| SHEELA PERYROYL (the Wise, the Green Sister, the
Watchful Mother), Lesser Power, female, N Attributes: Nature, Agriculture, Weather, Halflings Domains: Air, Harvest, Plant, Weather Symbol: Daisy Typical Worshippers: Halflings, farmers, rustics, halfling druids Raiment: Bare head, green robes, flowers are usually worn. Preferred Weapon: Vine ropes or nets Holy Days: Full moon, offerings of fertile seeds, and at Harvest and Planting (great celebrations) |
Sheela Peryroyl (SHEE-lah PAlR-ree-roil) is the halfling Power of agriculture, nature, and weather. She balances the concern for wild untamed lands and habitats with strong roles as a patron of cultivation, seasons, and especially harvests. She is also concerned with the pleasures of life - feasts, revelry, romance, and the general desire to live with passion. Her followers often wear a small flower in her honor and strive to work in harmony with nature and the earth.
The image of Sheela is often mixed, almost interchangeably, with Yondalla herself. Some hold that Sheela and Yondalla are different aspects of the same Power, but in truth, they are simply closely allied. Sheela is on good terms with the rest of the halfling pantheon, particularly Urogalan in his aspect as Lord in the Earth, as well as other nonhalfling Powers concerned with nature, agriculture, weather, and the balance between them. Sheela strongly opposes those Powers she sees as corruptive distortions of the natural way.
Living in harmony with nature requires a careful balance between the wild and the tame, the feral and the tended. The need to preserve wild growth is just as important as the need to till the fields and provide ready food. Seek to understand the natural processes that envelop and work within them. While nature can be adapted, it should be evolved, never forced; work within the framework of what already exists. Celebrating life requires one to live with passion and romance. Revel, feast, and thrive - this is the zest of life.
Sheela's clerics are concerned with nature and agriculture, and they work closely with halfling farmers and settlers to preserve the balance between cultivation of fertile lands and the need to leave some areas wild and in a pristine state. Many clerics tend gardens of their own, seeking to develop new strains of crops and flowers. Others I protect wilderness regions from careless exploitation of their resources. Members of Sheela's clergy oversee the integrity of halfling lands, leading their inhabitants through the annual calendar of seed-sowing and harvest festivals. They also try to keep the wild creatures from running rampant through settled halfling areas by guiding them to travel, live, or grow around the communities, not in or through them.
Sheela’s clerics and druids hold great celebrations at the start of planting (known as The Seeding or New Spring) and at harvest time (The Reaping, High Harvest, and other names). These festivals usually run a week or more, most commonly averaging 10 days. The actual length varies with climate, the needs of the harvest, and the village participating. The festivities begin at sunset each night, and run late into the evening.