Ruonditai

**Ruonditai** (archaic Heronoi: "Rainbow") is the Heronoi goddess of archery, combat, courage, and rainbows.

## History

She was the consort of Gororijo, the god of forests. Together, they had several children: Arinno, Goroxo, Wetijo, Tosron, Hadeto, and Runitai. All of them except Hadeto are girls, with Hadeto as their only son, and all of them except Runitai are gods of directions. Nonetheless, Runitai is their favourite child in spite of her younger age.

In later times, Gororijo and Ruonditai adopted the pumpkin wight Ráwaruta, and raised him to be a guardian and a gift-bringer at autumn.

She is served by tens upon thousands of *runitai*, fairies who became her warriors and armies.

## Appearance

Ruonditai is depicted as a tall woman clad in silver armour or a white dress, aiming an arrow with her bow. She is depicted either with blue hair or with long rainbow hair: the blue hair became more popular among women who worshipped her.

Pictures of her usually have the Full Moon as her halo, and a rainbow around her figure.

## Worship

Ruonditai became popular among women, who venerated her to improve their skills in ranged and melee combat or to overcome their enemies. Women and girls who dedicated themselves to this goddess, or who were given to the goddess, had their hair dyed in blue.

Younger women and girls began their training by worshipping her daughter Runitai the Younger (Runitai Arariwasa).

Blue-haired women are considered in Heronoi culture to be ideal friends. They are also seen as ideal wives and mothers, as their children will become strong. On the other hand, many Heronoi females like to dye their hair blue because they wanted to hang around with friends and mentors.

Men sometimes worshipped her to improve their shots, but they are mocked as effeminate.

The sighting of a moonbow (a rainbow caused by moonlight) is considered a very auspicious sign, for it indicates that Ruonditai has blessed someone.

### The Hues

In Heronoi tradition, people used to dye their hair to devote themselves to a specific god. The sect of Ruonditai is one of several traditions.

* soratusa - the blue-haired, devotees of Ruonditai and sky gods. Mostly female.
* ókattig'a - the purple-haired, devotees of Áru the sea god and other weath deities.
* rókhoro - the red-haired, devotees of Íro the fire god. Mostly male.
* ómuri - the orange-haired, devotees of various goddesses. Mostly female.
* kurykaze - the "yellows", devotees to various greater deities. Because they are represented by yellow, their obvious blonde hair is enough to show their devotion, so they are forbidden from dyeing their hair except when acting.
* g'amanöreja - the green-haired, devotees to nature deities.

Because the kurykaze consisted of devotees to more prominent deities in the Heronoi religion, they are required to keep their hair blonde. They are forbidden from colouring their hair, unless if they act as characters. To differentiate them and show their devotion, they wear different colours for their clothes.

* wanaxawōrejo - guardians of the king. Gold-blue clothing.
* dwaxarajo - guardians of the moon god Heros. White-blue clothing.
* arijanoreza - guardians of Arija, the goddess of truth. Gold-white clothing.

## Trivia

* Ruonditai may be inspired by Diana, Artemis, and Rainbow Dash. She was also inspired by the stereotype of blue haired women being seen as "communists", even if they are not.
	+ One of three archetypes of American characters in the author's works is the "millennial", represented by an angry woman with pink or blue hair. That was part of the inspiration for Wiresa and Ruonditai, and the Heronoi love of blue hair.
* Ruonditai became Wiresa's patron goddess, after she learned to overcome the witches in her nightmares who tried to steal her soul.
* Vozonids often avoided Ruonditai because of her association with rainbows. In Vozonid culture, rainbows are considered inauspicious signs of Chaos.
* When Heronoja was first founded, its people were accused by the Rannariskar and Reorganisation War empires of being "communists", because its women practiced dyeing their hair blue to worship the goddess. When the communists *did* try to invite them, or attempted to start a militia to make the kingdom into a communist vassal, the Heronoi people rejected and expelled them from their homeland.
* Afterwards, they used a stereotypical blue-haired woman from Terran legends into a folklore character, as a very rude and irritable woman. In spite of this, some Heronoi artists made her more sympathetic, such as making her become friendly after several new friends changed her, or becoming a Robin Hood-esque heroine for little girls.
	+ In the other hemisphere at Bujan, Ontemazei women and girls make caricatures of American raiders, who are depicted as monsters and demons. By turning the monsters into beautiful princesses in splendid dresses, they laugh at the raiders' infuriated spirits from the world of the living, symbolising the defeat of the invaders by wearing their costumes. The Ontemazei especially love pink-haired characters.
	+ Ironically, some American visitors even tried out those costumes and joined in the celebrations, because they thought that those costumes were cute, funny, or just plainly creative.

## See also

* Bujoxe
* Heronoi mythology
* Mithura
* Lurisha