THE SEVEN STARS OF SELUNE (Patreon)

SEVEN STARS TO THE MOON

Well met again!

I’ve been asked many times about the significance of the seven stars in Selûne’s holy symbol, so it’s high time to share this lore with everyone.

These days, the stars around the eyes of the goddess of the moon are usually drawn to look as identical as possible, and may be arranged in different patterns from temple to temple, and tapestry to tapestry; the times when each star was depicted as visually different, and all of them appeared in a particular array, are long gone.

However, the real stars up in the sky remain the same, and these seven are the most holy lights of the goddess, having both navigational and magical significance.

So here they are…

TZAVOONE (“Tuh-zah-VOON”), the holiest star of all to Selûnites, the one the goddess rides (so it’s sometimes referred to as “the Moonchariot”). Selûne’s clergy pray to it to speak to her and to regain their spells. Seen in the northeastern sky as a very large and bright blue-white star (that is, brilliant pearly white, with a wide edge-ring of deep, rich blue), it sometimes seems to reflect the moon by night, and on such clear-sky occasions casts a straight beam or path of white light for miles across Faerûn, that touches sites the goddess wants her faithful to visit, or notice, or find magic she’s left for them in. To “walk the moonlight” is to traverse this brightly-glowing road, and every Sworn of Selûne will strive to do so at least once in their lives. (To those who know and utter the right charm [=prayer to the goddess] while in the moonglow, the power of this “Moondown” can be called upon to purge them of diseases, poisons and venoms, and lycanthropy.)

DATHCHANT, the Guiding Star, is a crimson star ringed with deep purple that pulses, slowly and rhythmically flaring amber. Normally hidden from view because it’s so low on the northern horizon (when seen from Faerûn), it marks true north; sailors off the Sword Coast invoke Selûne by name to get clouds, spray, and storm-wrack to clear and give them a good view of it. Clergy of Our Lady of Silver know that a luck blade stood upright in the altar stone of the outdoor hilltop shrine to the goddess on the isle of Toaridge-At-The-Sun’s-Setting, that is bathed in the pulsing light of Dathchant when the moon is in the sky will by the grace of the goddess recharge any and all expended wishes.

CLAVRELLIN, the Red Lantern, is a large scarlet star that sailors on the Sea of Swords see in the southwestern sky, hanging fairly low and surrounded by a “drift” of much smaller white stars. An everpresent navigational aid by night, it’s one of the stars used by clerics of Selûne “casting blind” (that is, unleashing a spell in a particular direction without looking to see the target or intended target area).

Centuries ago, the goddess defeated the ancient red dragon Clavrellin, but rather than slay him, she bound him to this star, so its energies would heal and invigorate him forevermore—and as he’d attacked her in the first place to try to win enough divine power to achieve immortality, he was very grateful. He soon realized the waiting boredom of eternal life, but has avoided it thus far by sponsoring mortal adventurers in Faerûn to work against anyone who menaces dragonkind (such as Szass Tam, who regards the Dragon Princes of Murghôm as his next foes to be felled, and acts accordingly).

Clavrellin and Selûne are collaborating on spells her clergy can cast that can thwart but not harm dragons, by using what Clavrellin knows of draconic nature, but be warned: he will seek to use “his” adventurers to destroy anyone gaining any such spell who is not a Sworn of Selûne.

SAURMAUGH (“SORE-mog”), the Ghost Star, is the shattered shell of a star that exploded in 1216 DR, and is now a hollow sphere of faintly-glowing gas studded with tiny winkling stars, so it resembles a pale, shadowy cloak wrapped around dark nothingness in the night sky. Necromancers working arcane necromancy spells, and clergy other than Selûne’s priesthood, swiftly learned what the priesthood of Our Lady of Silver knew: that when such magics can be worked with Saurmaugh visible in the sky above them, they last longer and have more intense effects, though these ebb and flow seemingly at random rather than being “set,” dependable and measurable augmentations. All mortals can clearly see undead at all times, even if they are normally invisible, under the dark radiance of Saurmaugh. Moreover, spells that command and control undead, worked by anyone, are more likely to succeed (cast with effects as if 1d4+3 levels higher than the caster really is, and all saving throws are made with advantage) when Saurmaugh is visible in the sky to the caster.

ILKANDLATH, the Werestar, is an odd-looking star, being almost black in its radiance (but surrounded by a vivid amethyst-hued halo) and appearing as very tall and thin—that is, its vertical rays are four times as long as its horizontal, and all other, rays. It rides the equatorial sky, and so thanks to mountains or other obstructions, the season, and the time of day and night is sometimes visible from a given location, and sometimes not. When it is seen in the sky by a caster, it enables them to unleash all spells that govern shapeshifting with about—the star’s boon fluctuates—twice their usual duration and twice their customary force. It’s most often used by clergy of Selûne to force lycanthropes into a particular shape and hold them in that shape, but can be used by spellcasting shapeshifters on themselves, and even seems to affect changes in body form made by calling on the enchantments of magic items.

GULVRAZSPURN (“Gullve-RAZZ-ss-purn”), the Seeing Star, is bright white but with a dark center, so it looks like a hollow ring or a staring black eye (hence its nickname). It hangs high in the sky, due west for most folk in Faerûn, and is therefore valued in “dead reckoning” navigation, but it also has the power of making all magics, from items to active spells to ancient and fading wards and the echoes and scars left behind by mighty magics, glow with a bright, ruby-aura copper hue that contrasts vividly with surroundings. These radiances are precise, retaining fine   detail and clarity, so precise boundaries and even magical writings can be seen.

MARHARRULKH, the War Star, is a large pinkish-red star high in the southern sky that “trembles” as its surface writhes continuously, emitting sparks or embers constantly that wink out moments after departing the bulk of the main star. It’s surrounded by streaming, leaping rays like tongues of flame that have similar short lives.

The light cast by the War Star can be clearly distinguished from other available light due to its pink hue, and wherever that light falls upon the earth, its boon is conferred: it automatically and continuously recharges any ring of shooting stars (the wearer need not do anything), all weapons wielded under Marharrulkh’s pink light behave as if they are Sacred Weapons wielded by paladins, and any weapons that are already Sacred Weapons wielded by paladins gain an additional +4 attack bonus. Any paladin, and all clergy of Selûne, can choose to sacrifice a weapon under Marharrulkh’s radiance, and that weapon will fade away forever but bestow a moonbeam spell effect under the control of the weapon-sacrificer (they can move the moonbeam as an action, in the normal manner). No concentration is needed to maintain the moonbeam, and it will last so long as it’s in contact with the War Star’s light, and the moon is brighter than the sun is in the sky (if the weapon-sacrificer leaves, dies, or ceases to wield the moonbeam, it will simply remain motionless, in place but with full power, until the moon wanes or is seen no more, or the sun outshines the moon).

There are also sacred, secret rituals involving each of these stars used by senior clergy of Selûne for divination, and temple altar rituals for multiple priests and more than one of these stars at once, that boost the power of “standard” clerical spells to truly mighty levels…but you’ll have to BE a high-ranking priest of the Moon Goddess to learn those. (The most commonly-experienced such ritual happens when a temple of Selûne is under attack—and multiple flame strikes rain down repeatedly all around it, in a defensive wall.)

And there you have it.

As for constellations, that will be another video!

Realms forever!