Yaw'nagrah
Eternal of Spring
Sobriquets
Most commonly, Yaw'nagrah is called the Green Mother or the Queen of the Forest.
She is occasionally called Mother of Briars or Barkspawner and some stories tentatively link her with the foundation of the Briar lineage. Her handmaidens have never offered conclusive proof one way or another, and according to many magicians appear not to understand the question - although it cannot be denied that Yaw'nagrah and her handmaidens respond much more favourably to briars than to other mortals, even for a Spring Eternal.
Appearance
Like Llofir, Yaw'nagrah is immense. She appears to be a primeval forest of immense size that spreads across an area of the Spring Realm roughly the size of Varushka, although it is possible that this estimation is out by several magnitudes. She rarely speaks directly to magicians, but spawns handmaidens from her body that take the form of human-shaped tree creatures who work to make her guests more at home.
Some magicians describe these handmaidens as being comely humanoids, often with briar trappings, rather than animate tree creatures but it is not clear if these are a different kind of creature (possibly heralds), or the result of some exposure to hallucinogenic pollen or spores
Concerns
Yaw'nagrah is concerned with life, in infinite diversity and infinite combinations. Her forest is fecund, but she is a creature without compassion; she favours no form of life over any other. Discussions with her handmaidens have suggested that she may consider all forms of life other than plants and perhaps insects to be an aberration, a temporary infestation on the mortal world that will eventually disappear.
While she is not malicious, she is also entirely without mercy. Her interests in the Empire appear to be limited, beyond her somewhat detached interest in all living things. Some magicians have noted, however, that she appears to look favourably on those who bring her gifts of plants she has not encountered before, or who bring children into the presence of her handmaidens.
She is strongly associated with the rune Bravash.
Boons
Magicians seek out Yaw'nagrah because she has powerful abilities related to fertility, in all forms. She has been known to allow barren females to conceive; to cause female creatures to become with child without a partner. She is said to be able to provide offspring to childless couples, although these offspring are not always entirely human. She is also able to help magicians to restore fertility to blighted crops or beasts, as well as to encourage fecundity over large areas, potentially to a dangerous degree.
Some tales suggest that the fertility she offers is tainted in some way by her fascination with diversity; that while barren soil may become capable of supporting crops, it is impossible to predict what else may grow from the things she has touched ...
Ylith Silthar
A major herald of Yaw'nagrah known to have an interest in the empire is Ylith Silthar. It appears as part of a living aspect of the Queen of the Forest. As is typical, this is akin to living plantlife in humanoid form.
Accounts of Yaw'nagrah sending forth Ylith Silthar to the Hall of Worlds and the lands of the Empire appear to go back to before the founding of the Empire itself. From this accounts, it seems that Ylith Silthar's purpose when sent forth is the furtherance of fertility. This can include aiding mortal fertility as well as aiding and supporting birth, though it is claimed this leads to a greater chance of them being briars. One account refers to Ylith Silthar aiding a Dawnish witch in the creation of the Midwife's Recourse ritual as way to protect unborn life, which has generally been regarded as a benevolent act.
More accurately, it appears that Ylith Silthar's primary focus is the promotion of diversity of life through abundance of life. Which is to say that if one in every hundred births is in some way different, then Ylith Silthar will look to encourage ten thousand births to bring a hundred different forms of life into the world. More directly, Ylith Silthar has been known, with the consent of Imperial Citizens, to impregnate them. The results of these tend to be extremely unusual entities in nature. In the year 378YE, the first orc Archmage of Spring, Kallendar Stormcrow, consented to be impregnated by Ylith Silthar, along with a briar, Rosamund Holt of the Marches. Both produced what appears to be some manner of seed-pod, or egg, which were taken back into the Realm of Spring.
In the year 329 YE, Ylith Silthar was, for a time, subject to a Declaration of Enmity following the death of Laurence of House Orsin, in Dawn. Laurence has made a deal with Yaw'nagrah in which he promised her a child and Ylith Silthar gave him a jar of seeds to eat. Laurence had apparently believed that this would affect the manner in which he impregnated his wife. Instead, a monstrous creature that burst forth from his abdomen. Investigation by Yvain of House Orsin uncovered Ylith Silthar's involvement, which led to the Declaration in the Conclave. However, during the reign of Emperor Walter, the then Archmage of Spring argued that Laurence's story taught a valuable lesson in the virtue of Vigilance in dealing with Eternals, and that Ylith Silthar's Declaration of Enmity be lifted on the understanding that the boon it bore from Yaw'nagrah was not an act of murder.
The creature that spawned from Laurence d'Orsin was contained for a time, but was ultimately destroyed in 378YE by heroic citizens from Anvil travelling through the Sentinel Gate.
...that I found the corpse of Laurence d'Orsin lying in his bedchamber, his abdomen burst in a manner consistent with something within forcing its way out. There I also found the jar of seeds that the Herald, Ylith Silthar, had provided to him so that he might provide Yaw'nagrah with offspring.
Yvaine d'Orsin's testimony to the Conclave, 329YE