Aurora

## Aurora, the Martyr

Traditional Symbol of Aurora

The Eyes of Light

Aurora was an Apothietic God of the Nibirian Pantheon. She was the pivotal actor in the Battle of Meggido that lead the armies of Rhine against a force known only as "The Tide". It was her sacrifice that officially ended the conflict. Known as The Martyr, The Silent Knight, and the Eyes of Light, her portfolio included empathy, self-understanding, and self-sacrifice. Her domains were Life, Knowledge, and Nature. Followers of Aurora were known as Children of Silence or Light-Born.

## History

Aurora was an orphan child who was adopted by King Léonidas during her formative years. She grew up under his tutelage and was being groomed to take place as the next monarch of the kingdom of Griffall. She was taught everything about ruling a kingdom from politics to self-defense. Though Aurora always wished for a more simple life.

During her later life, Aurora overheard her father discussing her with a soothsayer, who claimed that Aurora would cause untold death and destruction unless contained. When Léonidas claimed that he would consider his options, it caused the two to have the most heated argument of Aurora's life, unintentionally unleashing a hidden power from within her.

During what is now known as the Shadowfall, the entire sky of Griffall went dark and a hoard of shadow demons were released onto the city. Many citizens, including Léonidas's father, died in the resulting conflict. This lead to Aurora running away from home with her friends, and later apostles. One of her future apostles, Aumi, wished to sail across The Scar, on the word that a secret can be found on an island in the World's End could guide them across.

She sailed across the World's End, finding many ancient structures and encountering a group growing in power known only as "The Tide." It was during their exploration of these outer-world islands that she learned her connections to these Shadow Demons are due to The Tide offering her soul to the demons of their cult of chaos.

It is unknown how, but it is said that shortly after this revelation Aurora and her followers vanished for three years. However, when they returned they had claimed to come from "The Lost Continent" and that their secret must never be divulged to the larger world.

When she returned, Aurora had control over her own powers and came with information about the Tide. She gathered the kingdoms of Rhine and brought Léonidas, Ardon, and Devron together to fight at the Battle of Meggido, where The Tide planned on using Aurora to open the gates of the Abyss. Aurora gained a mass of followers and created the largest army to have yet seen, yet most of them did not fight. Aurora climbed Mount Arma alone, and her followers faith in her ability to lead unlocked something within her. Within her fiendish origins Aurora revealed an inner light that pierced the night sky, caused the clouds and stars themselves to part. Some say, the explosion of light resembled that of a celestial butterfly. And, without a single word spoken in the dead of night, the conflict was over and the forces of the tide were gone.

Some sources suggest a conflict did actually occur, and blood was spilt, based on expeditions into the Echoing Planes where the battle of Meggido took place. Though evidence suggest if the armies were as big as suggested in the texts of the Obscurus Luxum, that Aurora ended the conflict shortly after the first blade was swung. This causes some historians to refer to the conflict as the "30 second war."

## Description

In life, Aurora was a shorter woman with black hair drawn as either an angled bob or tied up behind her. She is also always depicted with a shoulder cape either coming from or covering a pauldron that some suggest have a visage of a dragon on it, giving homage to her father Léonidas. She has also been described as wielding a longsword with essences of shadows wrapping around her arms. More religious interpretations of her display her with radiant wings reminiscent of butterfly wings, as well as having pupil-less eyes made of light.

## Realm

Aurora is said to reside within the Astral Sea, watching over her followers as a being of pure light. She interacts with people the least of the three apothietic gods, but it is said that followers of Aurora are sent to her from MaHavet, and from there she talks with them about their life, and the soul can choose where they reside for the rest of eternity. Many religious scholars speculate if this is true, Aurora might be the bane of every other god.