Shinara is, quite simply, lady luck. Her clerics are bold, brave, and somewhat reckless. Luck is the only thing that they rely on - even though they know that it sometimes fails them.

Worship of Shinara is incredibly widespread throughout Antaron, not to mention the veritable throng of theives, gamblers, and adventurers who beseech her aid. Since the adventuring life (and it's risks) mesh well with the Shinaran faith, the clerics of luck's goddess often make their way as adventurers. There are very few people anywhere who won't offer up a quick prayer to the Scarlet Mistress when undertaking some new venture or trying something difficult.

While Shinara is in fact the wife of Jusarin, the god of knowledge, she is known to be extremely fond of Oriana, the goddess of love and passion.  It is an accepted fact that the two are in fact on again, off again lovers.    

Priests of Shinara pray for their spells at any time of day.

Dogma
Chance and luck are the virtues of the spritely of heart, keen of eye, and merry of soul. The way of melancholy and fear are not within our power. To tip the scales, to surmount the impossible, to taste heaven, to escape with riches from the hells... these are the realms of delight and danger we seek like a thirsty man for water in Chindari's plains.

Avatar
Shinara is one of the deitries who most enjoys visiting the world in mortal form, and appears as a human or sylvari lady with fiery hair and glittering green eyes. Her eyes seem to giggle and laugh while her face seems reflective when met by adventurers. Her dress differs constantly, depending on her moods, from layers of skirts and finery to practical travelling leathers. She tends to always wear a scarf and pair of gloves in scarlet. On her left hand, she wears the Ring of Anlain, an artifact of the great bard Anlain whose songs still fill the small gems of the ring.

Fellowship
The clerics and followers of Shinara tend to use magics to help them accomplish impossible tasks. Their uses of charm, divination, and blessings are among the best. They meld their use of magic with diverse abilities to help them change the fortunes of the world.

The fellowships of Shinara are much more loosely organized than those of many other religions, and include the following: 

Spinning Stars: These followers seek to become bright and shining stars of Shinara. The largest group of worshippers, the Stars walk the world seeking to understand the loving and fickle nature that is fortune and chance. Their views are the basis of Shinara's teachings. One of the largest of Shinara's churches run by the Stars is a gambling house and temple in Calestra, Coria.

Laughing Maidens: This all-female group travels the world teaching newcomers to the open road what it trully means to be an adventurer. Many of these women began as serving wenches and daughters of great warriors that did not understand why only men could adventure. Each of them left the safety of their homes and found a common following of other women who loved the freedom of the road. Members of this group meet in taverns throughout Antaron, with the largest congregation forming in Bayris.

Lovers of Fortune: Many people believe the Lovers are one of the most frightening - and foolish - groups of people on the face of Audalis. These followers of Shinara literally throw themselves into dangerous situations, be it leaping from tall cliffs, mooing like a cow to a minotaur, or running into a dragon's maw. It is through their acceptance of chance and the luck of their goddess that they survive. Not suprisingly, the course of the Lovers' history does include many who have fallen in the service of the Scarlet Mistress.

  Between the thornless rose of Lysora and the grinning skull of D'Hurgen lies the ring of twelve stars that represents Shinara. All are differing shades of red, from pale pink through to deep scarlet. The palest and hence most easily visible of the twelve are Shelarna and Araneth. More often than not only the left-hand side of this constellation is visible with the unaided eye, making it appear more like a crescent than a circle.


Special thanks for Lori Krell for her substantial controibutions to this article.