Erevan Ilesere is the Elven deity of Mischief, Change and Rogues. Fickle, restless and utterly unpredictable, Erevan delights in upsetting expectations, challenging convention and ensuring that neither mortals nor gods become too comfortable with the way things are. His symbol is a nova star with asymmetrical rays.
Appearance
Erevan is a consummate shapeshifter and possesses innumerable guises. When he appears to mortals, he most often takes the form of an Elf or a fey creature, particularly a brownie, pixie or sprite. His appearance, age and even size may vary wildly from one encounter to the next. Whatever form he assumes, however, Erevan always wears or displays something green, a sign of his affection for the forests and wild places in which Elves and fey dwell. Those who claim to have encountered him rarely agree upon what he looked like. Indeed, Erevan seems to take considerable amusement from ensuring that they do not.
Nature
Erevan is unpredictable, flighty and irrepressibly fun-loving. He delights in practical jokes, harmless trouble and the puncturing of pomposity. He rarely remains still for long and seems almost incapable of concentrating upon a single pursuit once something more interesting presents itself. Yet it is a mistake to regard Erevan as merely frivolous. Beneath his fickle exterior lies a fierce loyalty to the Seldarine and a deep affection for Elves and the sylvan races. When these peoples are genuinely threatened, the laughing trickster can become a surprisingly dangerous protector.
Erevan particularly favours underdogs, rogues, wanderers and those who survive through their own ingenuity. He has little sympathy for those who continually appeal to the gods to solve problems they might overcome themselves. To Erevan, wit and self-reliance are virtues, and occasionally being forced into difficulty is merely an opportunity to discover whether one possesses either. He has still less patience for the pompous, authoritarian or self-important. Those who insist that rules must be obeyed simply because they are rules have an unfortunate tendency to attract his attention.
The Church of Erevan
It is perhaps misleading to describe Erevan's worshippers as possessing a church at all. His clergy are a loose and deliberately disorganised collection of rogues, wanderers, tricksters and free spirits. Priests sometimes form regional groups, but membership is voluntary, responsibilities are vague and such organisations frequently disappear as quickly as they arise. Communication between different groups is sporadic at best. Attempts to impose a formal hierarchy upon the faith have met with predictable results.
Novices are traditionally known as the Gullible, ordained priests as Quicksilvers, and certain specialist priests as Mischiefmakers. None of these titles is particularly reliable, however. Erevan's clergy are encouraged to change their titles regularly, invent new ones and occasionally bestow impressive-sounding offices upon unsuspecting colleagues. Consequently, meeting someone who introduces himself as His Most Nimble Eminence, Third Custodian of the Emerald Sock does not necessarily mean that he is joking.
Priests of Erevan
Erevan's priests have remarkably few conventional religious duties. They teach principally through example, encouraging independence, adaptability, humour and the skills necessary to survive through quick thinking. Many are accomplished rogues. They delight in breaking unnecessary rules, embarrassing the arrogant and upsetting those who wield their authority too seriously. Their tricks are not ordinarily intended to cause genuine suffering. The ideal Erevanian prank exposes foolishness, teaches a lesson or simply makes a good story. Cruelty for its own sake is contrary to the spirit of the faith.
The priesthood is found primarily amongst Elves and Half-Elves, particularly those communities that maintain close relationships with the fey. Erevanian clerics traditionally favour black leather armour and leather caps, although uniformity is hardly a quality for which the faith is renowned.
Worship
Erevan's priests never worship him in the same place twice. There are therefore few temples dedicated to the Trickster. Worship might take place beneath an ancient oak one evening, beside a roadside milestone the next, and on the roof of an inn several weeks later. The important thing is that the next ceremony occurs somewhere else. This does not mean that Erevan possesses no sacred places. Certain caves, woodland clearings, ancient ruins and other locations have become associated with particularly famous tricks, visions or appearances of the god. His followers sometimes undertake pilgrimages to these places, although even pilgrimage in Erevan's faith tends to be deliberately inconvenient. A sacred site whose location is difficult to discover is generally considered far more appropriate than one marked by a signpost. Offerings are often small valuables, curiosities, stolen trophies, unusual objects or items possessing an amusing story. Erevan is believed to value the tale behind an offering considerably more than its monetary worth.
Orders and Societies
Erevan's faith maintains no formal knightly orders. The very idea of ranks, regulations and solemn vows sits uneasily with his teachings. Nevertheless, numerous informal guilds, adventuring companies and secret societies dedicate themselves to the Trickster. These groups are particularly common amongst Elven rogues, scouts and mage-thieves. Some devote themselves to recovering Elven magical items and artefacts that have fallen into the possession of other races. Whether such activities constitute sacred reclamation or simple theft depends largely upon whom one asks. The groups themselves rarely trouble over the distinction.
Reputation
Stories concerning Erevan's priests are immensely popular amongst Elven children and common folk. Tales of clever tricksters humiliating pompous nobles, outwitting tyrants, stealing from the undeserving or making fools of excessively solemn elders have been told around Elven fires for generations. Meeting an actual worshipper of Erevan is another matter. His followers are frequently regarded with suspicion, even by other Elves. An Erevanian arriving in a settlement raises the uncomfortable possibility that someone's dignity, possessions or carefully organised plans are about to suffer.
Respectable Elves may therefore enjoy stories about Erevan's followers enormously while preferring that those followers conduct their adventures somewhere else. Erevanians regard this attitude as entirely reasonable. And, usually, as an invitation.
Holy Days and Rituals
Erevan's holy days are on the eclipses, and his faithful sacrifice stolen treasures to him whenever they feel it is appropriate. Worshipers of Erevan host a Midnight Gambol once a month under the light of a full moon. Though the location of each Midnight Gambol is a secret, it was always held in a sylvan glade. The precise location of the event is something followers of Erevan passed around by word of mouth leading up to the event, but anyone, faithful or otherwise, who learnt of the event using their own wits were welcomed to join in on the festivities. Pixies, sprites, and other tricksters of the Seelie Court also participate in the celebration. Activities included dancing, storytelling, drinking wine, playing pranks, and sacrificing beautiful objects.