed Cage" (3x118) at 0:22:10.
  46. See "Downfall: Part Three" (3x101) at 5:30:04.
  47. See "Downfall: Part Three" (3x101) at 5:48:48.
  48. See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 19.
  49. See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 35.
  50. See official art on this page.
  51. See "Clay and Dust" (2x72) at 1:58:46.
  52. See "Downfall: Part Two" (3x100) from 0:19:51 through 0:26:34.
  53. See "Downfall: Part Two" (3x100) at 0:53:39.
  54. See "The Hallowed Cage" (3x118) at 0:23:05.
  55. See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 16.
  56. See The Legend of Vox Machina Episodes 10-12 Q&A at 47:49.
  57. This assumes 80 years ago from Campaign One, set in the early 810s PD.
  58. The Chronicles of Exandria - The Legend of Vox Machina Volume II, p. 92.
  59. See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 80.
  60. See "A Desperate Call" (3x36) at 0:28:06.
  61. See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 18.
  62. See "Skyward" (1x15) at 1:59:39.  The date is not mentioned, but calculated by working backward from Winter's Crest that year.
  63. See "The Nameless Ones" (E1x01) at 12:08.
  64. See "The Nameless Ones" (E1x01) at 1:05:32.
  65. See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 29.
  66. See "Family Matters" (1x96) at 1:46:56.
  67. See "Critical Role: Bar Room Blitz" (Sx21) at 39:07.
  68. See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 121. The paladin of this goddess warns her squire of untold dangers in the wilds and advises her to bury her curiosity rather than strike out into the unknown, which is not the kind of wisdom characteristic of the Changebringer.

Art:

  1. Symbol of the Lawbearer from Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting.
  2. Symbol of the Lawbearer from Explorer's Guide to Wildemount by Claudio Pozas. (source)
  3. Official art of the Lawbearer, by Hannah Friederichs and Cael Lyons (source). This file is a copyrighted work. Its use in this article is asserted to qualify as fair use of the material under United States copyright law.
  4. Fan art of High Cleric Yuana Bretei, by Marissa Mulea (source). Used with permission.
  5. Official art of the Wildmother and the Lawbearer, by Zuzanna Wuzyk @zuzartii (source). Artwork from Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn. Used DM response with permission.
  6. Official art of the Lawbearer and the Platinum Dragon battling the Lord of the Hells and the Ruiner at Vasselheim, by Kent Davis from "Exandria: An Intimate History" (Sx61) at 3:53. Used with permission.
  7. Official art of the Lawbearer again battling Asmodeus during the Calamity, by Kent Davis (source). Used with permission.
  8. Fan art of Hestavar, the Bright City, by Madeline (source). Used with permission.
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