Senescence

## Description

Senescence presides over the plane of the Feywild, and she is the goddess of the hearth, agriculture, harvest, the seasons, forests, and hunting. She is a serene, wise goddess who values community, stability, and the balance of nature. She is primarily known for breathing life into the world created by Phosphorus. She is the patron of many druids, and is associated with charity and orphans.

Though she governs the realms of fertility, motherhood, metamorphosis, rebirth and agriculture, Senescence is not a pacifist goddess. Her signature item is a scythe, signifying both the harvest and the natural laws of life and death. She is often depicted with a sable, a weasel-like creature of great ferocity. In ancient times Senescence was worshipped with blood rituals and had a more sinister side. This aspect is still venerated by the minotaurs.

### Personality

The Goddess of the Harvests is very motherly and thoughtful, treating each of her followers as if they were her own children. However, she has a feral, animalistic side and bears the responsibility of keeping the forest a safe haven for animals, preventing the spread of humans into her domain, and letting the natural world have free rein. Senescence can be quick to anger and vengeance if something threatens her realm. She has complete dominance on the seasons, that she can change at her whim and delay if angered. She is allied with Phosphorous and permits him to unleash fires on the forest in order to grow new life or to keep humans away when they are encroaching too far into the wilds. Strangely enough, Senescence has mixed feelings about agriculture, despite it making up a decent share of her domain, as she still cannot decide whether or not it is an aberration from the natural cycle of the world.

### Worship

Senescence dislikes the construction of temples and cities in general. For this reason, she has no temples, buildings, or holy sites, save for trees surrounded by clouds of butterflies. When a similar tree is spotted, people know that Senescence is near. Most of her human followers are loners and outcasts. Nymphs of all kinds pay homage to her, as do sentient humanoids such as eladrin, genasi, satyrs, and centaurs. Some city dwellers come into the forest to honor her, especially to pray that the seasons will change in a timely manner. Senescence hates sacrifices, but she likes acts of kindness and protection of creatures both domesticated and wild.

## Myths

Senescence rarely engages in legendary undertakings. It is her unshakable reliability that makes her a popular deity.

### The Miraculous Field

Within the Kingdom of New Khiba is a farm that produces incredible fruits and grains that can heal illnesses, increase fertility, and stave off hunger for days. The field is said to be Senescence's tribute to her beloved human priest, Thamiel, who died there. While many seek the farm, it is said that the vineyard around it is so labyrinthine that few have ever reached its center.

### Origin of the Catoblepas, Another Perspective

When a herder boasted that his cattle were Terrestria's finest because Zenith and Senescence had created them, Zenith persuaded Slaughter to curse the cattle, transforming them into the first catoblepases. Zenith had hoped to win Senescence's favor by defending her honor in this way, but she was outraged to be associated with the creation of these abominations. To this day, Senescence offers a boon to anyone who hunts down a catoblepas and brings its head to her sacred grove.

### The Old Harvest

In rare, remote settlements, high summer ceremonies acknowledge ancient rural practices devoted to a less merciful vision of Senescence. These communities offer abundant sacrifices to the god, but also guard their ancient rituals from outsiders, as Senescence's organized clergy harshly forbids discussion of abandoned religious practices. However, occasionally. a centuries-old depiction of the goddess breaks, revealing an ancient icon inside, typically a primitive mud idol of a woman bearing a sheaf of grain in one hand and a skull in the other.

### The Three Hunters

Three young men from wealthy families were hunting for sport in the her sacred forest. Senescence accosted them before they had taken any prey and gave each man a chance to bring her a gift that would atone for his intentions. The first man killed a stag and made an offering of it in her name, so she turned him into a stag to compensate for the one he had killed. The second offered wealth from his family coffers, so she turned him into a tree clinging to a cliff face by one root. The third, remorseful, threw himself on a bed of moss, and a cerulean butterfly came to rest on his hand. Carefully, he carried the butterfly back to Senescence. She not only spared him, but blessed his house and all his descendants.

### Partners in Possibility

The fall holiday known as the Blessing of the Beasts celebrates humans' partnership with domestic animals. The horses and oxen that pull plows, the cats that guard the granaries, and the roosters that wake families and call them to their work are given blessings, special treats, and a day of rest. Stories say that strays found on this day are servants of Senescence and destined for great things. Others claim that on this day domestic animals can speak, that is, if they have anything they care to say to their supposed owners.

### The Tragedy of Arasta

In ages long past, Senescence loved her dryad companion, Arasta, as a sister and the two spread wonders across Terrestria. One day, Chicanery, envious of the pair and stung by some forgotten slight, transformed Arasta into a terrible monster to prove that the goddess's love was based on beauty, not true kinship. Seeing the unfamiliar creature, Senescence was horrified and drove her away. Shattered, Arasta retreated and has terrorized the gods' servants ever since. To this day, Senescence remains deeply pained by Arasta's loss. Knowing that only Chicanery can undo the curse he laid upon the dryad, Senescence often sends her champions to learn the secret of what might restore her friend.

### Striving for Perfection

Although Senescence delights in nature's bounty, she ever strives to tap its greater potential. Her followers recount legends of breeders and horticulturalists who cultivated remarkable new types of plants and animals, such as the everfruit of Oakra or the storied Oraniad dragon-hens. Yet, while Senescence looks on such innovations with delight, some other gods see them as blasphemies.

### The Years of Rage

The tales about Senescence don't specify what ignited the god's rage in ancient times, but they do record that for a year, she tore down her own temples and refused to let any plants grow. The mortals of the world, threatened with starvation, beseeched her to curb her wrath. In an effort led by Senescence's priests, nearly all of humanity prayed for a week, neither eating nor sleeping, praising Senescence for her serenity and generosity. After that time, she relented and produced a miraculous crop of grapes that cured illness and fed the people. Ever since then, her statues have been adorned with twining grape vines around their left wrists in commemoration of that event.