Isleif, Sunder (EYE-LAYFF)
"The Pale Stag keep you."
Isleif is the wanderer's god and the father's shield, reviled by some for his hypocrisies and loved by others for his mercy.
Isleif's Doctrine
Sunder is a god of two provinces which at first seem like opposites: family and exile. He teaches forgiveness and communication, mediation and self-reflection. Better yourself in order to better those around you and lift up the needy. Lead with the voice, not the blade. He is a patron of familial love, within and outside actual bloodlines. Finding shed antlers is considered a good omen for expecting parents, and his priests are sometimes called to bless marriages, adoptions, and births. He is worshipped most diligently in halfling villages and nomadic cultures—places where family extends far beyond the water of the womb.
If it were only for this doctrine, Sunder would be universally loved. However, he is also the patron god of exile. Old parables of Isleif use the imagery of the limb amputated to save the body, the diseased doe killed to spare the herd, and the branches cut to make room for new growth. He is said to watch over those who are severed from their homes, which is controversial on two counts: some believe the mercy he grants to those who are banished is unjust, since often they're murderers or traitors. Others believe that his blessing is a spit in the face to those who are removed from their families and don't want to be—support of an action they find unjust.
Suture and Sunder
Isleif is the younger brother of the goddess Suture. They roamed Kairos together before Suture's apotheosis, and myth says that when she ascended, she killed another god so Isleif could take their place, although no one can say if that's true, and that god's name has been lost to time if it is. Today, they're divided by their Pillars and their ideals, but they never stopped caring for each other. They've been known to watch over each other's clerics, even if they won't admit it. They've also been known to interfere in each other's affairs, trying to sway each other's followers one way or the other; however, their acolytes are rarely opposed, and their followers will be scorned by their gods if they try to hurt each other in service of their god. Rarely, there are clerics who serve them both, but this is a strange and demanding existence.
Titles
Sunder, The Pale Stag
Pronouns
he/him
Provinces
Family, Reflection, and Exile
Domains
Peace, Order, Voice
Classification
Dominion
Alignment
Lawful Good
Pillar
The Pillar of Paths
Connections
- Signe, Suture (Sister)
Comments