Silvanus

Silvanus (a.k.a. Protector of the Wood)

Silvanus is the god of the woods, animals, and hunting among the Seldarine.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Silvanus' origin predates the Age of Fables, born in the realm of the Feywild. A changeling whose birth name has been lost to history, Silvanus grew up in one of many secluded changeling communities that lived in the Feywild before the Great Exodus. A skilled hunter and charismatic leader, Silvanus' influence among his kind caught the attention of the Court of the Shadow Glen, who feared the changeling's innate transformative abilities and burgeoning druidic magic. When the portal to the Prime Material Plane was opened, Silvanus gathered his followers, who had begun calling themselves the Sil'korunai, and fled to Divostra to escape persecution.
Silvanus was present at the shattering of Turvandil, where the dying Corellon entrusted the archdruid with safeguarding one of its five shards. He led the Sil'korunai on their centuries-long pilgrimage across Divostra, until eventually the Sil'korunai found permanent refuge with the firbolgs of the Rustwood.
When the Hill Giants began attacking firbolg settlements in the Titanomachy, Silvanus led a diplomatic envoy to the gnomish kingdom of Gondril. He implored the gnomish king to lend aid to the Sil'korunai and Rustwood firbolgs, but the gnomes were hesitant to get involved in the war against their titan creators. Amidst the protestations of his retinue, Silvanus offered the shard of Turvandil in exchange for assistance. The king accepted the exchange, recognizing the power held within the fragment of the Fey Queen's scepter. The combined forces of Gondril, the Sil'korunai and the firbolgs were able to push the Hill Giants back into the Manital Mountains, the conflict ending with the capture of Tommerhold.
However, upon returning to the Rustwood, Silvanus was brought before his druidic council, furious that he had given up the shard that had been entrusted to the Sil'korunai. He was exiled from the Rustwood and returned to Gondril, disguised as a gnomish merchant. Over the next hundred years, the changeling lived in the kingdom undetected, watching as Gondril fell into civil war with gnomish aristocrats fighting over the shard Turvandil he had gifted to the gnomish king. When the war effort threatened to spill out into the Rustwood, Silvanus took it upon himself to locate the shard of Turvandil and steal it.
Silvanus brought the shard back to the druidic council in Tommerhold, begging for forgiveness and imploring them to hide the shard deep in the Rustwood, where its corrupting power could be contained. In the midst of the meeting, Gondril soldiers attacked the druidic encampment and Silvanus leapt to the aid of his former clan. In the ensuing combat, he squared off against a gnomish commander who eventually revealed himself to be an archfiend named Glasya'labolas. The Gondril soldiers and Sil'korunai watched the fiend attempt to strike down Silvanus, but his weapon struck the shard of Turvandil, causing a flash of light that enveloped both combatants. As the light faded, the onlookers witnessed a tall tree had grown where the two had been standing.
The Gondril soldiers, realizing that they had been misled, laid down their arms and left Tommerhold to inform the king of Gondril of the archfiend's deception. The druids of the Sil'korunai constructed a shrine beneath the tree and began to tell stories of the hero Silvanus who saved the world from a devil. The tree became a symbol of worship among the druids and Silvanus' name was passed down for generations.
Centuries passed and the tree grew into a mighty redwood. In the midst of the War of Endless Midnight, Glasya'labolas returned from The Nine Hells and led an army of devils to Tommerhold seeking the shard of Turvandil. The archdruid of the Sil'korunai sat in prayer in a shrine beneath the roots of the tree, seeking guidance in the conflict. As she prayed, the bark of the tree above her split open and the ascended Silvanus stepped out of the opening.

Divine Classification

Ascended God

Religions

• Sil'korunai

Realm

Arvandor

Church/Cult

Seldarine