Annalyon

Annalyon (pronounced: *an-NA-lyon*) is the god of light, honor, truth and protection who is worshipped by many mortals around Aldmeer since he is viewed as the protector of mortal races. He is said to bring light into the hearts of mortals, and illuminate all dark places in the world both literally and figuratively. He is a staunch enemy of all evil deities bar none, and does not look favorably at those who would side with them. He frowns at those whose lies bring harm and those who live by and act without a shred of honor.

He was once a mortal, a human who grew up among lenavi, who once stood with Calaseid and fought against the Primordials during the Divine Rain. During that time he saved countless members of the lenavi race even though the Great Lenavi Civilization was lost. His efforts during that time elevated him into divinity.

## Church and Clergy

Annalyon’s church and clergy believe that there is light in every mortal’s heart, and they will not give up on someone who seems to have been lost to dark thoughts and actions, and/or evil deities. Of course, if that mortal poses a threat to others they will ensure that everyone is protected from that threat and even fight to pacify that person; killing them is their final and last resort. However, they do believe that the person must atone for their sins, and in order to do that said person must first find the so-called light inside them and give back to the community a hundredfold. If they have committed sins beyond measure and it seems that there is no hope of ever finding the light, then the light in them is considered lost.

They hate the dark goddess Ansephal and consider her faithful their enemies. They feel obligated to purge them wherever they can be found. Of course, they try to make them see the error of their ways but in most cases, Ansephal’s mortal worshippers are too far gone. They also believe that unlike everyone else, the creatures known as alkatars who have been spawned by lenavi that Ansephal corrupted, have no light inside them. There are orders to hunt and kill vampires with no questions asked wherever they find them. Only should an alkatar explicitly go by themselves into a church of Annalyon, profess their sins and giving themselves to the god is not to be executed immediately. Of course, the church will test such an alkatar to see if they are truthful. If not they will be smitten. Only three alkatars in the church’s long history have been known to have done that, but none passed the test and have found the light. There are some priests claiming that since vampires have tried finding the light before, it should be the church’s duty to help them in that endeavor and not outright kill them. However, many others oppose that idea saying that it is too dangerous to try and reason with vampires, and that since there is no solid proof of vampires embracing the light it should not be encouraged to consort with them. Whether vampires avoid these temples and don’t trust these clerics because they tend to be absolute in their views that vampires are inherently evil, or that they are avoiding them because the vampires truly are evil is debated among scholars.

They also believe that the less a person is lying the better. They understand that sometimes a lie is required but it should be a lie with no malevolent intent or a lie that cannot have foreseen bad consequences. Still, they try not to lie if it can be helped; only lying to save lives and such. There are some of Annalyon’s worshippers though that take this to extremes and never lie no matter what. There have been instances of paladins of Annalyon where they upheld the truth no matter what and in the outcome of that decision catastrophe and tragedy came to pass. Annalyon does not put the truth above the safety and well-being of others and so such paladins lost their divine power that the god gave them as a result.

## The Feud with Ansephal

Ansephal was once a Solar in the service of Annalyon, bringing his light wherever she went. However, the eons of her hunting demons and her time spent outside Annalyon’s holy realm exposed her into more extreme ideals. She had developed views that went against her god’s teachings and little by little she found ways to distort Annalyon’s orders and instructions to do what her own lawful code dictated. One fateful moment, she decided that she had to sneak out of divine realm, the personal weapon of Annalyon and use it against an army of demons that had invaded Aldmeer. Annalyon had already dispatched echelons of angels to drive them back including Ansephal. However, it was strictly forbidden to wield Annalyon’s almighty weapon, much less steal it and use it in the material plane no less. The other angels saw Ansephal wielding the weapon; she could not even fully control it, and tried to talk her out of it and stop her. Ansephal was convinced that her way of dealing with things was more effective and that it was a waste that such an almighty weapon should remain doing basically nothing. Of course, the instruments of gods are meant to be wielded only by gods, and Ansephal was not a god. When the other celestials tried to take from her by force, she unleashed its power and being unable to control it how she wanted she decimated more than 200 celestials; diminishing the echelons might and leaving them powerless to fight the rampaging demons in the Material. Annalyon then appeared in front of her; he was absolutely furious with Ansephal’s actions. Having been fed up with her shenanigans and disobedience, this last act was the last straw. After an outrage about her killing her fellow angels, stealing from her god and sabotaging a crucial mission, much less of what would have happened if she unleased the weapon on the material, Annalyon banished her from his realm and the upper planes in general, and forbade her to ever return. When Ansephsal fell to the lower planes, she slowly descended into chaos and darkness. Influenced by the corrupting Abyss, she became fixated with getting her vengeance against the Heavens and in particularly Annalyon, her former mentor and god. In time she became a Demon Lord and conquered a layer of the Abyss for herself. From there, she amassed enough followers and power to become a deity; the goddess of darkness and corruption as she sought to undo and sabotage anything Annalyon stands for.

The god of light has fought the influence of Ansephal all over the planes for eons and tries to prepare his worshipper so they can in turn protect others. He even created the goddess of purity, Elalie, to combat and purify what corruption Ansephal can spread. Unfortunately he did that after he took wind that the Corruptor had created the vampires. No matter what though, he and his angels are always on the lookout for her schemes.

Annalyon himself does not hate Ansephal though, rather he is saddened by what she has done and what she has become, and saddened that mortals pay for her fall. He has similar views about alkatars.

## As a mortal

While he was a human, Annayon was born in a great city of the Great Lenavi Civilization that is now lost. He grew as a lenavi among lenavi, and was raised by his three loving lenavi parents. He was raised by his father and mothers to be a loyal and truthful man. One of his mothers trained him as a warrior, and the other as a mage, and when he came of age he started adventuring.

On his adventures he did some great deeds, saving villages and towns from various threats, dispatching a dragon tyrant, saving a forest from the influence of foul spirits and much more. His crowning achievement prior to defeating the primordial Zalakista with the help of Calaseid, was when he outwitted an archfey and freed a city from their clutches.

He reached apotheosis when the Divine Rain was over, along with other gods like Vakan, Dangad, Gideus and Calaseid. Since then, he is viewed as the protector of mortals as he gave everything and saved countless lives by his selfless actions; moreso than others. The lenavi hold him in great regard.

## Divine Realm

Annalyon’s divine realm is located in Mount Celestia and is dubbed as the Bright Castle. It supposedly is an illuminated holy castle that contains cities where all of his petitioners live. They say that the Bright Castle cannot be breached and sheds such a light that it can be viewed from all layers of Mount Celestia.