Ceres

The Revered Mother; Goddess of the Home and Midwives; Goddess of Healing, Mercy, and Patience; Goddess of the Millstone

Greater God

Alignment: Lawful Good

Domains: Community, Good, Healing, Plant, Protection

Symbol: A millstone

Garb: Simple robes of white

Favored Weapons: Flail

Form of Worship and Holidays: Simple services are held each week on Ardsdag followed by a family or communal meal where freshly baked loaves of bread are broken in her honor. Half of each loaf is donated to orphans or others in need.

Typical Worshippers: Human matrons and mothers, midwives, bakers, millers, orphans, the poor, farmers, some civic leaders, halflings

Ceres is an old goddess of the Hyperborean pantheon who has protected home and hearth since the earliest recorded histories. She is seen as a motherly figure who protects her followers and their communities through gentle guidance and nurturing. It is also she whom the common folk turn to in prayer to avoid famine from a bad harvest or natural calamities. Though not really a goddess of crops and weather like the god Telophus, her holy writings and liturgy do universally speak of a bountiful harvest to fill the bellies of the community and the needy.

More concerned with the benign use of the harvest from the standpoint of community well-being and stability rather than being seen as a matron of plant growth in general, Ceres is one of the few deities whose worship involves active benevolence in the form of feeding and sheltering the needy. She is revered by many who are not truly her worshippers (hence her title of “Revered Mother”) because she is seen as the divine caretaker and overseer of healthy births, though she shares this role with the goddess Freya. So even those who venerate other gods or are even diametrically opposed to her through alignment or creed are not above uttering short prayers in her name at the birth of their own offspring. In her hands lies the well-being of the next generation, which all humans recognize and generally respect. That her followers are not crusaders or violent radicals seeking to bring judgment in her name makes this veneration by others more palatable.

For all of these qualities and that of providing succor to the sick, Ceres is often seen as the glue that holds families and communities together. The few hospices that exist for the indigent or those unable to afford the services of a personal physician are almost always established by her worshippers. Despite her recognized benevolence, Ceres is seen as somewhat rustic, and has been in decline in some urban centers. She retains her popularity and influence in the countryside among the simple folk, however. The halfling matron goddess Hester serves as her handmaiden, and many rural halflings revere Ceres as well as a result.