SISTER SILMA, L15 High Priestess of Rasha
STR 07(-2)
DEX 08(-1)
CON 10(+0)
INT 14(+2)
WIS 16(+3)
CHA 17(+3)
HP 72
Racial Traits
Darkvision
Keen Senses
Fey Ancestry
Trance
Cantrip: Dancing Lights
Languages: Celestial, Common, Elvish, Halfling, Sylvan
Proficiencies(+5)
Armor: Light, Medium, Shields
Weapons: All simple weapons*
Tools: Calligrapher's Supplies*
Saves: Wisdom(+8), Charisma(+8)
Skills: History(+7), Insight(+8), Persuasion(+8), Religion(+7)
Feats
Shelter of the Faithful
* * *
Spellcasting
Divine Domain: Light
- Bonus Cantrip: Light
- Warding Flare
- Improved Flare
- Potent Spellcasting
Channel Divinity(2x)
- Turn Undead
- Radiance of the Dawn
Destroy Undead (3 or Lower)
Divine Intervention
* * *
Spellcasting
Spell DC: 16
Atk Mod: +8
Cantrips(5): Guidance, Mending, Sacred Flame, Spare the
Dying, Thaumaturgy
L1(4): burning hands,
faerie fire, Bless, Cure Wounds, Sanctuary, Shield of Faith
L2(3): Continual Flame, Lesser Restoration, Spiritual Weapon
L3(3): flaming sphere,
scorching ray, Beacon of Hope, Dispel Magic, Revivify
L4(3): Banishment, Death Ward, Guardian of Faith
L5(2): daylight,
fireball, Dispel Evil & Good, Greater Restoration
L6(1): Heal
L7(1): guardian of
faith, wall of fire, Resurrection
L8(1): Holy Aura
*Author's Note:
Because of her background, Sister Silma never took part in Elvish Weapon
Training. That Racial Trait was switched out for a Proficiency with
Caligrapher's Tools.
Sister Silma is the aged and reverred High Priestess of the
Temple of Rasha-of-the-Moon in the elvish city-state of Moonhome.
She came from humble beginnings, born to common parents. Her birth was difficult and when Silma was
born she was a sickly and frail infant.
Many of her parents contemporaries suggested it would be kinder, and
more pragmatic, to abandon the infant to the wild. Silma's parents did not heed this advice, and
raised their daughter with care and love.
Silma grew up within the growing city of Goldsun. Because of
her fragile health, she was granted a dispensation so she did not attend the
mandatory military training most Goldsun elves undergo. Instead, she found
herself drawn to a life of devotion. She became an accolyte in the Temple of
Rasha, where she spent most of her days working in the temple's scriptorium,
applying her talent for caligraphy as she produced duplicates of the temple's
holy books.
However, even though Silma lived apart from the rest of
Goldsun, she was not unaware of the discontent growing among the common elves
of the city. The High King had already begun a program of repression against
the so-called malcontents of the city. As time passed, the repressive tactics
grew bloodier.
Distraught by these events, Silma sought solace and guidance
in prayer. One evening, as she was praying, Silma received a vision from the
goddess, Rasha, herself. The goddess instructed Silma to gather the unhappy
elves of Goldsun and lead them north.
Silma was not the only elf in Goldsun to receive this divine
vision, and in the visions of others the young woman was identified as the
leader of this divine exodus. The reaction from the city's secular and
spiritual authorities was immediate. The holy vision was dismissed as 'vile
sorcery' and those who claimed to have recieved it were rounded up and
imprisoned. Sister Silma found herself facing the fury of the temple's High
Priestess, who demanded she renounce this vision. Silma refused. As a result, the High Priestess ordered Silma
to be locked within a tower cell until she saw sense.
Other visions followed, not so easily dismissed as the
product of 'sorcerous malcontents' but the authorities continued their repressive
policies. Finally, in an effort to pin the entire affair on a scapegoat, Sister
Silma was brought before the High King and the leaders of Goldsun's spiritual
community. She was ordered to renounce the visions as the product of sorcery,
or she would be executed.
As the High King made his threat, however, the goddess Rasha
intervened. Appearing in the court as a whirlwind of burning radiance, the
goddess lashed out at her High Priestess. The woman was struck blind, defrocked
and sent away from Goldsun by the goddess, to wander through the Underdark.
In a furious voice, Rasha ordered the High King to free
Silma and the others he had wrongly imprisoned and to reflect upon his
decisions lest she withdraw her divine favor from the elves of Goldsun. And if she did that, they would all suffer a
similar fate to that of her former High Priestess.
The High King immediately ordered Silma and the others free.
They were given what supplies they requested and allowed to leave the city.
Guided by visions from Rasha, the party of about 1000 elves
left Goldsun and headed north, through the dreaded Lirwood. Eventually, they
stumbled upon the Feywild Path, where they encountered the benevolent Archfey
known as the Shepherd-of-the-Leaves. He led the party along the path, through
the Feywild, and back into the mortal world on the northeastern side of the
Stonespear Mountains.
It was here, at the edge of the Braerosean Wastes and the
Stonespear Mountains, that the group of pilgrims severed. The voyage from
Goldsun had been hard and dangerous. Lives had been lost, in the Lirwood, in
the Feywild. Some of the pilgrims expressed doubts and eventually chose to
leave the group. About a hundred elves broke away from the group and chose to
head south. Their fate remains unknown.
Silma experienced a crisis of faith herself at this point
and sought respite in prayer and meditation. Eventually, she gathered herself
together and led the group forward, into the Stonespear Mountains.
Eventually, the group discovered the valley where they would
establish the community of Moonhome. The first winter there was difficult and
many died, but the survivors persevered and the little community took root and
began to grow. Unexpected help came with the arrival of the silver dragon, Hankatar,
the Brothers of the Vine and then the wizard, Aureum Oduro.
Sister Silma had gratefully relinquished much of her
authority by this time to the community's secular leaders. She still concerned
herself with their spiritual health and development, but acknowledged the fact
that she had no experience or talent for planning streets or negotiating trade
contracts.
However, as Sister Silma began to withdraw from secular
life, she was cautiouned by her goddess about leaving the elves to their own
devices. That without her guidance, the community would become as insular and closeminded
as Goldsun.
Silma hoped that this was not true, but saw what her goddess
meant when refugees began to arrive in Moonhome. Most were welcome, but not
all. And when the drow appeared, the city seemed on the verge of rejecting them
outright.
Realizing she could not abandon her responsibilities, no
matter how tired she was, Sister Silma solved the drow situation by donning her
full ceremonial regalia as High Priestess of Rasha, walking through the streets
of Moonhome to the city gates and formally welcoming the drow.
Her actions mollified the community and the drow were
welcomed, despite some grumbling from the more conservative elements among the
elves.
However, Sister Silma's actions have had unexpected
repurcussions. Not just for Moonhome, but for all of Nur. Moonhome now finds
itself upon the continent's political stage, advocating for greater tollerance
and acceptance for all. A stance that has earned them new allies and some
enemies among the regional city-states.
Sister Silma never intended to become a political firebrand
or spiritual leader, but she now finds herself filling both of those
positions. She spends her days acting as
a mediator between political factions, encouraging all sides to find common
ground, and her nights in quiet prayer and meditation.
Her health remains fragile and there are some days she
cannot leave the grounds of the Temple. Her accolytes, fellow priests and
attendants fret and fuss over her, much to the sister's annoyance. She knows
that she is old, but she also knows that she will not die, until her duty to
her goddess is complete. Until then, Sister Silma will continue to enlighten
those around her, guiding by kind example, supported by both the city-state
that she helped establish and the goddess that she serves.
