SELEX
The Huntsman
God of the Hunt
Alignment: Neutral
Cleric’s Alignments: Any
Domains: Animal, Competition, Strength, Travel
Symbol: Bow and Arrow crossed
Favored Weapon: longbow
Centers of Worship: Erenenlea, Wilderness towns
Nationality:
Obedience (need the Deific Obedience feat):
Bury a miniature wooden replica of the creature to be hunted at the light of a full moon. Gain a +2 sacred bonus on Survival, attacks, and damage rolls versus the specific creature. If the replica is buried with a vestige (blood, hair, tooth) of the creature the sacred bonus increases to +4.
Evangelist Boons:
1. Hunter's Bond (Sp): speak with animals 3/day, cat's grace 2/day, or blood scent 1/day.
2. Twin Fang (Sp): Once per day, as a standard action, you can summon an exact double of your animal companion. The double acts and thinks like your animal companion in every way, and obeys your commands just as the original would. Your original animal companion and its double understand and trust each other perfectly. The double remains for 1 round for every Hit Die you possess, and then vanishes. If you don't have an animal companion, you instead gain the ability to summon nature's ally V as a spell-like ability once per day.
3. Faithful Archer (Sp): You are particularly skilled at using Selex's favored weapon. When using a longbow, you add your wisdom bonus on attack and damage rolls against targets within 30 feet.
Exalted Boons:
1. Animal Friend (Sp): charm animal 3/day, animal messenger 2/day, or summon nature's ally III 1/day
2. Hunter's Ally (Sp): Once per day as a standard action, you can summon a pair of hound archons. The hound archons follow your commands perfectly for 1 minute for every Hit Die you possess before vanishing back to their home in Heaven. The hound archons don't follow commands that would violate their lawful alignment. Such commands will not only earn refusal and scorn from the hound archons, but could cause them to attack you if the command is particularly egregious.
3. Communal Hunt (Sp): Your devotion to the hunt allows you to evoke Selex's divine guidance to assist your friends in the hunt of one quarry. With using blood from your veins on the forehead of your allies, once per day up to 1 friend per Hit Die you possess gain a +2 sacred bonus on attack rolls and Will saving throws versus the quarry your choose to hunt. This effect lasts for 12 hours.
Introduction:
Selex, also known as The Huntsman, is an old deity who first became known on Raden when early humanoids began to hunt, domesticate and dominate their natural surroundings. It is said Selex crafted the first bow as a gift to mortals so that they may learn to hunt and survive in the dangerous world. Though civilization has continued to advance beyond simple villages, Selex remains popular in tradition and in the frontiers of the world.
Selex is primarily a nature deity focusing on the animals that hunters and ranchers deal with in their challenging lives. He is also a god of nature walkers who live off the land and need to hunt plants and animals to survive. Selex eschews crusades and brazen heroism, and he has no grand plans to eradicate chaos and evil from the world. He simply wants people to be able to hunt and live their lives in peace without threat of being devoured by monsters, conscripted into an army, or other non-natural occurrence.
He is a stern patriarch whose spirit is as hard as wood. He isn't afraid to face down a bully, not is he afraid to heal a wounded animal in the wood. He teaches how to read the turning of the seasons, how to know when to tell when see the signs of rabid animals, how to hunt in the wild, how to cull a herd, but not enough to eradicate the food supply. He believes in the love of freedom and the hunt, but also in the balance of nature so the hunt can continue for eternity. He does feel that monsters often upset that balance, and when they do, they should be dealt with.
The Church:
A typical worshiper of Selex is a hunter, a frontiersman, or a bowyer who wants to live his life in the joy of the hunt, and not worry about the wars, monsters, or kings who may force them to do what they do not. Followers of Selex look out for each other and tend to protect territory as well.
Animal symbols of many kind, especially wolves, and hawks are prevalent in Selex worship. It does not mean these animals are safe from the hunt, but as with any animal slain by a worshiper of Selex, as long as no parts of the body go to waste, it is a good hunt. At birth, a firstborn child is given a wolf fang, supposedly to ensure a long life of hunting.
Hymns and chants constitute most of the church's music. Flutes, drums, horns, and other easy-to-make, easy-to-play instruments are also common.
Selex is pro-marriage only to the extent that his worshipers propagate to pass on his ideals. He knows the life of a hunter can be a lonely one that can often lead to death as a result of hunting dangerous prey. He demands that both spouses be able to defend themselves and their offspring due to this fact. Most of Selex's priests are married with an equally proficient spouse in the art of hunting, though they are not required to be.
Paladin Code:
The paladins of Selex are gruff and strict traditionalists. They seek to preserve the integrity of the balance of nature when it comes to wildlife and monsters. Their tenets include the following affirmations:
- My community and territory comes first, and I will contribute to it all that I can. If I don't protect its stability, who will?
- II must offer the poor, whether materially or spiritually, assistance, but I may not do the work for them. Instead, I must teach them to do the work for themselves and the community.
- When danger threatens, I am not a fool. I seek first to make sure the weak and innocent are safe, and then I quell the danger.
- I keep to the old ways, the true ways. I am not seduced by the lure of money or power. I remember that true honor comes from within, not from the accolades of others.
- I remember that reputation is everything. Mine is pure and upstanding, and I will repair it if it is broken or tarnished. I stand by my decisions, and live so that none shall have cause to blame me.
- I show respect to my elders, for they have done much. I show respect to the young for they have much left to do. I show respect to my peers, for they carry the load. And I shall carry it with them.
- I am honest, trustworthy, and stable. If I must leave my lands, before I go, I ensure that they will be tended in my absence. Even when duty calls, my duties to my home come first - letting them lapse makes me a burden to my people.
Temples and Shrines:
A temple to Selex is almost always a simple wooden building, longhouse, or even town hall that serves a rural community as a gathering place, with religion being only one of its many uses. Sparsely decorated, such structures often contain highly functional furnishings, as the faithful prefer not to waste their holy area with rows of awkward, heavy pews and statues when sturdy tables and stools would make the area well suited for mending tools and clothes, food preparation, and other helpful crafts. In some cases, temples of Selex have no seating, leaving the congregation to stand. In such temples, sitting during the faith's short services while not taboo, is looked down on for all but the elderly or the infirm - and even they bring their own chairs or mats.
A shrine to Selex is usually little more than a bow-mark carved on a tree or a trunk.
A Priest’s Role:
Selex’s priests are mostly clerics, although he has a few druids, and a couple of rangers in the clergy as well.
Selex's priests usually have a conventional role in the community - such as being shepherds, trappers, or artisans - in addition to their explicitly religious duties and consider attending to the needs of their own land and families as a form of devotion as well. Most of a priest's day is spent performing mundane tasks just like any other member of the village, with the priest pausing only to speak a blessing at dawn's breaking, but always ready to drop what he is doing and pitch in where he is needed. They are often called upon to bless hunts, help build homes, deliver children, oversee trade, and bless crops and livestock. Priests are also responsible for organizing the protection of the territory of the community against monsters, and other threats. They will do all in their power to ensure that threat is eliminated and will often travel long distances to permanently remove it. They are patient and can hunt their quarry for as long as it takes to remove them as a threat. This often means the quarry get careless after a short time has passed thinking their safety is well in hand.
Adventurers:
Selex's followers do not become adventurers very often as they are linked to the land on which they live. However, when they do it is often to fulfill some sort of quest to eradicate a threat to their way of life and land. Few have remained adventurers seeking treasures they can bring back to further sustain their community and land back home.
Clothing:
Simplicity is the focus of Selex's adornments. The formal raiment of his clerics and druids is practical, and usually consists of a leather or fur cloak or shoulder-cape branded with his symbol.
Holy Texts:
There are no written texts for Selex's faithful. His beliefs are passed down through generations by oral tradition - stories around the campfire, songs sung during rituals, and sermons given at times of festivals. These stories are often referred to as The Huntsman's Code. They explain the responsibilities of all members of a community to protect and cultivate a land and the boons of its wildlife.
Holidays:
Selex believes extensive and complicated ceremonies take time away from necessary things like tending to the land and putting food on the table, so most religious events are short and to the point. The solstices and equinoxes are holy days for the church (the week of the vernal equinox is called Planting Week by the faithful, and the week of the autumnal equinox is called the Harvest Feast, even though the associated rituals only take about an hour).
Archerfeast: Observed on 3 Crossan, this is traditionally a day of feasting, fun, and relaxation. Villages start the day with a hunt, they hold archery contests, ranchers rope and trade livestock, and young people ask permissions to wed. Cider is served cold during the day and hot during the night. At sundown, an animal hunted in the morning is offered to Selex and everyone in the community eats a piece to share in his blessing.
Aphorisms:
An Arrow is Worth More than A Fool's Words: Often said when one goes on about a fool's folly of rising up against a local lord, or trying to catch the moon on a summer's evening. An arrow can be used to silence such talk.
And Balance the Land We Must: Often said when threats have come to one's location, whether it be monsters, a predator, or anything else that threatens the territory's ability to provide for the people.
Relations with Other Religions:
Selex can be gruff and reserved, but he is still on good terms with most nonevil deities of Raden. He is, however, very set in his ways and frequently criticizes the particulars of his fellow deities's faiths and practices. Although his demeanor often makes him less of a member of the gods' fraternity, his skills at archery and tracking are the best in the outer planes. More than once other deities have sought out the god of hunters for his aid and insight into slaying marauding beasts or finding someone lost in the multiplanar wilds.
Realm:
Selex’s home is within Purgatory's wilderness, in lands covered with wild vegetation and dotted with lakes, and rivers. Villages are stretched across his lands with only a city or two filled with his petitioners reunited in death. These cities are in existence exclusively for trade reasons with other entities.
Planar Allies:
Most of Selex's divine servants are animals or benign forest creatures. Some of them reside permanently on the Material Plane, patrolling frontier areas and keeping an eye out for those in eed. A few "legendary" animals known to villagers are actually The Huntsman's minions rather than true animals, making appearances once or twice a generation to protect the community. In addition to psychopomps, the following allies serve Selex, and are suitable for conjuring with planar ally or similar spells.
Argol (unique winter wolf): This young winter wolf is said to be the resurrected spirit of the wolf that led the fabled ranger, Lorrin Elkhorn, to hunt down and slay the white dragon, Kreex Stral. The dragon was terrorizing not only the settlements of the fragile ecosystems of the frigid north, but also depleting its food supply and throwing off the balance that would have destroyed the region. It is rumored Argol can track any living creature that can traverse land, sea, or sky.
Truefeather (unique avoral): Able to take the form of a man, an eagle, or an eagle-man hybrid, this fierce avoral archer is a skilled and deadly archer who hunts only for sustenance or to defend the innocent. Often he is content to perch on a rooftop, silently watching over a village when strangers appear, ready to aid in case there is trouble.
Firetrunk (unique treant): Nearly crippled in a skirmish with a barbed devil, this reckless young treant now displays his burns like a badge of honor. He is obviously wary whenever an enemy uses fire near him, buy is a stalwart ally and never lets it deter him from his responsibilities or cause him to hesitate in battle.
The Alpha Wolf: This enormous wolf serves as Selex's herald. The Alpha Wolf was once a powerful spirit creature, worshiped by early humans. When Selex became more prominent, it allied with The Huntsman, respecting his wisdom, strength, and nobility. Some tales say that in his early days, Selex hunted the Alpha Wolf seeking to make a cloak of his fur. When Selex rested for the evening, The Alpha Wolf fearlessly approached Selex and bowed low to the tenacious tracker. Selex realized it was not a feral beast to be slain and welcome the wolf into his camp. The two have been inseparable since.
For Faithful Characters:
Priests of Selex that follow his tenets and graces often are granted special powers by Selex.
- Survival is a class skill.
- Hunting down known monsters who threaten the land of the priest gain the favor of Selex. While on such a quest, a priest of Selex gains the ability to see invisible, speak with animals, and magic weapon at will.
- Priests who take craft arms and armor feat may add the “huntsman” enhancement to their crafted weapons at no additional cost.