Elenwin
Elenwin is the patron saint of the halfling people and is seen by them as a goddess of healing, nature, home, and hearth, motherhood, fertility, and good harvests.
All those who live off the land and sea hold her in high regard; rangers, hunters, and halflings revere her, and sailors make offerings to her before beginning their voyages. Though they tend to overlap, followers of Elenwin see the Pantheon of the Wild as friends, and there is little to no animosity between the followers of the wild spirits and Elenwin's own, some even acknowledging both as equals.
As a deific figure of nature and healing, Elenwin's followers see her as encompassing all the power, majesty, and ferocity contained in these concepts. Though nature can be destructive, savage, wild, and untamed, it can also prove restful, serene, awe-inspiring, and life-giving. Elenwin is said to reveal all these different realities to her followers. She is seen as a matronly figure who cares for her followers as if they were her own offspring, which is why many places dedicated to healing and childbirth depict her visage.
Elenwin is worshipped by those who live off the land. Especially in coastal areas, one can find her followers amongst fishermen and sailors. Those who live in the woods or other untamed areas pay their respects to the lady of nature as well. The more devout followers of Elenwin actively protect the wilderness of the world from those who would destroy it. Elenwin is also revered particularly by most rural farming communities in Meyland who pray to her each harvest season for tremendous bounties of produce for the next year.
Depiction
Seen immortalized through wooden reliefs over halfling hearths, rural temples, and carved shrines in hidden, overgrown groves, Elenwin is often depicted as a beautiful halfling woman of fair skin nearly swallowed by a wild, tangled wreath of red hair, leaves, and vines that dwarf her form. Sometimes she is depicted in a humble robe with graceful wings outstretched from her back. She will most commonly be depicted wading through a field of grain with a number of merry children dancing in her wake. Those of her following who claim to have met her in dreams recall doing so while wading through rolling hills of endless, fertile grain on a spring morning.Tenets of Faith
Growing and reaping are part of the eternal cycle and the most natural part of life. Destruction for its own sake and leveling without rebuilding is anathema. Let no day pass in which you have not helped a living thing flourish. Nurture, tend, and plant wherever possible. Protect trees and plants, and save their seeds so that what is destroyed can be replaced. See to the fertility of the earth but let the womb see to its own. Eschew fire. Plant a seed or small plant at least once a day. Care for your community like a field. Those around you are just as important as a fertile field during the harvest season. Great adversity can be overcome by greater bonds. Consistent, small acts of kindness are worth more than large, empty indulgences. Fields are plowed one lane a day rather than many acres at once. Those around you are just as important as blood ties; a family alone doesn't raise a child, but an entire village. Those who take from the community and refuse to give back are worse than weeds. Sew a greater bounty than you reap. Nature and the wilds have existed since time immemorial, and we are but mere children in its embrace. Give back to the natural world twice-fold for future generations to enjoy. Just as one must keep the fields more fertile than last year's harvest, raise the next generation to be better than yourself. Respect the midwife, the mother, and the teacher, for they cultivate the hearts, bodies, and minds of those that come after. Mend wounds in the earth. Keep to this and nature shall reward you with luck and fortune. Blessed be the botanists, for their herbs heal. Nature provides the means to repair our broken bodies and soothe our aching minds, and the pipe, the pestle, and the mortar aid us in caring for the community. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme. These are the sacred herbs for garnish and medicine. Parsley provides joy and removes bitterness, sage grants us wisdom and longer lives, thyme bolsters our courage and strength, and rosemary warms our compassion and memories.The Church of Elenwin
Though Elenwin has a diverse collection of followers, Elenwin is fanatically worshiped by peasants, servants, druids, gardeners, and any others who earn pay from working on farmland. She is seen as a critical aspect of the assumed cycle of life. Private landowners and destitute farmers visit the clerics of Elenwin for any divine suggestions for aiding the harvest. If at any time plague or drought strikes, farmers look to Elenwin, since they hope she will save the harvest, due to her love of nature. Elenwin is spoken of as "Our Mother" or "the Mother of All" by her clergy. They know that she is very powerful in a quiet way—and like her, they tend to be quiet and patient in their ways. The clergy allows all races, though women vastly outnumber men, perhaps because the religion's liturgy is infused with references to fertility, motherhood, and femininity. Elenwin's clergy are known for ministering in rural communities. They are known for their wisdom and appreciated for their willingness to freely (without fee or obligation) tie up their skirts and pitch in when agricultural work must be done, especially where farmers are ill or injured. Priests are charged to learn—and pass on to others, both fellow clergy and laity—all they can of horticulture, herblore, plant types, and plant diseases, and to encourage all civilized folk to enrich the land by replanting, composting, and irrigation, not merely to graze or dig it bare for what it can yield and then pass on. They replant trees wherever they go, root out weeds that strangle and choke crop plants, and till plants back into the soil. They strive to let no day pass in which they have not helped a living thing to flourish. The clergy of Elenwin are encouraged to work against plant disease wherever they go. They often hire nonbelievers to help them burn diseased plants or the corpses of plague-ridden livestock to prevent the spread of sickness. They keep careful watch over such blazes. Elenwin's clerics do not like handling fire but are not forbidden to use non-Magical fire. Elenwin's church has two wings: standard clerics who minister to the faithful in towns, cities, and civilized areas, and druids who work in more outlying regions. Those clerics who minister to farmers and agricultural workers in cities, towns, and villages refer to themselves as Pastorals, while those of the wilder, older sect that caters to the wilderness call themselves, with a touch of arrogance, the True Shapers or the "True Clerics of Elenwin".
Portfolio
Fertility, Halflings, Harvests, Hearth, Healing, Home, Luck, Motherhood, Nature
Fertility, Halflings, Harvests, Hearth, Healing, Home, Luck, Motherhood, Nature
Divine Classification
Saint
Religions
Alignment
Neutral Good
Species
Children
Gender
Female
Comments