Elenea

Under the gaze of the Ever Devoted, I bind my fortunes, my failures, my dreams, my fears, my heart, my body, and my soul to you. Now and forever more." —Elenean wedding vow

The Spring Maiden (a.k.a. The Ever Devoted; the Virgin Green; the Jade Princess;)

Elenea is one of the twelve gods of the Heavenly Council and the goddess of love, piety, agriculture, devotion, songs, art, faith, compassion, healing, chastity, spring, youth, and marriage. She is a young goddess and one of the few gods on the Heavenly Council to have an ongoing relationship with a deity outside of the Council. Elenea is an important goddess in marriage and fertility rituals, and the legend of her love affair with Nyphros has been recited, reimagined and retold countless times by philosophers and poets since the Mithril Era.

Divine Domains

Elenea is the goddess of love, piety, devotion, songs, art, faith, compassion, healing, chastity, spring, youth, and marriage. Her divine domain is Life.

Holy Books & Codes

The Heavenly Codex—specifically the "Book of Elenea"
Elenea is also mentioned briefly in the Chronicles of Murex, a fey text popular in Érulad.

Divine Symbols & Sigils

Elenea's divine symbol is the Eternal Crown, a circlet of jade roses. Her divine colors are also jade and rose.

Tenets of Faith

Elenea's nature as the ever-dutiful, ever-devoted, ever-subservient deity is highly patriarchical and stands in contrast to the more independent goddesses of the Heavenly Council, like Rashi, Lacorre, and Myurddin. How does one reconcile Elenea from a feminist prospective?

Holidays

Elenea's feast month is First Blossom, the second month of the Auloan Calendar. Weekly services for Elenea are held each Sistersday.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Elenea is generally depicted as young woman just under the cusp of the marriable ages (16-20 years old in humans.) She is usually dressed in a rose colored pre-marriage dress or peplos and is crowned by her token, the Eternal Crown. Older depictions of Elenea show her with white swan's wings when she is in the Celestial Mountains or Material Plane, and paper-thin butterfly wings when she is with Nyphros in the Feywild.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

She is revered and remembered for her dutiful devotion to the her husband Nyphros. Her parents, the Gloriae, were told by the goddess of prophecy, Myurdin, that she would become the most beautiful being in the cosmos. Elenea was said to be remembered forever, but only if she married Nyphros, a lesser deity who was not on the Heavenly Council. Nyphros was known for having an unscrupulous nature and so the Gloriae refused. Inexplicably, across all of Holos, the world’s crops withered and the animals died. Some say this was the doing of Nyphros’ parents, the Lavender Queen and the Scarlet Prince, the Archfey of the Feywild. Some say Elenea was truly in love with Nyphros and he with her and so it was the grief of them both that caused all the world to wilt. So Uriah⁣ and Porcia gave in because of their love for the world. Nyphros was allowed to marry Elenea so long as for three months she stayed out of the Feywild and stayed in the Celestial Mountains where the Council resides.
During one visit to the Celestial Mountains, Elenea caught the god of fortune, Qingu, trapping Nyphros into his animal form. She was forced to chase after him and only after she agreed to teach mortals the secret of agriculture did Qingu agree to free her husband.

Social

Contacts & Relations

Elenea is said to remain at the Seelie Court in the Feywild most of the time. Despite her husband's transgressions, she remains always faithful to him and deeply devoted to him and his family, the members of the Seelie Court. She is often depicted as being seated next to the Lavender Queen, an extraordinary position for a non-fey to have.

Family Ties

Elenea was born to Uriah and Porcia of the Gloriae. However, because she was born after the War of the Dawns, the Heavenly Codex seems to argue that the other divine children of Uriah and Porcia are not in fact her siblings. This could be used to argue that Elenea is not only a new goddess but one that was added to the Heavenly Council through religious syncretism. Much of her roles are also filled by other members of the Council such as Porcia or Lacorré. However, it seems clear that Elenea is her own unique goddess and one that is an important link between the Heavenly Council and the religions of the Feywild.

Divine Classification

Deity

Religions

• Seneshals of Elenea

Alignment

Neutral Good

Realm

Feywild

Church/Cult

Heavenly Council

Honorary & Occupational Titles

The Ever Devoted; the Eternal Virgin; the Ever Youthful; The Spring Maiden;

Current Residence

The Celestial Mountains or The Seelie Court

Aligned Organization

Heavenly Council

Other Affiliations

• Seelie Court
• Unseelie Court

Related Myths

• "The Flight of Zephone"
• "The Fox and the Maiden's Cock"

Hallowed Arms

The Eternal Crown: a tiara of jade roses that bring fertility to the land upon which their bearer walks

Holy Orders:

• Acolyte: Seneschal

• Cleric: Prefect

• Leader: Matchmaker

• Temple: Gardenshrine

Animal Harbinger

Swan