Chauntea

Chauntea was the Faerunian goddess of life and bounty, who viewed herself as the embodiment of all things agrarian. The Earthmother was seen as the tamer parallel of Silvanus, the Forest Father of druidry and wilderness, as she was the deity of agriculture and plant cultivation.

Description
Chauntea, when in her home realms, manifested with the appearance of a giant beautiful human woman. The Earthmother had long shiny white hair, gathered in a long braid she wrapped around her head. The length of her braid suggested the woman's great age. She had pleasant features and brown skin. Chauntea's body was lean but toned, muscled similarly to a farmer's body, shaped by hard work. She carried herself with strength and femininity. If one was to forget that they observed a deity, they could assume the beautiful woman in front of them was in her middle-age. Some described her appearance as "a rose in full bloom."

Chauntea was dressed in an unbleached linen tunic and carried a green seed pouch, slung over one shoulder. Even though she was working her divine realm's fields barefoot, with face stained with dirt, her beauty was accentuated by wildflowers and ivy weaved into the goddess' long hair. She also wore a girdle embroidered with images of various fruits.

Divine Realm
In the Great Wheel cosmology, Chauntea maintained her divine realm named Great Mother's Garden on Elysium's second layer of Eronia. She shared it with the otherworldly god of crops Liu from the Chinese pantheon and the Mystaran Immortal of growth, Djaea.

Chauntea's realm was a representation of her dominion over the Realms. During the annual planting season, the goddess worked her realm's sprawling fields, planting handfuls of seeds in furrows and closing them with her bare feet. The goddess took her duties with intense diligence, knowing that if she was late to plant or the fields were damaged, it caused the fertility of the Realms to suffer. A churned plot of earth in one spot of the field could cause croup failure in Halruaa, in another spot - scorched earth could create famine in Amn. Her realm's fields were teeming with life: insects bussed about, earthworms filled the soil, robins flittered about.

Relationships
She had strong ties with other deities concerned with nature, such as Shiallia and Mielikki, and she shared a close relationship with Silvanus, but that diminished over time. She was also known to have romantic affiliations with Lathander.

Her most despised enemy was Talona, the lady of pestilence, whose disposition to wreak suffering, disease and decay upon the natural world led her to oppose her with upmost vehemence. She was always in conflict with Talos. Chauntea battled deities who sought to desecrate and expunge nature; she opposed evil deities such as Malar and Bane, and viewed the latter's resurgence as portentous.

Worshipers


Chauntea was seen by Faerûnians as a critical aspect of the assumed cycle of life. Private land owners and destitute farmers (perhaps as a consequence of an unproductive harvest) visited the clerics of Chauntea for any divine suggestions for aiding the harvest. If at any time plague or drought struck the crops, farmers looked to Chauntea, since they hoped she would save the harvest, due to her love of nature.

Some of her worshipers claimed that her divine glimmer gave life to the natural world, and some contended that she was the creator and source of all mortal races. In some sense, Chauntea was the manifestation of the earth itself&mdash;the avatar of the twin worlds Abeir-Toril.

The church was an approachable one, in that it welcomed all irrespective of gender or race. The liturgical doctrine of the church was such that it attracted more females than males, due to its preoccupation with femininity, and while female attendees outnumbered men, there was still a range of males that worshiped Chauntea.

Chaunteans maintained simplicity when it came to apparel. Druids preferred brown robes and priests preferred to wear a brown cloak with more standard livery such as a tunic underneath.

Her temples often had great libraries dedicated to agriculture.

Typical Worshipers
Though she had a diverse collection of followers, Chauntea was fanatically worshiped by peasants, servants, druids, gardeners, and any others who earned pay from working on farmland.

Clerical Practice
Clerics prayed for their spells at sundown, as did druids. They usually led dual lives as either gardeners or farmers, and were industrious people. They were expected to appreciate natural beauty and possess a feeling for meditation. The clergy instructed Chauntea's followers that they should make entreaties every sunrise. Compared to other faiths, ecclesiastics appointed few holidays. One holiday that was observed was a festival during Greengrass, which was a festival in which excessive consumption and uninhibited behavior were encouraged. Abundance was an important part of life worshiping the Great Mother. A rite of passage for many of the faith was concerned with Holy Communion. Newly married couples were instructed to spend their first night in fresh fields, supposedly to guarantee a fertile marriage.

The clergy observed and recognized the dogma set forth by Chauntea herself, and read the High Prayers of the Harvest at a perennial ceremony, which was usually at the start of harvest.

Her clergy were known for ministering in rural communities, and for their willingness to work in the community's fields next to the local farmers.

Denominations with the Holy Order
The divided clergy of Chauntea was sectarian by nature. Associates of the Chauntean canonry were divided into two camps. Those with ministerial positions who advised farmers and workers all over were named "Pastorals". The rustic, untamed conclave charged with preserving the wilderness referred to themselves, albeit insouciantly, as "True Shapers".

The deaconry had by no means any centralized governing body, and was not collective. It promoted individuality and was far less unitary than other faiths.

Doctrine
The church outlined a general set of precepts and taboos, though some of these were given to subjective interpretation since the faith was individualistic. Chaunteans saw wanton destruction as antithetical to the cycle of life. They were urged to nourish at least one living thing every day of their lives. They were advised to eschew fire also.

In terms of correct agricultural practice, the church advised that campaigns of replanting, prudent irrigation and crop rotation were necessary to ensure that the land was kept fertile. However, followers of Silvanus regarded these teachings with derision. They postulated that these practices were an abomination to the natural world and that agriculture was not conservation but manipulation, further arguing that their sect encouraged exploitation and overpopulation. This, Silvanites decreed, was in contradiction with Nature. As a result, some proselytized to the Silvanite faith, though many "Pastorals" disregarded these criticisms.

Aspects
Before her days as the "Great Mother", she was said to have been named "Jannath", and in her early days, she frequented places of overgrown nature, wilderness, and packs of animals. This role became much more Silvanus's, though in the Moonshae Isles Chauntea was still worshiped as Jannath.

In the wake of the Spellplague, Yondalla was reported to be an aspect of Chauntea. While the Earthmother was considered to be a very prominent aspect of Chauntea in the Moonshae Isles, the Earthmother was actually a primal spirit.

In Rashemen, she was worshiped as a member of the triumvirate of goddesses praised there known as The Three with Mielikki (Khelliara) and Mystra (The Hidden One). Here, she was known as "Bhalla".

She was worshiped as Pahluruk in and around the Great Glacier.

In Wa, she was worshiped as "Chantea" but only by an underground sect who were viewed with distrust or outright hostility. Followers of Chantea were immediately put to death upon discovery. The Juzimura rebellion was noted as the official eradication of her religion in Wa, but there were suspected cells of underground worshipers in isolated areas.

History
Chauntea was believed to be one of the eldest gods in Faerûn&mdash;she was born when Toril was created by the primeval battles between Shar and Selûne. Selûne favored her and nurtured her with her light, with the help of Mystra.

Temples
Category:Temples to Chauntea
 * Bounty of the Goddess (Archenbridge) - Archendale
 * Bounty of the Goddess (Voonlar) - Moonsea
 * Green Lady's Keep - Velprintalar, Aglarond
 * Harvest Hall - Wheloon, Cormyr
 * Harvest House - Daggerford, Sword Coast
 * Harvesthome - Goldenfields, Sword Coast North
 * High Harvest Home - Elturel
 * House of Bhalla - Immilmar, Rashemen
 * Mystical site: Arbor Lodge - Utter East
 * Temple of the Harvest Moon - Harrowdale, Dalelands
 * House of Plenty - Shadowdale, Dalelands.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Tymora's Luck
 * Video Games
 * Neverwinter Nights (AOL game)
 * Neverwinter Nights (AOL game)

Connections
Chauntea