Older Elven Deities ? Forgotten realms

[The Shadowdove]

Hey guys,

I'm having my players look into the crypt of some elven paladin hero who opposed invading demonic forces during the early age of humanity. I'm trying to figure out which deity he would have likely worshiped.

He willingly accepted aid to his cause from any other the races, as long as they weren't evil aligned of course. He also used all of his wealth to build a keep underground which was used as the primary base from which they repelled demonic intrusions.

Thanks do much in advance. I don't have any skill when it comes to digging things like this up.

I look forward to your advice!

-Dove

[Envyus]

Corellon Larethian the creator deity of the elves and leader of the Elven Pantheon.

[Callin]

Are you looking for more obscure no longer with us deities?

[The Shadowdove]

Are you looking for more obscure no longer with us deities?


I'm mostly looking for whatever I can get my hands on.

Variety..

Obscure isn't bad, maybe even 'still exists but is not very well known'.

The corellon one led me to finding Vandria Gilmdadrith, who seems appropriate.

but I cant find much info on her...

[Envyus]

Vandria Gilmadrith, a daughter of Corellon Larethian, is the Seldarine goddess of war, justice, and grief. She is unique among the Seldarine as being the only deity with a lawful alignment. For this reason, during times of peace she usually has fewer followers among the elves than among other races. When the elves go to war en masse, however, they turn to her for help and guidance. Elven patron saint of warhammers.

Worshipers
Vandria's clerics work with villages to strengthen their defenses, and to help adjudicate disputes between quarrelling parties. In times of war they advocate against individualism and promote unity and group tactics.

More Info about her can be found in Race's of the Wild. (She has the most detail of Elven gods there in fact) Info like how she is a daughter of Corellon and Araushnee AKA Lolth before becoming a Demon.

[Mandragola]

There's a bunch of info on the elven pantheon here (http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Seldarine) on the FR wiki. Apparently the gods got messed around a lot by the spellplague but your hero could have been around before that all happened.

I looked into this a lot when creating my elf shadow monk. She mainly follows Sheverash, would worship Corellon as the boss god of the elves and she probably gets her shadow powers from Shar, which is problematic!

[RedMage125]

Vandria's not an FR Elven Diety though...

FR Elven deities are:

Corellon Larethian, head of the Seldarine (elven pantheon, translates as "brothers and sisters of the wood")
Sehanine Moonbow, Moon Goddess, consort to Corellon
Aerdrie Fenya, goddess of sky and wind, patron of avariel (winged elves)
Hanali Celanil, goddess of love and beauty
Angharradh, triumvirate goddess of the above 3 goddesses (sort of a female elven voltron)
Deep Sashelas, god of the sea, patron of aquatic elves
Erevan Ilesere, god of rogues and tricksters (also the closest thing to an evil god in the Seldarine, but he's mostly a prankster)
Fenmarel Mestarine, god of outcasts and patron to wild elves (grugach, not wood elves)
Rillifane Rallathil, god of woodlands, protector of nature (also most common deity for elf druids)
Labelas Enoreth, god of time and longevity
Solonor Thelandira, god of archery and hunting
Shevaresh, god of revenge and hatred of the drow (only elf demigod, used to be a mortal elf)

Man, I remembered all of them from memory, I'm such a nerd. Had to check on spelling once I was done though, lol.

To the OP: Depending on how long ago this paladin lived, I think an interesting choice of patron might be Araushnee, who was the elven goddess of destiny, artisans, and dark elves (not to be confused with drow, dark elves had brown skin and black hair), and was Corellon's consort. She could also sort of be said to be a goddess of ambition, but not really. It was she who betrayed Corellon and attempted to take over the pantheon. When she was struck down and cast into the Abyss, all dark elves were turned into Drow (this is called the Descent), Araushnee "discovered" her spider demon form and became the deity we now know as Lolth.

But once upon a time, long ago...she was not evil.

[Naanomi]

You can look at older non-elven dieties as well; Selune Is about as old as you can get on Faerun for example; long predating elves even being on the world

[RedMage125]

But when the elves arrived, they brought their gods with them, and the OP was looking for an ELVEN paladin for the tomb. It stands to reason that by the time an elf paladin existed, he or she would have served an elven god.

I really think that Araushnee is the way to go for the OP. Especially if you want a god that is no longer around or lesser known now. Araushnee as that paladin knew her and served her is, for all intents and purposes, dead.

[Nai_Calus]

Late to this, but.

Araushnee doesn't work with FR any more than Vandria does; the fall was something like 30,000 years ago. There were elves in the realms by the time it happened, but they didn't worship her and she didn't even know they were there until she went to Toril to visit Malar to seek his aid in overthrowing Corellon. (This is hilarious because FR is the only setting to have the Araushnee thing in its backlore, but nonetheless, no self-respecting elf in the Realms would have claimed her as patron.)

To be honest, you're pretty much looking at Corellon. Everyone else is too flighty or too non-combat to really work.

The thing with elves is that they and their pantheon really haven't changed that much and they don't really forget their gods.

An argument can be made that elves aren't really going to be Paladins much anyway given that none of their standard gods are even so much as Neutral Good and the general CG bent of the race, but as far as an elven Paladin goes, the most likely patron is going to be Corellon.

[Rowan Wolf]

There's Tethrin Veralde, he was detailed in Dragon Magazine 236. His titles include The Shining One, and the Master of Blades.

[RedMage125]

Late to this, but.

Araushnee doesn't work with FR any more than Vandria does; the fall was something like 30,000 years ago. There were elves in the realms by the time it happened, but they didn't worship her and she didn't even know they were there until she went to Toril to visit Malar to seek his aid in overthrowing Corellon. (This is hilarious because FR is the only setting to have the Araushnee thing in its backlore, but nonetheless, no self-respecting elf in the Realms would have claimed her as patron.)

To be honest, you're pretty much looking at Corellon. Everyone else is too flighty or too non-combat to really work.

The thing with elves is that they and their pantheon really haven't changed that much and they don't really forget their gods.

An argument can be made that elves aren't really going to be Paladins much anyway given that none of their standard gods are even so much as Neutral Good and the general CG bent of the race, but as far as an elven Paladin goes, the most likely patron is going to be Corellon.

Negative, because existing lore places Araushnee as the patron of the Dark Elves (before they became drow), such as the Illithyri. Also, only in FR lore will your find information on Araushnee's portfolio (fate, artistry), and information such as that she used to be CN.

The Crown Wars waged for centuries before the Elven High Mages, in concert with the Seldarine, caused The Descent, forcing all elves loyal to Lolth (regardless of subrace), all elves tainted with the blood of the demon (can't remember his name, mentioned in Lady Penitent Trilogy), and all Dark Elves (even those completely innocent of the conflict) to become dhaerrow, or "drow".