Sunnis
Sunnis, Princess of Good Earth Creatures and Good Elemental Earth, is one of the four Princes of Elemental Good, a band of benevolent Archomentals introduced in Dungeons & Dragons to counter the machinations of the older, more iconic Princes of Elemental Evil: Cryonax, Imix, Ogremoch, Olhydra and Yan-C-Bin.
Unfortunately, the Princes of Elemental Good have never really had the traction of their more malevolent counterparts, in one part because DMs rarely have as much use for goodly monsters as they do for malign ones (evil parties are, after all, the rarity in D&D) and in another part because they really exemplify the complaints many D&D fans make of Planescape relying a little too heavily on grid-filling. Then again, that's a pretty dumb reason, since 1)it's never stopped the metallic dragons from always turning up alongside the chromatics, 2) dragons and archomentals both make for decent questgivers anyway, and 3)complaining about grid-filling in D&D doesn't make much sense when grid-filling is build into the very lore and metaphysical structure of the Great Wheel.
2nd Edition
With the form of a tall, muscular woman whose features were chiseled out of stone, the Neutral Good Archomental of Earth, Sunnis, is a true power to be respected on her plane.
Though she lacks the interest in power possessed by her hated enemy Ogremoch, she still possesses a fortress to call her own in the Sandfall - a cavern underneath a perpetually falling column of sand, which drains away into a seemingly bottomless pit not far from her stronghold.
Of all the Goodly Archomentals, Sunnis is the one who is most bitterly opposed to her planar neighbor. There are rumors she seeks to lay a trap for Ogremoch and imprison him in that pit, but such a tale is regarded as far-fetched.
Sunnis starred alongside her fellow Archomentals in the Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix 3.
3rd Edition
As with Chan, Sunnis' lore in 3e is mostly an expansion of her lore from 2e.
This gentle archomental leads an existence of quiet contemplation, doting over her many servants and followers as cherished children. Whilst she spends much of her time in the Sandfall, a fortress built within a large cavern shaped like the bottom half of an hourglass, with a great column of sand endlessly falling into the chamber only to drain away in a bottomless pit, she works hard to oppose the ministrations of evil. She is renowned for both her inner and her outer beauty, and has attracted many suitors, but remains stoic to all their advances.
Of all the goodly archomentals, Sunnis may have the largest array of followers. Aside from the expected elementals and their variants, including oreads and earth mephits, her subjects include dwarves, gnomes, gulgars, earth genasi, stonechildren, and hammer archons. She also has strong alliances with the deities of the dwarven and gnomish pantheons, as well as Skoreaus Stonebones, the patron god of the stone giants.
She needs the help. Sunnis tirelessly battles against the dao, viewing them as brutal and heartless taskmasters who are undeserving of the wealth they so callously spend lives to acquire. She battles rival archomentals in Crystalle, of the Plane of Mineral, and Alu Kahn Sang, the Wind of Destruction, from Dust. The Demon Princes Ugudenk and Zuggtmoy are both ancient enemies of hers, as is the Arch-Devil Dispater.
But her truest hate is reserved for her rival, Ogremoch. The Plane of Earth shall know no peace until one or the other is destroyed. Even during the ancient War of Chaos and Law, in which Sunnis alone amongst her compatriots of the Goodly Archomentals fought on the side of Law throughout the entire war, the two opposed each other. It was Sunnis who prevented Ogremoch from interfering in a crucial battle, allowing the Rod of Seven Parts to be used to defeat Miska the Wolf-Spider.
Stories also claim that Sunnis once did battle against the Tarrasque, and that it was her use of a powerful artifact called the Sands of Slumber that forced the beast into its present cycle of prolonged dormancy.
Known as the True Stone and as Lode Mother, Sunnis' symbol is an hourglass with sand trickling into the bottom bulb.
Sunnis featured alongside her fellow Goodly Archomentals in Dragon Magazine #353.
4th Edition
Mentioned alongside all of the iconic Archomentals in 4e's Heroes of the Elemental Chaos, the Sunnis of the World Axis is essentialy a compilation of her best traits from past editions. She is still a beautiful, powerfully built woman of living stone who is loved for her compassion and gentleness towards her followers, and who works tirelessly to fight the forces of evil - most notably, her hated rival Ogremoch.
| The Archomentals of Dungeons & Dragons | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elements | Air | Water | Earth | Fire | Ice |
| Good Archomentals | Chan | Ben-Hadar | Sunnis | Zaaman Rul | |
| Evil Archomentals | Yan-C-Bin | Olhydra | Ogremoch | Imix | Cryonax |