Sehanine Moonbow
Commission: Sehanine Moonbow by Ann Chovi
Sehanine Moonbow (pronounced seh-ha-neen moon-boe) is the fey aspect of Selûne, goddess of the moon. She is one of the more powerful members of the Seldarine. The Lady of Dreams actively opposes the nefarious schemes of the Spider Queen and the other Drow powers. She is said to be the wife of Corellon Larethian and lives in the planar realm known as the Gates of the Moon on the plane of Gladsheim (also known as Ysgard).
As befits the elven goddess of mysteries, Sehanine is cloaked in secrets and illusions and rarely speaks her mind directly, preferring to communicate through a process of dreams, visions, and other mystic experiences. The Goddess of Moonlight is truly a spiritual and ephemeral being who evades any attempt to define her and whose serenity surrounds her like a mantle of moondust.
Description
Sehanine appears as a youthful and ageless female elf wearing a diaphanous gown made from moonbeams. In combat she wields Moonshaft, a quarterstaff.
Worshipers
Worshipers of Sehanine Moonbow seek out and destroy undead creatures, for Sehanine holds such creatures to be blasphemous. The elves of the Kingdom of Aennamar worship Sehanine as the predominant deity of the Moon Elf people. Others who choose to worship her tend to be those who wish to keep secrets, mislead or deflect their true purpose. The spies, assassins, and thieves of the moon elves pray to her dutifully in hopes of her favor.
Clergy
As cloaked in mystery as Sehanine's church is, little is known of its secretive hierarchy.
Clerics of Sehanine are mystics and seers, acting as spiritual counselors to those elves and half-elves before they begin journeys in search of transcendence or enlightenment. Clerics of Sehanine also officiate over funerals and guard the material remains of the dead. They weave illusions and cast divinations to guard elven lands and strongholds. When they adventure, it is often with the goal of uncovering lost knowledge of illusions and divinations.
Sehanine's clergy favors silvery-white diaphenous gowns for the priestesses, and togas for the priests. They wear silver diadems on their heads, simple sandles, and silver lace sashes on their waists. Adventuring clerics are known for their elven chain mail and mirrored shields.
Temples
Sehanine's temples are situated so that they are bathed in moon light when it is full, with open ceilings that reveal the night sky. They often adorned with moonstones, silver and surrounded by a garden of night blooming flowers.
Rituals
Clerics of Sehanine pray for their spells each night when the moons are fullest.
When the time comes for an elf to leave the mortal world and travel to Arvanaith, the elven afterlife (identical to Arborea, the home of the elven gods), the elf will commonly spend several days experiencing vivid waking dreams and reverie. The lens of the elf's eyes manifests a milky crescent at this time, the "moonbow" of Sehanine's name. During this time, Sehanine sends the elf a vision of where they must go to reach the otherworld.
If the elf dies violently without suffering utter spiritual destruction, Sehanine's priestesses perform the Ceremony of Recovery for several days, meditating and communing with the goddess and the two worlds. If successful, they channel the lost spirit through Sehanine's grace, enabling it to transcend to Arvanaith. During these ceremonies, the moonbow appears in the eyes of the priests, but vanish immediately upon the ceremony's conclusion.
Holy Days
Sehanine has a wide variety of holy days tied to the positions of the heavenly bodies, particularly the phases of the moons and various eclipses. Many of these holidays occur once per decade, once per century, or even once per millennium, but the most frequent are the Lunar Hallowings, held monthly beneath Luna's full moon. They are marked with personal meditation and a communal trance, and concluded with joyous freeform dance until the break of dawn. Once per year, the faithful gather for the Mystic Rites of the Luminous Cloud, when the participants are transformed into shimmering, silvery light that darts across the heavens, learning sacred mysteries according to their level of spiritual development.
Dogma
Life is series of mysteries whose secrets are veiled by the Luminous Cloud. As the spirit transcends its mortal bounds and new mysteries are uncovered, a higher form is achieved and the cycle of life continues. Through contemplation and meditation, communion with the Lady of Dreams is achieved. Through dreams, visions, and omens revealed in sleep or the reverie, the Daughter of the Night Sky unveils the next step along the path and the next destination on the endless journey of mystic wonder that is life and death and life.
Relationships
Sehanine is the mightiest of the female deities of the Seldarine. Her tears are said to have mingled with Corellon’s blood to form the elven race. She is closely allied with all the Seldarine, particularly Corellon Larethian, Aerdrie, and Hanali, and gets along well with other deities, including Dumathoin, Eilistraee, Kelemvor, Mystra, Savras, and Selûne. Her foes include Cyric, Gruumsh, Shar, the Deities of Fury, Velsharoon, The Unseelie Court, and the evil drow deities such as Lolth.
History
Whereas Corellon's symbol is the crescent moon, Sehanine Moonbow is the elven goddess of the moon or, more specifically, the full moon. She governs divinations, omens, and subtle magics and protects against madness.
She watches over the dreams of the moon elves, keeping them from harm while in reverie and sending omens to protect them from future dangers. Sehanine watches over the passage of all elven spirits from the world, and she is the protector of the elven dead.
Sehanine governs long journeys, both physical and spiritual, and in elven cultures that proclaim the reality of reincarnation, Sehanine and Corellon work together to guide the spirit to its best subsequent incarnation as it works its way toward perfection.
Although Sehanine is venerated by all the Fair Folk (including Half-elves and a handful of Gnome illusionists), she is particularly revered by moon elves, who view her as their protector, and Sun Elves, who are the most withdrawn from the world of all the elven subraces. Elves undergoing physical or spiritual journeys pray to the Goddess of Moonlight, as do mystics, seers, diviners, and weavers of illusions.
Alternately called the wife and daughter of Corellon, Sehanine is the mightiest of the female powers in the elven pantheon.
Identified with the mystic power of the moon, Sehanine's tears are said to have mingled with Corellon's blood and given life to the elven race. The elves do not forget this. Sehanine is both the primary aspect of Angharradh and one of the three elven goddesses-the other two being Aerdrie Faenya and Hanali Celanil-who collectively form the Triune Goddess.
This duality tightly binds Sehanine with the two other senior elven goddesses, and the three collectively serve alongside Corellon in leading the Seldarine. Sehanine works closely with Selûne, for the two share similar concerns. Sehanine has also forged alliances with some of the other human and demihuman powers who oversee death, but she has no tolerance for those who practice in the black arts of necromancy. (Sehanine does tolerate careful experimentation in white necromancy, and it is said that she vigilantly oversees the creation of baelnorn as a necessary, if undesirable, practice.) Sehanine's antipathy for Lolth has existed since the latter was Araushnee, consort of Corellon and the mastermind who nearly engineered the death of the Protector and the defeat of the Seldarine. The Lady of Dreams actively opposes the nefarious schemes of the Spider Queen and the other drow powers.
Divine Classification
Lesser Deity
Honorary & Occupational Titles
- Daughter of the Night Skies
- Goddess of Moonlight
- Lady of Dreams
- The Luminous Cloud
- The Lunar Lady
- Moonlit Mystery
- The Mystic Seer
Children
Current Residence
Gates of the Moon - Plane of Gladsheim (Ysgard)
Mistress of Illusions
Speculation has circulated for generations as to the natural appearance of Sehanine Moonbow. She appears to the Moon Elves in their dreams as one of their own, which is accepted among her people as an indication of her favor. It is known however that Sehanine is the fey aspect of Selûne and the mistress of illusions, which leaves room for doubt as to her true nature. Aside from making herself known in her follower's dreams, she has be known to bless her worshiper's temples by manifesting in the garden moon pools in the light of a full moon. The Priestesses have reported witnessing what appears to be a figure bathing and dancing in the moonlight, outlined only by the water cascading from her invisible form.
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