The wood elf gods!

[elflord9d]

ISHA
Goddess of the Harvest

Description: Isha is the goddess of the harvest and is worshipped by most farmers throughout Ulthuan, but is also seen as the goddess of fertility or Earth Mother. The farmers often give offerings to her temples in the hope of a good harvest. She is a merciful god who lends succour to those in need of it.

Isha is commonly depicted as a gloriously beautiful young elf woman with immeasurably long, golden ponytails flowing about her. She is the daughter of Asuryan and Lileath.

Symbol: Commonly a stylised eye with a single tear below it. Mage-Priests of Isha are usually female and they wear robes of pure white.

Temples: There are no temples to Isha as such but some elves have small shrines dedicated to her in their houses. Her worship is most popular among Wood Elves not least because she is the wife of Kurnous the Hunter and is immersed in their theological histories.

Trials: A trail undertaken by a Mage-Priest of Isha might involve having to feed a famished population with minimal resources or to transform parched desert land into a fertile paradise.

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[elflord9d]

KURNOUS
God of the Hunt, Lord of the Beasts

Description: Said by some Human theologians to be an aspect of Taal, the Old Worlder god of nature and wild places, Kurnous is one of the major deities of the Wood Elf pantheon, being the master of the forest animals among which Wood Elves live. He is the patron of Beastfriends, and is worshipped by some Elven Scouts and Hunters.

Kurnous is normally portrayed as a composite being, over ten feet tall, with an Elven body but the head and tail of a stag. It is said that he can also take the form of any forest creature at will.

Alignment: Neutral. Nature favours neither good nor evil, and so neither does Kurnous.

Symbol: Like Taal, Kurnous is represented by a stag's head with branching antlers. Mage-Priests of Kurnous dress in the same way as other Elves.

Temples: The whole of the forest is Kurnous' temple: wherever his beasts wander, he is present. However, there are places which are more special to his worship than others: certain natural clearings, rocks, trees and so on. A Wood Elf automatically recognises these places: members of other races cannot. Elves will almost always try to keep other races away from holy ground.

Friends and Enemies: Followers of Kurnous are generally well-disposed to other Wood Elves, and to those of other races who follow Taal, Rhya and the Old Faith. They do, however, maintain that Taal is a combination of a number of Wood Elven deities including Kurnous, rather than Kurnous being an aspect of Taal. By and large, followers of Kurnous are indifferent to followers of other Old World deities, and they regard the cults of Chaos and the deities of the Goblinoids with unremitting hatred.

Holy Days: Kurnous has two main holy days; the middle of spring, when food becomes plentiful and young are born, and the middle of autumn, when all species must prepare themselves for the coming winter. The dates of these festivals are not fixed in the Imperial Calendar, but are calculated from various natural signs by a method set down in Elven tradition, so they vary from year to year.

Cult Requirements: Any Wood Elf may follow Kurnous.

Strictures: All followers of Kurnous must keep the following strictures:

Never harm an animal except in self-defence or for food (since Elven hunts are always followed by great feasts, hunting is acceptable).

Never allow an animal to be harmed, except in similar circumstances.

Do everything in your power to force Goblinoids, Beastmen and Chaos mutants out of the forest.
Trials: Trials set by Kurnous always involve the defence of the forest and its animals. This can involve driving away those who threaten animals, ranging from a lone Human trapper to a Goblinoid or Chaos warband. In rare cases, a trial might be to relieve the suffering of animals - by freeing animals captured for pit-fights, for instance. The latter kind of trial has led to a certain amount of conflict with Humans in the past, but entertainments such as bear-baiting are less common than they once were, and Humans increasingly regard them as barbaric and unnecessary.