Waukeen Waukeen ( pronounced wau - KEEN or wah - KEEN ) was a lesser deity of the Faerûnian pantheon known as the Merchant ' s Friend , Liberty ' s Maiden , and the Golden Lady . Her portfolio included everything related to commerce and the accumulation of wealth through free and fair trade , as well as the beneficial use of wealth to improve civilization . Those that venerated and appeased her included merchants from lowly peddlers to the wealthy owners of trading companies , investors , accountants , entrepreneurs , caravan guides , warehouse owners , philanthropists , deal - makers , moneylenders , and so on . Waukeen was also the goddess of illicit trade and the patron of many smugglers , fences , black marketeers , and " businessmen " on the shady side of commerce . Collectively , her worshipers were known as Waukeenar . Description . Waukeen was portrayed as a slender , young woman with long , lustrous golden hair ; always splendidly dressed . Some depictions included a pair of golden lions resting at her feet . Her avatar was 10 ft ( 3 m ) tall and typically had eyes that appeared as solid gold . She wore a gown woven from strips of precious metals polished to a gleaming finish and sprinkled with all manner of . Her sash was of spun gold and her cloak was a lattice of gold coins . On her feet were boots of laced pearls with gold soles . On occasions where subtlety was more appropriate , the Golden Lady sometimes manifested as a sprouting of daffodils to give a sign of favor , hope , or inspiration . Often she would provide money in unexpected places , like a coin , face - up , to indicate the correct path at an intersection , or nuggets of gold , citrine s , pyrite ( also known as — perhaps as a sign of disfavor ) . Slightly less subtle was a pair of golden eyes observing from a curtain of impenetrable darkness ; or a large stack of gold coins that writhed like a snake , flying or wrapping itself around something or someone to which she wanted to draw attention before it shattered and scattered , often causing a scramble to collect them . All such tokens from the goddess were highly valued by Waukeenar as " divine essence of the goddess " . When more interaction or aid was needed she could send creatures such as golden - colored cat s , lock lurker s , golden lion s , palomino horse s , eagle s ( preferably golden ones ) , or extraplanar creatures such as ferrumach s and plumach s from the Outlands . Personality . Waukeen was an active and enthusiastic deity who enjoyed the ebb and flow of goods via commerce and the rapid pace of business in a thriving marketplace full of spirited bargaining — so much so that rumors of her presence at particularly intense negotiations involving one of her worshipers became legendary . Her side always got the best bargain , but the other party usually walked away also feeling satisfied about the terms of the deal . Waukeen was driven to accomplish a goal and move on to the next one and , rather than being frustrated when the usual business practices failed to work out a solution , she was willing to try alternate methods . This manifested itself in her church sometimes allowing the ends to justify the means . Her stubbornness and dogged persistence occasionally got her in predicaments and likely led to her imprisonment during the Time of Troubles . Abilities . Although her avatar was not seen during the Godswar , sightings before that time reported that she cast spells as both a wizard and a cleric , choosing spells from any school or sphere . Her weapon of choice was a pummeling stream of gold coins that emitted from either hand ( the coins did not disappear , so they could also be given as a boon ) . The coin cloud acted like a " + 5 impact evil outsider bane nunchaku " . In addition , she could either spit molten gold up to 6 ft ( 1 . 8 m ) or call down a " flame strike " that resembled a conflagration wrapped in a rotating helix of gold coins ( which did disappear afterward ) on any creature within 200 ft ( 61 m ) . Rather than fly she chose to walk on air , levitating and appearing to take strides as she moved . After her return from imprisonment in the Abyss she was known to have added rogue skills to her avatar while still being a formidable cleric and wizard . She could extend her senses seven miles ( 11 . 3 km ) or perceive anything within seven miles of her temples , holy sites , worshipers , or objects , or anywhere her name or one of her titles had been spoken within the previous hour . Her awareness extended to include any business deal , contract , exchange , sale , theft , or destruction of a merchant ' s property that impacted at least five hundred people in scope . History . Waukeen was a relatively late addition to the Faerûnian pantheon , joining sometime after Tyr who first appeared in - 247 DR . Her popularity grew with the expansion of trade and the thriving merchant class across the Realms where the combination of generosity , risk taking , and shrewd business sense made her church enviably wealthy and widely admired . Then came the Time of Troubles , when she nearly lost her admirers , her church , her divinity , her freedom , and her life . When Lord Ao cast nearly all the Faerûnian deities into mortal avatar form and scattered them across the surface of Toril , Waukeen was among them , and like the majority of the fallen gods , wanted most to return home ( and the sooner she could reclaim her realm and marshal her resources , the quicker she could influence unfolding events in her favor ) . As luck would have it , the first being she met was the avatar of Lliira and the two goddesses decided to stick together while they worked out a plan of action . The Golden Lady first advocated a straightforward approach : to climb the Celestial Stairway from its landing in Shadowdale and bribe Helm with his heart ' s desire to allow the two goddesses back into the Outer planes . Not known for her ambition , Lliira went along with the brash young deity ' s plan . They traveled to Shadowdale and began climbing the Staircase when Helm appeared and threatened them . Alas , nothing that Waukeen or the Lady of Joy offered Helm could entice the God of Guardians to shirk his duty , so they retreated to the Cormanthor forest rather than face his wrath . Being intimately familiar with illicit trade as well as legitimate commerce , Waukeen decided to smuggle herself back to the Outlands by way of the Astral plane and a circuitous route through the Lower Planes by making deals , calling in favors , and bribery . By doing so , she hoped to avoid detection by Ao ' s servants and sneak back into her realm . Through a twisted chain of contacts she managed to call in a favor from Celestian , the God of Wanderers from the sphere of Oerth . He agreed to transport her to the Astral plane as payment for the debt , but would not go so far as to include Lliira in the bargain , for fear of the added risk . When it came time to complete the deal however , he found that he could not budge her off her Prime Material Plane — Lord Ao had bound the Faerûnian gods to Toril with an unbreakable bond . Out of options , Waukeen gambled that it was her divinity that was tied to the plane and not the vessel carrying it , so Lliira graciously agreed to hold Waukeen ' s power and portfolio in stewardship until Waukeen could reclaim it . Once the transferal of her divinity to Lliira was complete , Waukeen became an ordinary human woman , but still armed with an extraordinary body of knowledge and formidable spellcasting powers . Celestian was then able to shift her into the Astral plane for the next leg of her journey . Once free of Toril , Waukeen contacted some minions of an extremely powerful Abyssal lord named Graz ' zt and negotiated ( or had previously arranged for ) safe passage through the Abyss to the Outlands . In return , Graz ' zt was to receive the location of a number of secret treasure hoards on Toril and across the planes , and even more useful information about the financial dealings of Graz ' zt ' s rival demon lords — information that could give him an advantage in the eternal Blood War between the demons and the devil s . The Merchant ' s Friend was escorted to the Dark Prince ' s vast realm Azzagrat , which spanned the 45th , 46th , and 47th layers of the Abyss , to the sprawling city of Zelatar , and finally to the sixty - six ivory towers of the Argent Palace ; Graz ' zt ' s seat of power . Graz ' zt of course never planned on honoring the deal struck with Waukeen . Once she arrived in the heart of his realm he had no trouble detaining the mortal form of the Golden Lady and told her she would be his " guest " while they renegotiated the deal previously agreed upon , knowing full well she would not alter a closed contract . This manufactured impasse gave the Dark Prince time to work on his master plan : to find a way for his daughter Thraxxia to possess , control , or impersonate Waukeen well enough to fool the gods and elevate Thraxxia to be the new goddess of wealth . Until his plan came to fruition , Graz ' zt had to keep Waukeen alive and under his control . He knew it was only a matter of time before her worshipers discovered her whereabouts and sent out rescue parties , so he began moving her back and forth between the Argent Palace and the city of Samora where his trusted servant , the succubus Maretta , Lady of the Counting - House , lived . The truth was that most of the heavily guarded and slow moving caravans were decoys designed to lure potential rescuers out into the open and be destroyed . But on one occasion Waukeen managed to bribe a guard and escape into the Viper Forest called Zrintor , only to be recaptured later by a search party that could not be bribed into assisting her ; they had witnessed the fate of the traitorous demon at the hands of Graz ' zt and their fear outweighed their greed . Luck was apparently on the side of the demon lord because no one , not even Lliira , knew what happened to Waukeen after she disappeared into the Abyss . All attempts at divination failed to reveal anything clear or useful . When the Godswar ended in the autumn of 1358 DR , all other faiths resumed getting upper - level spells from their deity , but not the Waukeenar . They continued to be limited to first - and second - level spells and received no inkling of guidance from the Golden Lady . By 1365 DR , the church of Waukeen was falling apart and Lliira decided to intervene to save what was left of it or there would have been nothing for the Merchant ' s Friend to return to . She sent her prophet to all of Waukeen ' s temples and announced that she would act as regent for Waukeen ' s portfolio and answer prayers for spells . Many of the distraught Waukeenar interpreted this to mean that their goddess was truly dead . It was twelve long years after the Godswar before the fevered dreams of Halanna Jashire , a promising young priestess of Waukeen stationed in the Goldspires temple in Athkatla , the capital of Amn , gave hope to the anguished members of the Golden Lady ' s church that their missing deity was alive and being held by the Abyssal lord Graz ' zt . A daring band of adventurers set out climbing the Celestial Staircase , made it to the Abyss , and heroically rescued Waukeen from numerous minions of Graz ' zt , returning her via the Staircase to her realm in the Outlands . When she finally strode down a lane between the tents and stalls of the sprawling open - air market that was her House of Barter , the cacophony of commerce fell silent as they slowly realized who walked among them . In front of her golden palace , Waukeen was joyfully met by her seneschal , a gynosphinx named Keelira , who proclaimed the return of the Goddess of Wealth in a voice like thunder as the crowd erupted in ecstatic celebration . Keelira was sent to fetch Lliira , and soon the Mistress of the Revels returned Waukeen ' s mantle of divinity . And there was much rejoicing . On the 24th of Nightal , 1370 DR , the Golden Lady revealed to her church and all of Faerûn that she had returned from her long absence , and that date became yet another festival celebrated by the worshipers of Waukeen . After the exuberance of the celebrations died down , there began a period of recovery for the church of Waukeen . During her long absence , referred to as the Interdeium of Waukeen , the church suffered an alarming amount of attrition and had to be built back up . Not one to avoid hard work , Waukeen set about revitalizing her faithful and combating the wild rumors and speculation that her disappearance and unusual return had generated , including the belief that she was dead . One of the most damaging allegations was known as the Harlot ' s Coin Heresy inculcated by the League of Six - Fingered Gentlemen , a group that had insinuated itself into the church hierarchy . Their doctrine was that Waukeen had traded or sold much of her divine power to Graz ' zt and that she was now just a figurehead . Relationships . Waukeen ' s closest ally was Lliira , who was the trustee of Waukeen ' s portfolio while she made her ill - fated attempt to get back to her realm in the Outlands during the Time of Troubles . However , when Lliira started answering the prayers of Waukeen ' s followers during her long incarceration , many of the Waukeenar assumed their goddess was dead and switched allegiances and rededicated their temples to Lliira . After Waukeen returned to power , she was jealous and upset that so many of her faithful did not return to her service , and this slightly soured the friendship between the two goddesses . The Golden Lady was one of the first to support Gond and his inventions over the doubts of most other deities . Shaundakul was also an ally of the Merchant ' s Friend as his portfolio touched hers in areas such as long - range traders , and caravans . Waukeen had no real enemies among the pantheon except Mask , the Master of All Thieves , because larceny is bad for business . She naturally had an unending hatred and thirst for revenge against the demon lord Graz ' zt who broke a deal , took advantage of her weakened state , and held her captive during the Avatar Crisis . The Church . Ornate temples to the glory of the Golden Lady were usually found in centers of commerce from Tashalar in the south , up through Amn , all around the Sea of Fallen Stars ( Chessenta , Cormyr , Sembia , the Vast , Impiltur ) and over to Thesk on the Golden Way . Her clerics and other worshipers traveled the trade routes aiding merchants and caravans or worked in the opulent temples as hosts for wealthy donors , moneylenders , currency exchangers , venture capitalists , warehousers , fences ( covertly , of course ) and , most importantly , security guards . Harlot ' s Coin Heresy . This heretical schism of Waukeen ' s faith taught that Waukeen had gradually sold off pieces of her divinity and virtue to Graz ' zt in order to finance her church . They believed that it was for failing to pay her debts to him that Graz ' zt imprisoned her during the Time of Troubles . These heretics taught that Waukeen earned her freedom only because she finally paid her debt to the demon , resulting in Graz ' zt owning the majority of Waukeen ' s godhood . The heretics therefore believed that all who worshiped Waukeen were really worshiping Graz ' zt instead , and they were content with that arrangement . Realm . According to the Great Wheel cosmology model , Waukeen ' s home was on the neutral plane of Concordant Opposition , also known as the Outlands , in a shared realm called the Marketplace Eternal — a huge bazaar that covered many square miles / kilometers . The Marketplace Eternal was divided into four quarters and Waukeen ' s quarter was called the House of Barter . Somewhere in the midst of her quarter Waukeen had an opulent golden palace that contained a portal to Lliira ' s realm in Brightwater on the plane of Arborea . Shortly after Waukeen ' s return to power , the World Tree cosmology model came into favor and Brightwater was described as its own plane with the Marketplace Eternal as the center of the populated region , and Waukeen its sole owner . Surrounding the Golden Lady ' s demesne were four quarters , divided between Lliira , Tymora , Sune , and Sharess . After the Spellplague , Brightwater was no more and the Marketplace Eternal moved to the plane of Eternal Sun where it sprawled around Amaunator ' s Palace of the Four Suns . Appendix . Notes . Creative origins . Waukeen was created by one of Jeff Grubb ' s players , and added to the Forgotten Realms by Grubb . She was named after the .