Overview
Selvyra is the wild and untamed embodiment of nature’s duality: she is the flourishing forest and the devouring wildfire, the soothing rain and the unrelenting hurricane. Sister to the god known as the Sculptor, Selvyra stands as his eternal opposite. Where the Sculptor builds and refines, she releases and reclaims. Her symbol is Flux: the ceaseless transformation inherent in all living things. She is the patron of wild beasts, natural disasters, wilderness, and the unyielding cycle of life, death, decay, and rebirth.
Her faith is feared, practical, and raw. Unlike the towering temples of Lumenor or the crimson cathedrals of Maelvorna, Selvyra’s places of worship are hidden groves, cliffside shrines, bone-laced altars in remote forests, and coastal caves where waves crash in ritual rhythm. Her followers are often druids, rangers, beast tamers, forest-dwellers, wild pirates, and nomadic survivalists. Civilization is antithetical to her truth.
Symbol
A swirling spiral of leaf, claw, and wave—representing the unending dance of birth, change, and death. Called The Flux Sigil, it is typically carved into bark or bone.
Tenets of Faith
Selvyra’s worship is not codified in scripture but passed through oral lore, animalistic symbols, and ancestral memory. There are, however, enduring truths her faithful whisper:
Live Wild. Die Wild.
Civilization is a cage. Walk free. Run hard. Hunt with your own hands. The city dulls the tooth and rusts the claw. Beware domestication, for it turns wolves into lapdogs.
Respect the Kill.
Take only what you need, use all of it, honor what died so you may live. Everything taken must be used. Bones must be carved, meat must be shared, skins must be worn. To waste is to insult the wild.
Flux is Truth.
The storm that kills the village gives way to richer soil. Life and death are not opposites but partners. The hunter must one day become the hunted. Kill, be killed, and feed the roots. Change is sacred, even when painful.
No Chains. No Masters.
Selvyra bows to none, not even the gods. Her chosen are bound only by blood, instinct, and the law of nature.
Worship and Culture
Selvyra’s religion is not organized—each tribe, region, or wild enclave forms their own version. However, they all share reverence for untamed spaces, natural predators, and the flux of change. Amongst her devout followers one most commonly encounters:
Druids and Rangers – Her most common clerics; they are her "Horns of the Wild."
Hunters, Nomads, Gatherers – Survivalists and pragmatic worshippers.
Pirates and Sea-Raiders – Offer sacrifices before storms or raids.
Storm-Touched – Individuals struck by lightning, caught in mudslides, or born during a natural disaster are seen as Flux-Marked.
Rites and Rituals
Rite of the First Kill
Performed when a child or youth takes their first life—be it beast or man. The heart is burned, and the bones carved into tools or fetishes. The hunter receives a painted mask, called a Face of the Wild, representing their bond with death and survival.
Offering of Waste
The most serious offense is waste. If a kill is left to rot, the faithful must fast for three days, burn incense of decay, and offer part of their own blood to the forest.
Stormdance
Performed during great storms. Shamans strip bare and howl into the winds, letting themselves be cut by rain and wind. They believe lightning may "bless" them—many die, but those who survive are revered.
The Hollowing
Practiced by wild druids. Once a decade, they retreat alone into the deepest part of the wilderness, shed all clothes, names, and tools. They live ferally for a moon’s cycle and either return reborn or die.
The Rite of Storm Offering
During violent weather—lightning storms, floods, or high winds—the faithful leave offerings of animal hearts, carved bones, or rare flowers in high trees or floating upon wild rivers. These rituals curry favor, especially among pirates and coastal folk.
The Bone Chant
Held during solstices, participants dance in a circle adorned in animal bones, chanting rhythmic prayers while beating bone instruments. It honors death as an offering of rebirth.
Tattoos of the Flux
Those who survive great natural disasters often tattoo themselves with symbols of the event (a spiraling wave, a shattered tree, a lightning branch). These are considered divine brands of favor.
The Sacred Hunt
The Sacred Hunt is one of the holiest rites of Selvyra, the Goddess of Flux and Wilderness. It embodies her doctrine: the untamed cycle of life, the purity of predator and prey, and the devotion shown through visceral survival. The ritual exists in two forms: the communal Mock Hunt during the Hunter’s Moon and the True Hunt, a deadly spiritual pilgrimage against Sacred Beasts. The Sacred hunt can be broken down into:
The Mock Hunt (Week Before Hunter’s Moon):
Community-wide ritual. Masked hunters track and capture "Marked Prey" (usually initiates or volunteers) in symbolic hunts. The prey who escape earn blessings; those captured endure symbolic penance.
The Sacred Hunt (Night of the Hunter’s Moon - Late October):
Faithful gather in wildernesses and hunt Sacred Beasts, divine avatars of Selvyra's chaotic power. These monstrous, semi-divine creatures test the strength, wits, and will of the hunters. During the Hunter’s Moon, groups may hunt together.
The True Hunt (Any Time):
Outside the Hunter’s Moon, individuals may attempt a Sacred Hunt alone. This is a life-or-death rite. Tools are forbidden. The reward is Selvyra’s personal mark and immense primal power. Failure often results in death or madness. Those who succeed the true hunt acquire the title of Fluxborn.
“Only the hunted learn to see. Only the hunter learns to listen. Only the Fluxborn learn to become.”
Relations with Other Faiths
Maelvorna, the Crimson Mother:
Although often at odds due to Selvyra’s hostility toward civilization, the two deities share a respect for the sacredness of life. Where Maelvorna cherishes love and emotion, Selvyra values instinct and survival. Small sects believe they are two sides of the same primal force. In fact, the faithful say the Wildmother and the Crimson Mother once wept together under the Moonstone Tree, mourning a village lost to plague. They both cherish life, though they define and defend it differently.
Selvyra protects life through survival and the harsh beauty of natural balance.
Maelvorna protects life through care, emotional bonds, and community.
Their followers may clash in philosophy—Selvyric faithful scorn domestic comforts—but they often cooperate in times of plague, famine, or birth, especially in rural or frontier areas. The wild midwives of Selvyra sometimes assist in childbirth alongside Crimson Sisters, whispering prayers to both goddesses.
A popular dual prayer:
"Crimson in the blood, wild in the breath—grant strength to life, and peace in death."
Skyldar, God of Ambition:
Skyldar’s lightning mirrors Selvyra’s storms. Both gods inspire fear and awe. Their shared dominion over weather, particularly lightning, places them in philosophical tension. Skyldar views the storm as a metaphor for personal ascent and power. Selvyra sees it as the wild’s fury and rebirth. They are uneasy allies. Their joint worshippers are rare and intense—storm-touched berserkers, survivalist warlords, or sky-priests who see lightning as holy purgation.
Temples and Worship Sites
Selvyra’s shrines are open-air and impermanent:
Grove Altars – Circles of mushrooms, stones, or claw-marked trees.
Sea Shrines – Tide-washed totems of driftwood and bone.
Sky Pillars – Totemic monoliths left atop cliffs or hills to attract lightning.
Forbidden in the empire, her faith survives in outlawed druid circles, pirate brotherhoods, and among tribal peoples who honor the natural world as sacred.
Myths and Sacred Tales
The Tale of Aelin the Root-Born
Aelin, once a noblewoman, fled her burning city and survived alone in the woods for 77 days. On the final day, a hurricane struck. She bound herself to a tree, whispering to Selvyra. The tree survived, and Aelin emerged with eyes of moss and storm-touched breath. She became the first human to tame a Sacred Beast.
The Beast of Ten Storms
In ages past, a Sacred Beast known as the Beast of Ten Storms destroyed entire coastlines. It was finally slain by seven Fluxborn during the Hunter’s Moon. Its heart was thrown into the ocean, creating the permanent whirlpool known as the “Maelroot” that is said to exists somewhere across the Glacy Bay.
The Forest That Ate a City
When the Empire banned Selvyra’s faith, they razed a sacred grove to build a garrison. Three months later, vines, wolves, and storms consumed the entire settlement in a single night. No bodies were found—only a sapling where the altar once stood.
The Black Sun Pact
Legend says that during a total eclipse, Selvyra once fought Lumenor himself. Their battle scorched valleys and gave birth to deserts. Though Lumenor won the sky, Selvyra planted her rage deep underground, creating volcanoes to burn from within.
Comments