Church of Selûne

The church of Selûne was the primary religious organization dedicated to the worship and service of the goddess Selûne, Our Lady of Silver.

Terminology
Selûnites had their own terms for night-time conditions. When the moon was out, even if not visible, it was known as "moonlight". When the moon was dark or not out, it was known as "nightgloom".

Activities
There were broadly two kinds of Selûnite clergy: those who remained at the temples (often but not necessarily due to age or infirmity), and those who wandered Faerûn. Their duties were similar but distinct.

Temple priests provided healing to the community and tended to the residents of asylums and sanitariums, which often adjoined their temples. As the goddess bade them, they were generous with their healing magic and charged very little for it.

Instead, the temple priests made good money by practicing astrology and telling fortunes. With divine guidance, they were more successful than ordinary folk.

Itinerant priests spread the faith of the goddess, by seeking out and keeping in touch with both existing and potential worshipers, in the belief that Selûne could be worshiped anywhere. Such priests also provided healing, usually asking for nothing more than a meal and a warm place to rest. They practiced humility and self-reliance. These habits kept the clergy well-traveled, resilient, and in touch with the natural world in a practical manner.

Wandering priests also kept watch for people afflicted with madness or lycanthropy. They would heal or help them if they could, or else escort them to the closest Selûnite temple, where senior clerics could air them. Both kinds of priests were united in opposing evil lycanthropes when they threatened the community. They were fearless and did all they could to uncover, cure, or eliminate the affliction of lycanthropy. Such struggles won them the respect of farmers and the common people.

In Durpar in the Shining Lands, almost all marriages were conducted by priests of Lucha, as it was believed that the goddess watched over all marriages performed by her priests.

Membership
With the faith of Selûne promoting equality and understanding for all, and with her wide assortment of worshipers, her priesthood were just as diverse and eclectic. Nevertheless, the great majority of members were women, and the senior ranks were dominated by female humans. There were a scattered few lycanthropes, both natural and afflicted, but all of good heart. They all worshiped Selûne in their own personal ways, but cooperated in relative but boisterous peace.

Hierarchy
Suiting the goddess's chaotic and changeable ways, the church hierarchy was highly variable, shifting from location to location and even with the predictable phase of the moon and other, unpredictable heavenly events. It was a jumble of clerics and specialty priests, crusaders and mystics, and blessed and well-informed lay worshipers.

The silverstar specialty priests were elite members of the church.

Titles
The clergy of Selûne were known collectively as "Selûnites", which also the adjective for the faith.

The Selûnite clergy held a wide assortment of titles. Novices were always known as the Called, while full priests were known as Priestess or Priest, typically prefaced by Touched, Enstarred, Moonbathed, Silverbrow, Lunar, Initiate, and High Initiate, in order of increasing rank. Higher-ranked clergy were instead known as "Priestess/Priest of the…", followed by a term traditional to the shrine or temple with which the priest was affiliated. For example, Priestess of the High Moonlight Naneatha Suaril was high priestess of the House of the Moon in Waterdeep. Such was the case in the time of Netheril and in the great temples of cities like Waterdeep in the 14th century DR, but there were many variations in country shrines and temples and in other lands.

The specialty priests were called silverstars, in both the time of Netheril and in the 14th century DR.

Orders
The church of Selûne was associated with a number of religious orders: The church was also affiliated with the Harpers.
 * 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.
 * The Silver Path: A group of rangers active in the time of Netheril.
 * The Guardians of Light: An elite order of paladins active in the time of Netheril.
 * The Sun Soul: A monk order dedicated variously to Selûne, Sune, and Lathander.

Classes
The church of Selûne commonly included among its ranks clerics, the specialty priests known as silverstars, crusaders, and mystics. In the time of Netheril, however, the spellcasting clergy were only silverstars. Clerics and specialty priests were able to turn undead like many other good and neutral priests. From 1372 DR, clerics would often also train as bards, sorcerers, or become silverstars. There were also a number of lay worshipers who could not cast spells and had no special talents.

In the time of Netheril, all clergy were good-aligned, but by the 14th century DR they widened to included neutral members. After 1372 DR, clerics were chaotic good or similar.

Rituals
The diverse faithful all paid homage to Selûne in their own individual ways, often adapting the standard rituals into very personalized, even unique rites. However, there were still many commonalities and shared matters of faith. Many rituals revered a woman's role as a teacher and role model, both in the home and in society. Milk, viewed as a symbol of motherhood and the sustaining power of the feminine, was a vital holy substance in ceremonies. Rituals often involved offerings of milk or wine and dancing, and were performed as personal matters.

Clerics prayed for their spells at night while facing the moon, if it was out and visible.

During the full moon, a female cleric would perform morning ceremonies to make herself receptive to special insights, intuition, and visions. This was in the belief that the moon subtly influenced the cycles of the female body, and thus she felt closest to Selûne during the full moon.

A regular ritual was the "night stalk", as it was often known, an occasion for worship and communion with the goddess, in which the clergy reaffirmed their nearness to the Night White Lady. This could be just a simple solitary night-time walk under the moonlight, hence its name. More involved ceremonies involved dances under the open sky and prayers in the moonlight, with libations of milk and wine over a central altar. These were held on the nights of every full moon and new moon. For example, High Initiate Courynna Jacerryl would pour milk and wine over a moonstone-inlaid altar, then dance while chanting a prayer. She would be mimicked by junior clerics, who felt honored to participate. They could even dance until they collapsed in exhaustion.

If the goddess was pleased by a ceremony, she bathed the milk or wine poured on the altar with moonlight, transforming it into a holy substance known as moonfire. This crept away from the altar to touch or envelop whatever the goddess chose, in turn enchanting items, empowering the faithful, and destroying undead. When moonfire appeared, the clergy considered it a good sign, believing the night was blessed and they were worthy. Those it touched were thought to be marked for a special destiny.

The most sacred rituals, observed by all clergy, were the Mystery of the Night, an annual holy day, and the rare Conjuring of the Second Moon.

The Mystery of the Night was the most sacred ritual; it was required that every priest perform it at least once a year. The priests cast certain secret spells than prostrated themselves before an altar, where they fell into a deep trance. Then they flew upwards, to spiral around the night sky and even to circle the moon. Meanwhile, they communed and communicated personally with Selûne through mental visions. This was draining and injurious, but easily healed with time or magic.

The Conjuring of the Second Moon was conducted only on Shieldmeet, a day that occurred once every four years. Every Shieldmeet, at every temple to Selûne in Faerûn, the clergy chanted in coordination and the confluence of their devotional energy summoned the Shards, the planetar servants of the goddess. For night only, the Shards would do as the clergy bade them, most often to combat the minions and dark forces of Shar. However, at dawn the next day, the Shards elevated one mortal priestess to their ranks, before they departed for the planes.

Shrines & Temples
Suiting the whole changeable and individual nature of the church and goddess, the holy sites of Selûne varied across the land. They ranged from simple shrines, such as those in the Dalelands and oft in the wilderness, to amazing opulent temples like the House of the Moon in Waterdeep. There were also humble hermitages, hilltop circles in which worshipers danced in the night, and ornate temple mansions, which were huge edifices with open-air courtyards or great skylights. Nevertheless, there was a widespread preference for smaller shrines and individual worship. Common features were feminine symbols, small gardens, and reflecting ponds. Selûnite temples were often adjoined by asylums and sanitariums, the residents of which the clergy cared for.

Notable Locations
Although there was no central base for the church, its greatest and most magnificent temple was the House of the Moon in Waterdeep in the 14th century DR. Because of it, much Selûnite activity took place in Waterdeep and its environs.

In the Shining Lands, where Selûne was known as Lucha, the city of Lastarr was a hub of her faith. The folk here favored the worship of She Who Guides.

The legendary city of Myth Lharast, lying somewhere in Amn, was founded as a whole city of Selûne's faithful. Though it fell into the grip of evil beings, Selûnites still hope to liberate and restore it.

Symbol
The symbol of the church was the holy symbol of the goddess: a pair of eyes, of a darkly beautiful human woman, encircled by seven silver stars. This was typically carved into or out of moonstone and fashioned into an item of jewelry.

Dress
The original ceremonial dress of the priests of Selûne during the time of Netheril consisted of white robes, which could be either plain and unadorned or embroidered with silver and decorated with moonstones; a circlet of woven flowers or vines worn around the head, and no shoes. A high priest carried as their symbol of office a wooden staff wrapped with silver, including silver flowers and vines, and topped with a moonstone. By the 14th century DR, the priests of Lucha in the Shining Lands still wore white robes, circlets of flowers and vines, and no shoes, while priests carried staffs wrapped with flowers and vines.

Meanwhile, the later priests of Selûne had highly variable ceremonial costumes. The most humble wore plain brown robes, while others wore normal clothes accented with but a little moonstone jewelry. The grandest and haughtiest wore only the very finest attire, such as expensive gowns bedecked with jewels, with magical and animated capes and trains, and crowns set with moonstones. For example, Naneatha Suaril, high priestess of the House of the Moon in Waterdeep, presided over ceremonies in a majestic dress with a wide-bottomed hooped skirt and a great fan-like collar ascending from the back of her neck, both stiffened with whalebone, all set with clusters of pearls and other precious stones.

In everyday life, Selûnites wore fashionable but not gaudy attire. In their work, they adopted whatever was practical for the task at hand.

In battle, Selûnites preferred a certain kind of mace they called "the Moon's Hand". A Moon's Hand had a smooth head  representing the moon in a specific phase. Each temple had its own preferred phase for their Moon's Hands. It was otherwise identical to a typical footman's mace,  light mace, or heavy mace, with the clergy favoring the heavy mace.