Silvanus

Silvanus, god of wild nature, is closely associated with forests, mountains, and plains. In truth, Silvanus represents the entirety of nature: deserts as well as forests, sharks as much as deer. In legends he commands other nature deities, dealing out rewards and punishments to them as he sees fit.

Interpretations of Silvanus's personality vary wildly. Many see him as a vengeful god, looking with aloof disgust on the inhabitants of Faerûn as a shopkeeper regards an infestation of rats. However, worshipers of Silvanus believe that Silvanus doesn't hold people in disdain but rather wishes to maintain the balance of nature. Wilderness is brutally fair when it comes to matters of life and death, and so is the Oak Father.

Whenever he wishes, Silvanus can bring the natural world to sentient life, with streams finding their own courses and trees uprooting to walk around. When he needs to communicate directly with his followers, he sends a Dryad, Treant, or Twig Blight as a divine messenger.

Druids make up most of Silvanus's following. His creed dictates that nature's glory must be preserved not merely because nature is beautiful, but because wild nature is the true state of the world. Nature refreshes and revitalizes the mortal soul, giving breath to the world. His faithful oppose the expansion of settlements into wild places and consider the excessive consumption of natural resources to be not only wasteful but blasphemous.

The oak leaf is Silvanus's symbol, and villagers might dedicate a grove of oaks nearby as a shrine to him. In places where oak trees don't grow, an oak leaf etched into the bark of another kind of tree signifies a sacred site. Official temples to Silvanus are few and far between and likely to be hidden away in the depths of a forest rather than in a bustling urban center.

Silvanus tasks his Chosen with presiding over a forest, a desert, a lake, or another natural region. Some develop spiritual relationships with their assigned domain, not unlike a dryad's link to its sanctuary. When their domain flourishes, these Chosen become invigorated; when it suffers or comes under attack, they feel the pain.