Selune
Our Lady of Silver, The Moomaiden, The Night White Lady, The Night White Lady
Selûne, also known as Our Lady of Silver, the Moonmaiden, and the Night White Lady, was the goddess of the moon in the Edarmyrnian pantheon. In the 15th century, she held the portfolios of the moon, stars, navigation, navigators, wanderers, questers, seekers, and non-evil lycanthropes. In the time of ancient Kasetia, 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 was the moon's mysterious power, the heavenly force that governed the world's tides and a mother's reproductive cycles, caused lycanthropes to shift form, and drew one to the brink of madness, and back again. Her nature, appearance, and mood all changed in turn with the phases of the moon. Regardless, most humans believed the moon to be the goddess herself watching over the world and the lights that trailed behind it to be her tears, from both joy and sorrow.
Selûne was believed to be one of the oldest deities known over the world. 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 Edarmyrnian it was widely held to be true. 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 The Overgod, 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 Edarmyrni 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 Edarmyrni), 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 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. 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 Edarmyrni 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. 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 Year of Sundered Webs, −339 DR, Karsus's Folly triggered the death of Mystryl and caused the cataclysmic Munthrek Disaster. The city of Enaveirveiro was believed to have escaped the destruction visited upon the other Munthrekian 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. 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 Muacaaxica Islands. It became a great and sacred artifact, called the Tear of SeluneSelûne 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 lead-up to the Mortalbound Period. For a long time, Selûne had chosen to live her life as a mortal woman in the city of Averum. 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. During the late 4th century and early 5th, 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 balanced restored by her friends. Shar vanished, and this avatar of Selûne became Luna once more. Following the Mortalbound Period, 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 390s predicted Selûne would once again be elevated among the gods, possibly within their own lifetimes. Around 410 DC, there were frequent stories of people sighting Selûne gliding above the waters of Annachs Sea. Meanwhile, sailors defending the goddess's name in tavern brawls saw their blades glow softly with a pale violet light. Her worship flourished in Katan. 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.[50] After Magics Death, Selûne became a popular deity across Edarmyrni, as her priesthood made pilgrimages to every corner of the western continents, wanting to bring hope to people in those desperate times.
History
Selûne was believed to be one of the oldest deities known over the world. 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 Edarmyrnian it was widely held to be true. 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 The Overgod, 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 Edarmyrni 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 Edarmyrni), 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 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. 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 Edarmyrni 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. 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 Year of Sundered Webs, −339 DR, Karsus's Folly triggered the death of Mystryl and caused the cataclysmic Munthrek Disaster. The city of Enaveirveiro was believed to have escaped the destruction visited upon the other Munthrekian 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. 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 Muacaaxica Islands. It became a great and sacred artifact, called the Tear of SeluneSelûne 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 lead-up to the Mortalbound Period. For a long time, Selûne had chosen to live her life as a mortal woman in the city of Averum. 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. During the late 4th century and early 5th, 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 balanced restored by her friends. Shar vanished, and this avatar of Selûne became Luna once more. Following the Mortalbound Period, 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 390s predicted Selûne would once again be elevated among the gods, possibly within their own lifetimes. Around 410 DC, there were frequent stories of people sighting Selûne gliding above the waters of Annachs Sea. Meanwhile, sailors defending the goddess's name in tavern brawls saw their blades glow softly with a pale violet light. Her worship flourished in Katan. 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.[50] After Magics Death, Selûne became a popular deity across Edarmyrni, as her priesthood made pilgrimages to every corner of the western continents, wanting to bring hope to people in those desperate times.
Divine Domains
Light, Life, Knowledge
Divine Symbols & Sigils
Pair of eyes surrounded by seven stars.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
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, ageing 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
Special abilities
When manifested as an avatar, she could cast a wide variety of magical spells, except those of the plant sphere and any that conjured darkness. She would avoid reversed and injurious forms of healing spells and necromantic sphere spells, unless absolutely necessary. She could freely cast divination spells, even alongside other spells. Her spells all had a similar appearance, beginning as streaks of moonbeams and only revealing their true effect when they struck. She radiated protection from evil to a distance of a 100 yards (90 meters), and no good summoned creature within this range could be dispelled or banished. Meanwhile, a holy word from her automatically banished evil extraplanar beings.
She could not be damaged by electricity and light spells, and could not be affected by illusion, enchantment, or charm and charm sphere spells. No lycanthrope could attack her. She could not be detected or revealed by divination magic unless she willed it.
If pressed into battle, Selûne was an awesome warrior, fighting with divine fury but with martial and magical skill in coordination.
She typically manifested as trails of dancing motes of light, similar to will-o'-wisps, commonly called "moondust" or "moon motes", which could shed moonlight where there should be none. In this form, she guided travelers lost in the night or journeying over hazardous terrain, and came to shine for her faithful when light was needed for a delicate action. These moon motes occasionally exuded a radiant, sparkling, pearly-hued liquid known as "drops fallen from the moon", which was the holy essence of Selûne and was prized by the faithful.
To indicate her favor or presence or to help mortals, Selûne might send owls; weredragons or song dragons; certain breeds of good lycanthropes or other shapechanging creatures; or one of her loyal planetar servants known as the Shards, or lesser beings known as slivers. Other signs were the colors blue and silver and the appearance of moonstones. For example, a Selûnite captured by Sharrans who spied a moonstone ring on one of their fingers would understand there was a spy in the cult. Selûne would also create moonfire for her faithful during a ritual, which could enchant items or the worshipers themselves.
Finally, Selûne could sense any deed that occurred in the open light of the moon, anywhere in the world. She could also instantly create any magical item that could heal, influence shapechangers, or bestow spells of the Moon domain.
Apparel & Accessories
In battle, Selûne sometimes wielded a moon blade +3, in fact a lasting form of the moon blade spell. However, her favored weapon was the Rod of Four Moons (also called the Wand of Four Moons), a four-flanged heavy mace of potent magical power. Selûne's scale mail comprised opalescent, circular scales that glowed faintly with silver light; she donned it only in battle, but might lend it to beings on a quest for her, without losing any of its protection herself.
Personality Characteristics
Virtues & Personality perks
Again like the cycles of the moon, Selûne had many and changing moods and natures. Her faithful, coming from many walks of life, viewed her in countless different ways, and she reflected this. Sometimes she was enthusiastic, vivacious, joyous, and majestic, given to action and dance. At other times, she was subdued, motherly, and almost poetic or tranquil and embracing. Then she was remote and weighed down by sadness at defeats and tragedies, even those that happened long, long ago. Finally, she could be aggressive and fierce, but cold, and with little mercy for her enemies. These shifting personalities made her versatile.
Nevertheless, at all times, Selûne was caring and accepting of most beings, and forgiving of most of her followers' faults. She was both ageless and ancient. She was quietly mystical and, as a being of chaos, well used to change. She had a serene and peaceful nature and was slow to anger; she would not fight if she could help it, but nor did she hold back if she must. She was fiercely protective when confronted by evil. The one constant was her eternal conflict with Shar.
She was generous and freely bestowed gifts and blessings on mortals. She also made few demands of her followers. When beseeched by her clergy, she always responded.
Social
Contacts & Relations
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. 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.
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.
Religions
Children
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