Mielikki

Good natured, confident, and fiercely loyal to her allies, Mielikki is a god of the woods and the creatures who live within them. She is also a god of Rangers. When she makes her will known on the Material Plane, Mielikki manifests as a confident voice in a forest glade. Alternatively, she sends a Dryad, Hawk, or Unicorn as a messenger.

Mielikki's followers don't organize into official temples. Instead, they assemble in peaceful wooded glades to worship her or create shrines in her honor. A typical shrine to Mielikki is a dead tree trunk into which has been carved the likeness of her holy symbol: a unicorn or unicorn's head. Such a shrine marks a point in the forest beyond which locals know not to cut timber or hunt; in this way, followers thank Mielikki for the forest's bounty.

Priests of Mielikki protect the forests of Faerûn, using magic to communicate with and protect the animals and plants within. Mielikki's priests wear capes of leaves to match the seasons: verdant green in the summer, burnt orange in autumn, and dotted with flowers in the spring. In winter, they forgo the capes and wear crowns of twigs. Whatever the garb, they wear Mielikki's holy symbol over the heart, carved of ivory or bone or stitched in silver thread.

Mielikki is allied with Silvanus but she takes pity on hurt creatures Silvanus ignores. Mielikki has a close bond with Lurue, god of unicorns, and Lurue serves as her mount when Mielikki goes hunting in the Beastlands. Rangers of Mielikki serve as a line of defense against marauders and followers of the god Malar.

On Greengrass and Midsummer, Mielikki blesses her followers with an event called the Wild Ride. She causes unicorns to gather in herds and gallop through the woods. Mielikki's followers ride the unicorns through the night, covering astonishing distances and enjoying nature's beauty.

Mielikki gifts her Chosen with an undying unicorn that serves them as a mount and companion. Some Chosen transcend their physical forms to become disembodied manifestations of natural spaces—such as Jeryth Phaulkon, a woman from Cormyr who now inhabits an expansive garden estate in Waterdeep as a disembodied spirit.