Irise

Goddess of the Forest - Intermediate Deity

Irise is one of the divine few that was at one time a mortal. It is believed that she was born in a secluded grove in what is now a remote portion of The Moonwood Vale, located in Lothlonde. She was abandoned as a small child, and was cared for by the fey children of the forest. She became a friend to them, a sister, even though she was different from them.
As she grew, she strengthed her bond not only with the children of the forest, but so too with Azrael. Many nights were spent dancing under the stars, admiring the soft glow of the moonlight as it illuminated the lands below. When the day came that the fey children left their homes in the north to explore, Irise accompanied them. She protected them. She continued to pray to Azrael to watch over her family, and bathe them in her soft glow, to show them the way. She established an unbreakable bond of love for Azrael, and would spend hours each day in silent devotion to the moon goddess above. Irise took tremendous joy and bore a great sense of pride in beautifying the forestlands as she traveled. The fey children would erect statues and monuments, placquards, and various ornately crafted obelisks in Azrael's honor; Irise would painstakingly glorify each site with a natural creation of her own using bits and pieces of natural foliage from each area.
It quickly became apparent that Irise loved the forest. She never wanted to leave the forest, and she felt a calling to protect and preserve the forest at all costs. Her life and her love was her sister in the night sky, her family of fey children, but above all, the forest. When the race of man migrated north and sought to disrupt the halcyon existence they all shared, Irise was forced to act. She had learned the druidic arts almost subconsciously as she became one with the forest throughout her younger years, and her power had become very strong. She was able to fend off many of the invaders that sought to defile her sanctuaries, but many of her family were senselessly killed and slaughtered. Irise cried out to Azrael, she was fraught with sorrow and heartache, and her pain was too much for the moon goddess to ignore. Having received Alma's blessing, Azrael elevated Irise to the divine realm where she could sit in a seat of absolute power, to lord over the lands she cherished so faithfully.
The invaders were fended off. Many were slain, badly wounded, afflicted with crippling maladies, or became lost in labyrinthian overgrowth. Because of the invasion of man, Irise created toxic plants and flowers, razor sharp branches, vines and bramble patches, and other various unpleasantries to inhabit her lands, to act as a natural defense. The forest lands, while still beautiful in their own regard, were no longer a sanctuary and a place of safety. One need only look past the natural, and necessary, barrier that Irise created, to see that she sought only to protect the beauty of the forest from the corrupting hand of man.