Shallya

Shallya, known as the "White Dove of Mercy" and the "Lady in White," is the goddess of mercy, compassion and healing in the Old World Pantheon. She is one of the family of Classical Gods, the daughter of Morr, the god of the dead and Verena, the goddess of knowledge and justice, and sister to Myrmidia, the goddess of war and strategy.

She is portrayed as a fair, young maiden whose eyes perpetually well with tears for the sufferings of the mortal world. Ever-merciful, she is characterised in myth by an almost naive trust, displayed when Ranald, the god of fortune, tricked her through a romantic entanglement and a claim of a mortal illness caused by Nurgle into allowing him to gain apotheosis as a god, or when Manaan, the god of the sea, trapped her at the bottom of the ocean.

The Old World is a hard place in which to live. Disease, injury, or extended bad fortune can drive a man or woman to the brink of despair, bereft of any hope. These people turn to Shallya, who cries tears that bring the promise of mercy and comfort. To those confined to prison or a sickbed, to people condemned to death or who are dying on or off the battlefield, Shallya and her priestesses and priests -- for a few men serve her order too -- bring peace and forgiveness, and a promise of a better life in the next world.[1a]

The Cult of Shallya has a presence throughout the Old World, and her temples double as hospitals for those too poor to afford a physician's house calls. In the Empire, each of the cities and major towns has a whitewashed temple to Shallya and, even in small towns and villages, the temples and shrines to the other gods will often contain a small chapel dedicated to the Lady in White.