Phyton

Greyhawk Deity
Phyton
Phyton the Woodshaper, as depicted in Dragon #90 (1984).
Title(s)	The Woodshaper
Home Plane	Olympian Glades of Arborea
Power Level	Lesser
Gender	Male
Class(es)
Alignment	Chaotic good
Portfolio	Nature, Beauty, Farming
Domains	Chaos, Good, Plant, Sun, Water
Alias(es)	none
Superior	Lendor

Phyton is the Suel god of Nature, Beauty, and Farming. Phyton's symbol is a scimitar in front of an oak tree.

Description

Phyton is most often depicted as a tall, handsome man, slender and youthful-looking, though he can appear as any creature of the forest.

Relationships

Phyton was once like most other nature deities, but now represents man's dominance over nature, which pits him and his followers against druids, other nature gods, and others who would protect the wild from mankind's depredations. For this reason, he is a foe of Obad-Hai. Wee Jas also bears Phyton great enmity, for his dominion over beauty.

Realm

Although a human deity, Phyton currently dwells with the Seldarine in Arvandor, though he also has a realm in Ysgard.

Dogma

Phyton teaches that the nature in its natural, untouched state can only be made more beautiful by the hand of mankind. Therefore, gardens, crop fields, and swamps drained for fertile soil are no less wondrous than mountains and forests. He also teaches that animals should be domesticated whenever possible, but those which prove harmful to man or his works should be destroyed.

Worshipers

Phyton is chiefly a human deity.

Clergy

Phyton's priests believe that man can always improve on the design of nature, be it clearing forests for agriculture, cutting roads through mountains, building dams, draining swamps, redirecting rivers, culling ugly or harmful plants, or domesticating animals. They protect farming communities and look for ways to best use the land to man's advantage. Each often chooses a region to oversee, usually one day's walk in diameter.

Temples

Temples of Phyton can be found in Geoff, the Gran March, Highfolk, the Pale, Ratik, the Duchy and Principality of Ulek, the Urnst States, and among the humans of Celene.

Holy days and rituals

Prayers are often made to Phyton to ensure timely harvests and bountiful crops.

Bibliography

• Brown, Anne. Player's Guide. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1998.

• Conforti, Steven, ed. Living Greyhawk Official Listing of Deities for Use in the Campaign, version 2.0. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2005. Available online: [1]

• Gygax, Gary. World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1983.

• Gygax, Gary, and Frank Mentzer. The Temple of Elemental Evil. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR,, 1985.

• Holian, Gary, Erik Mona, Sean K. Reynolds, and Frederick Weining. Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2000.

• Lakofka, Lenard. "Gods of the Suel Pantheon." Dragon #90. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1984.

• Perkins, Christopher. Warriors of Heaven. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 1999.

• Reynolds, Sean K. The Scarlet Brotherhood. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, , 1999.

• Sargent, Carl. From the Ashes. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1992.
• -----. Ivid the Undying. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, unpublished. Available online: [2]