The Sisterhood of Anwyn
The Sisterhood of Anwyn is a female religious and martial fellowship devoted to Ehlonna, goddess of the woodlands, animals, fertility and the natural world. Based principally within the Golden Woods of Anwyn, the Sisterhood combines worship, healing, guardianship and the defence of the communities beneath its protection. It is neither simply a religious order nor merely a band of rangers and warriors. Some Sisters are clerics or druids, others rangers, warriors, healers or women whose service to Ehlonna follows a less easily defined path. What unites them is their devotion to the goddess and their commitment to protecting the people, creatures and wild places of Anwyn. The Sisterhood is centred upon Merilrond, although its Sisters can be found throughout the Golden Woods and at outposts beyond the settlement itself.
Origins of the Sisterhood
The Sisterhood grew gradually around Dîmeril Laeghartha during the years following her arrival in Anwyn. Dîmeril had never intended to found a religious order. She was a ranger, former soldier and servant of Ehlonna whose reputation increasingly drew others to her. Women joined her patrols, sought her instruction or simply chose to help defend the woodland communities gathering around Merilrond. What began as an informal collection of companions, rangers and followers gradually acquired a more permanent identity. The arrival and growing influence of Lusara Elmare gave that emerging fellowship a stronger spiritual structure. Where Dîmeril's instinct was towards practical guardianship, Lusara understood that the women gathering around Merilrond shared something deeper than simply a willingness to fight. Their devotion to Ehlonna bound them together. The Sisterhood developed from the combination of those two influences. Dîmeril gave it life. Lusara gave it shape.
Neither woman created the Sisterhood alone, and neither could easily have created the organisation which exists today without the other.
Membership
Membership of the Sisterhood is restricted to women. This tradition is not based upon hostility towards men, nor does it imply that men have no place within the community of Merilrond. Men live and work throughout the settlement as craftspeople, rangers, husbands, fathers, retainers and friends. Some are themselves devoted followers of Ehlonna. They are simply not Sisters. The Sisterhood likewise has no racial requirement. Its membership includes Half-Elves, Elves, humans and women of other peoples. The strong Half-Elven character of the Sisterhood reflects the population and history of Anwyn rather than any formal restriction. Nor must a woman be a priestess. A ranger who guards the forest paths, a healer tending the injured, a druid caring for a sacred grove and a cleric conducting the rites of Ehlonna may all be equally Sisters of Anwyn.
Two Traditions of Service
As the Sisterhood grew, two broad traditions emerged within it: the Martial Sisters and the Spiritual Sisters. They are not separate orders. All are Sisters of Anwyn first, and the distinction describes a woman's principal calling rather than imposing an absolute boundary upon what she may do. A Martial Sister may be deeply religious, tend the wounded or participate in sacred rites. A Spiritual Sister may carry weapons, patrol the Woods and fight when required. The difference lies primarily in where each woman believes her service is most naturally directed.
The Martial Sisters
The Martial Sisters form the principal armed and ranging tradition of the Sisterhood. They patrol the Golden Woods, guard paths and settlements, escort travellers, investigate dangers and respond when creatures or enemies threaten those under the Sisterhood's protection. Many are rangers, although warriors and women of other martial traditions can also find a place amongst them. Their methods reflect the nature of the land they defend. The Martial Sisters are not an army in the conventional sense. They rarely march in close formation or maintain permanent military camps. Instead they operate in small groups or individually, using their knowledge of the forest, woodland paths and local communities to identify danger before it reaches Merilrond. When greater threats arise, they can gather quickly.
Dîmeril Laeghartha remains the foremost of the Martial Sisters as well as Heryn of the Sisterhood as a whole. Her authority rests not merely upon rank but upon decades of experience as a ranger, soldier and defender of the Woods. Experienced women such as Sabine Thornmere, Maeriel Thornbow and Yvaine Silverwind form part of the senior generation, while younger Sisters increasingly patrol and serve alongside them. The named Sisters represent only a small part of the women who protect the Golden Woods. Much of the Sisterhood's work is performed quietly by capable rangers and warriors whose names are little known beyond the communities they protect.
The Spiritual Sisters
The Spiritual Sisters represent the principal religious, healing and pastoral tradition within the Sisterhood. They are led by High Priestess Lusara Elmare, whose authority over matters of faith is recognised throughout the Sisterhood. Spiritual Sisters conduct ceremonies, tend sacred places, care for the sick and injured, teach younger members, assist families and maintain the seasonal observances through which the people of Anwyn honour Ehlonna. Clerics are prominent amongst them, but the tradition also includes druids, healers and women whose religious service takes other forms. They are not cloistered priestesses.
Their faith takes them into homes, fields, forests and neighbouring communities as readily as it keeps them within Merilrond. A Spiritual Sister may spend one day conducting a sacred rite and the next helping deliver a child, treating an injured woodsman or travelling to an isolated household which has requested assistance. The Spiritual Sisters include women from widely differing backgrounds and traditions. Rallientha Quiphiner, an elderly Elven cleric, represents an older tradition of Elven worship of Ehlonna; Telemna, a three-quarter-Elven priestess from Erdian, brought beliefs and practices formed far beyond Anwyn; while the young human Elowen Fairmead came from the rural faith of Aelfshaw and is still discovering the extent of her own divine gifts. Their differences illustrate something important about Lusara's leadership. The Anwyn Sect possesses a distinct identity, but she has never attempted to make devotion to Ehlonna entirely uniform. Different traditions can find a place within the Sisterhood provided they share its fundamental devotion to the goddess and the living world.
Dîmeril and Lusara
Although Dîmeril is Heryn of the Sisterhood, Lusara is its High Priestess. The distinction is important. Dîmeril provides much of the Sisterhood's practical and martial leadership. In matters of doctrine, worship and religious practice, however, Lusara possesses the greater authority. Their interpretations of Ehlonna are complementary rather than identical. Dîmeril's faith has been shaped by the wilderness, guardianship, her life as a ranger and her long association with unicorns. Lusara embraces particularly strongly Ehlonna's aspects of fertility, family, love, birth and the continuation of life. Neither regards the other's path as lesser.
Indeed, the Sisterhood probably owes much of its character to the fact that neither woman has ever attempted to turn her own relationship with Ehlonna into the only acceptable one. Their disagreements can be vigorous. Their friendship has survived all of them.
Love, Family and Motherhood
The Sisterhood is not a celibate order. Love, sexuality, fertility, family and motherhood are all honoured within the Anwyn tradition of Ehlonna. Sisters may marry, take lovers and have children without abandoning their calling. For many Spiritual Sisters in particular, childbirth and motherhood are regarded as expressions of the same cycle of life celebrated in the forests, fields and animals under Ehlonna's protection. This does not mean that every Sister is expected to marry or become a mother. A woman's choices remain her own. The important distinction is that the Sisterhood does not regard sexuality or family life as incompatible with religious or martial service.
The much stricter customs associated with the White Wards are a separate tradition.
The White Wards
The White Wards, sometimes known as Unicorn Riders, are not a third branch of the Sisterhood. They are women who have formed a freely chosen bond with one of the unicorns of the Golden Woods and accepted the particular customs and obligations associated with that tradition. Such a bond cannot simply be requested. The unicorn chooses. A woman may spend her entire life faithfully serving Ehlonna without ever attracting the interest of a unicorn, while another may unexpectedly find herself approached by one. The Sisterhood does not attempt to compel or arrange such relationships.
The traditional vows of the White Wards include chastity. This requirement belongs specifically to the White Ward tradition and does not apply to Martial Sisters or to the Sisterhood generally. A White Ward may therefore be a Martial or Spiritual Sister according to her principal calling. White Ward describes her relationship with a unicorn and the obligations arising from it, not her place within the Sisterhood's two broad traditions. The distinction has occasionally confused outsiders. Within Anwyn it is well understood.
Worship and the Sacred Year
The Sisterhood's religious life follows the Sacred Year of Anwyn, with seasonal festivals marking the changing rhythms of the natural world. These observances celebrate Ehlonna not only as goddess of untouched wilderness but also as patron of growth, fertility, animals, cultivated land and the communities which depend upon them. Some ceremonies are solemn. Others are considerably less so. The great festivals bring together people who may otherwise spend much of the year scattered throughout the Golden Woods. Food, music, dancing, courtship, worship and communal celebration sit comfortably alongside one another within the Anwyn tradition. The Sisterhood organises and conducts many of these observances, but the festivals belong to the wider community rather than to the Sisters alone.
Explore: Ehlonna — The Anwyn Sect • The Sacred Year of Anwyn
The Sisterhood and Merilrond
The Sisterhood is closely associated with Merilrond, but the settlement is not a convent. This distinction is important. Most of Merilrond's inhabitants are not Sisters. Families, craftspeople, retainers, farmers, healers, woodsmen and others live around Rose Hall and contribute to the community in their own ways. Likewise, not everyone who works for Dîmeril belongs to the Sisterhood. The household of Rose Hall includes men and women, while Merilrond's workshops and services are operated largely by ordinary residents. The Sisterhood forms an important part of the settlement, but it neither owns nor controls every aspect of life there. Dîmeril herself occupies several overlapping roles: Heryn of the Sisterhood, Lady of Merilrond, ranger, cleric of Ehlonna and head of the sprawling household centred upon Rose Hall. The people around her do not necessarily share all of those identities.
Explore: Merilrond, The Settlement • Retainers of Merilrond
Beyond Merilrond
The work of the Sisterhood extends throughout the Golden Woods. Martial Sisters patrol the forest paths and maintain contact with scattered communities, while Spiritual Sisters travel to conduct ceremonies, provide healing and assist families living far from Merilrond. Outposts watch particularly vulnerable approaches to the Woods. The northern outpost, commanded by Sabine Thornmere, keeps watch upon the dangerous lands around Mort Swamp.
Communication between these scattered Sisters is aided by the Silverwings, small messenger birds trained to carry messages between Merilrond and the outposts. Coloured ribbons attached to urgent messages allow warnings to be recognised even before the written message is read. The system is simple. It has also saved lives.
The Sisters of Anwyn
The Sisterhood is ultimately defined not by rules or titles but by the women who belong to it. Some are seasoned rangers who have defended the Golden Woods for decades. Others are priestesses, healers or teachers. Some are young women only beginning to discover what their service to Ehlonna might become. They do not all think alike. They do not always agree with Dîmeril, Lusara or one another. That has never been considered a failure of the Sisterhood. The individual women who make up the fellowship are described separately among the Sisters of Anwyn.
Explore: The Sisters of Anwyn