Verenestra
Fickle and vain, Verenestra (VAIR-en-ess-trah) The Oak Princess embodies the unearthly beauty that many female faeries possess. She represents the power such beings have over males of many species, and has adopted as her charges the dryads, nymphs, and sylphs that so often exercise such influence. She is flighty and follows the whims of her emotions, but she is also deeply sensitive and caring towards her charges. Child of Titania and inheritor of her beauty, Verenestra is sometimes said to have no father but the wind that blows through the tree boughs of The Seelie Court. More often she is seen as daughter of Titania and Oberon, while some few try to reconcile these two tales into one. As with her brother Damh, The Oak Princess has adopted a number of faerie creatures as her charges, particularly those that share her eternally youthful appearance and demeanor. While her motives for taking on her charges were in part similar to Damh’s desire to reduce the burden their mother had taken upon herself, Verenestra’s myths portray her decision as one made out of recognition that female faeries often face greater and more diverse threats than other sylvan creatures. These same myths describe her adoption of the dryads, nymphs, and sylphs as having infused them with eternal beauty that could serve as a weapon in itself, supplemented by additional magical gifts. Outside of her origin myths, faerie stories about The Oak Princess are rarely adventuresome tales; some are moral tales that have her learn valuable lessons after getting embroiled in trouble due to her vanity or haughtiness, while others revolve around pursuit of her affections by a variety of overly amorous suitors. Tales in the first category portray her personality as one of compassion and good nature, but struggling with vanity, flighty rashness, and fits of jealousy, but her actions never intentionally inflict harm. Most of these tales involve mortals, but the most prominent feature other deities, such as Eshebala, who try to trick or lure her by exploiting her weaknesses in order to undermine The Seelie Court. Some sorrowful tales relate the origins of fallen or corrupted faerie folk, such as unseelie nymphs, through the manipulation of Verenestra and her faults by the likes of Cegilune or the Queen of Air and Darkness. Other tales are purely comedic, designed to delight and teach listeners life lessons. The second category of tales are nearly universally comedic, although some have darker undertones about the dangers outsiders pose to faerie folk. In these stories, The Oak Princess leads amorous males and deities of other pantheons on merry chases in order to dissuade them from their desires. Such tales may include many other deities and creatures on both sides of the chase, or they may include none at all. In the end, the amorous male usually has their ardor cooled enough to call off the chase, with a few ending somewhat differently. A handful of tales end with Verenstra, feeling flattered by her pursuer’s skill and tenacity, allowing herself to be caught for a night of passion. In no tale is she ever caught against her will, but that is not to say all of her suitors appreciate her antics; some deities she has evaded in these tales are said to have turned their disappointment into anger or hatred, and sworn revenge upon her. Verenestra’s relations with other deities are often dependent on her personality. She is vain and not a little bit jealous of other goddesses of beauty; she snobbishly spurns the company of deities such as Aphrodite and Sune. The exception is her strong friendship with the elven goddess Hanali Celanil; this is a relatively recent development due to Lady Goldheart’s concerted effort coupled with her tender kindness and love of life. By contrast, it has been said that The Oak Princess has had more than one dalliance with Baldur, the Aesir god of beauty, as well as various other beauteous male deities. She is also strongly allied with a variety of nature powers, although only with Rillifane Rallathil is she regularly romantically linked. Baervan Wildwanderer has long made his romantic interest in The Oak Princess known, but as yet she has not returned his feelings, although the two remain friends and allies. Verenestra rarely visits the Prime Material Plane on her own, only doing so to visit with particularly wise and old nymphs, dryads, or sylphs, or to entice particularly handsome and charismatic males into short-term dalliances, after which she may reward them with a modest magical item from The Seelie Court. Otherwise, she only accompanies another sylvan power on missions of import and communal interest, such as protecting ancient sylvan lands and the faeries who dwell therein.(The Oak Princess, the Nymph Queen, Oaklady, Goddess of Trees)
Lesser Power of the Planes, N(CG)
PORTFOLIO: Female faeries, charm, beauty
ALIASES: None
DOMAIN NAME: Wanders/The Seelie Court (the Oak Bower)
SUPERIOR: Titania
ALLIES: Artemis, Baervan Wildwanderer, Baldur, Hanali, Celanil, Lurue, Obad-Hai, Rillifane Rallathil, Shiallia, Silvanus, the centaur pantheon, The Seelie Court, the Seldarine
FOES: Cegilune, Erythnul, Eshebala, Malar, the Queen of Air and Darkness, the Orc and goblinoid pantheons
SYMBOL: Filigree-edged silver mirror
WOR. ALIGN.: LG, NG, CG, LN, N, CN
Divine Domains
Divine Symbols & Sigils
Filigree-edged silver mirror
Silver Mirror by SkyWolf9999
Tenets of Faith
Natural magic exists within beautiful forms, be they sylvan
glades, meadows of wild flowers, or the feminine form of faeriefolk.
Such natural magic is the source of the power and charms of the sylvan
races, and should be deployed to aid and protect the creatures of the
woodlands. This magic can alter the motivations and intentions of
outsiders, and those who do not serve the interests of the land can be
shaped to that end.
Holidays
The first day of each season is
sacred to Verenestra’s clergy, and they hold ceremonies to inaugurate the
changes the seasons bring to the forests they inhabit. Such ceremonies are
generally deeply personal and observed alone or in small groups. These
ceremonies have no specific names, but revolve around saying goodbye
to the beauty of the previous season and welcoming in the beauty of the
next, both personal and environmental.
Physical Description
Special abilities
Verenestra’s Avatar (Mage 20, Druid 20)
Verenestra appears in the form of a dryad, nymph, or sylph as she desires. Regardless of her form, she always possesses an unearthly beauty and perfect form, and eyes of a deep woody brown that seem to draw in any creature that makes eye contact. She wears flowing diaphanous garments of gossamer thread that expose far more than they cover, often seeming to float around her or stream behind her regardless of the weather conditions. Her head is often crowned with a wreath of oak leaves, although at times living oak leaves are woven into her hear instead. She always wears exquisitely crafted jewelry of a wide variety of types; such jewelry is always in great taste and can never be considered gaudy; a pair of silver acorn earrings are among her most common accessories. She draws her spells from all spheres save elemental fire, law, and war, and the schools of enchantment/charm, elemental (all save fire), and illusion/phantasm.AC −3; MV 12, Fl 72 (MC A), Sw 12; HP 130; THAC0 2; #AT 1Special Att/Def: Verenestra avoids physical confrontations if she can do so, favoring her magical powers to charm or distract opponents rather than eliminate them. If absolutely necessary, she will use Moongleam, a small silver dagger +3 that is studded with moonstones. Creatures struck by this blade must save versus spell or be affected as the tree spell, for 6 hours. The Oak Princess can dispel this at will. Verenestra can change form between dryad, nymph, and sylph instantaneously, once per round, and has all the special abilities and defenses of her given form. She can only fly in sylph form, but can swim in either of her other forms. At will she can cast charm person, with males making their saves with a −10 penalty. Further, any male inflicting damage upon her suffers half that damage back himself. The Oak Princess can cast the calm version of emotion, massmorph, and pass plant at will, and three times per day she can cast each liveoak, mass charm, turn wood, and wall of thorns. Finally, in addition to any other actions, she can pacify up to 40 Hit Dice worth of creatures in a 60-degree arc with a simple wave of her hand. Those affected are unable to attack except in self-defense for 1d4+5 rounds. Verenestra is immune to all enchantment/charm and illusion/phantasm spells, as well as caused wounds, poison, paralyzation, disease, death magic, polymorph attacks, and nonmagical weapons. Even if magically compelled, no sentient non-evil plants, non-evil faerie creatures, or normal woodland animals will attack her. However, outside of a sylvan environment, her magic resistance is halved and she suffers a +4 penalty to her Armor Class.
Dmg 1d3+3 (faerie dagger +3)
MR 55%; SZ M (4½ feet tall)
STR 13, DEX 18, CON 16, INT 17, WIS 16, CHA 24
Spells P: 11/11/9/9/9/9/7, W: 7/7/7/7/7/6/6/6/6
Saves PPDM 2; RSW 3; PP 5; BW 7; Sp 4
Other Manifestations
The Oak Princess is not particularly active in manifesting her power, but mostly does so when invoked directly. She favors granting magical effects that allow a follower to avoid or elude danger, and has been known to affect a follower with spells such as sanctuary or tree, or by opening a plant door. However, as a vain and fickle power, she has been known to inflict curses upon those brazen enough to claim they possess greater beauty than she. Such curses most often twist the beauty from those things a creature loves, such as their surroundings or lovers. The curses are intended to teach a lesson for such arrogance, and they are lifted as soon as the offender offers a heartfelt apology. However, in rare cases, the offending being takes a liking to certain aspects of their new curse, and become thoroughly corrupted by it; most sylvan folk see this as the work of the Queen of Air and Darkness, and there may be some truth behind their views. Those who embrace their curses become known as dark nymphs, dark dryads, and dark sylphs. As a member of the Seelie Court, Verenestra is served primarily by aasimon, asuras, and eladrins (especially coures), but she also calls upon normal woodland animals of all sorts, aasimar, ashira, asrai, nereids, oreads, pahari, quickwood, singing trees, treants, sakina, and stone maidens. The Oak Princess displays her favor through the discovery of still, pristine sylvan pools of great beauty, ancient and majestic oaks of perfect form, breathtakingly beautiful hidden glades, and green and pale blue gems of all sorts. She displays her displeasure through the discovery of objects of beauty that have been marred by time, rust, or misuse to the point that the beauty is gone and gems of green and pale blue with significant flaws. While not seen as a manifestation of her favor, faerie folk consider dew on the first morning of summer to be sacred to Verenestra, and it is believed that a female, faerie or otherwise, that washes her face in this dew will become far more attractive for a time.
Religions
Alignment
True-Neutral with Chaotic-good Tendencies
Species
Realm
Church/Cult
Children
Current Residence
Sex
Female
Gender
Woman
Presentation
Feminine
Eyes
Brilliant Blue
Hair
Golden Brown, Long
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Tan
Height
4'6"
Weight
65 lbs
Belief/Deity
Aligned Organization
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