#tsukiyo

left are rachel and zack (AoD); right are benitengutake and tsukiyotake (DDMM)

the parallels between these two... girl who wants to die being kept alive by a man who wants to kill her vs man who wants to die being kept alive by a girl who wants to kill him…

Friendly reminder that Pathfinder 2e canonically allows you to become Sailor Moon.

And so we end off this week with one last deity, one drawn from the distant continent of Tien Xia, and honestly one of the best depictions of mental illness and neurodivergence in the setting, one which has a lot of villainous deities that literally demonize insanity. Because they’re demons.

We’ll have to talk about how to unpack and improve that some other time though, because today we’re talking about Tsukiyo, god of the moon, husband of the sun goddess Shizuru, and a deity that has died once. (He got better).

The story goes that long ago, Tsukiyo and Shizuru were happily married, but his brother, Fumiyoshi, was bitterly jealous of their happiness and eventually became so angry that he murdered his brother over it. Shizuru was as furious she was distraught, and while her tears and his blood mingled (creating the first jade, according to myth), Shizuru contracted the aid of the god of medicine, Qi Zhong, as well as Yaezhing, to return Tsukiyo to life and punish Fumiyoshi respectively, which they both succeeded in doing, returning Tsukiyo to life, alive, but changed, while his brother was bound into Tsukiyo’s tomb, doomed to forever envy as the undead envy the living.

However, while he was alive, Tsukiyo was different, distant. He still loved Shizuru the same, but the changes to his mind required him to be often alone, away from her, a handy parallel to how the sun and the moon rarely are seen together, save for during solar eclipses. All of which makes also for a lovely metaphor for mental illness, and chronic conditions, where sometimes one has good days, and other times very bad days.

Thus, Tsukiyo is not just the god of the moon, but also a patron for the mentally ill and other peoples that are estranged from society for their differences, and of course, of spirits both natural and those bound by their pain.

Tsukiyo is typically depicted as a man of Tian-Min descent with ghostly pale skin and hair to match, typically wearing a vibrant green and gold outfit, and wielding a single-ended monk spade with a crescent blade.

His realm is also located in Heaven, likely shared with or neighboring his wife’s. The specifics have not been given, but the tragic idea that he lives in the same Palace of the Eightfold Mirror, but is active during the night while Shizuru is only active during the day, only ever seeing glimpses of each other save for when solar eclipses occur on Golarion, is too poetic to not assume.

Tsukiyo counts many as his followers, particularly those estranged from the rest of society by a variety of factors that they cannot help. Additionally, he is considered the patron deity of samsarans due to his status as a being that has returned from death as they do every reincarnation. Additionally, those who work to help lay the unquiet dead to rest, or those that seek communion with spirits, also call upon him.

The Prince of the Moon is deeply in love with his beloved Shizuru, though the distance between them pains them both. They even have a daughter of sorts in the form of the unique star archon currently going by Dusk Ronin, though she was banished by her mother after she struck Tsukiyo in frustration, blaming him for the stresses his distance caused. It can be assumed that Tsukiyo has a friendly relationship with his healer, Qi Zhong. Meanwhile, his greatest enemy is his brother Fumiyoshi, whose envy and hatred has not cooled. It is not known if Tsukiyo has any specific feelings toward Lao Shu Po, the rat goddess who ascended to divinity upon feeding on his corpse as a mortal rat, but one can assume their relationship is not friendly.

Beyond his home pantheon, Tsukiyo is likely friendly with goodly deities that offer understanding and kindness to those who are different, and an enemy of wicked deities, especially those that try and use mental illness and cruelty to twist mortals into acting like monsters when they should instead seek help.

Tsukiyo is presumably served by archons and angels alike, though he also has some unique servants as well. In addition to his exiled daughter Dusk Ronin, he also can count on Kihyo, a unique phoenix of cold rather than flame, and his herald, the Lady of the Green Crescent, who is a unique jade-bodied emperor kirin with the features of a hare who was in fact originally a cowardly hare who overcame her fear to approach and guard his body when it crashed to earth, uplifted by the compassionate Tsukiyo as thanks after he returned to life.

The Prince of the Moon grants the domains of Darkness, Good, Law, Madness, and Repose, with the subdomains of Ancestors, Archon (by way of Good or Law), Insanity, Moon, Night, and Souls. All of which reflects his role as the god of the moon, of the transition between life and death, and a guardian of the mentally ill.

Meanwhile, his domains in Second Edition are disorientation, moon, repose, and soul (with the potential alternate domain of change), which also reflect much the same.

The base obedience of Tsukiyo is best performed at night, as one must either spend time contemplating the moon and how it’s constant changes to your current experiences, or barring that, meditating with a jade amulet on a relevant parable. The reward for doing so is protection against erratic behavior and effects that would erode the stability of one’s mind.

For his evangelists, they draw upon powers that reflect his nature as guardian of those whose minds defy the norm. The spells granted include those that disorient foes either by causing erratic behavior or by warding them in darkness or by flickering between the material and ethereal worlds. Additionally, they learn to affect the executive dysfunction of multiple foes at once, and later, the ability to trap others in a maze, one that soothes and heals the mind if one chooses to wander and meditate within, but turns hostile and soul-sapping if one struggles against it.

The exalted instead draw upon Tsukiyo as the prince of the moon and it’s protection. Their spells include those that hide them from undead sight, soothe the emotions of the distraught, and sending forth a messenger in the form of a ghostly beckoning hand. From there, they gain the ability to project a soft glow that soothes and negates the effects of an unquiet and unstable mind. Finally, they can summon forth a lesser reflection of Lady of the Green Crescent to fight for them.

Sentinels, meanwhile, evoke his aspect as guardian of souls and spirits, protecting the living and the dead as well as helping lay the undead to rest. Their spells turn simple stones into undead-slaying projectiles, conjure other stone projectiles, and blast foes with beams of searing moonlight. They then gain the ability to smite evil while turning their weapon or armor into jade, the former becoming lethal to the undead, while the latter protects the wearer from undead assault. Finally, sentinels learn to invoke Tsukiyo’s miraculous return from death, able to bring back the recently dead if they reach them fast enough, and even revive themselves the same way, albeit only once a week.

I don’t believe that Tsukiyo has been mentioned in Starfinder properly, but he is among the deities listed in Starfinder Nexus, which suggests maybe he’ll be making a return in 2e. Regardless of if that is the case, Tsukiyo likely remains a guardian of the mentally ill and of spirits and souls, even if the moon he was associated with is long gone.

Somewhere in the deep, deep forest, Tamagotake, an orphaned mushroom fairy, is out for revenge on the poison mushroom fairy Tsukiyotake for killing her parents. In the expansive sea of trees where  life and death intersect, can the young Tamago take revenge on the  hated Tsukiyo? An unprecedented mushroom suspense begins.

Contigo quiere que estés en un día tan relajante de playa por parte de Tsukiyo