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110: The Lore of Lurue
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Something is mysterious about this unicorn queen, and it's not just that it's the first episode in a very long time about a truly Good character. Travis tells us all about her origins, and surprising connections.
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SPEAKER_04And I'm Travis Peasley.
SPEAKER_05Lewin, you mentioned that you have bug people coming today.
SPEAKER_04I do have bug people coming today. They are coming up from out of the ground to scream. After their 17 year slumber, they're coming up out of the ground to scream and then fuck and die.
SPEAKER_01Cicadas.
SPEAKER_04No, there's actual it's it's actual pest control. There are have been cicadas though.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, I mean, that's living in Oklahoma.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, but I do have pest control coming by. So we can't like or or we can they just hang out with pest control. Yeah, they just knock on my door and I'm like, hey, are you guys cool if I filmed if I just stay here and continue like a cool thing on camera? Yeah, well, unfortunately, it would still be a whole thing because I have to like put my cats up in my room and stuff. So it would still have to be a whole thing. But I'm just like, hey guys, is it cool if I film you? Like an obnoxious, like an obnoxious TikTok person, you know? Oh god. Except they don't they don't ask, but you know.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_05All right. It is uh going to be a fun topic. Oh yeah. The notes look long. Uh mostly that's because there are some screenshots in there, but as I usually do, I probably went a little overboard at typing things.
SPEAKER_04You know, and it's it's better to have more information in there and think like, oh, I could trim some of this than like suddenly, you know, like just oh no, I'm out of it's been free.
SPEAKER_01It's been 30 minutes and I have nothing more to talk about. Yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_04Also, I feel like I need I just need to make sure everybody knows it's just a regular thing that my apartment does. Oh I'm not, I'm not nasty.
SPEAKER_03You're not nasty. I'm not, I'm I'm not nasty like that.
SPEAKER_04Okay. It's just a regular thing.
SPEAKER_01I feel like anyone who lives in an apartment knows or has lived in an apartment knows that they come by regularly.
SPEAKER_04I mean, okay, yeah, fair enough. But you know, I just feel like I need to put that out there.
SPEAKER_05Like it's it's just a regular like maintenance bug control thing, not a I have roaches because not a me problem.
SPEAKER_04Not a like, you know, you you look in the background and just see like God.
SPEAKER_05Well, a little bit more better imagery than roaches crawling everywhere.
SPEAKER_01Oh god, why would you say it like that?
SPEAKER_04I mean, to be fair, I opened the door. Travis just walked through it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I didn't ask him to.
SPEAKER_05No one ever asked me to. I just do. Fair. So after Taylor's last episode, one of the uh things in there intrigued me enough that I was like, I'm gonna look into that. And then I was like, I'm gonna make an episode of that. Oh today we are going to be talking about Luru the Unicorn Queen. Ooh, okay. And I have seen several pronunciations that is either La Ru or Luru. It seems like it doesn't matter either way. Yeah. But uh Laru the Unicorn Queen has several uh other names that they go by or have been called, much like any other deities. Yeah. Uh so we have just uh the unicorn, the queen of talking beasts. This one is a mouthful, the queen of talking beasts and intelligent creatures. Okay, the divine beast, the winged queen, specifically among elves, mistress of moonlight, and then Yathagera, also specifically among elves. And that one, the Yathagera gets a bit twisted and confusing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I was gonna say I I do know a little bit about that, and that surprised me.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's it it gets a little confusing, but we'll uh we'll kind of untangle most of it.
SPEAKER_01Okay, are you you going to mention the email that you sent?
SPEAKER_05Right. So um when I started researching this topic, I actually did come across actually the very first thing is uh from Down to Earth Divinity, which was an article in Dragon Magazine 54 from 1981.
SPEAKER_01It's the first instance of all of the Ferunian deities.
SPEAKER_05Yes.
SPEAKER_01Oh the one that I mentioned. Yes.
SPEAKER_05So as I was uh reading through that, I actually noticed that uh Ed Greenwood, who you know wrote that article, mentions that Laru and also uh Aslon, who is another uh deity in there.
SPEAKER_01That's uh did you happen to see a phonetic pronunciation of that name, Aslan?
SPEAKER_02No.
SPEAKER_01I think it would be pronounced Aslan.
SPEAKER_04Aslan. And I think that that's uh that's that's uh somebody else.
SPEAKER_01That's somebody that that that's a Chronicles of Narnia.
SPEAKER_04That's that's so Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Oh, okay, okay.
SPEAKER_05So I sent an email to Ed Greenwood asking if there was any information that wasn't really like ever published or just fun tidbits or anything like that. And I mean Ed Greenwood is a very busy man. Yeah, right, yeah. So I expected no response and I did not get one, which is completely fine.
SPEAKER_01We have not answered back from Mr. Ed Greenwood at the time of this publication.
SPEAKER_05We have not.
SPEAKER_04So I'm if he does not respond, within we will be taking this public. No, I'm kidding.
SPEAKER_05I mean, it will be going public. It will be public, but not in public.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we're not gonna we're gonna write an expose on a green card. I'm so sorry, we're so very distractable today. It's okay. We we're we're doing our best.
SPEAKER_05So uh Larue is mentioned to be one of several deities to be a part of the cults of the beast group, which is mostly just like a group of deities worshipped by intelligent animals and some human races. It's majority intelligent animals. That also includes ones that have become intelligent by the awakened spell. Okay. So Luru is also sometimes known as Silvery Moon.
SPEAKER_01Okay, that's a name.
SPEAKER_05That is another name. So Luru and Aslin are both Ed Greenwood's own inventions. Okay. Um these are two, like he specifically mentions that these were ones that were strictly his own, like created, yeah. As opposed to like a collaborative from other people and stuff like that. Uh-huh. Uh he created them after the lion and the unicorn quote of nursery rhyme fame.
SPEAKER_04I had to look it up because Okay, I'm glad it's not just me because I was like it's a UK.
SPEAKER_05Like it's a UK uh nursery rhyme. Yeah. Uh so fun little real-world lore about this, real quick. The lion and the unicorn are both part of the uh full royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom. Right. There are two versions of it. You have the UK version, which shows the lion on the left with a crown, and the unicorn on the right without a crown. But then you have the Scottish version, which depicts them opposite of that. So the unicorn on the left and the lion on the right, but both of them are wearing crowns.
SPEAKER_01Which is very cool because the unicorn is uh very representative of Scotland.
SPEAKER_05Yes. So the nursery rhyme reads: The lion and the unicorn were fighting for the crown. The lion beat the unicorn all around the town. Some gave them white bread and some gave them brown, some gave them plump cake and drummed them out of town. So basically, they fought each other constantly and constantly enough that eventually the townsfolk were like, get out and kick them both out. That's funny.
SPEAKER_04That's so funny. Like they tried, you could tell they tried to placate them at first by giving them like bread and cake and stuff, and then eventually they were like, Okay, you know what? Just you gotta y'all gotta go.
SPEAKER_05They were like, you know, just never mind, get out of it, go away. Forget about it. Yeah, that's so funny. Like, we're done here. Shoot. Ed also mentions that details of Aslan can be gleaned from C.S. Lewis's narrative. And uh those of the unicorn can be found, and Elizabeth gouges the little white horse. I don't know what the little white horse is.
SPEAKER_04Like I briefly looked it up, but I would presume it's a book about a little white horse. Yeah, I would presume.
SPEAKER_05I more or less. I love a unicorn.
SPEAKER_04I'm so sorry. That can be gleaned from C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia.
SPEAKER_02Like you don't say.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um I I I had to restrain myself when you said uh LaRue and Aslan are Ed Greenwood's own inventions. I'm like, yeah, no, I know. I was like that's putting it a little um Yes.
SPEAKER_05They yeah. Yeah. Um now Aslan's name does change later on because of, you know, right, possible copyright issues.
SPEAKER_01Uh like his estate.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Like, you know, that whole that whole thing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah, like makes sense. I mean, don't get me wrong, Aslan is a very cool character.
SPEAKER_04I understand why he was like, let's take the lion, but yeah, and I guess it's it's less literal because you know, it's not necessarily the same name or like the same physical portrayal. But you know, uh Aslan also famously took um inspiration from some other from some other some other popular story.
SPEAKER_01It's some book about a guy on a cross.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, something like that. But you know, it's a little more metaphorical, so he it doesn't run into copyright with like Yeah, it's not like it's not like C.S.
SPEAKER_01Lewis named the lion Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. As led to his friends.
SPEAKER_05So there is also a group of adventures called the Knights of the Unicorn who worship Laru. There is a bit more about them uh later on, but that's kind of all that was mentioned in that article, was just that there is a group that worships her. So then we jump to the Elves of Evermeet, which is from 1994 uh for second edition. Yes. Good year.
SPEAKER_01I wouldn't know, nor would you.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I was gonna say neither one of you would know, and I wouldn't either because I was like two. Hey, what what year were you born? Well, it's two or three depending on when this was released.
SPEAKER_04No, I think Travis just doesn't know what year he was born.
SPEAKER_05Anyway, in this access accessory, it is mentioned that Yathagera is the ruler of Evermut's unicorns and Pegasi and the daughter of the god Ectium. Which sidebar I see holy shit. I see the and I get why because this is a uh I think it's a Gaelic name. Yeah, so Ectium is not how it is spelled at all. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I love Gaelic. I did portraits of all of the Sealy court a few years ago, and Ectium was really fun to do and also to make Travis have to say a million times.
SPEAKER_04Hey, you know what? I'll give him this though. Like, it's easier to pronounce than the spelling would suggest.
SPEAKER_05So yeah, because up until I saw the actual pronunciation of the name while I was doing my notes, I was pronouncing it so fucked.
SPEAKER_01How are you pronouncing it?
SPEAKER_05Do you want to like each thiggern, each gurn, each of these?
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Ectium.
SPEAKER_04What in the what in the gate? That's so good though.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. So Ectium is the Lord of Unicorns and Pegasi, as well as a member of what Taylor just said, the inner court of Queen Titania's Seely Court. Oh, I love it, the inner circle of I said court, the inner circle of the Seely Court.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_05I love fairies. I do also want to say that at this point, from what I could find in uh this general like realm or year or years, Yathagera and Laru, there's no mention of it that they are one and the same. So because this is the first time I came across uh Yathagera's name, I was like, okay, so they'll probably relate the two at some point. Right.
SPEAKER_01Not not yet.
SPEAKER_05Not yet.
SPEAKER_01In any case. Okay. Keeping my mouth shut then.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. So that doesn't actually get mentioned until Powers and Pantheons released in 1997, but we'll get to that here soon enough.
SPEAKER_06Okay.
SPEAKER_05Uh it mentions that the unicorns and Pegasi, uh, while they respect her, uh, usually pay her little mind.
SPEAKER_01I mean, that's kind of just Faye uh the Faye uh like thing around deities, anyway.
SPEAKER_04Right. And especially given that it says that she's the the god of like the lord of the the unicorns and pegasi. They they probably more so view her kind of as just like a like a princess, you know, as opposed to like yeah, the actual topic.
SPEAKER_01I think you meant the daughter of the god.
SPEAKER_04Oh, yeah, that's what I meant.
SPEAKER_05The daughter of the god. Yeah, because she is, I guess she is technically a demigoddess, not a full-blown deity. Yeah, yeah. So there's that, but she appears as a magnificent Pegasus with a rich, like silver mane and shimmering rainbow-hued wings. Very pretty. Uh, I would also like to mention that Larue, through pretty much all iterations that I could find, is constantly chaotic good.
SPEAKER_04That's surprising. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_05That's very uh sealy court, yeah, yeah, and very, very unicorn, you know. Oh, yeah. See, like I said, she is a demigoddess uh bound to Torwil Torril. Oh my god, I can't talk today.
SPEAKER_01We're all we're going through it, y'all. Louan is the only one that's like on it today. Jesus. I mean, yeah, I I was on it.
SPEAKER_05So she is a demigoddess bound to Torwill. Torril. I give up. I'm going home. You are home.
SPEAKER_04Just turn, just turn around and then turn right back onto the computer. Like, all right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01If he had a if he had a a spinning chair, that's exactly what he would do.
SPEAKER_05I would. Yeah. And the primaterial plane. So Torril and the Primaterial plane.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. She doesn't have her own. She doesn't have her own her own demi plane of of unicorness.
SPEAKER_01It's a shame. Yeah, I know.
SPEAKER_04At least she probably gets a fourth edition or something. Third edition is where they're third edition was when they really they really went crazy with that.
SPEAKER_05Uh she can cast spells as an 18th level cleric, you know, back before there was a cap. She regenerates lost hit points at a rate of one point per round. She can polymorph at will into the shape of like a shapely horse-headed elephant.
SPEAKER_03Which reverse centaur? Okay. Reverse centaur.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Shapely horse-headed elven female.
SPEAKER_04I really like the I really like the inclusion of the word shapely. This is um this is the this is that this is that umusume that the kids are talking about, I think.
SPEAKER_01That's even old news, but I don't even know what you're referencing.
SPEAKER_04It's the it's the gacha game with the horse girls.
unknownNo?
SPEAKER_05I don't think.
SPEAKER_04Okay, I'm sorry. There's a gacha game where the the the the the girls that you get are um like anthro anime girl versions of like real life race horses. And I'm not kidding.
SPEAKER_03Why can someone uh okay, yeah, why not? Why not?
SPEAKER_05I alright, I'm gonna gloss over that real quick.
SPEAKER_04I'm really glad I'm really glad I got to share that with you guys.
SPEAKER_05That's so uh Volo's Guide to the Sword Coast.
SPEAKER_01Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_05Volo's Guide to the Sword Coast. Yes, also released in 1994, has a bit more information specifically about an inn that is famous in El Terrel called Fontier's Unicorn. It is named for the ally, lifelong friend, and possible love of the long-dead mage Fontier Wonderspel. The unicorn in question is said to be a glowing unicorn whose hooves never touch the ground. And uh the unicorn will actually like sometimes manifest in and around the inn.
SPEAKER_01That's fucking cool. Fontier Wonderspel, fucking cool name. Um Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, there are actually three theories as to who slash what this unicorn is. The first is, you know, the manifestation of the goddess Maliki. Maliki. Myliki, Maliki. Myliki. Yeah. Hey, how many of these unicorn gods we got?
SPEAKER_01Well, Miliki is a uh goddess of like generalized good beast full good stuff, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. I mean, I guess it's kind of like Greek myths where like Zeus turns into like four separate different animals on four separate occasions to get with get with human women. So sort of yeah. It might not even be like specifically a unicorn god. She just was like, Yeah, let's be a unicorn.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, pretty much. The second is a polymorph sorceress that Fontier loved, but is trapped forever in unicorn form because apparently Fontier got so powerful that not even he could undo his own magic.
SPEAKER_03Oh, but but but why did he pol why did he polymorph her into a unicorn into the into in the I don't want to know? I don't want to know actually. I don't want to.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, maybe you know what? Okay, maybe, maybe she was maybe it was her idea. Maybe she was like, hey, I think this would be fun for like a day. Like I wanna be a like she was a horse girl, you know, and so she's like, I wanna, you know, I wanna spend a day, be a horse, you know, whatever. And then when he couldn't change her back, they were both like, well, um, you know, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Correct. So the fact that he couldn't even undo that, like maybe he's not as good of a wizard as he thinks he is.
SPEAKER_01Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_04He just cast it off like a scroll, but that was his only polymorph scroll. Now he doesn't know how to undo it. He doesn't know how to do it, he doesn't know how to do it himself, so he's just like oh, couldn't he just polymorph her into a woman? Huh. Yeah. Good point. Yeah, I think this guy's I don't think he's very smart. I think this guy's either either not very smart or like a bad person.
SPEAKER_05So the uh third theory is that it is simply Larue, the divine beast. Right. Okay, so funny thing is about this though, is when you look it up in the index that's in the back of the book, it says, you know, Fontier's unicorn, parentheses Larue. Okay, parentheses Alterell.
SPEAKER_04Okay, well, you know, at least at least that means he didn't so transform an innocent woman into a unicorn and then was unable to change her back.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so they kind of confirmed it in the index, I guess that it's her it it was very strange. I saw that and I was like, why though?
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I guess confirmation instead of leading leaving it up to the DM.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that feels like and that feels like uh I'm trying I'm trying to think of a good example. I feel like I would have I will probably remember a good example halfway through this episode, like a specific one. But it feels like when something is like supposed to be a mystery, but then like in a video game, for example, but then like something about it actually gets gets revealed through like a tooltip or something. Yeah. And then you're like, Wait, like, like maybe like an enemy character is supposed to be like question mark, question mark, question mark. But then if you like look at something about them on like a different screen, yeah. Oh, it's like it's like in it's like in Baldur's Gate 3, famous video game that I've never mentioned on this podcast. Um, when like you know, you like examine like Auntie Ethel when she's hanging out and you see her you see her list of like of like Faye active effects, and you're like, oh, hmm, there's something going on here.
SPEAKER_05Like there's something not going on here.
SPEAKER_01I have a feeling I'll be running into you again later.
SPEAKER_04I have a feeling that this nice old granny is not um not entirely who she says she is, you know?
SPEAKER_05So the inn was bought by the cult of the unicorn, which might be the same as the Knights of the Unicorn, but I'm unsure because it didn't actually like mention anything. Uh but either way, the cult of the unicorn bought it to be near this mystical unicorn that will, you know, randomly appear and then disappear and just, you know.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Imagine that was like a fake story that like Fontier Wonderspel like made up to try to like drum up some business, you know? And then this this cult buys the in from him. He's like And then it turns out there wasn't a unicorn.
SPEAKER_05Well, it that would be a very good theory, except for the fact that the inn was built on top of where Larue's uh not Laru's Frontier's house was after it mysteriously burned down shortly after his death.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Oh, okay. Yeah, no, I see I see long dead. Somehow I missed that. I missed that part. My bad.
SPEAKER_01I mean, but you know, it would be the time that someone long dead was also still somehow doing things in DD.
SPEAKER_04I mean, that's so true.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that's so true. That's true. So then we jump forward a couple years to 1996.
SPEAKER_01Now that was that was a year. That was a year.
SPEAKER_04That was a great year.
SPEAKER_05From uh the North Guide to the Savage Frontier. Uh, we're still for second edition. And this is where we learn that Larue has a place that is sacred to her called the place of the unicorn. Literal. Like it. It is a place that is found only at night. And many wizards of the sword coast believe it lies in another dimension that is only accessible by a moon gate. Oh, that's fun.
SPEAKER_04That's really cool. I like a moon gate same. Like the moonlight, the moonlight striking uh a standing stone, you know, at a particular angle, and then like I love that shit.
SPEAKER_05And then it's just like boom, gate.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Boom, unicorns.
SPEAKER_05Boom. Boom. The uh place of the unicorn is a stand of trees with uh like these brilliant, like azured leaves surrounding a bluegrass meadow. Um it's very supposed to be very like you know, nice and tranquil. Humanoids who rest there are cured of diseases, poisons, curses, and any insanity that they might have. Oh my god, how do I get there?
SPEAKER_04How do I get there?
SPEAKER_05You can only find it at night, so there's step one.
SPEAKER_04Alright, cool.
SPEAKER_05Now, unicorns that rest there are healed of physical damage in addition to everything else.
SPEAKER_01Alright, that's fine. I don't have very physical oh fuck, never mind.
SPEAKER_05I mean, it's fine. That the curing else would would be enough, I think.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we just won't like fix what's already been broken due to those things.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we you know, we can we could fix the we could fix the mental problems, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'll be great.
SPEAKER_04Which is something, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Now, if a being who has no faith or are like wavering in their beliefs rest there, they will often see Laru herself like in the trees, which they have often attributed as turning points in their lives.
SPEAKER_01She's literally like finding Christ in the toasting herself.
SPEAKER_04I mean, to be fair, I feel like I would be much more likely to have a religious experience seeing like a unicorn in like a holy looking enchanted grove that I had to enter through a moon gate than I would be like burning my toast and then thinking I see what looks like the face of Jesus. Yeah, no, I agree. Now, if I burned my toast and I saw Aslan, I might be like, hmm. Just be like, wait a minute. Hold on.
SPEAKER_01Maybe C.S. Lewis was right about all this.
SPEAKER_04Maybe C.S. Lewis was onto something here.
SPEAKER_05Another holy site uh for Laru and uh Maliki lies at the bend in the river Rarin. I hope I'm pronouncing that right. Rarin close enough. Rarin. Uh, but this is located in the city of Silvery Moon, which callback. Yes, is made after uh Laru. It's not even a callback.
SPEAKER_01Callback to 10 minutes ago.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, the callback to me learning that piece of information 10 minutes ago.
SPEAKER_05Because, you know, uh Larue was also called Silvery Moon, so then they ended up making a city. Name after her. Yeah, yeah, which is nice. Yeah. So then we go to uh Polyhedron Magazine number 115. Uh article called Forgotten Deities, also from 1996. Polyhedron magazine is not something that I come across often.
SPEAKER_01Same.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Like I think I've come across it a few times, but yeah.
SPEAKER_01In fact, I think I might have come across this article as well the last time. I like I think it was specifically for this article that I went to Polyhedron magazine.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you're probably right. So Larue is listed as a demigoddess. Her planes are prime and beast lands. Okay. Uh this is also the first time we get a mention of her uh symbol, which is a unicorn head against the background of a half moon. Cool.
SPEAKER_01Very I like that it's specifically a half moon instead of a full moon or a crescent moon. Yeah, I feel yeah. It's just different, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Like crescent moon. I feel it's always a crescent moon or a full moon, and maybe like a new moon if the character's kind of goth, you know. Yeah. But like a half moon, you don't see that often. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Give me more half moons or like a Wayne Gibbons symbol involves a crescent moon. But I can't remember for sure. This is also where it mentions that Laru is now believed to be the daughter of Ectium.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_05Which you included the pronunciation again. I was I was about to say, I know that you guys see it, and one of you is gonna point it out. You're correct. Put his name in these notes. I remind your pronunciation next there, next to it, because I will not remember otherwise.
SPEAKER_04You'll have to scroll back up to see it again.
SPEAKER_05Hold on. Hold on. I have to re-pronunce it.
SPEAKER_04You're like, hold on, let me check my glossary of pronunciations.
SPEAKER_01I I do tend to when I write notes for Travis, like for DMing, like if he's gonna read something from my backstory or something like that. I always put pronunciations next to it. Thank God. And like a little glossary that he can go back to.
SPEAKER_04I do love when there's a specific pronunciation guide, because I feel like some source books like they include the pronunciation, but it's kind of just like somewhere. It's it's kind of just like or it's like with each just discrete, you know, character or um, you know, creature or whatever. But like like um like Nat Howlers has a has a pronunciation guide that's it basically just consists of French, which is really funny. Yeah. But like I love when there's a dedicated pronunciation guide as opposed to just including them where it feels like needed, you know. I like it when they do both. Yeah, but it's just like here's the here's the thing, you know, and you're gonna need it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you you'll need this. Feel free to reference this frequently.
SPEAKER_04You might want to keep this bookmarked, you know.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. For real. So this is also where it is mentioned that, well, first mentioned, I guess, that Laru is closely allied with Maliki and often serves as a steed for Maliki. Okay. I like it. Which is really cool.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, like a like a like a slapaneer. Yeah, like a slapaneer in Odin. I don't know why that's the first thing I thought of.
SPEAKER_01I was thinking, for some reason, my brain went to Aragon, but I don't know why.
SPEAKER_05No idea, never read it. So, like Taylor mentioned in the uh gods of fury, turns out LaRue absolutely detests Millar and will battle his avatar or his servants at any opportunity.
SPEAKER_04That sounds about right for like a unicorn. That feels appropriate. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I uh in a couple weeks, uh I will explain more probably more of why. More about the beef.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, because I didn't really go into that part. So I wouldn't have blamed you if you did. I figured that you would uh you would go through it, so I was like, I can skip that. In this article, it says that Luru is the elder sister of Yathagera.
SPEAKER_01Which is what I know about Yathagera, pretty much.
SPEAKER_04That's okay. So as of right now, they are not they are not considered one and the same.
SPEAKER_05Right. They are currently considered sisters. Right. Interesting. She doesn't have any like specialty priests or any like specific priests like per se. But she is, you know, revered by most of the goodly intelligent beasts of all the realms. She's also worshipped again, you know, by the Knights of the Unicorn, which we now learn is based out of Baldur's Gate. Right. Because, of course.
SPEAKER_01I mean, what isn't?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, a lot happens in Baldur's Gate. Exactly. We also learn a more precise location to the place of the unicorn, which Taylor specifically will recognize. Um, and it is in the hills that is northeast of Leylan.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because Travis threw a dragon at me. Oh.
SPEAKER_05In Leylon.
SPEAKER_01Well, outside Leon. Outside Leylon, but also we fought uh a Lich.
SPEAKER_05Dang. Busy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Busy, busy place. And a Hydra.
SPEAKER_01Well, that was Jesus. Okay, yeah, that was Leylan. Never mind.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it was outside of Leylan, but it's all one, it's all one entity. It's a dragonic, or it's a it's a it's a multi-headed um Draco Lich. Oh god! That would be terrifying. Just the worst of the worst.
SPEAKER_05No. Now Laru can grant particularly devout followers various powers. Uh, these can include the ability to summon aid in times of need, which humans and demi-humans are mostly granted the ability to summon wise counsel of talking owls. And intelligent beasts may actually receive the aid of the Silver Herd. So the Silver Herd is a band of over 12 unicorns of maximum HP led by a noble unicorn stallion that is said to be a direct descendant of Laru. Which is so cool.
SPEAKER_01And then an Empyrean of unicorns.
SPEAKER_05No shade to the owls, but like it mentions that, you know, if uh the Silver Herd is like summoned in this way, they first appear like on the horizon and then they just like charge towards the battle. And it mentions that it is usually enough to frighten most creatures away.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, yeah, a giant stampede of unicorns.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So not only will you get trampled, you'll get gouged. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Exactly. In times of great crisis, she could also grant her followers the quest spell Animal Horde. Quest spells, I had to look it up in second edition, are I mean, they're basically like spells granted specifically by deities to their clerics.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_05Usually. So Animal Horde. Uh-huh. The casting time of this is one day, or sorry, one turn. The duration is one day, and it affects a 10 mile radius.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Does that just mean you can you can pull the animals from a 10 mile radius? Pretty much, yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_05Um, it summons a number of animals to the priest. For each level of the priest, a number of animals totaling 10 hit dice appear. Uh the power uh who grants the spell enables the priest to know exactly what types and numbers of animals are within the area of effect, and they can specify the number of animals that they want. That's so good. So, like, for instance, it shows a 16th level priest could summon 60 hit dice of wolves, 40 hit dice of bears, and 60 hit dice of wolverines. That's really good.
SPEAKER_0440 hit dice of bears? That's a lot of bears.
SPEAKER_0540 hit dice of bears.
SPEAKER_04That's a lot of bears. That's a lot.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. The animals will begin arriving in one round and will be assembled at the priest's location at the end of three turns. Assembled. So it takes three turns, which is 18 seconds to summon 40 hit dice of bears.
SPEAKER_04Even more. You could do 160 hit dice of bears if you wanted to.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Yeah. The animals will not fight among each other, even if they are like natural enemies. It can't affect uh monsters like dragons, gorgons, hellhounds, stuff like that. They have to be like natural regular regular guys.
SPEAKER_04Regular, regular, regular ass animals.
SPEAKER_05So I mean, yeah, basically they uh they will aid the priests, they'll fight in battle, they'll protect uh them and their companions. Uh they'll pretty much do whatever the priest asks. Incredible.
SPEAKER_01This is terrifying.
SPEAKER_05And then at the end of the spell, the animals instinctively return to their own like layers.
SPEAKER_01Right, okay.
SPEAKER_05So yeah, good.
SPEAKER_04See, it's a shame that it specified like what kind of animals you can and can't summon, because I thought this was about to be like a like a genie wish paradox of being like, okay, well, I would simply summon 160 hit dice of of unicorns. So it doesn't matter that as a as a human, I don't get I don't get the silver the silver herd ability.
SPEAKER_05So about that, what all animals summoned by the spell would be intelligent creatures or talking beasts, and specific words would definitely include the silver herd.
SPEAKER_04Hell yeah! Awesome! Awesome. So it doesn't even matter that uh I'm a filthy human and I don't get the silver herd uh ability.
SPEAKER_05Yep, this is the one time that you'd be able to get the silver herd.
SPEAKER_04I will say I do enjoy the idea of having a little council of like talking, very wise owls. Right. Except I would just use them for like to summon the silver herd. No, I would just use them to be like, hey guys, what should I what should I have for dinner?
SPEAKER_01The council of owls would get very annoyed with us very much.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, the count the council has has been assembled, and I just asked them like asinine questions. Papaya.
SPEAKER_01We have just been full of Avatar the Last Airbender joke, so we really are just back right back at it, right where we left off.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Hey, that's like our natural state. Like every now and again we just have to return to Avatar, you know?
SPEAKER_01That's all you gotta do.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, sometimes you just gotta return the Avatar. So uh we then jump to uh powers and pantheons from uh 1997. We're still in second edition, where we learn quite a bit more information. So the symbol, I mean again, unicorn head against the background of a silver crescent moon now. Aww. Or a white unicorn rampant against a silver crescent moon.
SPEAKER_01Ooh, go back to half moon.
SPEAKER_04Hey, I mean, I guess the the the moon face has just changed. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01Maybe the moon face has just changed the throughout the yeah, it just like goes round and round. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05So her primary group, since you know, her primary like worshippers are not humans or humanoids, it's you know, intelligent creatures and the ones that have become that way because of the awakened spell. Right. So, because of this, you know, most creatures don't maintain written histories or hardly any like oral traditions either. So her past is kind of mysterious in that way because up until humans started worshiping her, there's really no written or oral history like about her from her followers.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_04Right. So it's just airlifting my cat out of the way of kicking my monitor and and things.
SPEAKER_01I was wondering what happened with that.
SPEAKER_04He's being a creature. He is a creature. He's a big Laru fan, even though I would not qualify him as an intelligent creature. He's a big Laroon fan. So sorry, baby. It's just the truth.
SPEAKER_05So now, and from here on out, pretty much, she is said to be the daughter of Saluni. Oh, okay. Some say that she is also related to Cameron the Unicorn, uh, which is a child of the Earth Mother of the Moonshe Isles. The Earth Mother, another uh nature nature deity. Yeah, uh specifically like for the Moonshe Isles. Right. Travelers from other crystal spheres, which if I understand correctly, and I don't remember if you actually covered this in your planes episodes, Taylor. Uh, crystal spheres, I'm pretty sure, are actually just other like realms, and I guess in our terms would be like campaign settings. Right. If I understood it correctly.
SPEAKER_01I don't know if I covered crystal spheres. This is all new information.
SPEAKER_05But travelers from other crystal spheres have attempted to leak her to Ectium, who is not worshipped on Toril. Torril.
SPEAKER_01Interesting that you mentioned that because I actually do remember that Cameron the Unicorn, uh, in some settings is considered to be an aspect of Ectium.
SPEAKER_04Really?
unknownYeah. Huh.
SPEAKER_04Neat. I mean, and I suppose that would make sense whether or not they like are even supposed to be like actually related as of this setting, because it's like they're both unicorns, so like sure could be.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Now there was, I mean, it was a fairly long bit as I was reading that it basically was describing like deities and gods and how they can be both alive but not alive in like one setting but in another setting, they're dead. Just because they die in one doesn't mean they're dead in another. Right. Right. So it's a whole bunch of confusing stuff. But in this case, if anyone from like these other crystal spheres talk to Larue and like link her to Ectium, her only reaction is uh puzzlement to the mention of his name and claims no relation to him.
unknownHuh.
SPEAKER_04Dang, she really said just because we're both unicorns doesn't mean we know each other. Or it's like when not all unicorns are related, okay. Right, yeah, exactly. Or it's like when if like someone, like you see someone who like has the same last name as your friend, you're like, is that your uncle? And they're like, no.
SPEAKER_01My fucking last name is Smith.
SPEAKER_04Right, yeah, exactly. And her last name is like Smith, exactly.
SPEAKER_05Like, come on, man.
SPEAKER_04It's like we don't even look alike.
SPEAKER_05There are some indications that seem to show that she is preparing a realm on Karasutra, uh, which is the third and deepest layer of the beast lands in the beast lands in the outer plains. Okay, and this is to be relatively close to Nabanian, who, by the way, is Aslan. Nabanyan and Aslan are the same. Okay. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so Nabanian. I I did a lot of research for him for Malar in upcoming. So are they are they are they lovers? Nibanion and Malar? No, no.
SPEAKER_05I mean, maybe. Nabanyan and Laru? Yeah, are they lovers? No, they are said to be enemies because they're very close friends.
SPEAKER_04Oh, okay. Historians will say they were lion and a unicorn. Oh god, they were roommates. Historians will say they were very good friends.
SPEAKER_05So Larue is often taken with uh Wonderlust, so she's often just suddenly stricken with the desire to go explore girl say random places.
SPEAKER_01Um not so much.
SPEAKER_05At least not here recently, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04I'm kind of I mean, I don't do it, but I think about it a lot.
SPEAKER_01I don't I think, man, I love staying in one place and doing the same thing, right?
SPEAKER_05Uh Larue is infinitely loyal once she takes someone into her trust, and she never abandons her worshipers in times of need. So good. Do you gods in DD are doing that? Always be there.
SPEAKER_04Oh she sounds like a you know, it's so it's so nice to be able to talk about a nice person for once on this podcast. We always talk about the bad guys. I feel like we're always talking about bad gods who are like constantly fighting with each other. I mean, obviously, like even the the good aligned gods like have conflicts, obviously, but they're always backstabbing each other and they're abandoning their followers and they're bad people.
SPEAKER_01But like, you know, it's nice to just talk about like a like a nice unicorn lady, throwing their magical essence at their sister.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, like you know, just you know normal things pretending to be other gods, even though it doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_05You know, no, she is very nice and everything, but also when push comes to shove, she is a very dedicated and like intractable foe, right? Okay, um, generally she prefers, you know, light banter, clever riddles, new discoveries, joyous expiration of life. She's a hippie.
SPEAKER_01I love her.
SPEAKER_05I want to hang out with her. But she will fuck someone up if she has to.
SPEAKER_01I love her.
SPEAKER_05It does mention that her greatest sorrow is the existence of the black unicorns, which does relate back to Malar. Yes.
SPEAKER_04It sounds bad out of like I I'm sure there's obviously there's plenty of context for why that makes sense, but out of context, it does sound really like okay.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, there is a reason for it. It's because of Malar. I just didn't go into it. One, because there's enough information further on, and two, because Taylor will get there eventually.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. I feel like I feel like Malar. Has been a through line.
SPEAKER_01Malar could probably be like three episodes on his own. I will just have to try and not make it three episodes.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I feel like he's been a through line through like several of our recent episodes, and he's always just like doing weird shit. He he needs to chill. It's always like, oh yeah, and here's Malar. Off in the corner, just like.
SPEAKER_01I mean, as I found out, Malara's re has apparently been there for everything.
SPEAKER_04He's just he's just doing crazy shit, you know?
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Uh, this is also the first time we get uh mention of her avatar. Ooh. So her avatar, and if I read this correctly, uh, because it doesn't specify and I didn't go through and look it up to make sure, but is mage level 23, Cleric level 19, Ranger 17, and Bard 16.
SPEAKER_01Girl, you got too many levels.
SPEAKER_05Jesus Christ. Too many levels. Multiclassing.
SPEAKER_01I guess it's fine to multi-class when you can be a level fucking 50.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Yeah. I mean, at that point, you're gonna be able to do it. I mean, she's a she's a god, so like true. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_05So her avatar appears as a gigantic, beautiful unicorn that is bathed in a silvery nimbus. Ooh. Um, and this is where we get the exact tie to uh Yethagera. Because it also mentions that in Evermeet, which is, you know, the elves specific. The Elf Elves. Uh it says in Evermeet, as Yathagera, she appears in the same form, but with gorgeous silver and opalescent Pegasi wings. So she is one and the same now.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I don't know how I enjoy that because I do like the idea of like a discrete Pegasus goddess and a discrete unicorn goddess, but you know.
SPEAKER_04She's like in that the really controversial move in My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, where the sorry, My Little Pony Friendship is Magic spoilers. Um, they Twilight Sparkle became a princess, and so she got like alicorn wings, and a bunch of people on the internet were really mad about it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I was going to, I was actually straight up about to ask you, hey Lewin, what is it when uh you combine a Pegasus and a unicorn? Because I can't remember, but I know that you remember.
SPEAKER_04Well, okay, according to My Little Pony Friendship is magic, it's alicorn, so I don't think.
SPEAKER_05Although I'm pretty sure that Alicorn is actually just the actual proper name for a unicorn's horn.
SPEAKER_04Huh. Yeah, I see that word. I see that word further down there. And I was like, I've been restraining myself from not mentioning My Little Pony Friendship is magic throughout this entire episode. But then I saw the word alicorn appear further down in the notes, and I was like, you know what? We're just gonna we're gonna address the the alicorn in the room.
SPEAKER_01Okay, apparently historically, it's just called a winged unicorn. A pegasi? Uh no.
SPEAKER_04Um you have a pegasus with a unicorn horn. Oh a unicorn with wings. Yeah. Which came first? The the wings or the horn, you know? Jesus. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Uh so traditionally it's just called a winged unicorn, but uh like apparently in a lot of media in recent years, it has been called out an alicorn. Okay.
SPEAKER_05I blame myself. Yeah. Yeah. So uh speaking of alicorns, her horn is actually known as the Argent Alicorn, and is made of the purest silver tempered harder than the strongest atomantine.
SPEAKER_01Hell yeah.
SPEAKER_05Which real world side note, you can't actually harden and temper silver like that.
SPEAKER_04But yeah. See, that's that's where actually that's where try that's where the issue comes in for you. Like you're like, I accept the unicorn, I accept the I accept the wings, I accept the magic, but you can't temper silver to be harder than Adamantine. You can't temper silver. Well, yeah, you can't temper though. I draw the line here.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Yeah. Her uh size can range from being 10 foot tall at the shoulder to 15 foot tall at the shoulder. Okay, yeah. And this is also where we get like the first like actual stat block for her. So I did take a few things from it just because interesting. Uh so her AC is negative three. That's good. That's good. Pretty good. Yeah. She has a movement of 25 and a flight of 72. Okay. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Weirdly specific, but okay.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Uh despite being level whatever the hell that is up there, um, her HP is 175.
SPEAKER_01Doesn't matter if you can just like reform your body on the plane that you actually are from.
SPEAKER_05True. Right. Her thaco score is four.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna start needing some warnings when we're doing thaco, so I'm trigger warning thaco.
SPEAKER_05Trigger warning thacko.
SPEAKER_04I think that's pretty good.
SPEAKER_05I think. I I don't remember. I remember the AC thing. Yeah. The point where she can fuck somebody up. So she can trample with her forehooves, um, up to two targets, one per hoof, or kick with her rear hooves, both hoof attacks on one target, twice each per round. She can also thrust with her alicorn, which is a plus five weapon attack, twice per round.
SPEAKER_01And as you'll recall, it is magical because it is tempered silver.
SPEAKER_04Yes. Reminds me of a bit from Cabin in the Woods where the guy got stabbed by the unicorn and it's super super metal anyway.
SPEAKER_05Well, this next part will probably also remind you of that too. So if she charges into battle, she will use her alicorn as a lance. That's so sick. And do triple damage. That's so sick.
SPEAKER_01That is really sick.
SPEAKER_04I do, I do think that scene from Cabin of the Woods is just so memorable, though, because unicorns are usually very like, you know, docile, very like, you know, light, good, peaceful creatures. So then to just see it like stab a guy with the horn is like, fuck yeah, fuck yeah. You know, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Travis has never seen that in the media.
SPEAKER_04Travis has never seen anything ever, ever. Except for Avatar. Yeah, except for Avatar the Last Airbender.
SPEAKER_01Which is why we are constantly referencing it because it's the only one that Travis understands.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, no, you know what? Also, uh I you know what? Here's my brave opinion, my brave take. Avatar the last airbender is the only show ever.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. So the touch of the alicorn to any body of water is equivalent to that of a triple strength sweet water potion, which without doing all the math and all that, basically it purifies a massive amount of water from pretty much anything that could be affecting it. Nice. Like just I'm pretty sure that her alicorn could like purify an entire lake. Ironically. She can teleport without error at will. Uh, she can sprout or retract a pair of translucent silvery wings, also at will.
SPEAKER_01Naturally.
SPEAKER_05Okay. And then uh once per 10 day, she can speak a holy word, create a forbidden, and banish an evil extraplanar being. Hell yeah. On extraordinarily rare occasion, Larue will allow a female of pure heart and good alignment to ride her back. Hell yeah, that's some last unicorn shit. Now, when this happens, the person immediately gains two points of charisma permanently.
SPEAKER_03Hell yeah, because every time you open your mouth, you go with I rode the fucking unicorn. Unicorn. Yeah, hey, by the way, there was this one time that I met the unicorn queen.
SPEAKER_01And she let me ride her. No, I will not be rephrasing.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, no, that's what the person says and then just leaves it without without any further explanation to just leave the person to try to figure out exactly what she meant.
SPEAKER_01Which way she meant, yeah.
SPEAKER_04And then they're just like, it's like the same energy as like in a fight, right? Yeah. In a fight, right?
SPEAKER_05In a fight, right? Um so there are also like rumors and legends that say if Laru ever loses her horn, spring will never return to Fairune, and the continent will, quote, perish beneath the icy claws of an endless winter.
SPEAKER_04Jesus Christ, what in the Persephone? Coral has entered the chat. Yeah, what in the Persephone? Very Persephone. Yeah, very, very Persephone.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Some of her other manifestations, uh, she often manifests at night as like a silvery nimbus around Salune. She sometimes appears like on the horizon as a ghostly silver unicorn leading the silver herd in a spirited run. The silver herd, this time has now changed, is now a band of exactly 12 unicorn stallions of max HP led by Luru. Okay. This part is uh fucked up, but also fantastic. So if any of the unicorn stallions are slain, they immediately evaporate into morning dew. Now, if the entire silver herd is slain, Luru's Avatar calls the other nature deities to aid her, solidifies, and then attacks without mercy.
SPEAKER_03Oh my god. Hey, you know what? So she rages.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, hey, she's like, nobody's nobody's fucking with her crew, you know? No. With her, she also has a sweet tooth.
SPEAKER_05Aw. I love that. Yeah, that's nice. With a uh specific fondness for mint and honey wine.
SPEAKER_04Oh I don't know why. I just was like, I just thought it'd be like just apples. Apples. Because she's a whore. She's a whore.
SPEAKER_05That's racist.
SPEAKER_04That's yeah, I know. I shouldn't, I should, I shouldn't assume that just because she's a unicorn, she likes apples. She likes honey. Maybe she likes a good honey crisp. I know. She likes a good honey crisp apple, maybe.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I mean, she does like honey wine. Exactly.
SPEAKER_05I mean, yeah. Um, now all of her priests have to be females, and uh, they can be either human, half elf, or full elf.
SPEAKER_04Okay. What about what about a what if an animal? What if an animal wants to be a priestess?
SPEAKER_05I think there are any specifications on uh what they can or can't be as far as like what animal or anything like that. I'm pretty sure any animal can just be a priest or priestess for her. Okay. Because, you know, she is mainly over worshipped by animal intelligent beasts. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And like I know there's a little bit of a practicality thing about like, you know, an animal being like a a a formal, you know, religious official. Right. Uh like maybe the lack of opposable thumbs might get in the way at some point. But you know, yeah. I do, I do, you know.
SPEAKER_05There are no like specific temples to Laru. Like she doesn't have any specific temples dedicated to her. Yeah. Um, instead, she prefers to be worshipped at like sacred natural sites and holy groves. That tracks. Yeah. Her priestesses have no formal hierarchy of titles, but um, basically, any junior clergy are known as Sisters of the Moonlit Sky. Senior clergy are known as Sisters of the Silver Moon.
SPEAKER_04Oh, that's nice. Oh, that's nice. I like that they're both like they're both like a nice title.
SPEAKER_01Like in a sisterhood, and like the like yes, there's technically like a little bit of a hierarchy, but not like it's not so big as like, oh, you're just a wave servant, and then this is a mistress.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, exactly. Like, you know, moonlit sky, that's still a nice, you know, that's a nice.
SPEAKER_05Now, any priestess to ever ride a unicorn are forever after known as lady corns.
SPEAKER_02Hell yeah.
SPEAKER_04That's so that's so I can't I can't decide if that's like super cheesy or super, yeah. It's kind of it's kind of super cheesy and super awesome. Yes.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. So uh Larue first encountered Maliki at the site where the city of Silver Moon would eventually be built. Okay. Uh she was a newly folded child of Salune and appeared on a shaft of moonlight uh while Maliki was drinking from the river uh Raven. They, you know, became friends and all that, and then centuries later, they both went back to that site disguised as a female ranger and her steed. When they did, there was now the town of Silvery Moon, and specifically the Silver or the Moonsilver Inn. And it was actually just called Silver Moon Town at that point, not Silvery Moon, but close enough. But they fell in love with uh the Moonsilver Inn.
SPEAKER_03Oh, okay. Never mind. Taylor and I both had the same brain cell activation.
SPEAKER_05Nope. And the fact that the inhabitants chose not to plunder and destroy the forest, but instead built it in like harmony with the forest and the land.
SPEAKER_01That's nice. Yeah, that is nice.
SPEAKER_04That's nice. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.
SPEAKER_01Like, I'm waiting for we we do too many bat like cover too many awful things.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I'm waiting for you to be like, and then in this module, she was evil, and her hobby was kicking puppies.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, puppy babies. Well, puppies are babies.
SPEAKER_05Uh, so when priestess dedicate themselves to LaRue, uh, they do actually undergo a slight physical change. Their irises change color to a deep shade of blue or purple.
SPEAKER_02What in the Alexandria's Genesis?
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I was thinking very obscure book that I made all of my friends read. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's pretty, that's pretty, that is pretty cool though. Like purple. Um, okay.
SPEAKER_05So like after this, uh in 2001, there was a Forgotten Realms campaign setting web enhancement. I didn't know what a web enhancement was.
SPEAKER_01It's just an update. Oh, you you yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. So a web enhancement uh basically was just a supplementary digital publication that was distributed online. Uh it would be like a single page or a free downloadable PDF associated with various source books from third edition. Uh, they would often contain like materials that were omitted from the print edition due to like space limitations and stuff. Right. Right. But the only real new thing about Larue in here is that her favorite weapon is a short spear.
SPEAKER_04Okay, cool. That makes sense. I feel like she has a short spear on her head. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, she's probably, yeah, that makes sense.
SPEAKER_05So we will uh go to Faith and Pantheons from 2002 for third edition, where we get a little bit more information. The information kind of starts to slow down a little bit as it gets closer to like fifth edition, right? Because they did haven't done a whole lot of changes to it. But first, we are gonna go ahead and take our break, and then we shall be back. We'll be right back with mads. Thank you everybody for listening. Uh, we do still have our affiliate partnership with FanReal Dice going on. You can use the code DungeonPedia for 10% off your entire order at fanullddice.com. Uh, we do, of course, still have our Patreon if you'd like to support us directly, which is just Dungeonpedia. We have a we have reactivated our second tier that will include uh bonus episodes every month. So if you're interested in that, go check it out.
SPEAKER_01Five dollars a month for bonus episodes. $1 a month, you will get access after I revamp the drive that I put it in, you'll get access to our notes and potentially any sneak peeks that we feel like including including. I I do have some for the upcoming various gods of fury episodes that I will be posting on there. And anything else that we figure out in the future. If you actually have anything to suggest for those Patreon tiers, you can do so on our Discord. It's just Dungeon Pedia. There's a link on our Twitch, on our YouTube. There's a should be a link everywhere. But also, we just have a fun time in there, I believe. Uh this was uh this morning I woke up to a post of somebody referring to Ed Greenwood as Sex Ed Greenwood. And it was fantastic. We also have an active threads and Instagram account. Active might be a putting it a little interfer or Instagram.
SPEAKER_04They are extant. I'm trying. You're doing those. They are extant and and they are not Twitter, so and they are not Twitter.
SPEAKER_01They are not Twitter, yeah. Um, threads is a fun place because Travis often finds little tidbits that he finds while you know doing research or just looking around. Yeah. If you have any uh episode suggestions or just want to reach out, you can email us at dudgeonpedia.podcast at gmail.com.
SPEAKER_04Also, um subscribe to us wherever you listen to podcasts to get notifications when we post new episodes. And on those platforms, please consider rating us, leaving us a review, and also telling your friends, your friends who like unicorns.
SPEAKER_01Your friends who hate Malar.
SPEAKER_04Your friends who are or were horse girls at any point.
SPEAKER_01Your friends who watch Too Much My Little Pony.
SPEAKER_04It's a good show.
SPEAKER_01It is also any of your friends that might be big fans of Alexander Nakarata, he is the person who did our theme song. I had a better transition and I didn't do it.
SPEAKER_04So okay. So with that, we'll go back to the podcast. We are we're we are on one to go.
SPEAKER_05Uh very good.
SPEAKER_04All right. This is what happens when we don't talk about evil people.
SPEAKER_05We just don't know what to do.
SPEAKER_04We just we're we're all thinking about we're all thinking about about you know beautiful, nice unicorn woman, and we're just like, no, there's something there's something missing.
SPEAKER_01We're there's something missing on an evil entity. Yeah, right? Where's the sex ed with Ed Green?
SPEAKER_05Where's the sex ed? Well, unfortunately, there was no uh ecology article for an ecology article for unicorns. Probably, probably I'll have to look into that. So, anyway, face and pantheons for third edition.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_05So uh her symbol is a silver horned unicorn head before crescent moon. The crescent moon just kind of stays now. I'm pretty sure it doesn't ever go back to the half moon.
SPEAKER_04Boo. I mean, it's pretty like it's iconic. It's it's iconic, and I feel like in any other context, I see a crescent moon and I'm like, yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's just that they gave us a half moon and then they took it away.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. I know. Very rude. Uh her home plane is now the house of nature. Okay.
SPEAKER_01That's uh um Sylvanas's, I'm pretty sure. In in third edition. Yes, I'm pretty sure you're correct.
SPEAKER_04That makes sense given the nature the nature, the nature of it all.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Uh her favorite weapon is a unicorn horn, uh, parentheses, short spear.
SPEAKER_04Right. Right. Yeah, given the spearhead. All that fun stuff.
SPEAKER_05Given the unicorness. She is still mentioned to be the daughter of Salune. Right. There's a bit more information about her clerics specifically that I just thought was kind of cool. So her clerics spend their days providing aid and comfort to the needy, lending support to dreamers so that they can achieve their aspirations. That's okay. And rescuing all who need aid from whatever ails them.
SPEAKER_01This is so lovely.
SPEAKER_05That's so nice. What? Yeah. Um, another fun little bit, along with you know, mentioning the typical she fucking hates Malar.
SPEAKER_04She hates that guy. I feel like everyone fucking hates that guy.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I actually have that written in my notes on Malar.
SPEAKER_05Nice. It also includes in here that uh quote, Malar would be more than happy to tear out her throat, considering her a prized creature to hunt.
SPEAKER_01Ew. And this is why everyone fucking hates Malar. Exactly.
SPEAKER_04Like he can't just have like a normal rivalry. He has to take it like too far and be like, I want to rip out your throat. Like, whoa.
SPEAKER_01It's like, all right, chill, man. Malar can't be normal. He can't.
SPEAKER_04Like, he's just he's just in the corner salivating and like biting his own leg, you know? He's crazy. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. So in the dragon magazine uh 307, released in 2003, there's an article called Prestige Classes for Cultists of Good Monsters. Basically, it just lists several like cults of various good aligned deities. It mentions that Larue is the patron deity of the Whitehorn cult. That makes sense. Which works primarily to keep uh Unicorn Glades safe and secret, but also help like recently awakened animals adjust to like their new world. Oh, that's nice. Yeah, they hire are they hiring? That's a cult I'd join. Yeah, so something that I mean I never would have thought of either, but it actually mentioned in several sources. When an animal is awakened by that spell, yes, they are suddenly in a world that is new to them because they can suddenly talk and understand things.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_05And apparently also they are usually shunned by their communities after that because they're now different.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_05Which is like sad, but yeah. I just never thought about that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. I think about I think about that a lot, not specifically the context of like awakening. Animals and D D. But like I think it would be very interesting to experience cognition as an animal. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Like Yeah, that would be, I mean, it would be pretty cool.
SPEAKER_04You know, like not only like uh the the differing levels of intelligence, you know, but also like, you know, sort of the way that like an animal perceives the world through their senses. Yeah. And I do feel like it'd be very trippy to be on like the other side of that where you're kind of operating, depending on the animal, like primarily through instincts, and then all of a sudden you're like now I have to consider morals and ethics. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like algebra.
SPEAKER_04I w I wish one of my casts was like right here so I could hold them up and be like, imagine this thing worrying about taxes, you know? Like crazy.
SPEAKER_05So in uh 3.5 edition, I mean, you know, usually there's not much that changes. So there's really only like one quick tidbit from the player's guide to Feyrune. It mentions that LaRue has no realm in the House of Nature now, but instead she just wanders freely uh through the house of nature and throughout Feyrune. She just crashes there.
SPEAKER_01I kind of like that.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, she's just a free natured spirit, you know. Yeah. Now, this, this I absolutely loved stumbling across. I have never actually found any of my sources through the candle keep forums.
SPEAKER_01I told you it's a good source.
SPEAKER_05So in the candle keep forums from 2004, uh, there are several questions that are asked that gets answered and everything. Um, so information that was posted into the forum by the hooded one. Which I know I found out. The hooded one is Ed Greenwood's official spokesperson on the Candle Keep Forums, as well as a member of his actual like gaming group.
SPEAKER_04Wow, that's so cool.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and uh fun fact, she has never actually given out her real name uh because she also works in national security.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_04I feel like I feel like I've that randomly happens a lot where like you'll have someone who's like very prominent in like a particular like niche, nerdy community, but they like you know keep some aspects of their identity private. Yeah. But then like you find out they have like a super, super like high powered, like classified kind of job. Yeah. Yeah, you you're the you're the you're the you posted D and D forum. What? You know?
SPEAKER_05What do you mean you know the nuclear codes?
SPEAKER_02What do you mean you know the nuclear codes? Yeah, literally though.
SPEAKER_05So a user by the name of Wooly Rupert asked several questions about uh Nabanyon and Larue. The hooded one, you know, being Ed's official spokesperson, replied with an answer from Ed himself. Apparently, Larue originally started out as her private name, with Silver Moon being her popular name. Okay, and he mentions that it was always meant to be mysterious, like she was always supposed to be a more mysterious deity than anything else. So the lack of like full like back history is purposeful for that nature.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and I would imagine the experience for someone in universe of just kind of like randomly seeing a unicorn, like yeah, you're probably not gonna get a lot of follow-up there, you know. You're probably gonna be like, whoa, that was crazy, and then then you're telling people about it 20 years later and they don't believe you, you know. Straight up.
SPEAKER_05So here is the fun tidbit. Originally, Larue was magic, like literally.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_05Before Julia Martin added the name weave to Ez explanation of magic, Larue was the embodiment of the weave, what would become the weave.
SPEAKER_02What that's what?
SPEAKER_05Yes, Larue was originally meant to be literally magic. She was the weave before the weave was the weave. Dang. So I mean it basically gave her like virtually unlimited powers, right? Yeah, like immunity to like all known magical and psionic effects, immunity to like everything, basically. Okay. She could also silver from uh or I'm sorry, silver fire from her horn.
SPEAKER_04Fucking cool. It's not not enough that she can stab you with it. That's crazy.
SPEAKER_05But now she can stab you and then inject you with silver fire.
SPEAKER_01Inject is a word, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Good. Originally, only virgins could write her classic unicorn thing, yeah. And uh those that did got the silver hair uh that the chosen of Mistra like kind of all share.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so there was there was a little bit of component, yeah. There was a little bit of yeah, yeah, connecting fabric.
SPEAKER_01There we go.
SPEAKER_04Fabric because it's the week.
SPEAKER_05Jesus. So um here's a direct quote. This whole thing is just a direct quote because I couldn't figure out a good way to like shorthand this for it to make a whole lot of sense. Right. So it says the TSR designers quite rightly, given the humanocentric core of that version of A D D with its level and power limits on non-humans, wanted human gods to be front and center and of the greatest power and importance. So Mistra, most important to intelligent creatures trying to use magic, became also the guardian or mother of the weave, and Larue sort of danced sideways to become the awe-inspiring mystery that she is now.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I don't like that, like I like where we ended up. I just don't like that they're like, Ed, make this more human-centric.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Yeah. There was also like a really cool story given by the Hooded One about when their party met LaRue during their campaign, like the very first time, but we definitely don't have time for me to go over that. So Right. But it was just really cool. Another thing from the Candle Keep forums from 2008, we learned that an unusual concentration of fireflies in the Dales means that LaRue is active and manifesting and aware of what is unfolding. Oh, so that basically gives her uh favorite animal like fireflies.
SPEAKER_04That's really cool. We got we got we got the spectrum here. We got fireflies, we got other unicorns, we got we got owls. We got yeah, we got a council of wise owls. Yeah. I mean, it also to be for most intelligent beasts, though, also just in general. But yeah. Yeah. Fireflies. Fireflies.
SPEAKER_05So thankfully for everyone, um, specifically me, there is only one thing that I have to go over in fourth edition about Larue, which is still dumb, weird, annoying, whatever, given everything else.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_05But in Dragon Magazine number 376 from 2009, Larue is listed as an Archfey. There's no explanation or anything. She just listed as an Archfey along with several other Archfey.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Probably just that thing where um fourth edition was just trying to make make all of the nature deities sort of fey and also uh delete a bunch and also conflate a bunch, and make some I mean like make some of them grump. Oral was the queen of dark queen of air and darkness briefly, but yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04So yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, dumb.
SPEAKER_04Okay, fine, whatever.
SPEAKER_05In a Twitter post on May 13th, uh, 2016, Ed responded to the question, which god is the epitome of good in Forgotten Realms? Epitome? Epitome.
SPEAKER_04Epitome, epitome, what if hey, you know, we got we we we had some other we had some other like we had some other words, you know, this one, so yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Um, and his answer was back up to try to find it. Uh Shantia, El Death, and LaRue are all close. Epitome, you'll have their clergy arguing, you will.
SPEAKER_03No, my god's the goodest. No, my god's the best. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_05And Candle Keep Mysteries, which is a supplement or like a uh adventure module. Adventure module. There we go. That was the word from 2021. It mentions at the behest of Laru, the first high mage of Silver Moon wrote a book called Lore of Laru. Laru. Yep, Laru episode title. Laru.
SPEAKER_01I I like it.
SPEAKER_04Laru. Jesus. I hate it. Don't do that, don't use that.
SPEAKER_01It might be in the thumbnail though.
SPEAKER_05It might, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Alright, alright. I'll I'll accept that.
SPEAKER_05So uh Larue was actually sent by Salune at the request of Maliki. Maliki didn't specifically like ask for Laru. Rather, at the time of like the early days of creation, Maliki oversaw like the forest and everything. And when her work was done, she said that she needed a guardian to represent her and to be her eyes and ears on the material plane. So Salina's like, yeah, actually, I agree with you. That's really cool. And sent down Larue to take up this role.
SPEAKER_01My daughter.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, basically. And Larue took up the mantle of Mistress of Moonlight.
SPEAKER_01Hell yeah. There are so many mistresses of moonlight, let me say. There's so many, yeah.
SPEAKER_05So in this, her avatar has a silver stardust-like mane. Her hooves shimmer and her horn is like perfectly spiraled. Hell yeah. So before I uh touch this part real quick, um, because I didn't actually mention it. So in the Candle Cute Mysteries adventure module, the Lore of LaRue is actually like a mini adventure within this adventure module. Okay. Basically, where the adventurers find the book titled The Lore of LaRue, and as soon as they open it, they get sucked into the book. Oh, to play out the lore and story of LaRue. I like that. So basically, the whole thing is Malar and his asshole demons. Malar.
SPEAKER_02It's always Malar.
SPEAKER_05It's always Malar are trying to take over the glade that her and uh Maliki basically first met in, and it's their holy site and all that. And the final battle to this is with a corrupted form of Laru's avatar. Ooh. So this corrupted form is like her whole body and her mane are like all solid black. She has this sort of like red necrotic energy that's like twisting and dancing like around her, and specifically at the like tip of her black uh horn. Ooh. Nightmare moon. Yeah. It's my old pony French magic. It it's actually really cool. I didn't want to go too much into it because one, I knew that we'd be running out of time, and two, it's an adventure module that I don't know, I might have to pick from and uh do like a quick little like one-shot, especially for the lore of LaRue Park, because it would be fun. So the last source of information that I have uh comes again from a Twitter post from March 14th of 2021. I can't see the original question because the account that asked it no longer exists, but I was pretty much able to infer from the answer that it was basically about like where the souls of children wound up after they died, like especially for like specific, like if they didn't have a deity or if they weren't like old enough to really pick a deity or anything like that.
SPEAKER_01Basically, where do unbaptized babies go for go to? I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_05So, I mean, among several other things, Ed says uh this one particular thing about Larue, and that is that Larue will try to find and guide the souls of all who die alone in the forests or wilderlands. If they have no deity to cleave to, they'll abide with her. Oh, that's so nice. That's so nice. So she will just always go through and pick up the souls that were alone and lost in the forests and waterlands. And if they don't have a god for her to deliver them to, she's like, Well, you're mine now.
SPEAKER_01So that's so nice. What the hell? Like that. That is much better than the answer that is always like, What happened? Never mind, never mind.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, when yeah, when someone asks, like, okay, well, you know, if maybe if if the baby doesn't get baptized, what happens? And then the parent or whomever is just like, Can I talk about limbo? Uh anyway. They just go to a totally different topic.
SPEAKER_02Yep. Yeah. Just like, um, anyway. I'm I'm sorry, Catholics.
SPEAKER_05But I figured it would be good to end with that little fun note.
SPEAKER_01Um, I like it.
SPEAKER_05So that's really that's all the information that I have about Laru. Um, I thought that it was a really fun uh research topic, especially because I mean, like you guys pointed out, we usually talk about like the evil ones or shit happens at some point, even if we are talking about good ones. But yeah, yeah, Laru doesn't have anything other than a corrupted version of her that was summoned by Malar.
SPEAKER_01So like and the desire to fight Malar, which constantly don't we all want to fight that guy?
SPEAKER_04I kind of want to fight that guy.
SPEAKER_01Same.
SPEAKER_05But I uh I do hope that everyone enjoyed this uh fun, fun little dive into Laru the Unicorn Queen.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I enjoyed the lore of Luru. The Luru, if you will.
SPEAKER_04No, I don't think I will. I don't think I will. I said that and then I decided I didn't like it.
SPEAKER_01Thank you guys so much for listening. Don't forget to follow us on our various social media platforms, threads, Instagram. Uh, we have a TikTok. It's just our shorts, which we also post on YouTube for now.
SPEAKER_05Um, I am planning on trying to actually make other content for TikTok. I just haven't gotten the nerve to do so yet.
SPEAKER_01We'll we'll get we'll get on to it. Like yeah, we'll I think we all kind of have ideas that we're workshopping and we will we will start doing TikTok dances stat.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, absolutely. Do people even do that on TikTok anymore? I don't even know. I don't even know. I don't TikTok anymore. I don't know what goes on there.
SPEAKER_01But spread the word to your friends. Uh we we absolutely appreciate all of you so much. Thank you for making our comeback so wonderful.
SPEAKER_04Um, if you have anything you would like to suggest as a topic for us to cover, uh feel free to email us at dungeonpedia.podcast at gmail.com. Preferably something that doesn't contain Malar because he keeps showing up. He keeps showing up, he keeps showing up, even though it seems unrelated. We just party crashes.
SPEAKER_01In the pipeline, so a lot of things people have suggested. So I I'm excited to see what more people want to see.
SPEAKER_05Same. And uh thank you all once again for listening. And we will catch you next week here on Dungeon Pedia.
SPEAKER_02Okay, but like it's fantastic, but you can't do yourself. Try this, let it go. It's okay. It's magic. Just go back. Just say.