Selûne (Seh-LOON-eh)
Selune (Seh-LOON-eh) oversaw connections and relationships, guided herdsmen to good pastures, blessed marriages and sent love into the lives of those who sought it, helped lost ships at sea and those lost in the wilderness, and ensured safe births. She sent visions to those who sought them for good ends and blessed all things that were beautiful for the joy of beauty. To be in her presence was to feel ultimate good, and she was slow to anger and forgiving of many of her worshipers’ flaws. However, she was also protective and fierce in the face of evil, especially that embodied by Shar, and used her mystical moon blades and the Wand of the Four Moons in her eternal struggle against evil. Magic of any sort could streak from her presence as moonbeams, her words banished evil creatures from her presence or from existence, and anyone in her vicinity was said to feel the protection she radiated against the forces of evil and darkness.
She was depicted in religious art as everything from a female face on a lunar disk to a dusky-hued, long-limbed woman with wide, radiant, lime-green eyes and knee-length tresses of ivory white hair to a ghostly, lithe form with dark hair and eyes and robes of white that trailed moon motes. At other times, she was shown as a fair but matronly woman of middling years whose dark hair was streaked with gray. However she was depicted, she constantly glowed with a faint blue-white moonlight whenever her surroundings were dark.
Selûne’s foe was the evil goddess Shar, and she battled her ceaselessly on many planes of existence, both through mortal worshipers and servitor creatures. The undying enmity between the two goddesses predated the existence of all other Faerûnian deities. The enmity between Shar and Selune carried into their priesthoods, such that open battle often occurred when followers of each faith met.
Selune was a caring and quietly mystical power who had been saddened by events millennia old. While she was normally calm and placid, her war with Shar was fierce, with neither side giving or receiving quarter. She was at times effervescently joyful and active, at others maternal, quiet, and almost poetic, and at yet others warlike and fierce, showing little mercy to her foes.
Selûne was served by the Shards, a group of shining female servitors. The Shards could grow wings or banish them as they desired and had long, flowing blue hair and pearly-white skin.
Manifestations
Selûne often manifested as trails of dancing light motes known as “moondust” or “moon motes” that resembled will-o’-wisps. These guided folk who were lost at night or who traveled over treacherous ground; they also appeared to provide her faithful with the light necessary to perform a delicate task. These moon motes sometimes exuded sparkling, glowing drops of pearly liquid—“drops fallen from the moon”—which Selûnite clergy gathered and prized highly, using as an ingredient of power in many helpful potions and healing ointments. She also sent owls, weredragons, certain lycanthropes and shapechanging creatures, and the Shards to aid mortals or to show her favor or presence.
The Church
Selûne was worshipped by a mixed bag of followers: navigators, sailors, women, female spellcasters, diviners, good- and neutral aligned lycanthropes, those who worked honestly at night, those who sought protection from Shar, the lost, the questing, and those curious about the future. Couples looked to Selûne to bless them with children when they were ready, and women looked to her for courage, strength, and guidance. The demands she placed on her followers were few, and the goddess was reputed to be free with her gifts and boons to mortals.
Selûne’s priesthood was as diverse as her worshipers. Reflecting the chaotic and scattered nature of the church of Selûne, its hierarchy was a hodgepodge of specialty priests, informed or blessed lay individuals, and a smattering of good aligned lycanthropes (both natural and infected). All cooperated in relative—if rollicking—peace under the symbol of Our Lady of Silver. Members of this diverse group all worshipped the goddess in their own styles. Her churches varied as the phases of the moon, from opulent temples to simple shrines, from hermitages and hilltop dancing circles to ornate mansion temples. Most Selûnites tended toward smaller shrines and individual worship, since “Anywhere the full moon shines is the place for Selûne.” Selûnites referred to night conditions as being either “moonlight” (the moon was present, though perhaps not immediately visible) or “nightgloom” (the moon was not out or was dark).
Selûnite priests used a wide variety of titles, but novices (not yet full priests) were always known as the Called, and human females tended to dominate the ranks of the more powerful clergy. Typical Selûnite titles (in ascending order) included: Touched, Enstarred, Moonbathed, Silverbrow, Lunar, Initiate, and High Initiate. All of these titles are followed by “Priestess/Priest.” Those titles that followed these in rank tended to begin with “Priestess/Priest of the” and end in some form traditional to the individual temple or shrine the priest was affiliated with. Specialty priests of the goddess were known as silverstars.
