Chauntea
Overview Chauntea is a goddess of agriculture: sowing and reaping, seeding and harvest, breeding and butchery, shearing and weaving. In this aspect she is a rural deity rarely prayed to behind the walls of a city except by kitchen gardeners.
Overview
Chauntea is a goddess of agriculture: sowing and reaping, seeding and harvest, breeding and butchery, shearing and weaving. In this aspect she is a rural deity rarely prayed to behind the walls of a city except by kitchen gardeners. But Chauntea is also the Great Mother, a goddess of crib, hearth, and home. And as such she is welcomed into all homes at mealtimes and at the birth of children, and folk give her thanks whenever they experience the pleasure of settling by a fire and feeling safe and loved.
Description
Chauntea appears as a matronly middle-aged woman, with a powerful build, tanned skin and white hair. Kindly and wise, Cshe typically wears a white robe of the heaviest silk or finest lineen, cinched at the waist by a girdle embroidered with all manner of growing plants. Leaves, vines and flowers twine through her hair and about her person, some even appearing to sprout directly from her body and head. She usually carries a long shock of grain, which she uses as a walking staff or even a weapon if necessary.
Holy symbol
Chauntea's symbol is a sheaf of golden grain on a green field, or a blooming rose over a sunburst wreath of golden grain, or a budding flower encircled by a sunburst.
Favored weapon
Chauntea prefers not to strike her opponents in battle, but if forced to, she wields a scythe in the form of a shock of grain. Her priesthood have adopted the scythe as their favored weapon.
Realm
World Tree cosmology
In the World Tree cosmology of Realmspace, Chauntea resides within her planar realm, known as the Great Mother's Garden, which is located on the outer plane known as the House of Nature, which she shares with other nature deities, including Lathander, Silvanus, Eldath, Mielikki, Shiallia, Nobanion and Ubtao. The Great Mother's Garden is something of a misnomer. The land is not cultivated, but the plants grow in vast, abundant fields which nurture thousands of different varieties and species of food plants.
Great Wheel cosmology
In the Great Wheel cosmology, Chauntea resides within her planar realm, known as the Great Mother's Garden, which is located on Eronia, the second layer of the Blessed Fields of Elysium.
Worship
Chauntea's faith is one of nurturing and growth. Agricultural aphorisms and farming parables dot her teachings. Growing and reaping, the eternal cycle, is a common theme in the faith. Destruction for its own sake, or leveling without rebuilding, is anathema to her. Temples of Chauntea maintain a great body of lore about farming and cultivation. Her priests work closely with communities in rural areas, and they are willing to roll up their sleeves and dig their hands into the dirt.
In Spelljammer
Chauntea is a member of the Faerûnian pantheon and as such is considered native to Realmspace. Chauntea cannot grant her priests any spells unless they are on a planet, an asteroid or a ship with some form of plant life on it. Additionally, priests of Chauntea lose access to all spells once they leave the crystal sphere of Realmspace, and can only regain their spells once they return.
Chauntea prefers to focus her attention on those worshippers whose feet stay firmly on the ground or within the atmospheric envelope of a planet. Chauntea is primarily worshipped on the five inner planets of Realmspace, with the highest concentration of worshippers residing on Toril.
Appendix
External Links
- Chauntea article at the Forgotten Realms Wiki, a wiki for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.
- Chauntea article at the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition Wiki, a wiki for official Dungeons & Dragons content from 2nd edition AD&D.