Istus
| Game background | |
|---|---|
| Title(s) | The Lady of Our Fate, the Colorless and All-Colored |
| Home plane | Concordant Domain of the Outlands |
| Power level | Greater |
| Alignment | Neutral |
| Portfolio | Fate, Destiny, Divination, Future, Honesty |
| Domains | Chaos, Knowledge, Law, Luck, Oracle |
| Superior | none |
| Design details | |
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Istus is the goddess of Fate, Destiny, Divination, the Future, and Honesty. She is known as the Lady of Our Fate and the Colorless and All-Colored. Her symbol is a golden spindle with three strands.
Istus was first detailed for the Dungeons & Dragons game in the article "The Deities and Demigods of the World of Greyhawk" by Gary Gygax in Dragon #69 (1983). Istus was subsequently detailed in the World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting (1983), and in Greyhawk Adventures (1988).
Istus featured prominently in the adventure Fate of Istus (1989). As part of the plot, she has inflicted the world of Greyhawk with a plague to cull out the weaker adventurers.
Istus was one of the deities described in the From the Ashes set (1992), for the Greyhawk campaign, and appeared again in Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins (1998).
Her role in the cosmology of the Planescape campaign setting was described in On Hallowed Ground (1996). Istus is described as one of the good deities that celestials can serve in the supplement Warriors of Heaven (1999).
Istus's role in the 3rd edition Greyhawk setting was defined in the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (2000).
Her priesthood is detailed for this edition in Complete Divine (2004).
Istus is the most powerful of the Baklunish deities, but aloof from mortals and immortals alike, concerning herself only with the fate of the universe. She is depicted in three different ways. The first is as an old crone, the second as a mature and haughty noble dame, and the third as a cold and unfeeling young maiden. She carries a golden spindle (her holy symbol), with which she spins the future into the present, thus weaving the web of fate.
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