Keranos - God of the Hunt, Woods, and Beasts

Keranos, the Lord of the Woods, Master of the Wild Hunt, is the God of the Hunt, Woods, and Beasts and the lord of wild places. All Wood Elves venerate him, along with Ghyran, above all other deities; and he falls into the Cadai gods for the High Elves. Keranos the Hunter is the lord of both forest and beasts; the spirit of the untouched forests, wild animals and trackless wilderness. In myth, he is the consort of Ghyran, and all Wood Elves are his children. Wherever Keranos travels, he is followed by a herd of spectral stags, and when he sounds his horn the Wild Hunt follows him, their hearts filled with unrestrained joy. All hunters venerate Keranos, for he watches over them in the wilds. He requires that a hunter never kill animals for sport, but slay only dangerous beasts, and hunts only enough game to eat. To offend Keranos is to invite disaster, for his vengeance is swift and brutal. Those that transgress his laws are well served not to enter those places where the natural world is at its wildest; few that do so emerge from the untamed lands, and those that do escape are invariably ashen-faced, scarred and silent for the remainder of their lives.

The mountains and deep forests are considered by the Elves to be Keranos's chosen realms, for their rocky peaks and dense forests are home to many wild beasts against which a hunter can test his skill. Many a hollow conceals an altar of horn, bone, and briar where Keranos' adherents make their observances away from the prying eyes of more "civilized" Elves. Sometimes, the wind on plains carries the echo of the Hunter God's horn. If heard at dawn, it is considered to be a good omen for that day's hunt. If heard at dusk, it is Keranos' warning that evil stalks the land, and that all hunters must ready their bows for the evil that stalks the woods.

Appearance

Keranos appears to mortals primarily in the form of a green centaur, with a cloak and mantle of leaves, armour bits made of Ironbark, and set of antlers on his head, and often carrying either a staff, a hunting spear, or his hands are morphed into wicked curled branches. His messengers will often appear to followers as spectral, giant, or perfectly white stags. His symbol is that of a stags head with antlers, and a triskelion spiral in the center of its forehead.

Tenets of Keranos

The creed of Keranos dictates that nature’s glory must be preserved, not merely because nature is beautiful, but because wild nature is the true state of the world. Its expanses refresh and revitalize the mortal soul, and give breath to all the world. Many of his faithful oppose the expansion of settlements into wild places, sometimes violently; and consider excessive consumption of natural resources to be not only wasteful but blasphemous.

Champions of Keranos

Alignment: Usually Chaotic, often neutral
Common Classes: Cleric, barbarian, fighter, ranger, druid
Suggested Cleric Domains: Life, Nature, Tempest, War
Common Backgrounds: Outlander, folk hero, hermit, sage
Most champions of Keranos are vehement advocates for the woods and wild places. They are hunters, warriors, artisans, and any other who seeks to live in harmony with nature, and see that continue unabated, and not ground down under the axe and hammer of civilization.