Carliehn Meluthil

Goddesses of the Forgotten Realms Part Five

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Lady Flamesong, Wellspring-of-Words

Lesser Deity

Symbol: Two entwined lines, silver and gold

Home Plane: Arvandor

Alignment: Chaotic neutral

Portfolio: Battle, lore, music

Worshipers: Wood elves, bards, lore-keepers

Common Cleric Alignments: CG, CN, N

Domains: Knowledge, Trickery

Favored Weapon: “Caoineadh” (dagger)

Ethos: Sing the old songs, share the old truths, stand firm and slay swiftly.

Raiments: Simple vestments of various forest hues with plain robes adorned with ancient glyphs, arcane symbols and sylvan motifs (leaves or flowers at moments of hope and renewal, fangs and skulls for more militant ceremonies)

Rituals: Revel of the Unchained Earth (passionate community celebrations at the solstices and equinoxes), Shearing of Roots (a solemn ceremony where a disciple of Lady Flamesong separates themselves from family and community to fully devote themselves to her service)

Carliehn Meluthil is the goddess of music and lore among the elves of Faerûn. Most of them pay her a quick homage before singing a song or playing a tune, but her true followers are bards and all those who fully devote themselves to the arts of music. She is a somewhat impatient and ill-tempered goddess, but also a protective guardian and teacher of the elves, especially the wood elves.

Carliehn is one of the eldest of the Seldarine and has been worshiped by the elves for years beyond count. The most ancient folk-songs of the wood and wild elves of Faerûn, her chief followers on Toril, say Carliehn was born of the co-mingled song of Titania and a nameless Fey lord she was dallying with at the time (in contrast, the lore of the high elves says she is ‘merely’ one of Corellon and Araushnee’s daughters, although perhaps one of their eldest children). Whatever the case, it is known beyond doubt that Carliehn was worshiped first by the eladrin in the Feywild and then by the earliest elves of Faerûn – the green elves of the ancient woods and valleys, ancestors of today’s wood and wild elves. They are still her favored followers. In contrast, Carliehn has relatively little regard for the high elves, whom she considers “stiff-necked summoners of woe.”

Today, while she has few temples or even shrines, the sylvan strongholds of the elves echo with the songs Lady Flamesong taught them so long ago. Carliehn has two aspects in the lore of the elves. The first is the Tale-singer, a gentle and witty instructor in the ever-living legends and wisdom of her chosen people, often depicted with a child on one knee and a harp on the other. The second is the War-singer, a fierce and fearless teacher of battle-chants, blessings and curses.

Carliehn’s closest divine allies are the fey powers of the Seelie Court (except for Damh, whom she loathes and is loathed by over some ancient grievance), Eilistraee, the patron goddess of non-evil drow, and Oghma, the Faerûnian god of inspiration and knowledge. Milil, the Lord of Song, was once a dear friend, despite sometimes trying Carliehn’s patience with his flighty, light-hearted ways, but those days are over, and neither speaks of the rift. (So far, it has not greatly damaged ties between their churches, largely because such ties are almost non-existent to begin with). Carliehn has an icy disdain for the young elvish power Melira Taralen, patron goddess of the arts, a grudge that seems to extend far beyond their overlapping domains. Sages of the planes quietly wonder if there is some personal element to her dislike of Melira and a connection to her soured friendship with Milil, who dotes on Melira. More understandably, Lady Flamesong despises and opposes gods of thoughtless violence and cruelty, especially those who delight in the destruction of song, lore, and beauty in general.

Clerics of Carliehn raise their voices in celebration at twilight, when the last fading light of the sun bids the world farewell and the stars begin to dance above. Like most elves, they have a special reverence for the turning points of the year – the equinoxes, solstices, Midsummer and Midwinter. But the highest holy day of Carliehn’s church is Silversong, held on the first full moon after the elvish sowing festival (usually during the first two weeks of Mirtul, although sometimes as late as the end of that month).

Ghleann Amhrán

Carliehn’s divine domain is Ghleann Amhrán (Song Valley). It is part of Arvandor, but a remote one, well away from the grand palaces and forest halls of the other Seldarine. The landscape of Ghleann Amhrán is a rugged one, but beautiful to the eye and ear alike. The vale that gives the domain its name is deep and steep-banked with a swift river running through it. The nameless river winds back and forth in a serpentine pattern as it flows down, its course broken by five towering waterfalls, each with a small, turbulent lake at the base. The vale and the domain as a whole is surrounded by thick, impenetrable forests.

Few connections exist between Ghleann Amhrán and the rest of Arvandor. There are narrow, hard to find trails leading to the domains of Rillifane Rallathil, Solonor Thelandira and Tarsellis Meunniduin, as well as several portals to various parts of the Feywild and a long-disused one to the Library of All Knowledge, the domain of Deneir and Milil in Brux, the second layer of the Beastlands. This last portal is covered in thorny vines and sticky red moss, but it could still function if one knew the word of command.

The center of the realm is Ráth Carliehn, which sits in the oval between two lengths of the river. It is a vast, spread out city where every breeze is a wistful note and the skies only darken when the goddess is in a foul mood. The air carries voices raised in song twice as far as they would ordinary be heard. There is an atmosphere of inspiration in Ráth Carliehn, warming the hearts of all who sing and perform. All Charisma (Performance) checks involving song or instruments have advantage within the city. The city is home to elves, eladrin, and all manner of fey folk, especially satyrs, as well as many intelligent beasts such as phoenixes and blink dogs and common animals such as songbirds, piping foxes (a large breed of fox with musical shrieks and howls) and ever-croaking frogs. The heart of Ráth Carliehn is Túr Amhrán, a soaring spire of marble, silver and stained glass. It calls out to some of her most faithful worshipers in their quiet moments, a sweet summons that is hard to resist. The chosen few who are able to find their way through the boundary woods and convince Carliehn’s zealous guardians (including two archfey and seven elvish and eladrin priestesses) that they are true of heart and faithful to the song may be graced with an audience with the Wellspring-of-Words. Most times they are sent away with the unforgettable gift of hearing the goddess sing a single note or even an entire line of song, an experience beautiful enough to make a modron weep. The truly blessed and clever who impress Carliehn are granted a greater boon, too – often a much longer duration version of some spell such as bless or protection from evil and good, or else a magical item appropriate to someone of their power and wisdom.

The Starsingers

This tribe of wood elves dwelling in the High Forest of northwestern Faerûn worships the primal powers of the Seldarine and holds to the ancient ways of their people, ways that shun kingdoms and cities in favor of a simpler life in the deepest woods. Their leader is Elisaleth Nightsong (CG female wood cleric), one of the most powerful and devout followers of the Wellspring-of-Word in Faerûn. Although Elisaleth respects the Red Lady Morgwais, she regards any ambition to re-establish the kingdom of Eaerlann as misguided at best and dangerous at worst. The Starsingers know the horror and misery that inevitably comes when elves raise up a high and mighty realm and Elisaleth is sad that Morgwais has not learned the lesson of the Crown Wars, Illefarn and Myth Drannor.

The Starsingers have no real settlements and travel a broad circuit of the deep forest between Grandfather Tree and the Heartblood River. They live off the bounty of the forest and are friends with most of the friendly folk and speaking beasts who reside there. Uninvited visitors are warned off, once, and then shown the ancient wrath of the elves. In their camps and on their trails, the Starsingers are known for the power and beauty of their songs. They sing of the glories of the elder days, before the high elves arrived in Faerûn, and they sing praises to the Seldarine, especially their most beloved Carleihn, Rillifane Rallithil and Solonor Thelandira.

Songs of the Green Years

The servants of the Wellspring-of-Words remember many songs that other elves have long forgotten. Among those most beloved of Lady Flamesong are the following, all of which are memorized by her faithful.

The Twelve Joys of Chareth Songblade

The Twelve Joys, seemingly simple song about a carefree young maiden hiking along a river and delighting in what she sees and experiences, is actually a very insightful glimpse of the Kingdom of Peace (the ancient elvish name for Arcadia). Most of the lore contained within is obsolete, especially the verses concerning Nemausus, the lost third layer of the plane, but much useful information can still be found within the lyrics. The song itself is a beautiful one and often sung by elves walking under the sun or stars, especially in large groups.

The Songpath of Amarantia

This extremely lengthy song, famous for its intricate melodies and ‘properly’ performed by at least three singers and a dozen musicians, is a Remembrance Ballad (Jharen Ansrivarr) from the ancient kingdom of Miyeritar. Amarantia, also known as Vaeharfaerie, the Bright Shadow of Faerie, was widedly regarded as the most beautiful of all the cities of that ancient realm. It stood somewhere near modern Highstar Lake and was destroyed along with the rest of the kingdom during the Crown Wars. The song is sung as a lament now but it was originally created as a guide for outsiders navigating the magically shifting trails of the forest city (the tree-buildings remained in the same place, but the paths between them changed every moonrise). Even today, the great landmarks described in the song can help lost travelers find their way from the wasteland to the lake if they follow the lyrics backwards.

The Drumming Heart

The Drumming Heart, a famous battle-song of the Tel’Quessir, is one of their most ancient works. It is said to have been composed by a war-queen of the legendary Tuatha De or Dawn Eladrin, a queen who rode a steed of living light into battle with the primordial fiends of the War of Law and Chaos (the Merciless Blade-and-Spell Dance of Light and Terror, as the oldest memory-echoes in the most ancient loregems name it). The song itself has no fixed lyrics, only a heart-racing tune that each elf is expected to put their own words to as suits their temperment and circumstances.

The Long List of All Folk, Great and Small, Holy and Hellish, and All In-Between

The Long List is a living song, one that is constantly being expanded. It was originally created by green elves, the first of the Tel’Quessir to arrive in Toril from Faerie, and briefly describes all the other speaking folk elves have ever encountered. The first verse is about the treants (“lords of the trees, teachers, guardians, friends” – it rhymes in the original elvish) and the most recent universally accepted verse, the 482nd according to the sages of Evereska, concerns the dragonborn (“bloodborn of the wyrms, alike but not akin”). The ‘hidden verses’ are those which concern infernal beasts and other purely malicious kindreds, and never sung or even mentioned in the company of non-elves, except for those about the drow and their ilk, which are often sung when elves do battle with Lolth’s children.

The Elder Seldarine

Long ago, before the madness and destruction of the Crown Wars, the elves of Faerûn worshiped a much larger pantheon than the Seldarine of today. Some of these gods perished, some withdrew to tend to their flocks on other worlds, and some were simply forgotten in the waning of the elves. In the fullness of their power, the elves venerated the following deities.

Corellon Larethian, god of magic and war

Aerdrie Faenya, goddess of wind and winged elves

Alathrien Druanna, goddess of conjuration and rune magic

Alobel Lorfiril, god of revelry and mirth

Araleth Letheranil, god of twilight, starlight and the stars

Biara Thaelae, goddess of fate and freedom

Borostil Rhistemar, god of gifts and chaos

Carel Vandromia, god of storms and lightning

Deep Sashelas, god of the seas

Elebrin Liothiel, god of the harvest

Emanora Dekene, goddess of deception and illusion

Erevan Ilesere, god of trickery and mischief

Fenmarel Mestarine, god of outcasts

Hanali Celanil, goddess of love and beauty

Iltevra Sofiae, goddess of necromancy

Kirith Sotheril, goddess of divination

Labelas Enoreth, god of time and history

Leyeton Harithel, goddess of enchantment

Marisien Airithil, goddess of evocation

Mythrien Sarath, god of abjuration and mythals

Naralis Analor, god of suffering, healing and death

Rellavar Danuvien, god of snow and winter

Rillifane Rallathil, god of nature

Sarula Iliene, god of lakes and streams

Sehanine Moonbow, goddess of the moon

Solonor Thelandria, god of hunting and survival

Tarsellis Meunniduin, god of mountains and rivers

Tethrin Veraldé, god of weapons and bladesong

Tilvenar, god of earth and fire

Velesia Tarmathel, god of the sun and dawn

Uilistil Unoroth, god of transmutation