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, questers, seekers, and non-evil lycanthropes. Hers was the moon's mysterious power, the heavenly force that governed the tides and the reproductive cycles, caused lycanthropes to shift form, and drew one to the brink of madness. 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. Her name was shared by the moon of Toril, Selûne; it was unknown if the moon was named for the goddess or the goddess for the moon.

Description
In both her avatars and religious artwork, Selûne appeared in many forms, like the phases of the moon. One was a dusky-skinned human woman with long limbs; a perfect and exquisite beauty; wide, radiant, lime-green eyes; and long ivory-colored hair that grew to her knees. Another was an ethereal young girl of slender frame, dark eyes, and dark hair, wearing diaphanous robes colored white or resembling dappled moonlight, which trailed her "moondust" or "moon motes". A third was a matronly middle-aged woman plump yet fair and aging gracefully, with gray-streaked dark hair. This one 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, ageing but ageless. If seen over time, her appearance seemed to grow to full radiance or age and fade away, 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. However, over time, she did in fact wax and wane in power and prominence.

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

Personality
Again like the cycles of the moon, Selûne had many and changing moods and natures. Her faithful, coming from many walks of life, viewed her in countless different ways, and she reflected this. Sometimes she was enthusiastic, vivacious, joyous, and majestic, given to dancing and action. At other times, she was subdued, motherly, and nearly poetic. Then she was remote and weighed down by sadness at defeats and tragedies, even those that happened long, long ago. Finally, she could be aggressive and fierce, and with little mercy for her enemies.

But, at all times, Selûne was caring and accepting of most beings, and was both ageless and ancient. She was quietly mystical and, as a being of chaos, well used to change. She had a serene and peaceful nature; she would not fight if she could help it, but nor did she hold back if she must. The one constant was her eternal conflict with Shar.

She was generous and freely bestowed gifts and blessings on mortals. She also made few demands of her followers. 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 typically manifested as trails of dancing motes of light, similar to will-o'-wisps, commonly called "moondust" or "moon motes", which could shed moonlight where there should be none. In this form, she 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 occasionally exuded a radiant, sparkling, pearly-hued liquid, known as "drops fallen from the moon", which was the holy essence of Selûne.

To indicate her favor or presence or to help mortals, Selûne might send owls; weredragons or song dragons; certain breeds of good lycanthropes or other shapechanging creatures; or one of her loyal planetar servants known as the Shards. Other signs were the colors blue and silver, and the appearance of moonstones. For example, a Selûnite captured by Sharrans who spied a moonstone ring on one of their fingers would understand there was a spy in the cult. She would also create moonfire for her faithful during the Mystery of the Night ritual, which could enchant items or the worshipers themselves.

Finally, Selûne could sense any deed that occurred in the open light of the moon, anywhere in the world. She could also instantly create any magical item that could heal, influence shapechangers, or bestowed spells of the Moon domain.

Possessions
For battle, Selûne sometimes wielded a moon blade +3, in fact a lasting form of the moon blade spell. However, her favored weapon was the Rod of Four Moons, a four-flanged heavy mace of potent magical power. 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 dwelled in a planar realm called the Gates of the Moon. Under the Great Wheel cosmology, her realm stood on the plane of Ysgard, also called Gladsheim. Under the subsequent World Tree cosmology, the Gates of the Moon was considered its own plane. Under the World Axis cosmology, the Gates of the Moon was a dominion in the Astral Sea. In middle of the Gates of the Moon, Selûne resided in a shining silver hall named Argentil, a place of beauty, quietness, and moonlight.

Activities
She was believed to control the ebb and flow of the tides and to comfort those in need during the night. Her moon shined a light in the darkness, holding evil at bay. She was also in constant battle with Shar, the goddess of the darkness. She had infused her spirit with the moon, and there eternally watched over the world. Through the moon, she controlled the powers of lycanthropes.

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.

Avatars of Selûne most often wandered the Outer Planes, seeking out magical lore or advantage to help her destroy Shar once and for all. She was reluctant to manifest avatars in Faerûn, as Shar took joy in obliterating them there.

In their never-ending struggle across the sky, Selûne was slain by Shar at every new moon.

Babes born beneath a full moon often grew up to exhibit magical talent, thanks to Selûne's link with Mystra.

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.

When the primordials began to attack the newly born worlds of Realmspace, Shar and Selûne both set aside their differences temporarily and moved to defend those worlds against the primordial threat. Other gods were born from the conflict or were summoned from other universes, to aid the native gods in their struggles against the primordials and their servants. This conflict was later known as the Dawn War.

Selûne was an independent deity for millennia, but her might waned and in time she 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.

Since then, she set out on her own once more, making new alliances in her unending war against Shar, such as with the new Mystra.

During the Spellplague of 1385 DR, Selûne helped Kepeshkmolik Thymara to aid the other dragonborn survivors from Tymanchebar. She also entrusted Thymara with Nanna-Sin's holy weapon, the Black Axe of the Moon's Champion. When Thymara asked Selûne what she was expecting in return for her help, Selûne only answered that she wanted the dragonborn to thrive on Toril. Thanks to Selûne's help, the dragonborn survivors were able to gather and found the city-citadel of Djerad Thymar.

After the Spellplague, Selûne became a popular deity across Faerûn, as her priesthood made pilgrimages to every corner of the continent, wanting to bring hope to people in those desperate times.

Relationships
Selûne counted as her allies fellow deities of the moon, beauty, fortune, joy, light, magic, and weather. Among them were the first Mystra and the second Mystra, who was her greatest ally against Shar since 1358 DR. Eilistraee and Lliira, meanwhile, shared her love of frolicking under the moon. Even after parting ways, Selûne continued to have fully cooperative and amiable relationships with Sune and Lliira both. Selûne respected Lathander for his passion, and hoped they could cooperate to shine light on Shar's dark deeds. Other allies were Sehanine Moonbow, an elven goddess of the moon; fellow gods of travelers and mariners Shaundakul and Valkur; the goddesses of nature Chauntea and Eldath; and Tymora, goddess of luck.

Her eternal enemy was her sister Shar, goddess of the night, a war that had been waged since before all other Faerûnian gods existed. They fought constantly in all realms of existence, across the sky at night and in other planes, waged through their mortal followers and their servitor beings, and in person. Selûne labored always to thwart Shar's dark plots.

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 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 was served specially by the Shards, a band of unique planetars of shining aspect. They usually bestowed mortals with gifts and boons on her behalf.

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

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. 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.

In the Shining Lands of Durpar, Estagund, and Var the Golden in southeast Faerûn, Selûne was known as Lucha, She Who Guides. Here, she was seen as part of the Adama, a unifying world spirit that included all gods, the world, and everything.

She was worshiped by illusionists, good thieves, some sages, and sailors, and placated by evil thieves.

Even those not dedicated to Selûne would pay their respects to her. For example, a band of adventurers on a night-time raid might make an offering to Selûne for guidance.

Orders

 * Swords of the Lady: A fanatical order, nicknamed the Lunatics, who reacted swiftly to threats from Shar..
 * Oracles of the Moon: A group of female diviners who worshiped the Night White Lady.
 * 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