Zenith

## Description

### Domains

Zenith created humans, and he represents the law, justice, retribution, and the bonds of kinship. Zenith presides over matters of family honor, questions of morality and virtue, speeches, marriages, acts of protective bravery, dawn meals, and self-sacrifice. Zenith's name is often part of legal proceedings, and sacrifices to him are made in times when the greatest aid — or the strictest justice — is needed.

Zenith also commands order, as well as the wars that must be waged so that this order is maintained. He governs both personal valor and bravery in battle, and thus he also governs warfare. He is brother to Slaughter, who commands the dark and brutal side of war, and the two spar constantly.

### Personality

Zenith radiates with pride and self-assurance. His presence fills the sky with light, blocking mortal access to the dark, starry sky, and in-person he has the same overwhelming aura of awe and brilliance. He is convivial and gregarious, making friends and forming bonds easily, and he sees himself as the ally to all. But others know that Zenith can be fickle in his loyalty. Zenith's greatest ally today might be the target of his retribution tomorrow.

But, Zenith also demonstrates a strong capacity for arrogance. He styles himself as "the lord of the pantheon" and "the greatest of these gods of Terrestria", and demands praise from both mortals and other gods. This escalates into outright conflict with Phosphorus, who challenges him in these assertions; this inevitably causes a schism in the pantheon, with most gods supporting one or other of them.

It is theorized that Zenith's personality, like most of the gods', changes in accordance to mortal beliefs.

### Worship

Zenith is the sun god, literally bringing the light of day to the world, so almost everyone on Terrestria pays at least token acknowledgment to him. Some families have a custom of winking in the direction of the dawn's light first thing in the morning, a gesture of respect to the sun god's luminous eye. Zenith's devoted worshipers are mainly humans, especially The Daybreak Empire who have a zealot fanatics of the god, with every aspect of their life considering him in one way or another. Temples to Zenith often feature stairs up to a rooftop courtyard, enabling sun worship. The largest holiday aligned with Zenith is the summer solstice, celebrated with three days of ceremonious feasting, weddings, and oaths of loyalty.

## Myths

Many legends about Zenith highlight his mercurial nature, even while acclaiming him as a god of bravery and justice.

### Battle with Phosphorus

In his desire to establish himself as the leader of the pantheon, Zenith attempted to commission Phosphorus to rebuild Astral Sea in Zenith's image. Angered by Zenith's claim to rulership, Phosphorus forged the sword Godsend to fight Zenith. As their conflict raged, Phosphorus' sword cut the fabric of the Astral Sea, opening the boundary between the realms of gods and mortals. As a result, an astral dreadnaught fell to the mortal world, but Zenith and Senescence joined forces to bind the creature. Years later, the dreadnaught broke free of its bonds, and Zenith chose a mortal, Elspeth Tirel, to slay the creature as his champion, using a spear called God send, forged from Phosphorus' sword.

### Birth of Macabre

Some myths claim that Zenith was the first of the gods, though most people believe that distinction belongs to Esotaria. These myths also say that when the light of Zenith's own sun fell on him, Zenith saw his shadow and feared it. He banished the shadow to the land beyond the Astral Sea, and it became Macabre, god of the dead and ruler of the Underworld.

### Origin of the Catoblepas

When a herder boasted that his cattle were the finest in Terrestria because Zenith and Senescence had created them, the gods grew angry at this falsehood. Zenith persuaded Slaughter to curse the cattle, transforming them into the first catoblepas's. As a result, many animal breeders prove excessively modest to this day, with humble-boasts being common and well understood among both buyers and sellers. Livestock that are "as Zenith intended" or "praiseless beasts" might be considered second to none.

### Road to the Sun

After a life in Zenith's service, the aged oracle Solaire departed on a final pilgrimage: setting forth to visit the sun. Day after day he journeyed west, seeking the lands from which the sun rose. He journeyed far and was mocked everywhere people learned of his quest. Worse, his sight grew ever weaker as he spent days staring at the sun. Yet still he traveled on. Even when blindness claimed Solaire's sight, the oracle continued undaunted. Finally, one day, Solaire found a warm, calm place. There, a powerful voice he'd heard in his dreams welcomed him to his journey's end. Praising Zenith, the oracle took his rest, and after several long, contented hours, peacefully died. Ever since, the tale of Solaire has been argued as both a parable of determination and a warning not to pursue that which is divine.

### Relic of an Age Past

Zenith once wielded a battle-worn bronze shield called the Bulwark of Brotherhood, along with his spear. It symbolized the protective bond shared by all soldiers at war and his determination, ironically, to defeat his own brother, Slaughter. In the myth of Rygyra the Slinger, the soldier never missed when she launched stones from her magic sling. Yet, even so, her every shot bounced off the giant minotaur, Raksolcs Ravage-Soul. As the minotaur terror closed in on her, Rygyra whispered a prayer to Zenith and braced her flimsy wooden shield, knowing it would offer no defense against the giant's strikes. Yet, when the blow came, the shield resounded with the barest metallic clang, like a pin falling on bronze. Opening her eyes, Rygyra discovered that her shield had transformed into a gleaming bulwark, Zenith's own shield. Enraged, Raksolcs beat on the shield, leaving not even a dent. Alter hours of this, the minotaur collapsed, panting and exhausted. Only then did Rygyra emerge and strangle the brute with his own tongue.

Zenith has since abandoned the shield following the death of a mortal woman for whom he loved. The discarding of the shield leads to a much more aggressive fighting strategy, where one typically has little concern for their own wellbeing. Likewise, Zenith's personality changed to become much the same, and as such, so did the attitudes of the many individuals who worship Zenith.