Children of the Nurturing Matriarch
The Children of the Nurturing Matriarch (church of Yondalla) under all the guises by which she is known, plays a central role in halfling society.
Throughout the Realms, communities of the Small Folk are led by members of Yondalla's clergy, and they are widely credited for their efforts in ensuring the safety and prosperity of halflings across Faerun. Among the other human and demihuman races, Yondalla's priests are respected for their determined defense of halfling communities and their defensive skill, belying their diminutive natures.
Temples of Yondalla are remarkably rare, despite the goddess's widespread veneration by halflings. The Provider and Protector is most commonly worshiped in small shrines and in the home, and her formal houses of worship are usually little more than the home of the local priest or priestess. In those few halfling communities where churches of Yondalla do exist, they are usually carved into an earthen hillside, resembling a halfling burrow more than anything else. Although smoothly blended with the surrounding environment, such temples serve as fortified redoubts, well stocked with arms and food to allow the halflings of the community to hold out indefinitely against invaders. Gardens, armories, cisterns, and granaries are nestled among chapels, residential quarters for the resident priests, and bubbling springs.
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