Diana
| Religion in NetHack |
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In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, Diana is the chaotic goddess for the pantheon of Rangers that are not gnomish, elven or drow.
Description
Diana is a chaotic god of holy holiness, and her minions consist of naiads, oreads, earth elementals, water elementals, and titans. Her crowning gift is Moonbeam, a chaotic Ranger-favoring intelligent artifact whose base item is a set of 20 silver arrows: Moonbeams have +1d10 to-hit and double damage bonuses, and are permanently covered in sleep-inducing poison, and grant drain resistance while carried. They are never lost when thrown or fired, petrify trolls (except for Olog-hai and wood trolls) and vaporize gremlins on hit, and will automatically return to the hero's quiver after being fired on a cooldown of rnz(20).
Origin
Diana is a goddess in Roman and Hellenistic religion who is primarily considered a patroness of the countryside and nature, hunters, wildlife, childbirth, crossroads, the night, and the Moon. She is equated with the Greek goddess Artemis, and absorbed much of Artemis' mythology early in Roman history, including a birth on the island of Delos to parents Jupiter and Latona, and a twin brother, Apollo; in Italy, she had an independent origin. Diana is considered a virgin goddess and protector of childbirth.
By the 3rd century CE, after Greek influence had a profound impact on Roman religion, Diana had been almost fully combined with Artemis and took on many of her attributes, both in her spiritual domains and in the description of her appearance. The Roman poet Nemesianus wrote a typical description of Diana: She carried a bow and a quiver full of golden arrows, wore a golden cloak, purple half-boots, and a belt with a jeweled buckle to hold her tunic together, and wore her hair gathered in a ribbon. Her association with the moon and the night is likely the basis for Moonbeam in dNetHack and its variants, including their base item of silver arrows as opposed to golden arrows.
