Corellon

Apropos of their fey nature, Corellon is a god of many faces. In Aethrennar, the eladrin pay them homage as the true king of the fey, the lord of the Feywild who will return from self-exile to lead their people once more. To the elves of Vanilorra, they are the first of the Seldarine, a protector of the wild places. To the rest of Nerath, they are the god of art and beauty, who seeded the world with magic and delights in its use. Their faithful are a diverse lot, but all hold in them a love of life well-lived.

Like their patron, the organized followers of Corellon fulfill many different roles in Nerathi society. The Athrennar church maintains close ties to the eladrin-led government, crowning each new High King (or Queen) and enforcing their edicts as the will of Corellon. By contrast, Corellon’s faithful in Vanilorra and Yondon eschew such power, operating on the fringes of their society as rangers, wardens and guides. They seek to protect wanderers in the Changing wilds, as well as preserve what unchanged wilderness remains. Elsewhere, most know the church as a patron of the arts, operating playhouses, art galleries, and the like throughout the eight cities. Though they are acknowledged as the progenitor of magic, Ioun is more commonly associated with its study.

To speak of a unified church of Corellon would be foolish; their followers worship them in myriad, occasionally contradictory traditions. For most of Nerath, temples and their flocks form around charismatic or talented individuals who are either blessed by or merely feel a connection to the lord of Arvandor. Such temples carry on their tradition of fostering beauty in the world, whatever its form. The more wild faithful of Vanilorra and Yondon gather in lodges and sacred circles, with rites dating back thousands of years. These groups accept new members only after a trial period, often requiring individual excursions into the wilderness to test the faith of potential members. These can range from a single night in the Changing wilds for new supplicants to months long hermitages for their leaders. Lastly, Corellon’s Aethrennari worshippers follow a much more regimented hierarchy, mirroring the feudal lords which they serve. Lay members follow local church heads, who in turn answer to one of a collection of regional leaders, from which an overarching spiritual guide is selected every one hundred and one years.

Though the regional differences can cause some small strife among Corellon’s followers, they recognize the devotion of any faithful. Aethrennari worshippers consider their Vanilorran associates to be simple and backwards, but acknowledge their skill and closeness to Corellon’s beloved forests. Likewise, Vanilorran faithful believe the Aethrennari followers of Corellon to be decadent and distant while still valuing their more formal traditions and mastery of “Corellon’s gift,” arcane magic. Both groups tend to treat followers of other traditions with a sort of benign neglect, recognizing their faith but disdaining it as somewhat self-indulgent.

Corellon’s clergy are reasonably common as adventurers in their home societies. The Diplomats’ Accord, itself strongly tied to the fey government, has many clerics and invokers devoted to the first of the Fey. Likewise, the various orders of the Annual Knights boast numerous paladins and avengers who carry out the will of Corellon. The Green Men of Vanilorra have many divine adventurers who heed the lord of the Seldarine’s call, many of them multi-classed as rangers or primal classes. Elsewhere, adventuring clergy of Corellon are rare, but not unheard of. These are often invokers or avengers, who more directly hear their god’s call, or expatriate paladins and clerics of the elduar traditions.