Sehanine Moonbow
Cleric Alignment: CG, CN, NG

Sehanine Moonbow: Daughter of the Night Skies, the Luminous Cloud, Lady of Dreams
(Intermediate Elven Deity)

Symbol: Misty crescent above a full moon
Home Plane: Arvandor
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Portfolio: Mysticism, dreams, death, journeys, transcendence, the moon, the stars, the heavens, moon elves
Worshipers: Diviners, elves, half-elves, illusionists, opponents of the undead
Cleric Alignment: CG, CN, NG
Domains: Chaos, Elf, Good, Illusion, Knowledge, Moon, Travel

Favored Weapon: "Moonshaft" (quarterstaff)

ehanine Moonbow (seh-ha-neen moon-boe) rarely concerns herself directly with events in Faerun aside from weaving illusions around secret elven retreats and guiding elves coming to those lands. Her power waxes and wanes with the phases of the moon, growing strongest when the moon is full. As befits the elven goddess of mysteries, Sehanine is cloaked in secrets and illusions and rarely speaks her mind directly, preferring to communicate through a process of dreams, visions, and other mystic experiences. Sehanine is a truly spiritual and ephemeral being who evades any attempt to define her and whose serenity surrounds her like a mantle of moondust. She is also an aspect of Angharradh, the Triune Goddess.

The church of Sehanine is clouded in mystery, and little is known about its secretive hierarchy. Sehanine's clerics are the seers and mystics of elven society. They serve as the spiritual counselors to elves and half-elves who seek to embark on journeys in search of enlightenment so as to transcend their current state of being. As shepherds and protectors of the dead, Sehanine's clerics organize and administer funeral rites and guard the remains of the fallen. They seek out and destroy undead creatures, for Sehanine holds such creatures-- with notable exceptions of baelnorns and other good-aligned undead beings who voluntarily prolong their existence in order to serve their kin- - to be blasphemous. As defenders of elven homelands, Sehanine's clergy are responsible for weaving and maintaining the illusions that guard those sanctuaries that remain and for divining potential threats to their continued existence. The prime task of adventuring clerics is the retrieval of lost arcane and magical knowledge, especially if it pertains to illusions or divinations. Other seek out isolated elven enclaves, bringing them news of the world outside the forests.

Clerics of Sehanine pray for their spells wherever the moon is fullest during the day. Sehanine's faithful celebrate a wide variety of holy days, all tied to the position of various heavenly bodies, particularly the phase of the moon and various types of eclipses. Many of these celebrations occur once per decade, once per century, or even once per millennium. The most frequent celebrations of Sehanine's faithful are held monthly beneath the light of the full moon. Lunar Hallowings, as such holy days are known, are marked with personal meditation and collective entrance into a communal trance. On occasion, Sehanine manifests through her assembled worshipers, knitting together their spirits in a true sharing of minds. Such holy days are concluded with a joyous freeform dance beneath the most visible manifestation of the moon that lasts until the first rays of dawn. Once per year, Sehanine's faithful gather on the night of the Feast of the Moon for the Mystic Rites of the Luminous Cloud. Similar in many ways to the monthly Lunar Hallowings, these rites are notable for the visible manifestations of the Sehanine whereby the assembled worshipers are transformed into shimmering, silvery light that lifts up and darts across the heavens. During such mystical flights across the sky, the sacred mysteries of Sehanine are revealed to the participants, with each participant learning secrets appropriate to his current level of spiritual development. The ceremony concludes when the nimbus of light returns to the earth and the forms of Sehanine's worshipers coalesce. Many clerics multiclass as diviners or illusionists.

HISTORY/RELATIONSHIPS: Sehanine is the mightiest of the female deities of the Seldarine. Her tears are said to have mingled with Corellon's blood to form the elven race. She is closely allied with all the Seldarine, particularly Corellon, Aerdrie, and Hanali, and gets along well with other deities including Baravar Cloakshadow, Cyrrollaelee, Dumathoin, Eilistraee, Kelemvor, Lurue, Milil, Mystra, Savras, Segojan Earthcaller, Shaundakul, Selune, and Urogalan. Her foes include Cyric, Gruumish, Malar, Shar, the Deities of Fury, Velsharoon, and the evil drow deities.

DOGMA: Life is series of mysteries whose secrets are veiled by the Luminous Cloud. As the spirit transcends its mortal bounds and new mysteries are uncovered, a higher form is achieved and the cycle of life continues. Through contemplation and meditation, communion with the Lady of Dreams is achieved. Through dreams, visions, and omens revealed in sleep or the reverie, the Daughter of the Night Sky unveils the next step along the path and the next destination on the endless journey of mystic wonder that is life and death and life.