Eldath

Eldath
Waterfall plunging into a still pool
Aliases	Goddess of Singing Waters, the Green Goddess, Mother Guardian of Groves, Mother of the Waters, the Quiet One
Alignment	Neutral Good
Divine Rank	Lesser Goddess / Primal Spirit
Pantheon	Faerûn, Hordelands
Portfolio	Peace, Pacifism, Pools, Quiet Places, Waterfalls, Stillness
Domains	3E: Family, Good, Plant, Protection, Water 5E: Life, Nature, Peace
Home Plane	Great Wheel: The True Grove (Elysium), World Tree: The True Grove (House of Nature)
Worshippers	Druids, Pacifists, Rangers
Favoured Weapon	A net

Eldath is the goddess of Peace in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. She is the patroness of druid groves and is said to exist wherever there is calm.

History

Eldath is often said to be the sister of Mielikki, though the truth of this is not entirely clear. She does consider Silvanus to be a father figure though Eldath finds his robustness intimidating.

As the deity of pacifism and peace she does not allow herself to take hostile actions against others, preferring to capitulate and retreat until her opponents work themselves unto untenable positions. This would make her the diametric opposite of Tempus, the god of war, but he generally ignores her; though he respects her position well enough that he has forbidden his faithful from harming hers on pain of denied resurrection in Warrior's Rest. However, Eldath is so shy and passive that she is almost a forgotten power that may fade out of existence altogether. As if to prove the point, in 4E she gets no mention at all.

Despite teetering on the edge of irrelevance, she must have a powerful benefactor somewhere. She used to be considered a neutral demigoddess who wandered the Prime Material Plane, but about eleven years after the Time of Troubles she mustered the divine power to create a divine realm in Elysium, as well as elevating herself to true (albeit lesser) deity status. Scholars reckon that either Mielikki, Mystra or Chauntea sponsored the move after Eldath turned towards active goodness, probably to keep the more general ideals of "peace" from fading into insignificance.

Worshippers

Priests of Eldath, called Eldathyn are few and far between. Considering the realms are teeming with monsters, evil wizards, warring nations and evil deities, her ethos of pacifism is an unpopular cult.

Her clerics/druids/monks tend to settle in quiet, out of he way places and seek enlightenment, though a basic requirement of the faith is learning how to swim, since her portfolio covers pools and waterfalls.

Eldath expects her followers to be as non-violent as possible, they are allowed to conduct themselves as they see fit, her dogma allows defense, but not punishment so her followers can kill, but only in direst need. She even has a group of adventurer-priests called Freewalkers who act as mediators and go-betweens for other faiths. It is considered a mark of skill amongst her clergy to be able to defeat an opponent using purely defensive means.

Despite being an independent deity, her followers are inextricably linked to those of Mielikki and Silvanus. They are expected to coordinate with them and provide aid wherever possible.