You’ll not find a larger assembly of individuals devoted to the protection of nature than the Emerald Enclave; sometimes overzealously so. The Enclave has redefined themselves several times since their humble beginnings as a coalition of druids on the island of Ilighôn in the Sea of Fallen Stars, now part of Turmish.
Back in those days of its establishment in 374 DR, it was a much more decidedly neutral party, even going so far as to require a devotion not to evil or good from its members, but to be a neutral party in the struggle against the growing influence of humankind against nature. In this fashion they worked as mediators between nature and outside folk, creating various cells of druids in threatened areas of nature.
As with many things, when the spellplague occurred, times changed. The former leadership of the Enclave was old, dead, or lost. Younger, more inexperienced druids began to take the mantle and tried to make sense of a rapidly changing world. They eventually took the path towards vengeance and destruction, and led by the mad Cindermoon, began increasingly violently lashing out at anything related to the spellplague. During these trying times, the order all but dissolved.
Now we come to recent dates and to Stedd Whitehorn, a chosen of Lathander, but an instrumental character in how the Enclave came to be its modern day incarnation. It was he who cured Cindermoon of her madness. After the cure, she proclaimed that her name was now Shadowmoon. That is a long story for another time, but know that it was that event which resurrected the Enclave and set it to what it is today.
Shadowmoon began to reorganize the Enclave into a more generally accepted group with the beliefs of respect and preservation of the nature order; opposing all those who would seek for the natural balance to be destroyed; and be mediators between the civilization folk and nature. It was very similar to their original mission, but with an added goal that wasn’t as pronounced in the previous incarnation of the Enclave: to help the people of Faerún survive in the wilderness.
In this reorganization, she sought out rangers, druids, wizards, champions – people of all kinds – to help accomplish these goals and this recruitment was successful. In a very short time, the Enclave transformed from a forgotten relic of history to a premiere supplier of individuals friendly to nature that helped pioneers survive the harsh realities of the wild. Their presence rapidly spread across the land and now are even scouring areas such as Chult from the undead menace.
Their organization is much the same as it was before: with cells of individuals operating to protect an area or keep watch on threatening groups. There is little that comes down “from the top”, but rather these cells normally are autonomous in their operations for better or for worse.
As before though, times change quickly. It seems as if the Enclave is once again turning to a campaign of vengeance as they make public declarations of war against admittedly unnatural creatures, such as the undead of Thay and the Thayans themselves. Upon closer examination of their ideals, this does indeed fall in line with them. As a conversation with Seranolla the Whisperer, a high ranking contact from the Enclave admitted, one of their objectives is to “…hunt undead or planar creatures that taint the land..” Yet, in the same interview, it was said that the Enclave members generally do not work together or marshal forces, so we’re seeing a new approach to their current directive.
Perhaps we’re seeing a return to their more aggressive ways? The Enclave seems to be as wild as the winds in many matters. Who knows what will happen within the next decade? Perhaps we’ll see another rise and fall, a splintering, or even the complete dissolution of their organization. Only time will tell.
This article is part of a study on the major factions of Faerún by Kah Alok, who is taking an outside perspective on each of the factions. We will be going through each of the major factions of Faerún and providing an overview of their history, beliefs, and goals.
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