The Splitting of the Rivers

The Forest is a land of natural beauty that entices wanderers to lose themselves among the copses and glades, ever-lured onwards by a new enchanting sight or sound. But many dangers lurk in the dense forest, which follows few rules found in forests found elsewhere. The lay of the land does not follow reason or expectation, but instead seems shaped by a trickster's hand with traps and pitfalls behind every tree trunk.
One prominent danger to those unused to navigating The Forest is the many streams and rivers that flow eastward from The Peak to the sea. In places small and fast moving, in others wide and slow, the rivers of The Forest split and rejoin to form a wide web that weaves to surround most settlements they pass by. Though many current denizens of The Forest attribute this confusing geography to the high levels of wild magic stemming from the naturally occuring portals to the Feywild that appear throughout The Forest, legend has it that that trickster's hand belonged to none other than the elven god Erevan Ilesere himself.
Though Erevan has a well-earned reputation for fickleness and shifting desires, according to legend he is fiercely loyal to the Seldarine pantheon, and to the Elves themselves. The legend of the splitting of the rivers goes that once, in the Time of the Free People, The Forest was a land easily traversed, with portals appearing and land shifting to ease the passage of weary travellers, and one great winding river that flowed slowly and strongly from its font in The Mountains to its ending at the sea. The very trees themselves grew to cradle the Tel Quessir and the land was a paradise for person and creature alike. But Araushnee, Queen of the Seelie Court and the consort of Corellon, never satisfied and ever yearning to turn the wheels of time, coveted this paradise for her Court and planned to take the land so that she could reshape it for her own uses.
While flitting through The Forest as rabbit and fish and leaf and butterfly, as Erevan was wont to do, he heard the voices of Araushnee's scouts, and fearing the dark and jealous tone of their words stopped to listen for a while. Dismayed, he listened in horror to his Queen's plans for the home of his beloved Tel Quessir, and quick as river over rock his mind began tumbling ideas for japes and pranks to stop her army in their tracks.
The problem, he thought, was that The Forest welcomed strangers with open boughs, trees simply stepping out of the way of headstrong visitors like polite hosts. But the river, he thought. Ah! The River. The river was old and ponderous, ancient as Erevan's bones and unchanging as the Tel Quessir themselves. The River would be his ally. And so Erevan called Tarsellis Meunniduin, god of mountains and rivers, from his position at Corellon's side in the Unseelie Court, and explained to him all he had heard.
Together they planned in secret through the night, not wanting to distress Corellon with news of their wife's plans of betrayal, and at the break of dawn they travelled to the spring at the head of The River to enact their plan.
"River!" Tarsellis cried, "I command you to rise!" But The River, ancient before Tarsellis was conceived, did not rise.
"River!" he again commanded, "I am your God, I tell you you must rise!" Still, The River did not rise. Before Tarsellis could cry out a third time, Erevan raised his hand and bid him quiet.
"Oh great River," he sung, "great River I admire your beauty, I entreat you oh ancient one, show yourself to me that I might shower you in complements!" In this, Erevan was smart, as like most ancient beings the River had an arrogance that could only be touched by flattery. Hearing Erevan's tuneful call, and recognising the fish that sometimes swam in his waters, The River rose forth from the spring to meet them.
" I rise." It said. "Though not because you will it, godling, for none can control me and I shall drown all that try!" Erevan nodded sagely.
"Your splendour is as great as the stories my companion has told of you, but I find it a great shame." here he sighed and bowed his head, the very picture of despondence.
"Shame!" The River thundered, "There is no shame, I shall not bear it! Explain what shame you see and I will show you to be wrong."
Erevan hid his smile, and looked to Tarsellis. "There is no shame on you, great River, only shame on us. For you see, though you appear for us now, and though we have walked along your banks and swum in your currents, still we cannot see the whole of you, and thus your splendor cannot be seen as you deserve." Tarsellis gestured to Erevan. "While I, as a god of rivers, may feel the true might of your full form, those like my companion and the Tel Quessir will never see the true extent of your beauty."
The River frowned and looked back to the trickster Erevan. "Is this true, godling? Can you not see my great majesty?"
"Sadly yes, it is true." replied Erevan. "Like a sturdy, practical braid, The Forest keeps you tucked away tidily, your beautiful strands woven tightly together, obscuring each other from view. If only I could see them all, flowing like loose locks on the breeze. my, that would surely be an awe-inspiring sight."
The two gods watched as The River churned their words over in it's head, waters bubbling and frothing, before they sighed in unison. Erevan smiled sadly and shrugged. "So yes, it is a shame that I will never see such a glorious sight, given how The Forest welcomes all but you, but I thank you for rising to meet me this morning. It is truly I sight I will treasure."
Erevan and Tarsellis bowed and moved to leave, before The River called out. "The Forest welcomes everyone you say?"
"Yes, the Tel Quessir move freely through The Forest, and why only the other day I saw even peoples of the Feywild traversing under it's canopy, planning to bring more and more of their number to claim the lands on either side of your banks, where you are not allowed to spread." The River rose in anger.
"They will claim The Forest?" he cried, waters rising to spill the banks of it's mountain pool. Tarsellis watched with great interest, using his magic to gently coax the mountain to furrow beneath the overspill, drawing out more water.
"Araushnee is the goddess of fate," Erevan stepped forward to say, "She believes it is her right to shape the lands as she sees fit, and once she has claimed The Forest, she will never allow you to step out of your current bounds." At the mention of control, The River became more agitated, flooding into Tarsellis' newly made valleys and streams.
"Allow! She can no more command me than you can! I shall expand across The Forest, regardless of it's welcome, so all may see my slendour and might and none again shall challenge me!"
And so with an outpouring of pride, The River flooded its banks, creating hundreds of rivers and streams that split and rejoin to show the whole Forest it's beauty. Smiling with satisfaction The River displayed its fastest, deepest currents, and it's lazy shallow paddling pools, and wound it's way straight through Araushnee's secret scheme.
Erevan gasped in wonder, and joy at the success of his plan, and clapped with glee. "Oh River, wondrous and beautiful as you are! Truly I can see every aspect of your splendour, and I thank you for this gracious display, I must go and tell all I know of this feat of strength and power!" And so the first battle of the War of the Seldarine was won, and the lands of The Forest were forever changed.

Erevan Profile
Name: Erevan Ilesere
Pantheon: Seldarine
Alignment: chaotic good
Domain(s): mischief, subterfuge
Symbol: green clothing
Powers: Shapechanging,
manipulation, transmutation magic

Tarsellis Profile
Name: Tarsellis Meunniduin
Pantheon: Seldarine
Alignment: True Neutral
Domain(s): nature, tempest
Symbol: mountain with a river in its valley
Powers: terrain and weather manipulation