Melora

As the Lady of Nature, Melora has a complicated relationship with those that live in the cities. She is an essential deity to appease if one wishes for spring to come, and if one walks in the wilds.
Along with her partner, Kord, She often stands in starch opposition to Erathis and Her goals of expanding civilization, hoping instead to let nature develop naturally.

Divine Domains

As Wildmother, Melora is first and foremost the Goddess of Nature and the wilds. This leaves her with a duality in her roles.
Firstly, She is the Goddess of the Wilds; as a goddess of the untamed places, and all that lives within such places. This aspect is particularly prominent to elves, and others that live in the wild. In addition She also functions as a more benign part of the harvest and the cycles of seasons. For this reason, while She is hard to appease by those living in the cities, She is often a popular deity all the same, as her vengeance truly can be terrible.

Holy Books & Codes

Melora, being among the oldest of the gods, has a long and rich oral tradition of worship, and Her traditions include the ceremonial planting and harvesting of healing herbs, but also darker aspects such as animal sacrifices and ritual forest burnings.
Scholars have tried to codify her worship in the Wildmother Rites, a tome of prayers and doctrines, but it's often found that Melora directs individual worshippers to act contrary to the documented rites. Some believe that this suggests gods do have a sense of humour. For this reason, more than most, the worship of Melora is tied to the personal relationship between worshipper and goddess, with a lot of room for interpretation.

Divine Symbols & Sigils

The typical symbols of Melora is a green leaf, often floating in water. The exact leaf is dependent on the local flora. In addition, She is often associated with a wreath of flowers when associated with the more tamed harvest.
Older records associate her with the skull of a stag, representing a darker side of her portfolio that has mostly been forgotten by those that worship her in civilized parts of the world.

Tenets of Faith

• Protect the wild places of the world from destruction and overuse.
• Hunt aberrant monsters and other abominations of nature.
• Do not fear or condemn the savagery of the wild. Live in harmony with the wild.

It is worth noting that among elves, and with those that live outside of civilized lands, the first tenant are often supplemented with:

• Oppose the rampant spread of cities and empires.

Holidays

The Morn' of Flowers falls during the month of Suntears' Bloom. Whenever the silver suntears grow up through the snow, a celebration is held where great pyres are erected outside villages, so that the ashes may be scattered, pleasing Melora that she may let spring come early.
Swallows' Return traditionally took place whenever the swallows migrate back north, declaring the start of spring. The Divine Precept has formalized this as being on 17th of Sun's Longing. As this coincides with the birth of Saint Pallic, the herbalist. On this day, people walk into the local wilds, raising small stone cairns that ward off fire spirits that would prevent the spring.

Worshippers

The servants of Melora are marked by their role as outsiders in civilization, Her worship being most commonly seen by local hunters, herbalists, hermits and druids.
She does however, have a great deal of followers among races, such as elves and firbolgs, who shares a more symbiotic relationship with the wilds. For this reason, one is more likely to find forest glades and stone circles that serve as holy places where such races live.
She is known to be associated with the following orders:

Nuata'dean

This holy order is a rarely-spoken-of sect of radical worshippers of Melora. The majority of their members are of races that find it hard to adjust to city life, and those that prefer life outside of social constructions. This order is, in principle, sworn to protecting the wildernesses of the world. In practice however, they are supposedly a group of radicals that attack all that would harm their forest homes.

The Wildmother

Divine Classification

Greater Deity

Religions

• The Divine Precept
• The First Kin

Alignment

True Neutral

Realm

The Beastlands

Domains:

• Nature
• Life
• Tempest