The Moon's Hand Shrine

About a day's travel west of StarTower lies a small shrine to the human goddess Selune. It was founded by members of the Temple Silver around year Dominic III. Members of the Temple Silver had been collaborating with elven priests of Sehanine Moonbow since Severus II to investigate rumors of the reappearance of the ancient corrupt House Dlargreth. The Selunites' agent, Tinuviel Lightblade, confirmed the presence of demon-elf hybrids in the Ramadi deserts and later returned with her family and allies to found the shrine.

Goals

The Temple Silver established a tradition of demon-hunting that the Moon's Hand continues. While the war against the elves concerns the Selunites, they focus their energies on finding and eliminating the infernal agents of House Dlargreth.

Allies

The shrine has very good relations with the temple of Sehanine Moonbow in StarTower. Their relations with the other elves are good but not so good as that, and they have found it most effective to let the priests speak for their interests.

While individual priests and other Moon's Hand agents have found allies in prominent members of the Uralan Republic, there is no formal relationship between the two. The Moon's Hand is not even aware of the possibility of a Harper alliance, although Those Who Harp have noted the shrine's activities. The Moon's Hand learned early that it was combating telepathic creatures, and keeps its circle of potential leaks small. While it has kept them secure, it has also kept them from certain information.

Enemies

House Dlargreth is aware of the shrine, and has been for some years now. They do not consider the humans to be a particular threat since the capture of Silverfire, Sir Gabriel's demon-sniffing sword. The shrine has twice lost expeditionary forces to the Dlargreths, once near their desert citadel and once to Baron Xhalh out in Ehosia. To the fey'ri, the humans are ineffectual annoyances at worst. At best, their inquiries into "demon-elves" only helps to confuse the average Nargothan citizen about the nature of elves.

Who's Who

Tinuviel Lightblade appears to be a strikingly beautiful half-elf, with elegant touches of grey just beginning at her temples, lightening her midnight hair. She is nothing of the sort. Tinuviel is actually a tiefling and carries demonic blood in her veins. She is not a priestess, although she is the de facto leader of the shrine. She spends most of her days at the shrine, combing over the catalogues of information they have assembled, looking for links and hidden clues. She is recently more somber, owing to the death of her husband of twenty years, Anwar. Their two children, Rebecca and Achmed, also live at the shrine. (Tinuviel Lightblade, tiefling female, 55 yrs old, T9 (swashbuckler), CG)

Nancy was the chief priestess of the shrine until her death in November of Dominic XVIII. A kindly woman of middle years, Nancy also remained largely at the shrine, leaving the adventuring up to the younger members. She also oversaw the tutelage of the youngest acolytes in the shrine, including Achmed and Madeline Deiondrey, an orphan the shrine adopted. Nancy sacrificed herself in a ceremony dedicated to the new dark god called Shadow, which allowed her soul to glimpse the inner workings of that god's plans. Selune's power rescued her from oblivion (the two had worked the plan out ahead of time) and Nancy's shade returned critical information to the living. (Nancy, human female, 45 yrs old, C5, CG)

Sir Gabriel of Armfold is another emigre from the Temple Silver. The aging paladin of Selune is no less impressive for his close-cropped, silver hair. Sir Gabriel greatly regrets the loss of his blessed sword, Silverfire, which had the ability to detect demon's blood. The fey'ri interrogated and killed a Silver Knight they chanced to find, learned of the blade, and stole it. It is thought that the fey'ri have taken it to their desert stronghold. Gabriel also nurses a long-standing flame for Tinuviel. He never even considered acting on it while she was married, and is even now hesitant to say anything until a respectable mourning period for Anwar has passed. (Sir Gabriel of Armfold, human male, 50 years old, Pal9 (Selune), LG)

Madeline Deiondrey is now the chief priestess of the shrine. The very young woman has achieved great favor in Selune's eyes this past year. Madeline was orphaned as the result of a fire that scarred her, physically and emotionally, when she was five years old. She has lived at the shrine ever since. The loss of her foster mother, Nancy, has hit her hard. She is not likely to remain at the shrine, but will continue to seek out and destroy the fey'ri. (Madeline Deiondrey, human female, 19 years old, P7 (silverstar, of Selune), CG)

Thomas is Nancy's husband. Large, tender-hearted, and not very bright, Thomas is a sort of gentle giant. While his common sense and people sense is quite good, Thomas could never quite grasp the sorts of eternal mysteries his wife delved in or the Byzantine plots the shrine was working to unravel. He splits his time between staying at the shrine and accompanying Silver Knights into the field. He particularly watches out for the young ones, so they "don't do nothing dumb." (Thomas, human male, 45 years old, F3, NG)

Anwar is another of the recently deceased. Tinuviel's husband was a warrior from the southern lands of sand and oranges. Dark-skinned and soft-spoken, he is remembered as an archer, a poet, but especially as a father. Anwar served as a father-figure for most of the younger members of the shrine. He died, peacefully, at the ripe old age of 75. (Anwar, human male, 75 years old, F7, NG)

Rebecca is a nearly permanent feature at the shrine. She is Tinuviel's daughter - sort of. Rebecca is an alu-fiend, a creature born of a demonic succubus and a human father. Tinuviel is certainly not a succubus. Most members of the shrine assume that Rebecca was adopted. Only Rebecca, her family, and the chief priestess of the shrine (first Nancy, and now Madeline) know the truth. Related to her odd birth is the curse that afflicts Rebecca - she is dogged by nightmares and waking dreams which entice her to cut herself. Wards developed and cast by Nancy have kept these dreams away, as long as Rebecca stays on the Moon's Hand's sacred grounds. Despite her age, Rebecca is socially closer to an adolescent. (Rebecca bint Anwar, alu-fiend, 30 years old, F3, CG)

Achmed bin Anwar is rather more obviously Anwar and Tinuviel's son. He inherited his father's complexion and curly, frizzy hair - which is fortunate, since it hides the small horns at his temples that he inherited from his mother. Achmed venerates both the gods of his father and Selune. He has been studying magic on his own, learning out of the books of one of the original Temple Silver emigres who perished during an early assault on the fey'ri city. The Moon's Hand is strong in clerics and warriors, but not in magic, and he seeks to remedy that. (Achmed bin Anwar, tiefling male, 20 years old, MU2, CG)