Selûne

Selûne (pronounced Seh-LOON-eh or seh-LOON-ay ), also known as Our Lady of Silver, the Moonmaiden, and the Night White Lady, was the goddess of the moon in the Faerûnian pantheon. She held the portfolios of the moon, stars, navigation, navigators, wanderers, wanders, seekers, and goodly lycanthropes. Her nature changed with the phases of the moon. She was also known as Bright Nydra in the Farsea Marshes, as Elah among the Bedine of Anauroch, and as Lucha, called She Who Guides, in the Shining Lands, where she was part of the Adama.

Description
In both her avatars and religious artwork, Selûne appeared in many forms. One was a dusky-hued woman with long limbs; wide, radiant, lime-green eyes; and long ivory-colored hair that grew to her knees. Another was an ethereal figure of slender frame, dark eyes, and dark hair, wearing white robes that trailed her "moon motes". A third was a fair, middle-aged woman of matronly aspect with gray-streaked dark hair, who sometimes lived among mortals; the most notable such avatar was the innkeeper Luna. A simple depiction was of a woman's face on the disc of the moon.

She was also ever changing. If seen over time, her appearance seemed to grow to full brilliance or age and dwindle, in keeping with the waxing or waning of the moon. Such changes only affected her external appearance, and did not reflect any change in her might, at least to mortal eyes.

In any form or state, whenever she was in darkness, Selûne's avatar continually emanated a faint blue-white glow as of moonlight.

Personality
Selûne was known for her serene and peaceful nature. She would not fight if she could help it, but nor did she hold back if she must. When beseeched by her clergy, she always responded.

Abilities
When manifested as an avatar, she could cast a wide variety of magical spells, except those of the plant sphere and any that conjured darkness. She would avoid reversed and injurious forms of healing spells and necromantic sphere spells, unless absolutely necessary. She could free cast divination spells, even alongside other spells. Her spells all had a similar appearance, beginning as streaks of moonbeams and only revealing their true effect when they struck. She radiated protection from evil to a distance of a 100 yards (90 meters), and no good summoned creature within a 100 yards (90 meters) of could dispelled or banished. However, a holy word from her automatically banished evil extraplanar beings.

She could not be damaged by electricity and light spells, and could be affected by illusions, enchantments, charm and charm sphere spells. No lycanthrope could attack her. She could not be detected or revealed by divination magic unless she willed it.

If pressed into battle, Selûne could be an awesome warrior, fighting with divine fury but with martial and magical skill in coordination.

She usually appeared amongst trails of dancing motes of light, commonly called "moondust" or "moon motes". These guided travelers lost in the night or journeying over hazardous terrain, and came to shine for her faithful when light was needed for a delicate action. They could occasionally exude a radiant, sparkling, pearly-hued liquid, which the clergy collected and valued greatly as a powerful ingredient in potions and healing ointments.

To indicate her favor or presence or to help mortals, Selûne might send weredragons, certain lycanthropes, and other shapechanging creatures; owls; and one of her loyal servants known as the Shards.

Possessions
For battle, Selûne wielded a moon blade +3, in fact a lasting form of the moon blade spell. Another weapon she might wield was the Wand of Four Moons, a four-flanged heavy mace of many potent magical powers. Selûne's scale mail comprised opalescent, circular scales with glowed faintly with silver light; she donned it only in battle, but might lend it to beings on a quest for her, without losing any of its protection herself.

Divine Realm
Selûne resided in a realm called the Gates of the Moon. Under the Great Wheel cosmology, it stood on the plane of Ysgard.

Activities
In the Shining Lands, under the guise of Lucha, she was believed to guide herders to good pastures, aid ships lost on the sea, bless marriages, guarantee the safety of births, and watch over relationships and connections between people.

Symbol
Her symbol was a pair of eyes, of a darkly beautiful human woman, encircled by a seven silver stars.

History
Selûne was created from the primordial essence of the universe, along with her twin sister, Shar. Together, they created Chauntea (the embodiment of the world of Abeir-Toril) and some other heavenly bodies and infused these areas with life. The two goddesses then fought over the fate of their creations. From these struggles emerged the original deities of magic, war, disease, murder, death, and others. Selûne reached out of the universe and from a plane of fire, brought forth a flame and ignited a heavenly body in order to give warmth to Chauntea. This greatly enraged Shar, and she began to erase all light and warmth in the universe. Desperate and weakened because of Shar's actions, Selûne hurled some of her divine essence at her sister. Selûne's essence tore through Shar, bringing some of Shar's essence with it. This magical energy combined to form the goddess Mystryl, the original goddess of magic.

Relationships
Selûne counted as her allies the fellow goddesses of the night sky and moon Mystra, Eilistraee, and Sehanine Moonbow; fellow gods of travelers and mariners Shaundakul and Valkur; the goddesses of nature Chauntea and Eldath; and the goodly gods Lathander, Lliira, Sune, and Tymora.

Selûne was an independent deity for millennia, but in time came to serve Sune, goddess of love, for several centuries. Following the Godswar of 1358 DR, they parted on good terms and Selûne was free to do as she willed again. She continued to have fully cooperative and amiable relationships with Sune and Lliira both.

Her eternal enemy was Shar, goddess of the night, a war that had been waged since before all other Faerûnian gods. They fought constantly in all realms of existence, through their mortal followers and their servitor beings, and in person.

Her other great foes were Mask, over the mischief and wickedness he made in the shadows formed by her moon's light at night; Umberlee, over the fates of ships at sea; and with the rotting god Moander.

The Zakharan deity Selan was a moon goddess that shared a similar name and outlook with Selûne, but had a somewhat different area of interest, namely beauty. Thus the connection between the two remains a mystery.

She served specially by the Shards, a band of unique planetars of shining aspect.

Worshipers
Selûne's clerics were a very diverse group, including sailors, non-evil lycanthropes, mystics, and female spellcasters. Her church's main objective was to fight evil lycanthropes and summon the Shards, blue-haired female planetar servants of Selûne, to battle the minions of her archnemesis and twin, Shar. The temple also performed fortune-telling, healing, and practiced self-reliance and humility.

Followers of the Moonmaiden would often set bowls of milk, a sacred fluid, outside on nights when the moon was full.

Orders

 * Swords of the Lady: One order of fanatic Selûnites was known as the Swords of the Lady, who were often referred to colloquially as the "Lunatics". Its members were led by a few Selûnite crusaders who tended to act rapidly in response to threats from Shar and her priesthood, although their behavior was often viewed as bizarre by the public at large.
 * Oracles of the Moon: The Oracles of the Moon were a group of female diviners who worshiped the Night White Lady. They performed fortune-telling rituals and were some of the highest bards and priests in the faith.
 * Silverstars: Operating mainly in the North, especially Icewind Dale, these priests and priestesses were dedicated to protecting the vulnerable. Gifted Silverstars were capable of conjuring a moon blade, which had special properties to harm those who were evil.

Heresies
Those who believed in the Dark Moon heresy held that Selûne and Shar were two faces of the same goddess.

Connections
Selûne