mordenkainens tome of foes

PR1EsT o F CoReuoN

prayer. Corellon wants them to enjoy life, to try new

things, to imagine what they desire and then pursue it,

and to be kind to others. In return

for this freedom from

the usual requirements of

religion, Corellon expects

them to address their

own problems and not pray for

aid in eve ry crisis. These precepts are instilled within

every elf, since all elves are ultimately descended from

fragments

of Corellon. When elves ask their priests how

one

might become able to sense Corellon's presence, the

priests often say, "First, truly know yourself. Only then

can you feel our creator near."

Services in Corellon's honor are typically conducted

in natural stone amphitheaters or bowl-shaped forest

clearings. In keeping with Corellon's chief command-

ment for everyone to be free, all who attend are allowed

to show the ir obeisance however they choose, as long

as their way of contributing combines

with the others to

form a grand display of reverence.

Such a gathering has

the atmosphere of a festival rather than of an organized

wors hip service.

Many elf wizards honor Corellon and adorn their

spellbooks and

towe rs with the god's symbols. Some of

them spec

ulate that Corellon is the personification of

raw

magic itse lf, the primal force that underlies the mul-

tiverse. Corellon is not magic tamed or shaped-not the

Weave , as some name it- but magic in its original form:

a well of endles s, s plendid possibilities.

Th e Mysteries of Arvandor. Only those long-lived

scholars who have researched the elves with the great-

est tenacity have heard of the Mysteries of Arvandor,

CHAPTER 2 I ELVES

and all these luminaries have ever been able to glean

is

that it is a secre t gathe ring of elves dedicated to Corellon

where a magical replaying of the elven myths of

creation

is communally experi enced.

The truth is that the Myste ries of Arvandor

is a phe-

nomenon that elves recognize as a summons

from their

creator, which they can choose to accept

or disregard.

The event occurs on one plane or multiple

planes within

the multiverse in a single moment,

and there is no guar-

antee that it will eve r occur

again; the ability to hear

the call is a rare gift. Depending on Corellon's need, the

god might call a few dozen or several thousand elves to

gather, each elf

returning to Corellon's body temporarily

for some tas k

that only the god can comprehend.

Before this gathering begins, the elves who have been

selected start to have powerful dreams and waking

visions, urging them to travel to a certain location. At

this point, e ach of the summoned elves must choose

whether to follow the visions, because it is known that

not every elf returns from an encounter with Corellon.

It's true that to be absorbed into the god once more

, and

returned to awareness before the Drawing

of the Veil,

is the fulfillment of eve ry elf's longing

, but some elves

have grown attached to the mortal and mundane world,

and thus they turn away from their god's summons.

Those who answer the call of Corellon a re telepathically

guided to the ir destina

tion, often for hundreds of miles

acros s unknown

te rrain, or even across planes.

Mos t elves

who return to their homes from the Mys-

teries are forever transformed. These participants

generally remain silent about their experience, out of

reverence and appreciation. Those who speak about the

Mysteries of Arvandor struggle for the right words, but

they all say in one way or another that experiencing the

Mysteries is a way for elves to join with Corellon, gifting

the god with their life force- and in return, they

revert

back to their free, formless nature for a t

ime. After this

mystical communion, many elves have a deeper under-

THE BLESSED OF CORELLON

Ever changing, mirthful, and beautiful, the primal elves

could assume whatever sex they liked. When they bowed

to Lolth's influence and

chose to fix their physical forms,

elves lost the

ability to transform in this way. Yet occasion-

ally elves are born who are so androgynous that they are

proclaimed to be among the blessed of Corellon-living

symbols of the god's love and of the primal elves' original

fluid state of being. Many of Corellon's chief

priests bear

this blessing.

The rarest of these

blessed elves can change their sex

whenever

they finish a long rest-a miracle celebrated by

elves of all sorts except drow. (The DM decides whether an

elf can manifest this miracle.) Dark elves find this ability

to be terrifying and characterize it as a curse,

for it could

destabilize their entire society. lfCorellon's

blessing mani-

fests in a drow, that elf usually flees to the surface world to

seek shelter

among those dedicated to Corellon.