Sarenrae

 is one of Pathfinder's deities.

Description
Known to her faithful as the "Dawnflower", "The Healing Light", and "The Everlight", Sarenrae is a goddess who teaches temperance and patience in all things. Compassion and peace are her greatest virtues, and if enemies of the faith can be redeemed, they should be. Worship of this goddess of healing, honestly, redemption, and the sun began far to the east of the Inner Sea, in the vast Padishah Empire of Kelesh, but her worshippers can now be found throughout the world.

Background
Sarenrae is one of the most popular deities on Golarion, and followers of many other faiths respect her power, dedication, and generosity. Once a powerful angel known as an empyreal lord, Sarenrae led the heavenly hosts in the charge against the Rough Beast, Rovagug, and it was she who dealt him the great blow that led to his chaining. Now a goddess in her own right, Sarenrae is kind and loving, a figure of light, guidance, and healing, and has great patience with those who choose to be blind but may one day see. Yet for all her compassion, Sarenrae is also a powerful force against evil, and strikes down the irredeemable without mercy. Her faith is ancient; it first became popular among Keleshite humans, then spread to the Garundi in ancient Osirion and into other human and nonhuman civilizations as well.

Eons ago, Sarenrae was an angel guiding the energies of the sun and battling evil beings that sought to plunge the newborn world of Golarion and its sister planets into eternal darkness. Other angels lent her their support and turned to her for leadership in these battles, and eventually gods joined them as she grew in power to become one of the mighty empyreal lords. Sarenrae was the first to stand against Rovagug's attempts to unmake Golarion, and she faced the Rough Beast personally when the other forces of creation were engaged with his hideous spawn. The exact circumstances of the battle are a mystery to mortals, but it is believed that her willingness to sacrifice herself for the good of all inspired her flagging comrades to new hope and courage, and elevated her from one of the greatest angels to a full goddess. With this influx of power, she smote Rovagug and hurled his broken body deep into the earth. As the gods healed the planet's scars and intelligent life appeared on its surface, mortals turned their eyes upward to thank the life-giving sun, and her faith took root among primitive peoples.

Sarenrae is a goddess of boundless love and exquisite kindness, a caring friend, mother, sister, and protector of all in need. She delights in healing the sick, lifting up the fallen, and shining a guiding light into the darkest hearts and lands. She brushes off insults and deflects attacks, patiently trying to convince those who perceive her as an enemy that their belief is false. For all her patience and gentleness, however, she is no victim: if it becomes clear that her efforts are wasted, she responds to violence and predations upon the innocent with cleansing fire and scorching light. She dislikes cruelty, lies, needless suffering, and thoughtless destruction. Ancient and timeless, she stands fearlessly against the full tide of darkness, promising that the dawn will always come, and with it, hope, truth, and kindness will triumph.

Religious art depicts the sun goddess as a woman with bronze skin and hair of dancing flame; in some cases this flame trails behind her for a dozen or more yards. One of her hands offers the light of the sun, while the other wields a scimitar against those who would spread darkness, hatred, and pain. The church does not teach that Sarenrae is the sun itself; rather, she is its guardian and conduit for its power, and while fanciful art may show her face in place of the sun, the mainstream faithful recognize the difference between the star and the goddess.

The Dawnflower's faith is a broad one, and the majority of her worshipers are everyday folk who recognize the power of the sun, take comfort in the idea of a deity's love and compassion, and believe strongly in both redemption and righteous action. Her faith attracts those with kind hearts who are nevertheless willing to harden them when kindness is a dangerous weakness. The faith makes few demands of its everyday adherents beyond these tenets, and its clergy are usually seen as valiant protectors and enlightened teachers.

Sarenrae indicates her favor with sightings of doves, rays of dawn or dusk sunlight that last far longer than they should, the discovery of yellow stones or gems, or the sudden soothing of aches and pains. Her displeasure is most often made apparent through unexplained sunburns or periods of blindness that can last anywhere from only a few moments for minor transgressions to a lifetime for mortal sins. Her holy symbol is an ankh, though more stylized versions show a winged ankh or a winged female figure with arms outstretched and a halo of flame. Her titles include the Dawnflower and the Cleansing Light—to her enemies, she is the Warrior of Fire.