Shamran

Far be it for me to suggest that any of Sangrar’s gods weren’t up to snuff.  They all had a place and a purpose, some grander than others.  Shamran was one of those not so grand – how else to characterize someone who was god of plants and lorded over the forests, meadows and trees?  If there was ever a god demanding few comforts – no fancy towers, no black tie dinners, no fast cars – it was Shamran.  He didn’t need much in the way of companionship either.  His subjects included loyal oaks, steadfast shrubs and valiant vines, and other brilliant conversationalists rooted in the forest.  Only the Tympani, a gentle tree folk living in the Ryndall Forest northwest of the Desert of Molten Fire, had anything to say to him.  I know some of you believe talking to your plants helps, but on Sangrar, they were deaf and dumb.

The other gods thought Shamran a bit of a Ioner.  He didn’t fit in all that well, I think because most of his subjects were a few inches short of sentient, so his social skills were perpetually rusty.  I suppose if you had to pick someone, he was closest to his mother, Lillandra.  He and Humak were brothers born from the collective unconscious of Lillandra and Aerdran, but Shamran always had a stronger affinity with Mom and the Beast Lord than with Dad.  Both were half-brothers to Aerdran’s daughter the Earth Mother (Lillandra didn’t have a hand in her making, which Aerdran never heard the end of).  Shamran wasn’t encumbered by the Prophecies like Humak and was free to wander as he pleased, though with his extensive root system, he went about it slowly.

In fact, other than watching his kingdom of photosynthetic capable subjects, Shamran only had one assignment in the entire span of Sangrar’s history – fathering a Vanara.  He wasn’t even aware of Celetran’s plan, let alone his part in it, until Spollnar came to him in the forest.  The Lady of Esel had convinced Spollnar that there was no other way (Spollnar had loved Garruth a long, long time and was initially resistant), so she’d come to Shamran a willing seductress, but unsure how to arouse a god more plant than Elf.

She needn’t have worried.  Once she explained it all to Shamran, he was more than willing to perform his duty, albeit with a lack of enthusiasm that Spollnar found mildly irritating (yes, gods could and did suffer from vanity).  He did what was needed quickly and without comment and then wandered back into the heart of the wood without so much as a good-bye.  After getting knocked up, Spollnar took herself to the Winking Star to await Vitale’s birth and had no more contact with Shamran.

Other than that, Shamran had little impact on the course of history in the Elder Days or in the Age of Mankind.  His only other noteworthy achievement was giving Elwarre, the great oak tree, to Lindarelle the Wood Elf queen.  She made her home in Elwarre, which was large enough to provide shelter for many, many Elves even without spells.  After the Maldok lord Karandal slew Elras, his mother Queen Ylindelay departed Nammovalle for Elwarre and spent the next thousand years mourning her son’s loss in the tree’s shade.

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