Bēlkar
Bēlkar, or the Woodwose, is the queen of the wilderness, and of beasts and trees. She is the patron goddess of travelers, storytellers, and musicians. Once she was the wife of Mālgal, but their marriage ended long ago.
Mālgal and Bēlkar made the Swams together.
From “Concerning the Kembar”
Every beast and tree holds allegiance to Bēlkar, the Woodwose. Bears walk in her train, and sometimes deer; and in her presence they do not fight, although she does not command it, and would not stop them if they did. She is wild. Sown earth does not interest her, and she laments the taming of fruits and grains, for on their behalf the Children cut into her lands, and felled them, and claimed them. Her heart is ever on places that are tangled and unkempt, and she is most merry on the slopes of a meadowed hill, or under roofs of deep, leafy green.
Those who would call themselves free of law or government she watches over, and to them she can be generous with her bounty; but her love is fickle, and she is terrible in anger against those who would take from her beyond their need. Travelers pray to her, as do orators and storytellers, who call her the Muse. For Bēlkar is a skilled singer also, and a composer of songs and great poems. By these she likes to tell stories, of which she knows many. But she speaks rarely of the lesser affairs within her woods, preferring instead to tell of the tall trees that she calls her towers, and of the errantry of noble elk, and of all other living things that she considers strong.
Sooth Deck Entry
Name: The Woodwose
Governances: Wilderness, Music, Stories, Travel
Themes: Renewal, Freedom, Opportunity
Every beast and tree holds allegiance to the Woodwose, and all those who would call themselves free of law or government she watches over. She is wild. To be influenced by her is to see the beginning of a new journey. Shackles will be broken, burdens thrown off, debts forgiven. Yet there are wolves in dark forests, and a newcomer to the wood might attract attention from something worse than what they left behind.