Lyublya

Lyublya, also written as Lyuubya or Lyuba, is one of the eight Divinities of Ximizhlum.

She is known as the patron of music, arts, love, fertility, and writings. She is the oldest of the entire Pantheon.

Story
Lyublya followed Bayashima and the other Goddesses across the stars until they found Ximizhlum.

Alongside Matane and Helgya, She voted to communicate with the gigantic twinsun beast, Antretsnyan, instead of attacking it beforehand.

As time went on and the Goddesses worked on Ximizhlum, the two moons Trasa and Mimimum appeared in the sky, bearing the Gods Danebran and Kolyat. Almost instantaneously, the two pantheons clashed, and so began the First Divine War.

It ended with Matane giving birth to Ximizhle, followed by Kolyat commiting suicide, in turn forcing Danebran to kill Matane. Lyublya helped create a ceasefire 'tween the two sides.

Ximizhle was seen as a bastard and the Pantheon wanted nothing to do with Her, sending the baby down onto Ximizhlum to fend for Herself.

As the Divinities adopted a non-interventionist policy towards the happenings of Ximizhle and Her offsprings down below, Lyublya secretly disobeyed. Like a godmother, She would often check on Ximizhle, aid Her, and comfort Her.

After Ximizhle passed away, Lyublya offered Her help to Takeda, Ximizhle's daughter, but she refused the help, already having enlisted the help of another Goddess, Uvu.

Her direct influence over Ximi affairs, other than being part of their religion, waned.

Personality
Lyublya is considered to be very outgoing and friendly, often answering summons. As Lyublya is considered to be the oldest of the Pantheon, She acts as a big sister to the rest, especially to Helgya whom She gave an ornament to and whom She's defended since the Goddesses left Their home world.

Though She spends most of Her time in the heavens alongside the others, Lyublya is known to occasionally sneak into the world of humans and mingle with them. She will shapeshift into a random human or animal and spend some time around them, doing whatever She wants from talking, shopping, exploring, observing, sexing, and other things.

Depending on how the individual She interacts with treats Her, She may either bless them or curse them. She isn’t mean and will almost never punish anyone.

As with the other Divinities, Lyublya might temporarily bestow an artifact upon someone She particularly likes. One of the artifacts associated with Her is the staff Vodihodi, made entirely out of white pearl. The top of the staff is abstractly shaped to resemble a dragon's head. Inside the dragon's open mouth is a large round object which continuously shifts colours.

It is very common for creators to add something along the lines of "Inspired by the Goddess Lyublya" onto their creation praise to the Goddess. Some will even go as far as to say She co-authored it. This tradition has been going on for as long as anyone can remember.

While it is not considered taboo to not include a gratitude to Her, it's often looked down upon.

Design
Lyublya is most often portrayed as a woman in Her 30s, with long blonde hair that is dull on one side and bright on the other. According to legends, the composition of Her hair colour is changing according to which kind of love is currently dominant on Ximizhlum. Selfish love represents the dull blonde with grey tips, while selfless love represents the bright blonde and red tips.

Around the top of Her head are twinkling stars, which disappear and reappear like real stars, but are visible all day and all night. Lyublya's left eye is a dark red colour whilst the right eye is lightly green. Her eye pattern is a slightly curved stripe going through the center of the pupil horizontally.

She wears a long black dress which covers Her feet, but lets the cleavage and arms exposed.

Across Her chest is the pelt of a snow leopard, a rare and reclusive feline native to mountains whose fur is a symbol of wealth and nobility.

At the bottom of the dress are two stripes in the same colour as Her eyes.

Just above the knees are several Fablonaki, objects made of odorous flowers and tied with wheat or rope. These are believed to help increase the chances of conception.

Within the Pantheon, Lyublya has the largest amount of wings, three on each side of the body, totaling at six. These are very large and have white feathers.

As a symbol of love and fertility, Lyublya has the largest breasts, widest hips, and longest penis among Her peers. While drawing a Divinity fully nude is generally considered taboo, Lyublya seems to enjoy it and even endorses mortals to do so.

The sign She is doing with Her hand is a typical greeting on Ximizhlum, especially amongst religious people. It is also Her symbol.

The hand is raised into the air, the little and ring fingers are folded against the palm. The index finger is pointed upwards, with the thumb facing the same way along it. Finally, the middle finger is pointed horizontally outwards, as if though one was looking at a clock that is at 3:00 or 9:00, depending on perspective.

Legends
Aside from the general voyage across the stars and involvement in the Divine Wars, Lyublya has many other stories surrounding Her.

The reason for leaving home
While it's never been confirmed, Lyublya used to be a mother. On their home, Lyublya gave birth to a boy. As the world's cultures were extremely gender segregated, She was not allowed to keep him, and had to choose between having him killed or exiled. And so Lyublya was forced to abandon Her only child.

No longer having a reason to live, She considered suicide, until Her friend Bayashima revealed to Lyublya Her plans of leading a group across the stars. Having nothing left there and not wanting to be reminded of the world's horrors, Lyublya took Her up on Her offer.

Love affair with a mortal
Another legend attributed to Lyublya takes place on Ximizhlum, time unspecified.

During one of her undercover trips into Ximi society, Lyublya ran into a man. She found him to be very interesting, and She'd return several times, until they fell in love with one another.

Their relationship continued with the man never finding out he's banging a goddess.

However, Lyublya knew it could not last.

Once, in the night after their lovemaking as the man slept, She erased all memories he had of Her and them together. And then, She left, never to return again.

The man went on with his life, ignorant to the blasphemy he had done. He got another girlfriend, got married, and had children. All throughout, Lyublya kept watch over him and his family.

She could not be with him, but She was happy that he lead a good life.

However, in a strange twist of fate, the man became a priest. What's even worse, he became a priest dedicated to Lyublya.

How could this happen? Fate pulling a cruel joke? Or perhaps the Goddess hesitated and failed to remove every single memory of his, showing that the omnipotent gods are not so omnipotent afterall?

That's up to the readers to ponder upon.

Lyublya's involvement in Akviylland's creation
There is a rumour that after the Firmamental Break, when hitherto united humanity fell apart into several countries, Lyublya helped one of the warlords with creating his own nation. The warlord in question was Akviylos, who would found the nation of Akviylan in what used to be called the Overseas Region.

According to legends, She took on the form of a naturalist and friend of Akviylos, and gave him the idea that Akviylan culture should be built like that of ants and bees, with a queen in charge, followed by heavily maintained castes.

Why She would do this is unknown.

Gems associated with Lyublya
The gemstones generally associated with Lyublya are pearls, leading to the belief that oysters are servants of Hers. In some beliefs, this extends to all mollusks.