Fahlerene (Greater Goddess)
Beastmother, Guardian of the Wild, The Howler, Moon-Chaser
Symbol: A disc with a lightning bolt across it, carved from wood or
stone.
Alignment: CN
Portfolio: Unsettled wilderness, storms, the seasons, lycanthropes
Domains: Animal, Earth, Plant, Protection, Sun, Water
Favored Weapon: Sling
To many of the civilized people of the Empire of Elaan, Fahlerene is considered an evil deity; the holy days devoted to her are intended for appeasement rather than worship. Merchants make offerings to protect their caravans and ships from the effects of bad weather, and farmers hope to convince her to allow for long growing seasons, for short winters, and to keep the werebeasts that serve her from slaughtering their livestock. Isolated farms and ranches even go so far as to create places of worship devoted to her, hoping that the gesture will keep them safe from her followers who dwell in the nearby wilderness. Sometimes these efforts pay off, sometimes they don't.
To barbarian tribes in the unsettled hinterlands, druids, lycanthropes, many of the nature-oriented fairy races such as dryads and neriads, and even a wide number of kobold and goblin tribes, Fahlerene is the power they hold in highest regard and they view her as their protector and champion. A fair number of rangers also honor her, but rarely with the level of devotion of the aforementioned creatures.
An even mix of clerics and druids serves Fahlerene and many of her servants have levels in both classes. They also frequently have levels as barbarians. While those who are unfamiliar with the worship of Fahlerene tend to refer to all clerics and druids who serve her as "Wildlings," the term should only actually be applied to the most powerful of their number. Wildling is an honorific that is applied to someone who has received a special blessing directly from the goddess. (The Wildling prestige class will be described in a future installment of this series.)
As may be expected, Fahlerene's clergy has a very loose hierarchy. Leadership within its ranks is based on experience and the level of blessing that a cleric or druid appears to enjoy from the goddess. By default, this means that the eldest clergy member present is usually deferred to, unless a Wildling is present or a younger cleric displays some unusual abilities. With the exception of clerics who serve barbarian communities, Fahlerene's followers are constantly on the move, many claiming that Fahlerene chooses their path for them. They worship and perform rituals in whatever natural surroundings they find themselves in on a given day.
Fahlerene is among the oldest divine entities in the world, the second-born daughter of the Master Builder and his wife, Dawnbringer. At one point, she was second only in power to her mighty parents, but as mortals developed and spread their civilizations across the world, she started to lose ground to younger deities who were more sympathetic to and understanding of the needs of communities more advanced than hunter-gatherer cultures.
The greatest blow to Fahlerene's worship happened with the Lichlords arose in the lands west of the Empire. So many of the beings who worshiped her were either killed or forced to serve the evil will of Morgett that she barely held onto her status as a greater goddess. In recent centuries, she has been slowly regaining strength, as her clergy among barbarians and lycanthropes has been growing more militant about defending their hunting grounds against the expansion of both Elaan and the Lichlords.
Fahlerene's followers are at odds with virtually every other organized church and power currently worshiped in the world. A particularly strong hatred has developed between her and Morgett, a god of darkness and evil worshiped primarily in the lands of the Lichlords, and Kevis, a god of knowledge and civilization worshiped throughout the Empire of Elaan. The followers of Fahlerene believe the agendas of these gods are ultimately leading to the destruction of the pristine wilderness and simpler ways of life that their goddess cherishes. Fahlerene has also long hated her own father, as she blames him for creating the notion of "civilization" in the first place. However, the Master Builder is actively worshiped only by architects and alchemists, so the two faiths rarely clash.
Fahlerene has neutral relations with several of minor deities that are worshiped by humanoid and barbarian tribes, foremost among these being her half-sisters, the quadruplet deities, the Four Winds, and the moon gods of the lycanthropes, Veshnar and Kerraash. If Daawnbringer's church hadn't been all but wiped out during the rise of the Lichlords, Fahlerene might even have had an ally in her fight.
All beings should live as one with nature; sentience is no excuse for the construction of large cities or other acts that destroy nature or bring an unbalance to the world. Humanoids lack the natural weapons and protection that many animals possess, so they need to develop a certain level of technology, but they should not use this technology to bend nature to their will. It is the responsibility of all pure-hearted beings to defend the free spirit of the wilderness against those who would destroy its mysteries, demean its majesty, or enslave its inhabitants.