Veles

**Veles** (Велесъ Velesa), also known as **Volos**, is the Second-Generation Slavic Primordial God of Earth, Water and the Underworld. He is often associated with wealth, trickery, lethal harvest and magic. He is also the opponent of the supreme god Perun. He is the youngest son of Chernobog and his most trusted underling.

He is the second-primary antagonist of the in-universe story **Bearer of the Golden Apple**.

## Overview

Veles is one of few Slavic gods for which evidence of offerings can be found in all Slavic nations. The *Primary Chronicle*, a historical record of the early Kievan Rus, is the earliest and most important record, mentioning a god named Volos several times. Here, Volos is mentioned as god of cattle and peasants, who will punish oath-breakers with diseases, the opposite of Perun who is described as a ruling god of war who punishes by death in battle. In the later half of the 10th century, Veles or Volos was one of seven gods whose statues Vladimir I of Kiev had erected in his city. It is very interesting that Veles' statue apparently did not stand next to others, on the hill where the prince's castle was, but lower in the city, in the marketplace. Not only does this indicate that Veles was connected with commerce, but it also shows that worship of Perun and Veles had to be kept separate: while it was proper for Perun's shrines to be built high, on the top of the hill, Veles' place was down, in the lowlands.

A similar pattern can be observed among the South Slavs. Here the name of Veles appears only in toponyms, the best-known of which is the city of Veles in Macedonia, over which looms a hill of St. Elias the Thunderer. Also, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a part of Sarajevo is called Velešići and a mountain Velež[*circular reference*] near Mostar, Herzegovina. Other examples are Veles in Western Serbia, Velesnica on the Danube and Velestovo in Montenegro and also the township of Velestino (Βελεστίνο, today Φέρες), apparently bearing testimony to a Slavic layer in the settlement of Thessaly. Another debatable if not improbable example is the town of Volosko in Croatia, situated on the seashore under the peak of Mount Učka, nicknamed Perun.

Among Western Slavs, the name can be principally found in 15th and 16th century Czech records, where it means either dragon or devil.

## Appearance

It is passed, tale to tale, that Veles' attributes are those of a dark hairy wooly goat-like creature, fifteen feet tall and with bulged crimson eyes. However, that is only one legitamate account of Veles's appearance and it was a form he took long ago, which he used to scare off Khan Krumfrom entering one of the three mortal gates to Nav which is nowadays known as Devil's Throat Cave. While battling Perun, Veles had transformed into a gigantic five-headed dark dragon that could even veil the Shumen Plateauin the dark of its shadow.

In his human form, Veles is a very tall and muscular young man with wild, brown hair. He has an androgynous face and is stated to be handsome by Elena Markovich, though he often wears an intimidating frown on his face. His height is estimated to be somewhere around 203.8 cm/6'8", making him the tallest out of the Slavic Gods in their mortal manifestations.

He has three stone markings: one across his face that cuts across his right eye, another etched deep into his left one from the corner of his eyelid all the way down across his nose and ends at the bottom of his jaw on the right, and the third being stretched across from his left shoulder over his chest and stopping at his upper abdomen.

Upon first encountering Bozhidar Tupashki at the Shumen Plateau National Park, Veles had the guise of a local park ranger.

## Personality

Veles is a conniving, cruel and cold twisted divinity who inherited his father's detestion for the Supreme Polarities and their descendants. He wants nothing more than to uproot the slavic kingdoms and **Vraj** (Slavic Heavens) and rule alongside his father as a supreme, pure being. He has an intense hatred for the god Perun and his demigod son Krali Marko who both defeated him, with the latter even dealing irrepairable damage to his kingdom.

Veles once witnessed how cruel humans could be to each other, especially the older ones and that they often disturbed the harmony of mother nature, and since then Veles has been seeing humanity as a virus. He has no qualms about manipulating millions, like his father, and causing them suffering.

Veles is essentially violent, but extremely careful and aware of his actions. He can be a very kind, thoughtful, and polite man outside of his pessimistic ideals towards humanity. He offers help in the beginning to Bozhidar Tupashki and Preslav Svetkov after they had accidentally revived him and became their forest guide, using his vast knowledge to quickly escort them to safety. It’s revealed later that Veles plans to purge humanity and thinks Bozhidar Tupashki will go along with him, but instead Bozhidar rejects him. After this point, Veles becomes fairly determined in carrying out his plans even to the point of leaving their group. He’s confessed to Bozhidar that his true identity is that of the Primordial Underworld God - Veles and that his one true master is the Bane of the Slavic Civillization - Chernobog. Veles had also been one of the main perpetrator of at least half of the bad things that were happening in slavic countries at the moment.

## History

According to many legends, Veles is the sworn enemy of Perun, the god of thunder. One legend says that the Veles stole Perun flocks, women, and followers, so there was a conflict. According to another legend, Veles wanted Dodol, Perun’s wife. Veles tendency to deceive can be seen just from these two myths.

There is also a third myth where the battle between Veles and Perun is actually the immortal battle between the earth and sky since Veles is on the earth and Perun is in the sky. Even though Perun wins the fight, Veles always appears again.

According to one legend, after Perun’s victory Veles was banished to the underworld, where he imposes his authority. There is a belief linked to the Veles and Perun’s fight that talks about the arrival of chaos and victory over chaos. It was believed that during the winter Veles’ power, and thus chaos, strengthens, and before the summer he gets defeated and returned to the underworld.

During the 16th century, when Krali Marko had become the new second-in-command in **Vraj,** Veles stole and raped his samodhiva sister, Maradgick, which angered the Bulgarian Hero so much he broke into **Nav**, wrecked Veles' army of giants and monsters and nearly destroyed him. Veles had used the horn of a dead demon goat to escape, but the horn had been buried beneath soil in the Shumen Plateau, effectively trapping Veles' spirit for five hundred years.

## Powers and Abilities

Veles's reputation gained him the moniker of **"The Strongest God Primate"** due to his tremendous fighting abilities. The translators note that Veles means Shepherd of the Dead. Even Krali Marko acknowledged his skill and had to wait for Veles to be vulnerable to attack him.

**Immense Strength:** Veles possesses immense brawn. With one punch, he was able to kill the demonofied corpse of a king mountain lion. One punch from Veles was able to push Presi Svetkov, a man noted for his inhuman endurance, to the brink of losing consciousness. While briefly clashing with Elena, Veles stopped her assault with only two fingers. He also managed to cut down a tree with a single strike from his hand, a tree that Elena noted to weigh 5 ton.

**Great Divine Power**: Veles has great twisted-divinity, on par with that of Perun and rivalling Krali Marko at his prime. He was noted to be the most powerful child of Chernobog and many of the Slavic demons bowed down to him, as well. Even with only 3% of his power unlocked, he was able to cause a Magnitude 5 earthquake across the entire north-eastern region of Bulgaria.

**Immense Speed:** Veles's speed and reflexes are equally immense. When Bozhidar shot at him with an automatic handgun, he simply caught the bullets with his bare hands, with Bozhidar later noting that the bullets moved at 250 mph with Energia enhancement. He was also able to easily parry all of Elena's swift attacks during their quick scuffle.

**Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant:** Veles is an esteemed combatant, having proven himself as one of the best fighters in the Slavic world by fighting Perun and Krali Marko on equal grounds. He easily dominated seven police officers at once who tried to stop him from entering the Shumen Mayor's House.

**Master Swordsman:** He is a Master Swordsman, possessing skills, techniques, and abilities unable to be replicated by any mortal beings. He possesses immense swordsmanship skill, capable of wielding the sword to its utmost potential. He could easily use his sword-wielding skills to their utmost potential, and taking out numerous opponents with it.

**Master Spearman**: He is a Master Spearman, possessing skills, techniques, and abilities unable to be replicated by any mortal beings. He possesses immense spearmanship skill, capable of wielding the spear to its utmost potential. He could easily use their spear-wielding skills to their utmost potential, and taking out numerous opponents with it.

**Master Archer**: He is a Master Archer, possessing skills, techniques, and abilities unable to be replicated by any mortal beings. He possesses immense archery skill, capable of wielding the bow and arrows to their utmost potential. He could easily use his archery skills to their utmost potential, and taking out numerous opponents with it. He could also manipulate the trajectory of the arrows he shot with nearly-perfect precision.

**Enhanced Senses:** He has acute senses, as he sensed a bloodlust in the air and smelt a faintness of smoke blowing and realized it came from a gun.

**Immense Durability**: Veles is also resiliant. He could endure hits from Krali Marko's hammer in his prime, which were one-hit killers for most Slavic deities. Even after being hit with a supernova storm by Perun, Veles managed to recover fairly quickly and with minor lasting injuries.

**Master Technician:** Veles is a very skilled Technique-type fighter, having spent millennia perfecting his skills and abilities to the utmost perfection.

**Genius-Level Intelligence:** In addition to his physical prowess, Veles possesses a high intellect. It is assumed that Veles possesses knowledge of human physiology, anatomy and biology at least to an advanced degree, having been able to "kill" Bozhidar in one hit, targeting his cervical nerve. He also has a high understanding of science on par with Bozhidar and Master Markovich, as he realized it was nitric acid that was the key to de petrification and when he understood that Bozhidar was going to make gunpowder based on where Bozhidar's group was heading. He was also replicated the full de petrification formula after Bozhidar explained it to him once. When in America, he was able to deduce someone was watching them after smelling smoke of machine gun, while Presi realized how easy it was to find corn and he was accurate when they were attacked. He also deduced to have a better chance at bringing down the American colony would be that the leader would have to be captured. Along with Chumabog, he was able to understand Presi's plan to build a drill.

**Charisma**: As a popular figure in the pre stone world and being a strong capable leader, he is very charismatic and able to gather people to his cause. He managed to gather people he revived to follow him under his reign and against the Kingdom of Vraj.

**Unknown Godly Abilities**: A grand variety of godly and draconic abilities that Veles is yet to unlock, as he is only at 5% of his true power.

## Equipment

**Magically Enhanced Stone Sword**: A stone sword coated in Veles' divine power. It can decimate solid objects with ease.

**Magically Enhanced Rifle**: A rifle that allows Veles' divine power to flow into the bullets, making them far more lethal than the normal ones. He can even harm gods.

**Unknown Treasure**: Veles possesses an uknown 'Treasure'. A sacred item that he claims will allow him to return to his prime and destroy Bozhidar and his group with ease.

## Gallery

VelesVeles comforting a hurting MoraVeles and Bozhidar go seperate waysVeles surrounding Bozhidar and his friendsVeles vs PresiCoverVeles cleaving the waves of the Black SeaVeles easily killing a zombified King NembaVeles taking damage by Ivan "Drakona" YorganovVeles fending off Elena with easeVeles cutting a tree with bare handsVeles' goat formVeles the Father of ZmeysVeles fighting Perun and SvetovidVeles terrorizing Karpaty MountainsVeles eradicating Carabus IslandVeles destroying Ognebog

## Trivia

* His appearance is based off of Tsukasa Shishio from *Dr. Stone*.
* Veles likes watching over sheep. When Krali Marko attacked his palace, he noted how the underworld lord's backyard was filled with souls of sheep, which Veles presumably took good care of, which made Marko hesitate for a moment.
* Veles actually wanted Bozhidar to be his friend, but his loyalty towards his friends and the human race ultimately put an impassable gap between the two.
* Veles also doesn't really love his father, but he is loyal to him. Even when he was offered a position in Vraj by Rozenica, he declined.