Cyrrollalee is the halfling deity of friendship, trust, and the home. For more than a millennia, Cyrrollalee busied herself with overseeing the mundane minutia of the stewardship of halflings' homes. She encourages camaraderie among her subjects, always with an eye toward ensuring the safety of each halfling's individual dwelling. Her real interest is in the hospitality, generosity, and kindness halflings can show to others, and she is most displeased with those who fail to display proper hospitality and good fellowship. Her worst enemies are those who betray the trust of a host or who break into homes (of halflings) to steal. She is also the enemy of oathbreakers. Her sacred animal is the squirrel.
Recently, Cyrrollalee's view of the home has begun to shift from the literal to the metaphorical. Scholars have long said that the hin are a race on the rise, a youthful species waiting for a cultural and political blossoming. Cyrrollalee agrees, and that in order for the hin to ascend to their rightful place of honor and respect, the race needs new homelands beyond their borders. In modern churches, Cyrrollalee's clerics lead evangelical missions across the land, searching for a suitable location for this homeland and urging all halflings to join the call. The open door of Cyrrollalee's holy symbol originally represented the entrance to a single halfling's comfortable home, but now also symbolizes the open door inviting him from across the land to walk the path of their race's glorious future.
Cyrrollalee's faith is little known outside of halfling communities, but the fruits of her teachings and the efforts of her priesthood are in large part responsible for the halfling way of life that is so admired by other races.
Among halflings, Cyrrollalee is quietly appreciated by all and venerated by those who build homes and families. Many invocations to her are day-to-day minor oaths and fussing by busy halflings, but underlying such daily minutia is a solid core of faithful veneration.
Her clerics lead halfling communities and set examples for good-hearted clean living by being exemplars of friendship and good will. Cyrrollalee's priests are specifically defenders of the home, and they view their role as both protecting the home from outside threats and cultivating the familial bonds of those who dwell within.
Cyrrollalee's faith has begun to split into two separate directions. The conservative path holds to Cyrrollalee's traditional values of hearth, home and community, while more modern churches embrace Cyrrollalee's efforts to expand and find new homelands.
Cyrrollalee's expansion perspective has recently swelled the ranks of her faithful and she is honored as a symbol of hin pride, a rallying point for those halflings seeking a better place for themselves and their race. Much of the modern clergy concerns itself with the search for suitable halfling homelands and priests advocate the cultivation of strong, respectful relationships with other goodly races. Because their searches so often send them to distant lands, lightfoot halflings, with their pervasive wanderlust, vastly outnumber other hin subraces in Cyrrollalee's clergy.
Within the last year, many of Cyrrollalee's clerics have left their homes to lead "the search" for new lands. Those who remain rooted in their communities (usually, but not always, older halflings for whom travel and exploration bring great physical danger) are known as Hearthtenders, and are universally respected as an integral part of halfling society.
Vestments
The ceremonial garb of Cyrrollalee's priesthood is the rustic clothing of halfling peasants, devoid of ostentatious display. Typically Homefellows wear simple brown habits bound with a deep golden or muted green girdle, and keep their heads and feet bare. The holy symbol of the faith is a carved wooden acorn, often hung on a leather cord around the neck.
When adventuring or protecting their home, clerics garb themselves in the best armor available, usually leather or padded armor. As no particular weapon is associated with Cyrrollalee, her followers tend to select one of the handful of weapons commonly associated with halfling village militias. Clubs, staves, slings, and staff-slings are common, while traveling priests may adopt short swords.
Hierarchy
Novices of Cyrrollalee are known as the Befriended. Full priests of the Hand of Fellowship are known as Homefellows. In ascending order of rank the titles used by Cyrrollaleen priests are Cheery Homemaker, Hearth Warden, Hand of Friendship, Hale Host (or Hostess), Homespun Companion, Neighborly Householder, Open Door, and Burrow Patriarch (or Matriarch). High-ranking priests have unique individual titles. Specialty priests are known as Homesteaders.
Cyrrollalee houses of worship serves the surrounding halfling community as both a temple and as a home away from home, complete with guest rooms and fully stocked kitchens. As such, there is little to differentiate such structures or burrows from those that surround a Cyrrollaleen temples. One distinguishing feature of any temple dedicated to the Hearthkeeper is that the entrance door is always open whenever at least one priest is in residence. Halflings unable to return to their own beds for the night are always welcome to stay for a night at such temple-homes, and Cyrrollaleen churches along major trade routes serve as de facto halfling hostels.
Rituals
Homefellows pray for spells in the morning, as they welcome the sun of a new day. Worship services for Cyrrollalee are held on the first day of each month, known in halfling communities as Hearthday. Devout halflings gather in the home of one of their fellow parishioners, rotating to a different dwelling in the local community each month. The Hand of Fellowship asks for nothing in the way of propitiation aside from simple prayers requesting her blessing. Friendship among her worshipers is considered the highest praise one can raise to her name.
Orders
In modern churches of Cyrrollalee, the Hearthfinders has recently been created supporting Cyrrollalee's expansion efforts. A small bands of scouts are sent by the elders of the Hearthkeeper's faith to seek out likely regions for colonization.
Be generous in friendship, and welcome all friends into your home and trust. Never betray the trust of a host, break an oath, or violate the sanctity of another's home. The Day of Discovery approaches, when all hin rally around a new home based upon dignity, companionship, and love.
Cyrrollalee appears as a humble-looking halfling woman of homely appearance. She wears brown peasant's garb matching her hair. Her avatar carries two pairs of iron bands of Bilarro.
Cyrrollalee has a cordial relationship with every member of the halfling pantheon, as well as virtually every other kind-hearted deity known to Oerth. She is slightly disappointed with Brandobaris for his frivolous ways.
