Ziuna

Queen of the Shadow-Wood (Deni T'ila)

Kord (Son)

Ziuna the Dreamweaver, known as the Earthmother to Na'tari and Nivans or the Queen of the Shadow-Wood to the citizens of D'eni Tila, is a Goddess of dreams, hope, forests, spring and love. She is the primary deity of the Wood Elves of D'eni Tila, but she is also widely worshipped across the rest of the world, particularly in Bornea and Niva. She is often depicted as an enormous forest dragon in D'eni Tila, but the rest of Kranos tends to depict her as a tattooed panther. She resides in the Dreamwood, where Wood Elven mages and druids often venture to meditate, safely removed from the material world.

## History

Ziuna is a God who emerged mere weeks after Enottáe and Faendor did. Ziuna and Faendor met not long after and sired their son, Kord, but not before Ziuna had settled and founded three grand forests. She first made Deni T'ila, which was her primary residence and would become home to a civilisation devoted entirely to her. Then she made the forests of Niva, which would become home to a civilisation of followers of the druidic arts. Thereafter, she fashioned the Trollwood, now sometimes referred to as the East-Prithan Forest. And for a time, she ceased planting and nurturing her beloved forests, for the world was in danger. She quickly joined forces with the Firstborn and her fellow Gods in the War of the Firstborn against the extraplanar threat. The war was hard on the world, and Ziuna had to tend much more intensively to her forests than ever before to keep them alive despite the war being over. Her struggle ended when Enottáe, her sister-in-law and fellow Goddess of nature, founded the Stellar Forest and planted Veroldrassil - a tree of such intense natural power that nourished the roots of all Kranos, providing Ziuna with much needed relief. Though Enottáe were her rival, Ziuna was grateful, but also painfully aware that spreading herself as thin as she had by founding three great forests as opposed to Enottáe's single forest had made her vulnerable and weak for a time. Blaming destruction and war, she ceased contact with her fellow Gods, sparing only the briefest of moments for her family, and isolated herself within Deni T'ila. It was here that she offered refuge to select elves whom she would fundamentally change, thus becoming the ancestor God of the Wood Elves. She also created the Eladrin, the Treemen, the Dryads and many other fantastical creatures of the forest. Ziuna would eventually depart the material plane like all of her fellow Gods, leaving only her emissaries, the Twins of the Evergreen, behind to guide and rule her people.

## Worship

Worship of Ziuna is usually a simple matter. Her temples are usually found in the woods and are more reminiscent of groves with shrines. Her priests wear her green and white colours and often have their faces painted with the Dreamweaver's green in mysterious branch-like patterns. Practical forms of worship include simply planting a tree, embracing and expressing love for something or someone, and hoping for a brighter future. Offerings are usually handmade pieces of art made with exclusively natural materials, but it is also considered an impressive offering to talk out loud about one's dreams in front of a shrine.