Pantheon Elfico

[DM Artemis]

Aerdrie Faenya

The Winged Mother, Lady of Air and Wind, Queen of the Avariel, She of the Azure Plumage, Bringer of Rain and Storms
Intermediate Power of Arborea and Ysgard
CG
PORTFOLIO: Air, weather, avians, rain, fertility, avariel
ALIASES: Angharradh
DOMAIN NAME: Olympus/Arvandor and Ysgard/Alfheim
SUPERIOR: Corellon Larethian
ALLIES: Akadi, Cyrrollalee, Eachthighem, Eilistraee, Fionnghuala, Isis, Koriel, Lurue, Remnis, Shaundakul, Sheela Peryroyl, Syranita, Stillsong, the Seldarine, various Animal Lords
FOES: Auril, Talos and the Gods of Fury (Auril, Malar, and Umberlee), the drow pantheon (except Eilistraee)
SYMBOL: Cloud with the silhouette of a bird
WOR. ALIGN.: NG, CG, N, CN
Aerdrie Faenya (AIR-dree FAH-ane-yuh) is the elven goddess of the air, weather, and birds. As the bringer of rain, she is the closest the Fair Folk have to a fertility goddess. At one time, the Winged Mother's followers were composed largely of the avariel, much like Deep Sashelas was and is worshiped primarily by sea elves. However, unlike their aquatic kin, the winged elves were nearly wiped out by the dragons before the First Flowering, and what was believed to be the last of their race in Faerun flew westward before the start of the Crown Wars.

Today, gold, moon, and wild elves who desire certain weather conditions make the most frequent sacrifices to Aerdrie. Her small church is also popular with elves who possess flying mounts, such as asperii, dragons, giant eagles, griffons, hippogriffs, and pegasi. The Lady of Air and Wind is revered by all nonevil birds, particularly aarakocra and other sentient avians, but their numbers are small and declining as well. She is also called on by elves oppressed by overly lawful creatures.
Aerdrie is both an aspect of Angharradh and one of the three elven goddesses-the other two being Hanali Celanil and Sehanine Moonbow-who collectively form the Triune Goddess.
This duality tightly binds Aerdrie with the two other senior elven goddesses, and the three collectively serve alongside Corellon in leading the Seldarine. Aerdrie maintains close relations only with those powers of the air who share a love of birds and freedom as deeply held as the Lady of Air and Wind. Aerdrie is particularly close with Syranita, the gentle goddess of the aarakocra, and some theologians speculate the two may eventually merge if the bird-men continue their steady decline.
Aerdrie is also close with the avian lords of the Beastlands, particularly the hawk lord. Since the Time of Troubles, Aerdrie has been romantically linked with her long-time ally, the human god Shaundakul, the Rider of the Winds, but this new twist in their relationship is undoubtedly little more than a passing fancy, at least on the Winged Mother's part. Aerdrie contests with Talos and the Gods of Fury, for they challenge her control of the winds and seek to wield them for purely destructive purposes. The deep antipathy between the Winged Mother and the Frostmaiden stems from the war in Arvandor between the Seldarine and the anti-Seldarine forces who were arrayed against them. Aerdrie soundly defeated Auril in that battle, forever banishing the Frostmaiden from Olympus, and the two goddesses continue their eternal war on the myriad worlds of the Prime.
Aerdrie is the elven expression of freedom and impulse, and she dislikes being tied down to any one place for too long. Her realm is so close to the philosophical border between Arborea and Ysgard that it moves back and forth, sometimes part of Arvandor and sometimes part of Alfheim. Aerdrie delights in the sound of wind instruments and in creating unpredictable atmospheric conditions, including fairly severe or violent thunderstorms on occasion, but her primary joy is simply feeling the air rush past her with the ground far below. The Winged Mother is a somewhat distant goddess who rarely involves herself in elven culture, and she is far more chaotic than the rest of the Seldarine. Of all the elven races, only Aerdrie takes a keen interest in the avariel, and few of them remain in the Realms.
Other Manifestations
Aerdrie rarely manifests in the Realms, except through natural processes such as strong winds, rain showers, and even powerful storms. The Lady of Air and Wind manifests around Evermeet as great storms, vast cyclones, and winds of hurricane force that affect only nonelven ships. Her efforts also ensure that no ill wind or weather can ever destroy the Green Isle.
The Winged Mother does watch over those Fair Folk who take flight into her domain, whether it be through magic or their own wings. If an elf or worshiper of any race somehow falls from a great height, whether it be off a cliff or out of the sky, the Winged Mother may manifest as a deep blue nimbus of flickering light that envelops the plummeting creature and enables him or her to slow his or her descent and make a gentle landing, similar to the effects of a feather fall spell. If a worshiper in flight is targeted by a land-bound archer, the enveloping nimbus of Aerdrie's manifestation confers a defensive shield equivalent to a protection from normal missiles effect. While the Lady of Air and Wind rarely grants omens to her priests, when she does they manifest as whispering winds. The Seldarine call on agathinon, asuras, and ancient treants as their preferred servants, but Aerdrie is also served by aarakocra, aasimar, aasimon, air elementals, aerial servants, androsphinxes, asperii, atomies, avorels, azmyths, birds of all nonevil species (particularly eagles, falcons, hawks, kingfishers, and owls), cloud dragons, cloud giants, crystal dragons, djinn, eladrin (particularly bralani), faerie dragons, firetails, fremlins, frosts, griffons, gorse, hippogriffs, hollyphants, kenku, kholiathra, ki-rin, lammasu, lillendi, noctrals, opinicus, pegasi, pegataurs, phoenixes, pixies, reverend ones, rocs, seelie faeries, shedu, silver dragons, sylphs, spirits of the air, sprites, storm giants, sunflies, swanmays, swarms of grasshoppers or locusts, sword archons, talking owls, tempests, tressym, t'uen-rin, vortexes, windghosts, and wind walkers. She demonstrates her favor through the discovery of feathers of any sort, hornbill ivory carved in the form of an avian species, psaedros, raindrops (a common name for cassiterite crystals), sapphires, turquoise, weirwood birdpipes, and wind instruments of any sort. The Winged Mother indicates her displeasure by suddenly transforming a gentle zephyr or little rain shower into a lashing storm, by causing flocks of birds to suddenly dissolve, each bird going its separate way, and by causing the offender's plumage-whether it be natural or a form of adornment-to suddenly molt.
The Church
CLERGY: Clerics, mystics, specialty priests, air elementalists
CLERGY'S ALIGN. : CG.CN
TURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, Mys: No, SP: No, AEle: No
CMND. UNDEAD: C: No, Mys: No, SP: No, AEle: No
All clerics (including multiclassed half-elven clerics), mystics, and specialty priests of Aerdrie receive religion (elf) and reading/ writing (Espruar) as bonus nonweapon proficiencies. Most priests of Aerdrie have a strong fear of being confined or trapped bordering on claustrophobia. They suffer a -1 penalty on initiative, attack rolls, and saving throws under such conditions (this includes nearly all underground areas). Aerdrie's priests must sleep outdoors except during winter or times of bad weather.
Like all the Seldarine, Aerdrie is venerated by all elves save the drow. However, aside from those winged elves who remain, very few of the Fair Folk primarily worship the Lady of Air and Wind. The Queen of the Avariel is seen as flighty, even for the chaotic Seldarine, and somewhat distant, and the inclusion of the aarakocra and other avian races slightly diminishes the strength of elven devotion to her. Aerdrie's temples, known as aeries, are usually located on high hilltops or mountain slopes having a good view of the land around them and the open sky.
While the Winged Mother's shrines are little more than alpine ledges, accessible only to those creatures capable of flight, Aerdrie's temples are delicate crystalline spires bedecked with glass chimes whose ringing tones peal across mountain valleys, borne by swirling winds. Small open-mouthed caves, connected by short tunnels that honeycomb the peaks on which the goddess's temples rest, allow access to Aerdrie's glass-enclosed chapels and permit the wind to whistle through the heart of the peak.
Novices of Aerdrie are known as Eaglets or the Tethered. Full priests of the Winged Mother are known as Winged Brothers or Sisters. Titles used by Aerdrian priests vary widely from temple to temple, with many high-ranking priests having unique individual titles. Among the priest caste of the winged elves of Mount Sundabar, commonly employed titles include Aquiline Hunter, Cloud Walker, Feathered Dancer, Rain Bringer, Rising Thermal, Silent Screech, Sky Diver, Soaring Spirit, and Wind Chaser. Specialty priests are known as halcyons. At one time, the clergy of Aerdrie was dominated by winged elves (90%), but her church today consists primarily of moon elves (40%), gold elves (38%), aarakocra (10%), and elves and half-elves of other subraces (8%). A handful (4%) of winged elves (including half a dozen or so half-winged elves whose wings are strong enough only for gliding) compose the remainder other clergy, scattered across the most distant and inaccessible reaches of the Realms. Although specialty priests compose only a small fraction of Aerdrie's clergy (20%), they occupy nearly all of the high positions within the Wind Mother's church. The remainder of Aerdrie's priests are either clerics (42%), including multiclassed half-elven clerics, air elementalists (30%), or mystics (8%). About 59% of Aerdrie's clergy members are female, the remainder are male.
Dogma: The ever-changing reaches of the sky are the great gift of the Winged Mother. Take flight into her windswept embrace, and gambol amidst the everchanging clouds. Honor those who dwell with the Lady of Air and Wind and cherish the birds who dance on her tresses. In change there is beauty and in chaos there is the birth of new life. Ascend, soar, glide, dive, and ascend again and relish in the freedom that the Winged Mother bequeaths. The air is the breath of life.
Day-to-Day Activities: Aerdrie's priesthood is primarily concerned with exploration and maintaining good relations with sentient avian races (for example, giant eagles and aarakocra).
With the decline of the avariel, few elven priests of the Winged Mother are capable of flight without magical aid. As a result, many Winged Siblings work to create new spells and items by which magical flight is possible, and a not a few of their more adventuresome brethren seek lost relics of yore that permit the same. Similarly, members of Aerdrie's clergy raise winged steeds employed by the aerial cavalries of elven realms and tend cotes of fanciful birds from far-off lands to dwell in formal elven gardens and to supply the molted plumage employed in elven fashions. As servants of the Bringer of Rain and Storms, Aerdrie's priests work closely with elves involved in agriculture and horticulture to ensure favorable weather systems for their crops. Winged Brothers and Sisters are also charged with destroying evil avians, such as eblis, perytons, and simpathetics, as the Lady of Air and Wind considers them perversions of nature.
Holy Days/Important Ceremonies : The Dance of Swirling Winds is a semiannual festival held on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes to celebrate the changing seasons and to honor the Winged Mother. The winds are always strong on such days no matter where Aerdrie's followers gather. Celebrants make offerings of beautiful feathers and join in an aerial ballet danced to the music of wind instruments played by some of the participants.
Those who lack wings or magical means of flight may ride the wind (as the 2nd-level wizard spell) as a gift of the goddess herself. For the duration of the formal ceremony, recipients of Aerdrie's blessing are usually tethered by long ropes to others who can command their own aerial movements. Once the dance breaks up, however, wind dancers, as they are known, are swept across the forest canopy for miles in a breathtaking flight before settling gently in a sylvan glade not too far from home.
Major Centers of Worship: According to legend, great aeries of the avariel may be found in undiscovered lands far to the west of Faerun, whose inhabitants are descended from winged elves who fled the relentless annihilation of their race by the great wyrms of the North during the Time of Flowers. Before they fled, the center of Aerdrie's faith was the Aerie, a great temple-city said to have been located amidst the Star Mounts at the heart of the High Forest. While some claim that the Aerie's last remnants are now inhabited by the great red wyrm known to humans as Inferno, more credible tales hold that Elaacrimalicros, an ancient green dragon who has savaged the surviving population of aarakocra in the region, has claimed the legacy of the avariel.
The Aerie of the Snow Eagles is a crystalline citadel built atop the peak of Mount Sundabar in the distant land of Sossal, north and east of Pelvuria, the Great Glacier. The last redoubt of the avariel in Faerun, Aerdrie's preeminent temple has long been forgotten, even by the Fair Folk of Cormanthyr, Evereska, and Evermeet. From the steep, icy slopes of Mount Sundabar, the Children of the Winged Mother take flight across the frigid skies of the Cold Lands, fishing in the freezing waters of Sossar Bay, hunting across the icy reaches of the Great Glacier, and engaging in aerial acrobatics across the northern sky. The temple itself resembles an inverted glass cone built to replace the shearedoff mountain top of Mount Sundabar. (The avariel believe the peak was removed by a Netherese archmage seeking to create his own floating sky city before the fall of Netheril, but in truth it may have been destroyed when white wyrms destroyed the remnants of the dwarven kingdom of Dareth.) The crystalline, conical temple is nearly 3,000 feet in diameter at its base and 3,000 feet high at its peak.
Within the temple's glassteeled walls, endless zephyrs dance hither and yon and tiny rain showers erupt out of thin air, a never-ending manifestation of the power of the Lady of Air and Wind. The temple floor is overgrown with tropical plants nurtured by the brilliant sunshine and regular rainfall to create a jungle paradise. Rare birds from the farthest reaches of Abeir- Toril gambol and caw while young winged elves test out their wings overhead. The avariel community of Mount Sundabar, including the crystalline temple on the mountain top and winged elven nests on the mountain's flanks, is loosely governed by Winged Father Aquilan Greatspan, an avariel. Aquilan has led the last remaining major enclave of winged elves in Faerun for nearly five centuries, and his wise leadership has seen the avariel survive, if not exactly prosper, amidst the ruins of the Ice Kingdom of Dareth. Like the Stout Folk who preceded them, the greatest threat to the avariel is Hoarfaern, the realm of white dragons and their bestial servant creatures who dwell in the dwarf-carved halls of the northern Mountains of Dareth.
Affiliated Orders: The Wing of Plumed Kingfishers is an aerial military order composed primarily of moon and gold elven crusaders and rangers. The order is subdivided into aerial cavalry divisions by the species of their mounts, with asperii, giant eagle-, griffon-, hippogriff-, and pegasi-mounted Plumed Kingfishers predominating. Before the power of elven civilization began to ebb in Faerun, this order patrolled the skies above most forests of the Realms, protecting land-bound elves below from threats above. Today only two major branches of the ancient order of Plumed Kingfishers survive, one based in Evermeet and the other based in Evereska. The Wing of the Green Isle includes a division of moon elves mounted on giant eagles, a division of gold elves mounted on pegasi, and a handful of moon and gold elven dragon riders mounted on gold, silver, and bronze dragons. The Wing of the Evereskan Eyrie includes a large division of moon elves mounted on giant eagles and a smaller division of the Teu-Tel'Quessir mounted on asperii.
Priestly Vestments: Ceremonial garb for priests of Aerdrie consists of sky-blue robes, with those of high rank wearing the darkest shades. Feathers are used in decorating their clothing and armor, and at least one feather is worn in the hair. The holy symbol of the faith is a feather of great beauty, willingly given after molting by a sentient avian who venerates the Winged Mother. A new feather must be found at least once per year.
Adventuring Garb: When adventuring, Aerdrie's priests prefer light, flexible armor that maximizes maneuverability and minimizes weight and drag. Streamlined helms, carved to resemble stylized bird heads and padded to reduce concussions, are secured with leather chin straps. Missile weaponsparticularly javelins and elven bows with flight arrows-are commonly employed in combat. If at all possible, priests of Aerdrie who lack wings of their own obtain wings of flying or similar magical means of flight. At the very least, they seek to train a steed capable of flight, such as an asperii, dragon, giant eagle, griffon, hippogriff, or pegasus.