Alaie
From Twilight Realms Wiki
“With Alaie's Beauty before me, I walk
With Alaie's Beauty behind me, I walk
With Alaie's beauty around me, I walk.''
Shamanic Rite
"Nature does not forgive"
Elven Proverb
Alaie being the deity of nature it tends to be represented as a female though male representations are known. Throughout the realms prayers are offered to Alaie in regards to crops, weather, births of humans and animals, the elements plus other wide ranging areas under her domain.
In ancient tales she has been call the Mother with Many Young seeming to indicate she may have many Avatars or that she favours many a race or numerous creatures. The fact that she seems to represent some form of Mother Goddess also stems this out. Whether it was she who gave birth to all races and creatures is not known but the Elves are especially favoured.
She is known to be very temperamental, at one moment calm, the next a raging storm. What she gives in one hand, she can take away with the other, sailors definitely call her a harsh mistress.
The Priesthood of Alaie is varied what follows are two types
The Druidic Priest
These are more scholastic either knowing about nature through caring and experience for it or by book knowledge. They spend time with other cultures, creatures and try to bring life back to those more bleak places in the world. This also covers shamanic worship of Alaie like in far flung jungles as well as the Orcs in The Wilds.
The Ranger Priest
Elves seem to fit this role quite well and though most are just ranger types - some are known to be priests. Though by no means just an elvish activity, barbarians, orcs and humans fill these roles very well too. Also a lot of ships have a ship's healer or physician which some can be Priests of Alaie.
This is by no means the true extent of her priesthood and not limited by this.
Relationships with the other Deities
The most commonly known is the one with Garr. Tales would have the two not truly talking to each other. In fact some Creation myths have day and night associated with each Deity and explains the sun and moons do not meet because of the fractious nature of their relationship.
The main reason for this so called split is the Elves, or more particularly the ability of the Elves to prevent Elven spirits from travelling on their natural journey through Garrs’ Gates. This ability to utilise spirits was a gift from Alaie but depending on which race and country you speak too depends on whether it was stolen from Garr, tricked into giving it or was a deal or gift from Garr to Alaie. Whatever the reason it does seem that Garr does not favour the Elves, which some explain is why they are longer lived than most.
Avatars
As with all the Gods as long as you worship the tenets of Nature in all its myriad guises then Realmsfolk Priests will be Blessed by Alaie. This brings up a topic that can be termed heretical, the Darker edge of Alaie.
The Heretical View
There are those that do seem to worship a more unruly side and these cults and groups actually get divine benefits. There is the recent examples of Soore, an Avatar of disease last known of in Brindle and the Alternate Living Front in Equil who use magical attacks of Nature on people and buildings.
