Chauntea (Earth Mother, Jannath)
Chauntea (pronounced: /tʃɔːnˈtiɑː/ chawn-TEE-ah[2][16] about this audio file listen) was the Faerunian goddess of life and bounty, who viewed herself as the embodiment of all things agrarian. The Earthmother was seen as the tamer parallel of Silvanus, The Forest Father of druidry and wilderness, as she was the deity of agriculture and plant cultivation.
Description
Chauntea, when in her home realms, manifested with the appearance of a giant beautiful human woman. The Earthmother had long shiny golde hair, gathered in a long braid she wrapped around her head. The length of her braid suggested the woman's great age. She had pleasant features and brown skin. Chauntea's body was lean but toned, muscled similarly to a farmer's body, shaped by hard work. She carried herself with strength and femininity. If one was to forget that they observed a deity, they could assume the beautiful woman in front of them was in her middle-age. Some described her appearance as "a rose in full bloom."[20]
Chauntea was dressed in an unbleached linen tunic and carried a green seed pouch, slung over one shoulder. Even though she was working her divine realm's fields barefoot, with face stained with dirt, her beauty was accentuated by wildflowers and ivy weaved into the goddess' long hair. She also wore a girdle embroidered with images of various fruits.
History
Chauntea was believed to be one of the eldest gods in Faerûn—she was born when Toril was created by the primeval battles between Shar and Selûne. Selûne favored her and nurtured her with her light, with the help of Mystra.
Relationships
A gathering of the gods of nature: Mielikki and her unicorn, Chauntea, Eldath, and Silvanus.
She had strong ties with other deities concerned with nature, such as Shiallia and Mielikki, and she shared a close relationship with Silvanus, but that diminished over time. She was also known to have romantic affiliations with Lathander.[25][24]
Her most despised enemy was Talona, the lady of pestilence, whose disposition to wreak suffering, disease and decay upon the natural world led her to oppose her with upmost vehemence. She was always in conflict with Talos. Chauntea battled deities who sought to desecrate and expunge nature; she opposed evil deities such as Malar and Bane, and viewed the latter's resurgence as portentous.[25]
Worshipers
Chauntea was seen by Faerûnians as a critical aspect of the assumed cycle of life. Private land owners and destitute farmers (perhaps as a consequence of an unproductive harvest) visited the clerics of Chauntea for any divine suggestions for aiding the harvest. If at any time plague or drought struck the crops, farmers looked to Chauntea, since they hoped she would save the harvest, due to her love of nature.[16]
Some of her worshipers claimed that her divine glimmer gave life to the natural world, and some contended that she was the creator and source of all mortal races. In some sense, Chauntea was the manifestation of the earth itself—the avatar of the twin worlds Abeir-Toril.[citation needed]
The church was an approachable one, in that it welcomed all irrespective of gender or race. The liturgical doctrine of the church was such that it attracted more females than males, due to its preoccupation with femininity, and while female attendees outnumbered men, there was still a range of males that worshiped Chauntea.[citation needed]
Chaunteans maintained simplicity when it came to apparel. Druids preferred brown robes and priests preferred to wear a brown cloak with more standard livery such as a tunic underneath.[citation needed]
Her temples often had great libraries dedicated to agriculture
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