Selune

Selûne also known as Our Lady of Silver, the Moonmaiden, and the Night White Lady, is the goddess of the moon in the Faerûnian pantheon. She holds the portfolios of the moon, stars, navigation, navigators, wanderers, questers, seekers, and non-evil lycanthropes. In the time of ancient Netheril, when she was a greater goddess, she held the portfolios of the moon, moonlight, and stars; beauty and purity; love and marriage; navigation and navigators; tracking, wanderers, and seekers; diviners and dreams; good and neutral lycanthropes; and autumn. Hers is the moon's mysterious power, the heavenly force that governs the world's tides and a mother's reproductive cycles, causes lycanthropes to shift form, and draws one to the brink of madness, and back again. Her nature, appearance, and mood all change in turn with the phases of the moon. Her name is shared by the moon of Astora, Selûne; it is unknown if the moon was named for the goddess or the goddess for the moon. Regardless, most Astoran humans believe the moon to be the goddess herself watching over the world and the lights that trail behind it to be her tears, from both joy and sorrow.

Description

In both her avatars and her religious artwork, Selûne appeared in many forms, like the phases of the moon. One was a dusky-skinned human woman with long limbs; perfect and exquisite beauty; wide, radiant, lime-green eyes; and long, ivory-hued hair that fell to her knees. Another was an ethereal young girl of slender frame, dark eyes, and dark hair, wearing diaphanous robes colored white or resembling dappled moonlight, which trailed her "moondust" or "moon motes". A third was a matronly middle-aged woman, plump yet fair and aging gracefully, with gray-streaked dark hair. This one sometimes lived among mortals; the most notable such avatar was the innkeeper Luna. A simple depiction of the goddess was of a woman's face on the disc of the moon.

She was also ever changing, aging but ageless. If watched over time, her appearance seemed to grow to full radiance or to age and fade away, in keeping with the waxing or waning of the moon. Such changes only affected her external appearance and did not reflect any change in might, at least to mortal eyes. But, over time, she did indeed wax and wane in power and prominence.

In any form or state, whenever she was in darkness, Selûne's avatar continually emanated a faint blue-white glow like moonlight.

Personality

Like the cycles of the moon, Selûne has many and changing moods and natures. Her faithful, coming from many walks of life, view her in countless different ways, and she reflects this. Sometimes she is enthusiastic, vivacious, joyous, and majestic, given to action and dance. At other times, she is subdued, motherly, and almost poetic or tranquil and embracing. Then she is remote and weighed down by sadness at defeats and tragedies, even those that happened long, long ago. Finally, she can be aggressive and fierce, but cold, and with little mercy for her enemies. These shifting personalities make her versatile. Nevertheless, she is viewed as a calm power circa 1489 DR.

Nevertheless, at all times, Selûne is caring and accepting of most beings, and forgiving of most of her followers' faults. She is both ageless and ancient. She is quietly mystical and, as a being of chaos, well used to change. She has a serene and peaceful nature and is slow to anger; she will not fight if she can help it, but nor does she hold back if she must. She is fiercely protective when confronted by evil. The one constant is her eternal conflict with Shar.

She is generous and freely bestows gifts and blessings on mortals. She also makes few demands of her followers. When beseeched by her clergy, she always responds.

Divine Realm

Selûne dwells in a planar realm called the Gates of the Moon. Under the Great Wheel cosmology, her realm stands on the plane of Ysgard, also called Gladsheim. Under the subsequent World Tree cosmology, the Gates of the Moon is considered its own plane. Under the World Axis cosmology, the Gates of the Moon is a dominion in the Astral Sea. In the middle of the Gates of the Moon, Selûne resides in a shining silver hall named Argentil, a place of beauty, quietness, and moonlight.

Activities

She is believed to control the ebb and flow of the tides and to comfort those in need during the night. Her moon shines a light in the darkness, holding evil at bay. She infuses her spirit with the moon, and there eternally watches over the world. Through the moon, she controls the powers of lycanthropes. Lycanthropy is often known by the euphemism \"Selûne's Kiss\"; one so touched is said to be \"kissed by Selûne\".

In the time of Netheril, and later in the Shining Lands under the guise of Lucha, she is believed to guide herders to good pastures, to aid ships lost on the sea and travelers lost in the wilds, to deliver love to those who seek it and bless marriages, to guarantee the safety of births, and to watch over relationships and connections between people. In Netheril, Selûne blesses all things beautiful purely for the sake of their beauty, and grants visions to people who desire them for good purposes.

Avatars of Selûne most often wander the Outer Planes, seeking out magical lore or an advantage to help her destroy Shar once and for all. She is reluctant to manifest avatars in Faerûn, as Shar takes joy in obliterating them there. However, Selûne often provides her priests with temporary powers or spells to help them achieve the missions she gives them.

Selûne is in constant conflict with Shar, her sister and the goddess of darkness. Their war is the eternal drama of the sky, vital to the balance of nature: the dark of the night devouring the light of the moon, before the moon is renewed and the cycle is repeated. In their never-ending struggle across the sky, Selûne is slain by Shar at every new moon. They fight incessantly to undercut the other.

Babes born beneath a full moon often grow up to exhibit magical talent, thanks to Selûne's link with Mystra. Meanwhile, those conceived under moonlight are believed to \"have the moon alive within them\" and expected to turn to the worship of Selûne.

Folk are encouraged to pray to Selûne under moonlight, for she gains real power at such times. Furthermore, she can guide those who meditate under moonlight, even if they do not pray to her.

Worshippers

Selûne and her teachings of compassion and guidance were appealing to all folk who lived their lives by the moonlit night sky, and hence her faithful were a very diverse group. She was followed by those who were lost and those who were questing. Sailors and navigators, who traveled by the stars, often prayed to the Night White Lady to protect them from Umberlee, the Queen of the Depths. Others who labored by night at honest work prayed to her for similar reasons. Some sought her for protection in the dark or from the dark forces of Shar. Lycanthropes, whether those of good heart, neutrality, or a few who relished their condition, honored the Moonmaiden as the mistress of their nature. Astrologers, diviners, fortune-tellers, mystics, and those just curious about the future acknowledged her as a ruler of fate. Female spellcasters revered her, particularly those born during a full moon or who had an interest in divination, and a few dedicated themselves to her. She was also worshiped by illusionists, some sages, and good thieves.

In particular, she was commonly worshiped by human women. They looked to Selûne for guidance, courage, and strength, while couples hoped she would bless them with children when the time was right. In the 14th century DR, the church's ideology of female empowerment made her popular with alewives, laundresses, seamstresses, and servants.

Meanwhile, the church's philosophy of self-reliance and finding one's path made her popular with all kinds of mavericks, eccentrics, and outsiders, such as adventurers and outcasts. She was one of those gods worshiped by non-wicked tieflings of the late 15th century DR.

Even those not dedicated to Selûne would pay their respects to her. For example, a band of adventurers on a night-time raid might make an offering to Selûne for guidance. Most goodly folk paid homage to Selûne during the full moon. Even evil thieves would try to placate her.

In the Shining Lands of Durpar, Estagund, and Var the Golden in southeast Faerûn, Selûne was known as Lucha, She Who Guides. Here, she was seen as part of the Adama, a unifying world spirit that included all gods, the world, and everything. Almost everyone in Durpar worshiped Lucha, in the belief that she personally watched over all marriages performed by her priests, as most marriages in Durpar were. It was also believed she guided traders to the best customers.

The itinerant Gurs of the Western Heartlands followed Selûne, for she was a goddess of wanderers and navigation. They thought of themselves as "children of Selûne".

Dogma

Beliefs

According to Moonsea superstition, one who mocked Selûne while aboard a ship would never complete their voyage. The sailors of Thentia took this very seriously. Furthermore, Thentians saw the whole Moonsea as sacred to the goddess. Another Moonsea legend held that couples who came to Point Moonsea on the first night of Selûne's first day and exchanged their vows would suffer no strife in their marriage.

Moonstones were believed to be sacred to Selûne by her followers. Some folk believed silver to be Selûne's hardened tears. Silver cups were the favored receptacles for milk offerings to Selûne. Heresies

Those who believed in the Dark Moon heresy held that Selûne and Shar were two faces of the same goddess.

By 1489 DR, some tiefling followers of Selûne claimed to have received visions of her in their own image, describing her as the "pale horned goddess of the moon". Such visions were claimed by tieflings of several faiths, such as Tymora's. Though disturbing to mainstream churches, the tieflings argued these visions meant the heart and soul meant more to the gods than appearance and bloodline.

Clergy

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Church_of_Sel%C3%Bbne

Relationships

Selûne counted as her allies fellow deities of the moon, beauty, fortune, joy, light, magic, and weather. Among them were the first Mystra and the second Mystra, who was her greatest ally against Shar since 1358 DR. Eilistraee and Lliira, meanwhile, shared her love of frolicking under the moon. Even after parting ways, Selûne continued to have fully cooperative and amiable relationships with Sune and Lliira both. Selûne respected Lathander for his passion, and hoped they could cooperate to shine light on Shar's dark deeds. Other allies were Sehanine Moonbow, an elven goddess of the moon, whom she worked closely with; fellow gods of travelers and mariners Shaundakul and Valkur; the goddesses of nature Chauntea and Eldath; and Tymora, goddess of luck. She was also allies with Angharradh, Corellon, and Cyrrollalee. Outside the Realms, she was on good terms with Celestian, Hermes, and Soma, gods of other worlds. In the time of Netheril, she was an ally of Mystryl, Jannath, and Tyche. However, Mystryl saw Selûne as smothering and maternal and sometimes rebelled against her well-intentioned wishes.

Her eternal enemy was her sister Shar, goddess of the night, a war that had been waged since before all other Faerûnian gods existed, before time was recorded. They fought constantly in all realms of existence, across the sky at night and in other planes, waged through their mortal followers and their servitor beings, and in person. Selûne labored always to thwart Shar's dark plots. They would never forgive and never forget.

Her other great foes were Mask, for the mischief and wickedness he made in the shadows formed by her moon's light at night; Umberlee, over the fates of ships at sea; and the rotting god Moander. In the time of Netheril, she was opposed to Moander, Kozah, and Targus. However, Targus, god of war, thought Selûne was too beautiful, in soul and self, for him to hate.

The Zakharan deity Selan was a moon goddess who shared a similar name and outlook with Selûne, but had a somewhat different area of interest, namely beauty.[note 2]

She was served specially by the Shards, a band of unique planetars of shining aspect. They usually bestowed mortals with gifts and boons on her behalf. Lesser creatures of similar appearance, called slivers, also acted as her special servants. Selûne sometimes transformed favored petitioners into shards, eladrins, or lillends as a reward for their faithful service in their mortal lives.

Selûne was the mother of Dame Aylin, an aasimar that battled against the forces of the Absolute.

History

Selûne was believed to be one of the oldest deities known in Faerûn. Many legends were told about her, the central one being her conflict with her sister Shar at the beginning of all things. It was told by clerics of Selûne, Shar, and Chauntea, but it was repeated in so many religions in Faerûn it was widely held to be true. Creation

According to one of the most ancient myths of the creation of the world and the heavens, after the universe and its crystal sphere were created by Lord Ao, there was naught but the primordial essence, the protoplasmic raw stuff of existence. Described as chaos and timeless nothingness, the sphere was filled with no more than dim misty shadows, neither light nor dark, for such things had not yet separated. (All that moved here were the shadevari, the thirteen lords of shadow, whose origin, whether from elsewhere or from the shadow itself, is unknown.) In time, Selûne coalesced from the primordial essence, alongside her twin sister, Shar. The goddesses were beautiful, identical but polar opposites, silver-haired and raven-haired, one representing the light, the other the dark in the manner of yin and yang. Yet they were so close they saw themselves as one being, known later as the Two-Faced Goddess or the Sisters-Who-Were-One. They complemented each other and brought order out of the chaos.

Together, they created from the cosmic ether Abeir-Toril and the other heavenly bodies and infused these worlds with life. In the process, they formed the goddess Chauntea (at that time, the embodiment of all matter in Realmspace, later only of the world of Abeir-Toril), whom they worked with to bless the worlds with life. This universe was illuminated by the cool radiant face of Selûne and darkened by the hair and welcoming embrace of Shar. However, there was no fire or heat on any of these bodies. Desiring to nurture life on the worlds that formed her body and limbs, Chauntea asked the Two-Faced Goddess for warmth. Then, for the first time, Selûne and Shar were divided, being of two minds on whether they should let there be more life on the worlds or not. The War of Light and Darkness

The two goddesses then fought over the fate of their creations. From the residues of these struggles emerged the original deities of magic, war, disease, murder, death, and others. Seizing an advantage, Selûne reached out of the universe altogether and into a plane of fire and, though it burned her painfully, brought forth a fragment of ever-living flame. She ignited a heavenly body—the Sun—in order to give warmth to Chauntea.[note 3]



This greatly enraged Shar; she renewed her assault on her injured sister and began to blot out all light and warmth in the universe, or the lights of Selûne, gravely weakening her. Desperate to protect the early life, Selûne tore out some of her own divine essence, though it nearly killed her, and hurled it at her sister. Selûne's essence tore through Shar, bonding with some of Shar's essence and pulling it loose. This magical energy combined to form the goddess Mystryl, the original goddess of magic. Although Mystryl was composed of both light and dark magic, she initially sided with Selûne, her first mother, giving her the upper hand. Mystryl balanced the conflict and mediated an uneasy truce. Shar was cast into her darkness for centuries, enabling light and warmth to bathe Abeir-Toril and the other worlds.

However, the battle left Selûne deeply wounded, and thereafter her power would wax and wane with the ages, though she would gain strength from alliances with her daughters and sons, as well as interloper deities from other planes. Meanwhile, Shar, who'd retained much of her might, once again grew strong, and was aided by the shadevari. Consumed with bitterness and loneliness, she vowed revenge and lurked in the darkness until her time to strike. The war between the sisters would go on forever more, with battles both large and small, obvious and subtle, but life struggled and flourished on the worlds, watched over by Chauntea. The Dawn War

When the primordials began to attack the newly born worlds of Realmspace, Shar and Selûne set aside their differences temporarily and moved to defend those worlds against the threat. Other gods were born from the conflict or were summoned from other universes to aid the native gods in their struggles against the primordials and their servants. This conflict was later known as the Dawn War. In the Time of Netheril

Selûne was worshiped by the Netherese in the ancient empire of Netheril, where she was known as part of the Netherese pantheon, alongside Shar, Mystryl, Jannath (later known as Chauntea), Amaunator, Jergal, Kozah, Moander, Targus, and Tyche. A temple dedicated to Selûne, the Abbey of the Moon, was established in −3847 DR.

In the Year of Sundered Webs, −339 DR, Karsus's Folly triggered the death of Mystryl and caused the cataclysmic Fall of Netheril. The city of Opus was believed to have escaped the destruction visited upon the other Netherese enclaves. It wasn't clear how this happened, but some sources told that Selûne herself saved the city. She did indeed, spiriting the entire city and its citizens into the Gates of the Moon, where it was named Selûnarra. The Dawn Cataclysm

During the divine conflict known as the Dawn Cataclysm, Tyche, the goddess of luck, was covertly corrupted by Moander, the god of decay, whilst on her travels. She returned to her realm and found Selûne, a dear friend, had come to speak with her, as well as the god of the dawn Lathander, Tyche's ex-lover and instigator of the Dawn Cataclysm, and the god of mages, Azuth, who'd come to mediate. However, seeing the rot within Tyche, Selûne began to weep great tears and swiftly struck her with a bolt of light intended to purify her. However, Tyche instead split down the middle, producing first Tymora, the goddess of good luck, and then Beshaba, goddess of bad luck. The twins immediately fell to fighting and were separated only by Selûne, Lathander, and Azuth. In Tymora, Selûne had saved all that was good and pure in Tyche.

Afterward, Selûne grieved the death of Tyche, her close friend and ally. In her weeping, she shed one crystalline tear, which fell to ground as a meteor in the land of Thar. It became a great and sacred artifact, called the Tear of Selûne. The Song of Selûne

A legend titled the Song of Selûne told of her as a youthful goddess, residing in a mystic realm populated by deities. Impulsive and bored of a life of ease, she "borrowed" a wand of power from "her father" and used it to fly away in a bubble of force, so that she might experience life in other realms.[note 4]

In time, she encountered a mysterious and attractive warrior, Imgig Zu, a lord of his people, and was smitten. He persuaded her to use the wand to transport him and his followers to Toril, but once they landed, they revealed themselves as hideous shapechanging monsters bent on conquest and ruin. Imgig Zu seized the wand of power and intended to kill the deceived goddess. Fortunately, a brave young wizard rode to her rescue, causing enough confusion and chaos that Selûne could escape. The goddess, now freed, used her own life force to imprison the monsters inside a pocket dimension within a moonstone, now known as Selûne's Eye.

However, Selûne had weakened herself and sacrificed her immortal youthful vitality and beauty, aging thousands of years. This was a fact she kept hidden from the young wizard. The story had a few alternate endings. In some, Selûne learned her lesson and went back to her home, and brought the young mage with her. In others, Selûne died because of her sacrifice, but was resurrected come the next full moon. Still others told that the young mage loved her, but she rejected his advances because she was no longer young or beautiful.[note 5] Modern History

Selûne had been an independent deity for millennia, but her might waned and in time she came to serve Sune, goddess of love, for several centuries.

In the mid–14th century DR, Selûne aided the god-like cat lords. In late 1340s DR, the conman and thief Conner attempted to rescue the young Vajra Valmeyjar from slavery to Pasha Abon Duum in Manshaka. He failed, but as he lay dying beneath a desert moon, Selûne healed him through divine intervention. He survived, but continually tried and failed to rescue Vajra. At some point in the 1350s DR, known only as a mysterious woman, Selûne appeared to Conner. She foretold certain signs and sent him into the midst of a vicious battle between the old Catlord and the god Malar, the Beastlord, to rescue the kittenlord from Duum's grasp. Conner claimed to be on a mission from a god to protect the child and the Catlord allowed him to carry the child away, and Conner was guided by the foretold signs. Thus Conner became the guardian of the cat lord's heir.

For a long time, Selûne had chosen to live her life as a mortal woman in the city of Waterdeep. Named Luna, she ran the Selûne's Smile inn and tavern in the city. She kept her full divine powers and access to the planes behind a locked door in the inn and kept the Wand of the Four Moons at the House of the Moon, her local temple. Luna hired an older Vajra Valmeyjar, and from the Year of the Prince, 1357 DR onward, she became involved in the adventures of Vajra, Kyriani, Timoth Eyesbright, Onyx the Invincible, and a returned Conner. Among other threats, they dealt with a resurgent Imgig Zu and returned the kittenlord to the Catlord.[note 6]

In the Year of Shadows, 1358 DR, the Time of Troubles came, magic went awry, and the gods were forced to walk the Realms in mortal form. But Selûne was already doing just that as Luna, and remained unaware. Restricting herself to only non-divine powers, she knew no more than her mortal friends, until Onyx reported the appearance of an avatar in Waterdeep—an avatar of Selûne, one who was not Luna. Luna was shaken by the news and was shocked to discover she could no longer access her divine powers. Vajra and Luna went to investigate the other avatar. First, on Luna's instruction, Vajra snuck into the House of the Moon to find the Wand of the Four Moons. When she couldn't find it, Luna began to doubt herself, wondering which of them was the real goddess. They then went to see the false Selûne for themselves. Luna confronted her, the other called her deluded and attacked her with spells and finally used the Wand of the Four Moons to knock Luna out. The temple guards took Luna prisoner, and the false Selûne declared she would drive her mad before killing her.

Her true identity unknown to the clergy, Luna was kept as a prisoner at the House of the Moon, completely under the control of the false Selûne, who used her stolen identity to confuse Luna and make her doubt herself. Over time, she broke her spirit and bent her to her will. Forgetting who she really was, Luna was reinvented as a faithful servant of Selûne and a member of the Lunatics, a fanatic Selûnite order.

She even led a squad of Lunatics against her friends when they came to rescue her. They caught her, thinking she was Shar, but were shocked to find Luna under the mask. At last, Vajra convinced Luna of the truth of her identity, and they realized that the false Selûne was in fact Shar in disguise! The heroes escaped to the ruins of Selûne's Smile, where Shar ambushed them in the darkened guise of Selûne, determined to revenge herself on the heroes and slay Selûne once and for all. Powerless, Luna fell victim to the Rod of Oblivion. Then Timoth and Vajra noticed that the dimensional doorway to Luna's inner room was still present and ajar, even if the physical door and inn were gone. As Kyriani fought Shar as a distraction, Timoth, Vajra, and Onyx opened the door fully, releasing Selûne's godly power. Empowered, Luna transformed into a true avatar of Selûne. Famously, Selûne battled Shar over the streets of Waterdeep. Her light blasted away Shar's darkness, while she reminded her of their unceasing battle and the balance they must uphold, a balance restored by her friends. Shar vanished, and this avatar of Selûne became Luna once more. Recent History

Following the Godswar of 1358 DR, Selûne and Sune parted on good terms and Selûne was free to do as she willed again. Since then, she set out on her own once more, making new alliances in her unending war against Shar, such as with the new Mystra. With her growing faith, theologians of the 1360s DR predicted Selûne would once again be elevated among the gods, possibly within their own lifetimes.

Around 1367 DR, there were frequent stories of people sighting Selûne gliding above the waters of the Moonsea. Meanwhile, sailors defending the goddess's name in tavern brawls saw their blades glow softly with a pale violet light. Her worship flourished in Thentia.

When the city of Zhentil Keep in the Moonsea lands was ruined by the mad god Cyric's actions in the Year of the Banner, 1368 DR, the sacred Tear of Selûne and the Seekers who found it were reported to have been in the city at the time. It was theorized by some theologians that Selûne had engineered this, to ensure the Tear was present during the terrible events, but, if true, her reasons were unknown.

The Spellplague happened in the Year of Blue Fire, 1385 DR. Selûne helped Kepeshkmolik Thymara to aid the other dragonborn survivors from Tymanchebar. She also entrusted Thymara with Nanna-Sin's holy weapon, the Black Axe of the Moon's Champion. When Thymara asked Selûne what she was expecting in return for her help, Selûne only answered that she wanted the dragonborn to thrive on Toril. Thanks to Selûne's help, the dragonborn survivors were able to gather and found the city-citadel of Djerad Thymar.

After the Spellplague, Selûne became a popular deity across Faerûn, as her priesthood made pilgrimages to every corner of the continent, wanting to bring hope to people in those desperate times.

Selune

Intermediate deity

Basic Information

Titles

Our Lady of Silver
The Moonmaiden
The Night White Lady
She Who Guides
Selûne Moonmother

Adjectives

Selûnite

Pantheons

Astoran
Netherese

Attributes

Alignment

Chaotic Good

Symbol

Pair of female eyes surrounded by seven silver stars

Realm

Heroic Domains of Ysgard/Ysgard/Gates of the Moon/Argentil

Portfolio

Moon, Stars, Navigation, Navigators, Non-Evil Lycanthropes, Questers, Wanderers

Favored Weapon

Rod of Four Moons (heavy mace)

Following

Worshippers

Female spellcasters
Good and neutral lycanthropes
Navigators
Sun Soul monks
Sailors

Alignments

NG, CN, CN

Domains

Animal (Fur)
Darkness (Moon, Night)
Good (-)
Travel (Exploration, Trade)

Favored Aspects

Animals/Plants

Owls

Monsters

Song dragons
Weredragons
Good lycanthropes
Shapechangers
Shards

Minerals

Moonstone

Colors

Blue
Silver