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Eldath
Eldath, also known as the Mother of the Waters among the Bedine people, is a lake spirit who is often worshiped as a goddess of peace and calm waters.
The Mother Guardian of Groves was a mysterious deity that acts as a protector of copses and watersheds. The voice of the Green Goddess was heard in every babbling brook, her presence felt wherever there was calm.
Personality
Eldath is a pacifist who avoids hostile action, even if threatened. Although shy, quiet, and enigmatic, the Green Goddess is possessed of unknown depths of character and unexpresses resolve that can not be broken. Eldath protects rivers, streams, and druids' groves.
Stats
- Alignment: Neutral good
- Symbol: Waterfall plunging into a still pool
- Portfolio: Peace, waterfalls, springs, pools, stillness, quiet glades
- Domains: Life, Nature, Peace
- Worshipers: Druids, pacifists, people troubled by violence
Worshipers
Eldathyns are organized into a simplistic hierarchy, where priests report to a local high priest responsible for a realm or larger region. Most followers dwel in quiet forest communities with open-air sacred places of worship or in woodside cottages, far from the baseness of city life; both often containing pools of placid water in unspoiled areas. They rarely ever engage in open confrontation and always act subtly and peacefully.
Her clergy often follows migratory patterns traveling from holy site to holy site in a local area. They take care of the holy sites and ally with the local druids who follow the First Circle, of which Eldath is considered a member. Violence of any kind against an Eldathan priest is considered taboo, and murdering one is said to bring extremely bad luck. Even so, most servants of Eldath prefer to avoid conflict rather than trying to pacify it because they understand that peace cannot be forced. They will happily preside over peaceful meetings and witness political treaties.
Many people come to Eldath for help in overcoming memories of a violent past. Sometimes this is a single event, and in other cases it is the accumulation of conflicts they had fought.
Dogma
Eldath's dogma is pacifistic, and her followers only resort to violence in defense of themselves, of their friends and loved ones, and of pools and groves. Worshipers of Eldath can be of any alignment, but priests are always non-evil. Druids that follow the Mother of the Waters remained neutral, while her specialty priests sometimes lean toward good.
Rituals
Druids of Eldath pray for their evocations once per day at a time selected after great personal reflection. The only calendar-related holy day of the church was the Greening, a gathering and festival celebrated at Greengrass. It is preceded by Firstflow, a festival held at varying times when the ice breaks up and begin to flow at the conclusion of winter.
Offerings to Eldath are typically weapons broken so they can never be used again, or an item that caused an argument and so had to be discarded to promote peace.
Temples
Many rural communities has a designated pond or glade which serves as a holy site for local parishioners. These places are traditionally used as places to reflect and meditate. Usually a body of water (either the pond itself or a stream near those glades considered holy sites) serve as a repository for offerings to Eldath in connection with these holy places. If no water is nearby, a special tree or bush is designated as a repository on which offerings are tied to the branches.