The Realms of the Goddess

Overview
Centered on the vast and verdant jungles, wetlands and forests of the Garden of Geniché, there exist villages, towns, cities and larger realms collectively known as the "Realms of the Goddess" in the lyrical language of the high elves. Consisting mostly of those with elven blood, the Realms of the Goddess are varied in their governance and relationships but not in their overall cultural identity. They live for the Goddess, her pantheon, and the greater laws and cycles she has set out in having made and remade the worlds -- collectively known as Creation. Yhera, the Queen of Heaven and Great Maker as well as Geniché and Geteema, the twin goddesses of the Earth and Life, are by far the most prominent deities in the hearts and minds of those who live in and around the Garden. Closely following are Arma, the Goddess of Life and Death in Nature, and deities of the heavens: Islan the Sun, Moya the Moon, the Twins of Dawn and Dusk (Ami and Diva), and Yaro the Wandering Star. There are more deities in the Old Faith, but these are the most prominent. 
In the Realm of the Goddess, there is no distinction between the mundane and the divine. Thoughts, words and actions are all a part of the Great Cycle and there are rituals, observances and methods prescribed in the lore of the Old Faith to best manage existence in Her Creation. From birth, naming, coming of age, friendship, oaths and paths, marriage, pregnancy, parenthood, ascension, loss and death, there are laws, rituals and observances for every person and each of the major relationships one might have throughout their lives. Every part of life is defined by connections and relationships. The rights, privileges and responsibilities one or more have in those relationships is key, and there is an entire subset of lore and practice that governs the best approaches. While life in the Realms of the Goddess is often complicated at times, it is perhaps some of the most peaceful and harmonious approaches to life and living together. 
At the center of the Realms of the Goddess sit the Spring Queens, a circle of powerful elven women who have a deeper connection and demonstrated grasp of the Great Cycle and the lore of the Old Faith. They command vast resources and networks of relationships that approach the same efficacy of an absolute monarchy or professional civil services in dwarven, halfling or more advanced human realms. 
Complexity and sophistication is the hallmark of elven society, but it exists to a lesser degree in the half-elven and human lands the farther away from the center of the Garden one gets. For the most part, whether someone is (and comes from a place of) full elven blood matters in the implied social stratification, and that can be plainly seen when one visits those outposts of elven society that exist on the borderlands and on the coasts near the Lakelands and the Steppelands. Elven elites preside over half-elven, human and even half-orc peoples with a sense of noble obligation, but very little compassion -- they often view those who are not of full elven blood as souls who have yet to ascend to the higher heights of spiritual attainment. This exists even within the ranks of elvenkind, where high elves believe wood elves to be too attached to the material of Her Creation and thus comport themselves in the soil and trees of the world rather than moving their hearts and minds to the more abstract beauties inherent to that which Yhera has made.

Type

Political, Confederation

Capital

The Garden of Geniché

Head of State

The Spring Queens

Government System

Oligarchy

Power Structure

Confederation

Economic System

Mixed economy

Official State Religion

The Old Faith

Notable Members

• Riga the White Sage