Wave-Treader

Question: Despite several mentions in the Elohim supplement, Asherah didn't get a write-up, though her city, Elat, did. Though I imagine it's probably because she isn't suitable as a Scion's parent, I was curious as to what your views on her and what her stats might look like are.

This week, I stat all the people.

I seriously considered Asherah as both a playable goddess and a Titan Avatar, but ended up setting her as a goddess who simply isn't participating in the war on either side at the moment. Part of this was due to the realization that she's in an odd and possibly untenable political position as El's wife but a faithful mother to her children, and part of it was due to the realization that she didn't have very many identifiable associated powers but was also clearly too important not to be Legend 12.

Asherah's most obvious associated power would be Water, as "she who walks the waves" has strong links to the ocean. Manipulation also seems like an easy fit based on the myth of her standing up in council and convincing pretty much everybody to resolve their angry Vengeance-fueled vendettas her way instead of by murdering everyone involved. Past that, however, it becomes difficult to ascribe any other associations to her with real confidence. She's described as beautiful in the myth of her marriage to El, so maybe Appearance? She seems to wield some power as Queen of Heaven, so maybe Justice? She's the mother of all the Elohim and has links to fecundity, so maybe Health? Asherah's role is mostly a secondary one to El, so it's hard to pin down what else she might have uniquely done or represented (especially with the glut of angry Biblical scholarship out there!). As far as abilities go, I'd run with Command, Empathy, Medicine, Politics, Presence and Survival.

My intention with Asherah was to give her enough plot hook places that she could be a strong plot element but still allow every Storyteller to make a call on whether she was leaning toward Titanic or remaining on the side of the gods, and exactly where she might fall politically on that spectrum. She was a hard figure to include, but she should definitely be part of any Canaanite-heavy story in some way.

Bonus suggestion: some scholars like the theory that Asherah and Qedesh are the same figure, just filtered through an Egyptian lens in the second case, so you could rule that she had been Fatebound into that new role and was no longer a part of the Canaanite pantheon proper. I think the theory's specious myself and based on pretty sketchy linguistic evidence, but it's an avenue that could be explored in a Scion game for some interesting results.

Second bonus suggestion: if you run Yahweh as a separate god rather than an aspect of El, you can include a shocking hanky-panky scandal based on the mentions of Asherah as Yahweh's consort!