Priestesses of Celicia

The Order of Our Holy Lady Astra Celicia was established in 559 CY.

Although little is known of her early years, the first mention of Saint Celicia is her appearance, in the Westeven, in 548 CY. Now considered the first Priestess of Solaris (the priesthood had theretofore been restricted to men), she prophesized of the return of Set, and exhorted the patricians and citizenry to repentance and preparation.

The Imperial apostateship from the Solarian Church was reversed due largely to her efforts.

In 556 CY, Saint Celicia disappeared, only to reappear three years later, in 559 CY, with what is now known as the Celician Codex, a scripture some 500 pages long, bound in leather and printed on tablets of wafer-thin metal, readable only with special glasses, and intricately and beautifully illuminated. Along with that Codex, she brought chests overflowing with ancient coins, and a train of foreign craftsmen and laborers, who built her first Solarian Abbess, devoted to helping children and the poor. She also appointed several of her female followers as Knight-protectors and Prioresses, to assist in her efforts.

Shortly after Celicia disappeared again, in 563 CY, rumors of miracles, performed by her Knight-protectors and Prioresses, began to circulate, resulting in a flood of donations, and a declaration of Sainthood for Celicia, by Emperor Perfero Agmentum Aurum.

Saint Celicia is the saint of orphans and the poor. Her Abbesses are ubiquitous, found in nearly any town that also boasts a Church of Solaris.

Any female Characters may begin as a first-level cleric or paladin, and be a Priestess of Celicia.

Those characters begin with a helmet and breastplate, a mace, and a round shield emblazoned with a stylized sun (Paladin) or sunflower (Cleric). They also start with 1d6 x10 gold.