Nylea

Domains
Nylea is associated with the hunt, the seasons, and the forests. Her reign over the hunt extends on predation and hunger, while with her rule over the seasons, she is also patron of metamorphosis and rebirth.

Personality
The Goddess of the Hunt is usually aloof and thoughtful, but she is playful and joyful with her loyal companions. However, she has a feral, animalistic side and bears the responsibility of keeping the forest a safe haven for animals, preventing the spread of humans into her domain, and letting the natural world have free rein. Nylea is quick to anger and vengeance if something threatens her realm. She has complete dominance on the seasons, that she can change at her whim and delay if angered.

She is allied with Purphoros and permits him to unleash fires on the forest in order to grow new life or to keep humans away when they are encroaching too far into the wilds. However, she has a tumultuous relationship with Karametra, the Goddess of the Harvests. Karametra is infuriated by Nylea's interference in the seasons. In turn, Nylea is disgusted by agriculture, which she sees as an aberration from the natural cycle of the world.

Worship
Nylea dislikes the construction of temples and cities in general. For this reason, she has no temples, buildings, or holy sites, save for trees surrounded by clouds of butterflies. When a similar tree is spotted, people know that Nylea is near. Most of her human followers are loners and outcasts. Nymphs of all kinds pay homage to her, as do sentient humanoids such as eladrin, genasi, satyrs, and centaurs. Some city dwellers come into the forest to honor her, especially to pray that the seasons will change in a timely manner. Nylea hates sacrifices and is notoriously hard to please: worshippers could as easily anger her as win her blessing. One thing she likes is acts of kindness and protection of creatures both domesticated and wild.

Signature Item
Nylea is the best archer on all the planes, and as such wields a short bow called Ephixis. It is said that an arrow from Nylea's bow never fails to find its mark. She regularly conjures illusions for target practice, such as fireflies or minuscule silkworms. Nylea permits predation, but she hates hunting for sport: she personally kills poachers within her forests who don't ask for her blessing to hunt her animals. Nylea watches over all the creatures of the forests, except snakes which, thanks to the blessing of Pharika, can take care of themselves.

Myths
Most of the myths about Nylea are cautionary tales about the fate of mortals who profane her sacred forests.

The First Hunt
Each spring, communities observe the festival of the First Hunt, the Premunari. In ancient times, the festival involved hunting, but in the modern form of observance, it is a day of picnics, outdoor games, and frolicking that has little to do with Nylea except that it celebrates the full flowering of spring. Tales tell of Nylea being passingly bitter about the celebration and, annually, visiting a First Hunt celebration in disguise. If she finds herself duly honored during the revelry, she blesses the event and might personally participate. If she finds no mention of her works, she curses those in attendance, sometimes sending rampaging beasts to disrupt the event or turning participants into game animals for true hunters to stalk.

Origin of the Catoblepas, Another Perspective
When a herder boasted that his cattle were Orbis' finest because Heliod and Nylea had created them, Heliod persuaded Mogis to curse the cattle, transforming them into the first catoblepases. Heliod had hoped to win Nylea's favor by defending her honor in this way, but she was outraged to be associated with the creation of these abominations. To this day, Nylea offers a boon to anyone who hunts down a catoblepas and brings its head to her sacred grove.

The Three Hunters
Three young men from wealthy families were hunting for sport in the her sacred forest. Nylea accosted them before they had taken any prey and gave each man a chance to bring her a gift that would atone for his intentions. The first man killed a stag and made an offering of it in her name, so she turned him into a stag to compensate for the one he had killed. The second offered wealth from his family coffers, so she turned him into a tree clinging to a cliff face by one root. The third, remorseful, threw himself on a bed of moss, and a cerulean butterfly came to rest on his hand. Carefully, he carried the butterfly back to Nylea. She not only spared him, but blessed his house and all his descendants.

The Tragedy of Arasta
In ages long past, Nylea loved her dryad companion, Arasta, as a sister and the two spread wonders across Orbis. One day, Phenax, envious of the pair and stung by some forgotten slight, transformed Arasta into a terrible monster to prove that the goddess's love was based on beauty, not true kinship. Seeing the unfamiliar creature, Nylea was horrified and drove her away. Shattered, Arasta retreated and has terrorized the gods' servants ever since. To this day, Nylea remains deeply pained by Arasta's loss. Knowing that only Phenax can undo the curse he laid upon the dryad, Nylea often sends her champions to learn the secret of what might restore her friend.