Selesnya Conclave
Structure
Rhe Selesnyans are organized into vernadi, which are small communes throughout Decem Factiones. Each is organized around a central tree and led by a dryad leader.
Culture
The Selesnya guild believes itself to be the voice of Mat'Selesnya—a mysterious consciousness they believe to be the manifestation of nature itself. All within the guild are considered mouthpieces of that singular voice, and they seek to expand their guild by evangelizing their message and adding members.
Temptations of Power
In a perfect world, the Selesnyans consider all of their leaders, no matter how tenured, to be fallible and mortal teachers, nothing more. However, some of the Selesnyan elders are prone to a bit of self-aggrandizement, due to their own personal ambition ,and take pride in the growth and beauty of their own particular vernadi.Violence and Hypocrisy
A not-so-well-kept secret is Selesnya's hypocrisy about the taking of life. Because of their doctrine about the sanctity of life, one might believe that they would be stringent pacifists. On the contrary, they have no problem with throwing away countless lives in combat. One of Selesnya's main tactics in battle is to create a living shield of bodies to stall opponents until one of their massive elementals or avatars can show up to destroy en masse. Post mortem, Selesnyans make a large, ceremonial fuss about the sacrifice of noble warriors and how all life returns to Mat'Selesnya, but a mound of corpses is hard evidence to cover.Keepers of Beauty
The Selesnya guild is the guardian of natural and structural beauty. There are entire sections of scrolls and codices within Vitu-Ghazi about the correct way to order the landscape, the best stone to use, how to arrange specific kinds of trees, and the most pleasing way to layer foliage. There are some who believe in keeping every stone clean of debris and some who want to arrange without there being noticeable signs, but all agree that beauty is a crucial value of life.Public Agenda
The Selesnya message is personal as well as public; they believe that by silencing the consciousness of the individual, they can become aware of the murmurings of the Conclave, a group of dryads who serve as the spiritual transmitters of Mat'Selesnya's consciousness. The guild's goal is to subsume the identities of individual members, transforming them into instruments of the Conclave.
Divine Origins
An elemental formed from the union of several dryads, Mat'selesnya was encased within Vitu-Ghazi for several thousand years
Tenets of Faith
The conclave clings to the ideal of a peaceful collective in which individual desires are subordinate to the good of the whole group. The guild wants to see this beloved community grow, flourish, and thrive in peace. But as much as it values peace within the community, it displays incredible ferocity when that harmony is threatened.
Selesnya's vision is centered on the idea of harmony between civilization and nature. To advance the cause of civilized society, the conclave believes in the need for an ordered structure that orients the group toward the pursuit of the common good. At the same time, the guild's connection with the natural world gives the conclave a fervent appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things. Selesnya doesn't tolerate selfishness or ambition, instead urging its members to put the needs of others ahead of their own desires and to use the power of nature- including nature's wrath- to drive away those
whose selfishness threatens the coherence of the group.
The greatest danger that Selesnya faces lies in the ambitions of other guilds, which are flourishing in the absence of the Guildpact. Selesnya's way of curbing this grasping selfishness has always been to outnumber the other guilds. Its members aren't naive; they fully realize that the ambitions of other guilds will lead to violence.
And they aim to be prepared for that violence when
it erupts. '"For my seedlings to survive," Mat'Selesnya says, "we must grow an army capable of overwhelming such ambitions." Some of that army is literally grown, in the case of plant creatures and elementals. A great many members grow up in the guild from childhood and learn their martial skills at the guild's training grounds. And still
more join the guild through recruitment- especially in these troubling times. when rumors of war and a
sense of imminent doom make Selesnya's message of harmonious community sound ever more appealing.
Worship
The Worldmind, also known as the Voice of the Conclave, is the subtle transmission of Mat'Selesnya's consciousness. The Conclave also picks up on experiences and wisdom from members of the guild which they then transmit. The clarity of this wisdom is proportional to the depth of a member's devotion to meditation and his or her service to the guild. Through a magical ceremony upon death, a Selesnyan guild member's full experience (spirit) is "uploaded" into the Worldmind. The deeper a guild member's devotion, the deeper his or her access to the Worldmind. Some of the most devout Selesnyans have the capacity to wield immense power thanks to their connection to the Worldmind.
Type
Religious, Other
Capital
Training Level
Trained
Veterancy Level
Experienced
Demonym
Selesnyan
Leader
Leader Title
Official State Religion
Permeated Organizations
Deities
Location
Controlled Territories
Notable Members
Comments