Church of Mielikki

The church of Mielikki, officially known as the Walkers of the Forest Way, was the primary religious organization dedicated to the worship and service of the goddess Mielikki.

Organization
Initially, the Walkers of the Forest Way were composed almost entirely of clerics. They had little-to-no formal hierarchy,  with senior clergy simply assembling networks of allies who could gather and disseminate information and would work together to realize the church's goals. Rangers who were members of the church or who were in direct service to it were a laity treated as an auxiliary force or adventuring division that could be set against enemies of the faith. Perhaps surprisingly, there were no druids at all by 1358 DR, but the church was on good terms with them.

Then, in 1369 DR, to halt the decline of her faith, Mielikki herself called for the church to be restructured. Druids were reintroduced and either joined the clerics as part of the new hierarchy (though they were still few in number in the years immediately after) or else established druid circles of their own dedicated to Mielikki in the North. In the new church, there were three great branches: the Heartwoods, the Arms of the Forest, and the Needles.
 * Heartwoods
 * Comprising dryads, hamadryads, and treants, these beings served as the voices of the spirits of the very trees and were considered the heart of the church. The dwelt in the forest of their nature.


 * Arms of the Forest
 * Also called the Forestarms, or simply Arms, and made up of the clerics and druids, this was the main body of the priesthood and its spiritual center. They were dedicated to protecting the forests. It was open to all humans, demihumans, and woodland beings of good and neutral character, but the majority were human and half-elf women who displayed a passion for their work, combat prowess, and adventuring habits. By and large, they were practical, disinterested in fuss and much ceremony, yet reverent in their prayers.


 * Needles
 * These were the rangers of the church. They usually acted as a militant order that defended the forests against the church's enemies, but they could also act as priests themselves. Far from the lowliest, they were believed to be most beloved by Mielikki, the Supreme Ranger.

Titles
Members of the church were officially called the Walkers of the Forest Way, and were sometimes known as Mielikkians, which was also the adjective for the faith. Circa 1479 DR, the priesthood was commonly called "druids".

Among the Forestarms, titles were simple and few. The novices were called Questers, junior priests hadn't yet seen two winters in service were Spring Stags, and regular priests with experience but no significant achievements or temple duties were Stalkers in the Green. In the higher ranks, senior temple staff, emissaries, and recognized teachers of the faith were all Forest Flames. Among temple staff, titles were straightforward, such as Cook, Doorwarden, Housemaster, Worship Master, Master of Novices, Prior, and Abbot. At the highest levels, temple leaders and champions of the church were titled High Rangers. The goddess herself bestowed the title Hawk of the Lady on her most valued and highest-ranked faithful.

Classes
The restructured church of Mielikki included clerics and druids (both called Forestarms) and rangers (termed Needles). It also included the unique half-elf druid/rangers, a type of specialty priest. In any case, after 1372 DR, nearly every cleric cross-trained as a ranger or, to a lesser degree, a druid. Because of this mixing, druids of Mielikki took oaths that were stringent than those of most other druids and were permitted to wear all kinds of armor and weapons usable by rangers.

Orders
Within each of the branches were a number of distinct religious orders. Some of the most notable were:
 * Order of the Unicorn's Horn: A small society of wandering healers who aimed to bring peace to injured people, animals, and plants.
 * Shadoweirs: Part of the Needles, this was a religious knighthood of the woods made up of half-elf druid/rangers. They were activists who proselytized with zeal and would go on the offensive to save their sacred forests.
 * The Harpers: While not a part of the church of Mielikki, Those Who Harp had very close ties with the Walkers of the Forest Way.

Rituals
To venerate the Forest Queen, one of the faithful needed only to spend some time in meditation and introspection in both the morning and evening, and do so under a forest's branches if possible. Afterward, they listened to the whispers of the woods and tried to interpret their meaning,   for they believed the goddess to most often manifest her voice as a whisper in the rustling of leaves, echoing forever through all the forests of the world, and that a good and faithful worshiper could comprehend them. Divine spellcasters following Mielikki could pray for spells in either the morning or evening, but were required to observe both events.

At other times, when beseeching the goddess for aid or a blessing in a simple task such as treating an injured animal or following a trail, Mielikkians simply asked her under their breath for going ahead. When choosing to undertake a quest to right some wrong done to the woods, a Mielikkian would make a special prayer asking for guidance and strength. On special occasions, groups of them would assemble under the stars, to sing and praise the Lady of the Forest and call her to guide them.

When lighting a fire, Mielikkian priests were required to whisper the Dread Prayer over it. Then, by the goddess's grace, it produced intense heat in so only selected directions, but very little smoke and only dim light. Thus, it drew little attention and could not spread, eliminating the risk of forest fires, so the Mielikkian need not watch the fire.

Once a month, if not more often, all of the Walkers of the Forest Way were required to perform a ritual titled the Song of Trees, which called forth a dryad, hamadryad, or treant, and to perform various small deeds for it for a day. Mielikki shielded the faithful from the dryad's charms.

Mielikkians also held the equinoxes and solstices as holy days, called the Four Feasts, with the simple titles of First Feast, Second Feast, Third Feast, and of course Fourth Feast. Most familiar to those outside the faith but held deep in the woods, these were times of sacred rituals, songs of praise to the Forest Queen, and revels for celebration of the sensual side of life. It was known that on the first, the spring equinox, herbs were burnt.

The common festival days of Greengrass and Midsummer Night were similar to the Four Feasts but greater in scale, with additional planting rites and the grand Wild Ride. On these occasions, Mielikki brought unicorns together in herds that raced through the woods at a gallop. Walkers of the Forest Way were even allowed to mount these unicorns and ride them bareback all through the night. Mielikki also empowered the unicorns to teleport as often as they wished and to thrice the usual range, so her followers could be taken incredible distances and see much of the world around them. In the years of Shieldmeet, which occurred after Midsummer, the Wild Ride could continue through that day and night too, if unicorn and rider wished.

Symbol
The traditional holy symbol of the faith was a white unicorn's head, golden horned and blue eyed, facing sinister, that is, to the left. An alternative symbol showed a white unicorn over a green field. An older symbol was a white star on a green leaf, specifically a tiny and dazzlingly bright white star balanced on a green leaf of oak or ash that was open and verdant.

Possessions
The raiment of the Walkers of the Forest Way was governed by the seasons, with each article of clothing having a specific base color and an accent depending on the season. In autumn, it was red with white accents, representing fallen leaves becoming covered with snow. In winter, it was white with green accents, for the evergreen trees under the snow and how the forest remained in full life. In spring, it was green with yellow accents, symbolizing the forest slowly returning to lushness. And finally, in summer, it was yellow with red accents, for the beauty and bounty of flowers, fruits, and grains. Otherwise, the trappings of the faith were often in forest green.

Their vestments comprised a plain tunic or tabard, which was typically sleeveless in summer and long-sleeved in winter, together with boots, trousers, and a short cape. All articles of clothing were in the seasonal colors, except the boots, which were always brown. They had no headwear. While working in the woods, most priests wore whatever befitted the weather and the task at hand, but they made an effort to display the seasonal colors, even if in hot weather this might be only a sash and baldric. Needed items were carried in pouches or packs or even strapped to their boots. During times of conflict and adventuring, priests and rangers wore regular armor (often chainmail) with only their capes.

They wore their holy symbols of Mielikki always over their hearts,  either stitched into the fronts of their tabards with silvery thread or as a pendant carved from bone or ivory.

Magic
A number of spells and prayers were unique to Mielikkian priests or were closely associated with them:
 * Banish blight
 * Stalk
 * Wood sword
 * Tree healing
 * Create treant

While within a forest environment, any cleric, druid, or ranger of Mielikki might use a form of the spell analyze balance whenever required. When cast on a type of creature, a specific individual, or an item, it functioned as normal, yielding an estimate of its deviation from true neutrality. But if cast on the forest itself, they could detect if the local ecology was significantly threatened.

Clerics and druids initiated into the higher secrets of the church in the 1370s DR could cast the following unique spells: These they shared with the churches of Silvanus and Eldath. Moreover, they could rebuke or command animals or plant creatures.
 * Mold touch
 * Briar tangle
 * Thorn spray
 * Fireward
 * Tree healing

Circa 1479 DR, a priest of Mielikki could channel divinity and use the divine spell fleetness of Mielikki, becoming blessed with the speed and surefootedness of her sacred white hart.

History
In the fall of Myth Drannor in the, many worshipers of Shaundakul were slain and his faith declined sharply. The church of Mielikki absorbed those Shaundakun rangers who survived, while the church of Waukeen claimed the traders.

In the 11 century DR, a priestess of Mielikki that lived in Amphail, Asaudrae Daerantree, was killed by hunters while in the form of a stag, giving rise to the Rite of the Stag Lass. Many of the faith and some in Amphail would come to believe Asaudrae to be Mielikki herself.

In the Dalelands around the 1340s DR, Arms of Mielikki lived, worked, and fought alongside the elves there. As the elven population was so small and slow to replenish, they relied on the human Mielikkians to protect them, calling them as "our shields". This established a deep and long-lasting trusting between the church of Mielikki and the Dales elves.

In the latter half of the 1360s DR, a few Arms of the church started buying up land around Secomber in the Western Heartlands and in upcountry Sembia, using riches retrieved from hidden caches and ruins in some forests. On these lands, they established orderly tree plantations that would serve as "forest shields" to supply local peoples with lumber before they looked to natural woodlands. The Arms would even cut the wood themselves and sell it cheap. They later extended this scheme to parts of Amn and Tethyr. To aid this practice, the Arms hired foreign adventuring companies, nicknamed "armies of the trees", to combat any woodcutters who still targeted the natural woodlands.

By the 1360s DR, the church of Mielikki and the goddess herself were in decline. Mielikki came to recognize that, with her service to Silvanus, as his power was growing, her own was dwindling, as were her faithful, which was threatening to reduce her to a demigoddess or less. Finally, in the, Mielikki ordered a complete restructuring of her clergy, creating the branches of the Heartwoods, Forestarms, and Needles and reintroducing the druids. The action not only arrested the decline of her power, but bolstered it and gave her enough to establish her first divine realm in the Outer Planes. Moreover, it both preserved ancient forest traditions and guaranteed the faith would continue to flourish.

Members

 * Drizzt Do'Urden, an ex-worshiper of Mielikki
 * Catti-brie
 * Montolio Debrouchee
 * Lander
 * Pikel Bouldershoulder
 * Florin Falconhand