Eldath
| Game background | |
|---|---|
| Title(s) |
Goddess of Singing Waters Mother Guardian of Groves The Green Goddess |
| Home plane |
2E: The True Grove (Elysium) 3E: House of Nature |
| Power level | Lesser |
| Alignment | Neutral Good |
| Portfolio | Peace, Pools, Springs, Creeks & Rivers, Quiet places |
| Superior | Silvanus |
| Design details | |
Eldath (/ˈɛldæθ/ EL-dath[1][2][3]) is the Faerûnian deity of peace in Ed Greenwood's Forgotten Realms fictional world of Abeir-Toril. Her dogma is pacifistic, requiring nonviolence of her followers. Eldath protects rivers, streams, and druids' groves, and mortal creatures are incapable of committing acts of violence while in her presence.
Publication history
Ed Greenwood created Eldath for his home Dungeons & Dragons game, set in the Forgotten Realms world.[4]
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition (1977–1988)
Eldath first appeared within Dungeons & Dragons as one of the deities featured in Ed Greenwood's article "Down-to-earth Divinity" in Dragon #54 (October 1981). Eldath is introduced as The Quiet One, and Goddess of Singing Waters, goddess of waterfalls, springs, streams, pools, stillness, peace, quiet places, and the guardian of (druids') groves; she is a neutral demigoddess from the Prime Material Plane. She is described as being connected to Silvanus, and is "the supreme pacifist", and "guards all druids' groves, and when she is present in any grove, that place becomes a Sanctuary where no blows land and no one feels anger. The famous elven war hero, Telvar, is said to have camped in such a grove and never taken up arms again afterward." Her alliances are also explained: "Mielikki and Eldath serve Silvanus, and their priests (if such individuals value their deity’s favor above mortal feelings and conflicts) work together to further common goals." Eldath is most commonly worshipped by druids; nymphs also worship her.[4]
Eldath later officially appeared as one of the major deities for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Set's "Cyclopedia of the Realms" booklet (1987).[1]
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition (1989–1999)
Eldath was described in the hardback Forgotten Realms Adventures (1990),[5] the revised Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (1993) in the "Running the Realms" booklet,[6] and Faiths & Avatars (1996).[2]
Her role in the cosmology of the Planescape campaign setting was described in On Hallowed Ground (1996).[7]
Eldath is described as one of the good deities that celestials can serve in the supplement Warriors of Heaven (1999).[8]
Dungeons & Dragons 3.0 edition (2000–2002)
Eldath appears as one of the major deities of the Forgotten Realms setting again, in Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (2001),[9] and is further detailed in Faiths and Pantheons (2002).[3]
As a Deity
A humble and enigmatic deity, Eldath is quiet and subtle, an extreme pacifist, who has layers of unseen depth and resolve.
Her followers often live in unspoiled areas; quiet forest communities or woodside cottages, far from the baseness of city life. They rarely ever engage in open confrontation and always act subtly and peacefully.
Eldathyn clerics pray for their spells once a day, after a time of reflection. Various Eldathyn festivals include The Firstflow, a festival which celebrates the breaking of the water at winter's end, and The Greening.
Relationships
Eldath considers Mielikki a sister and together with her she serves Silvanus loyally, even if she does find him at times intimidating. She has close relationships with Chauntea, Selûne and Lathander, as they share some common interests.
Though their portfolios are mutually exclusive and diametrically opposed, Tempus realizes that war is useless without ensuing peace and so has forbidden his followers from harming Eldath's faithful, upon pain of punishment in the afterlife in his divine realm, Warrior's Rest (The punishments of Tempus always involve stripping the guilty party of the immortality normally granted to his petitioners before turning him loose upon the eternal battlefield of the plane, to be killed by their fellows, so this commandment is strictly adhered to.)
Dogma
Peace is innate and cannot be taught or imposed. Seek stillness and thereby find peace. Plant trees and green-leafed things and tend such things when they need it, wherever they may be. Nurture and aid, and do not restrict or punish. Work violence only to defend, and slay no thing of the forest except to prevent it from slaying themselves or another under their protection. Swear to take no thinking life except in direst need. Share with all beings the beneficial things that grow in or come from running water that all may know of and praise Eldath.
References
- 1 2 Ed Greenwood, Jeff Grubb and Karen S. Martin (1987). Forgotten Realms Campaign Set. Wizard of the Coast. ISBN 0-88038-472-7.
- 1 2 Martin, Julia, and Eric L Boyd. Faiths & Avatars (TSR, 1996)
- 1 2 Boyd, Eric L., and Erik Mona. Faiths and Pantheons (Wizards of the Coast, 2002)
- 1 2 Ed Greenwood, Dragon magazine #54 – "Down-to-earth divinity" (October 1981)
- ↑ Grubb, Jeff and Ed Greenwood. Forgotten Realms Adventures (TSR, 1990)
- ↑ Ed Greenwood (1993). Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. ASIN B000K06S2E.
- ↑ McComb, Colin. On Hallowed Ground (TSR, 1996)
- ↑ Perkins, Christopher. Warriors of Heaven (TSR, 1999)
- ↑ Ed Greenwood; et al. (2001). Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. Wizard of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1836-5.