Vilan

Description

## Origins

Vilan is a god of craftsmen and skilled labor. Anyone who creates something in order to sell it will find themselves asking Vilan for assistance. This includes artists like painters and sculptors, but also carpenters, blacksmiths, tailors, jewelers, architects, and even bakers and brewers. Almost anyone who might find themselves a part of a merchant guild gives offerings to Vilan. Noralva is Vilan’s twin sister and his greatest rival. They both work to sway creative minded mortals into their respective cults and staunchly disallow worship of them both simultaneously. Noralva is a goddess of inspiration and art for art’s sake whereas Vilan’s interests are more commercial and success oriented. Essentially, Noralva is a goddess for those who live for their art, Vilan for those who do art in order to live. Both are said to originate in the feywild and both are said to be androgynous in looks and to sway from one gender to the other as they please.

Vilan is not just a deity for skilled artisans and craftsmen, he is also the closest thing the elven pantheon has to a god of commerce. He is worshiped by merchants as well as owners of hospitality-oriented businesses. He is said to get along quite well with the goddess Mythelea -goddess of travelers- as their worshipers often overlap. Vilan is not so much centered on the acquisition of coin as he is purely on the idea of success, whatever that means for the worshiper. He helps artisans hone their craft and is thought to play a large role in master artisans finding apprentices and vice versa. He aids in collaboration and cooperation and helps large scale operations of various forms. He also assists in developing trade agreements and originally that is what he was known for. In one of his earliest myths he helped early elves and dwarves enter a trade agreement- elven woodwork for Dwarven metalcraft. Later as artists and craftsmen struggled to find work and commissions despite their overflowing inspiration from Noralva, many began migrating to Vilan, looking for financial success. He accepted them and grew to become a patron both of trade and of skill- something that infuriated his sister and ignited their rivalry. He sees his sister as dreamy and unrealistic in her intentions.

Unlike Noralva, who is very blatant about giving her blessing and requires acknowledgment, Vilan is slightly more mysterious and it’s hard to say if one has received his help or simply gotten lucky. He uses indirect methods to sway his worshipers in the right direction. His aid borders on Luck, but his blessings are in no way fickle the way Sylanna’s are. One of his more direct ways of aiding his worshipers (generally ones who are not particularly skilled but very devout) is to secretly place an enchantment on their tool of the trade, vastly increasing the value and quality of things made with them. There are many of these Vilan-Blessed Artisan Tools out in the world but they are hard to find for the enchantment cannot typically be detected by arcane means. Though a god of coin and trade, he remains good-aligned, and does not back those whose business practices are rooted in cruelty, such as drugs or slavery.

## Appearance / Depictions

Vilan, in the rare occasion that he comes directly to his followers, usually comes in the form of a beautiful androgynous elf dressed in white robes and sandals. He is dark skinned and his hair is black and cropped short. This doesn’t change even if he comes as a female. His outfit and appearance changes depending on the worshiper he is visiting- to a blacksmith he may appear in a blacksmith apron, hammer in hand. To a merchant he is in his most traditional look- a man or woman with a mule and a wagon full of goods. He is most often very simple and plain looking- very unlike most other gods of trade and coin. A tell-tale sign of his divine nature can be found in an object on his person being made of pure gold when it usually is not- like a golden paintbrush.