Faunus

Faunus's holy symbol

Faunus is the chaotic good creator god of the elves. He is also the god of forests and wild magic.

## History

Since the death of the last chaotic good Primordial God long ago, the Wildlands lacked a ruling god. A new god, born of the Ether, would fill that void. As an Ethereal God, Faunus was born out of a concentration of natural phenomena, in his case the proliferation of wildlife in the forests of Acala. Faunus thus took a liking to all wildlife and would send his avatar to the forests to be with them. Faunus’s avatar typically appeared as an androgynous, tall, slim, copper-skinned, long eared humanoid.

Faunus’s good nature eventually drew him into conflict with the chaotic evil Primordial God Orcus. Due to the nature of the godly planes, they were limited in what they could do to each other, with the alignments preventing them from invading each others’ planes for too long. So they decided to take their fight to the mortal plane. They saw the primal race as a prime recruitment source for their war, dividing it almost exactly in half and creating a civil war. Faunus and Orcus would change their armies to be what they thought were the fittest warriors, molding them in the images of their avatars. Orcus created the orcs, and Faunus created the elves. The conflict between Faunus and Orcus continues to this day, but the war between elves and orcs has simmered to a quiet hatred.

Faunus’s elves would diversify with his help into wood elves, sea elves, sun elves, moon elves, and dark elves. He would help many of his people gain power and ascend to godhood. One of those people was the dark elf Sorisana Sarmoira. Faunus had grown to care deeply for Sorisana and he made her a chief god in his pantheon. Unfortunately, this gave her a lust for power, and she eventually turned on Faunus in an attempt to take his place as the ruler of the Wildlands. She led the dark elves, which by then were the most numerous group of elves, in attacks against the other elves. And she tried to kill Faunus. She used dark magic to alter herself and her people in the process, turning every last dark elf into the drow, changing their skin from dark brown to obsidian black, their hair from brown to white, and their eyes from brown to red. Sorisana herself became a hybrid of an elf and a spider, calling herself the Spider Queen. Her rebellion would fail, and she would retreat to the Abyss to escape the cosmic dissonance that began to affect her after becoming evil. There she would carve out her own domain and form an alliance with the ruler of the Abyss and Faunus’s sworn enemy, Orcus.

## As a God

Faunus is typically benevolent but can become enraged at those who hurt his followers. He has a disdain for orcs and drow but keeps it in check with those that are not evil. He even has good orcs and drow that worship him. While elves are Faunus’s favored creatures, he has a soft spot for their descendants, the halflings. He views them as closer relatives of the elves than humans as they typically love the forest as much as the elves do.

Faunus will not grant power to a character that is not good. He prefers his followers be chaotic, but as long as they do good deeds, he will grant them the power they seek. He especially prefers devotees who slay evil orcs and evil drow. Characters best suited to take Faunus as a patron are rangers and nature-based clerics and paladins, but any good character can earn Faunus’s favor.

## Followers

Faunus's followers are primarily elves, but also include other forest dwellers and chaotic good members of other races.

#### Notable followers of Faunus

* Quinlan Longstrider
* Rilitar Omanan