Tears of Tyar

Often referred to simply as “The Goddess” by her followers, Vilsya’s (VIL-s-yah) origin is somewhat muddled if you look at all the stories told of her. The High Elves worship her as nearly the most important member of their gods, second only to Haelmir. The dark elves, in their Underdark kingdoms, view Vilsya as the weak, subservient piece of their chosen goddess, Nylva. She is just the cast-off weakness Nylva ripped from herself. The dark elves’ stories say that when Nylva cast off this part of herself, Haelmir carried the left over shreds to the other gods and together, they turned on Nylva and called upon the power of creation itself to resurrect those remnants and give them life, thus creating a queen to sit next to Haelmir in Elysium before casting Nylva out.

But the High Elves would call this heresy, insisting that Vilsya is the oldest of all the gods, even older than Haelmir. She is the mother of all elven kind, the one who bore the first elves when there was no distinction between High, Wood, Dark, and others. It is to Vilsya most elves pray, and it is from her arms that elven children come. She is invoked in the rites performed on the proposed High Mother of the high elven kingdom, and her approval is required for the would-be High Mother to take her place beside their King.

To the wood elves, Vilsya is the head of the pantheon, with Haelmir merely a consort and protector, and The Goddess’s druids and clerics are often counselors of royalty, their words cherished above all others. They believe that Vilsya is the spirit of nature itself, made manifest with the birth of the humanoid races. Much like the High Elves, they view Vilsya as the one from which all elven kind were born. In fact, they believe she birthed all humanoid races, though the elves were born in her image.

Vilsya’s likeness is found in nearly every elven temple on the surface and some below the surface, though usually only in mural depictions of the story of the birth of elves. She is also occasionally found in temples built by non-elves. She is portrayed as a beautiful, perfectly formed elven woman, and even in those depictions where color is not used, worshippers find a way to ensure that she is kept alight, either by magic or cleverly designed mirrors meant to reflect light through the temple. Vilsya’s temples are manned exclusively by priestesses, with the most important temple in High Elven society being the one built into an ancient cavern beneath the shining keep in the capital city of Elanshir. The cavern is seen by few, but serves as a sanctuary to the High Mother, the head of Vilsya’s church and only a handful of the High Mother’s most trusted priestesses are allowed within its walls. Even the King and his brothers are forbidden from entrance without the High Mother’s express invitation, and few have ever dared to challenge such a rule for fear of invoking the Shining One’s wrath.