Kyros

"I will be the undoing, the final flash in the endless dark. You will hear my rage in the cold night, my fervor under the dark cloud. With my coming you will know naught but terror. My will is final, the beginning and the end. It was the first, and it will be the last. Question me again, mortal..." - Kyros, to a mortal questioning his power.

Kyros, also known as the Storm Warden, is the god of the tempest in Oriath. His symbol is a spear of lightning. Often smallfolk assume that because of his title, Kyros controls the storms and commands them to ravage the world. This is far from the reality however. The energies that flow through the world are always a state of constant turmoil, causing seas to roil, hurricanes to form, earthquakes to sunder, and volcanoes to erupt. Left unchecked, these energies would tear apart the world in an apocalypse like no other. Kyros is what prevents that from happening. With his power he can calm the storms, controlling them to a degree that Oriath is safe. However his power is not without bounds and no one being can quell every tempest. It is not always the best course of action to simply nullify a storm either, and many times Kyros will exert his power to channel the stormy energies to exact his will.

Kyros himself can be temperamental in nature, like the storms he associates with and his voice is said to sound like rolling thunder. He is said to have a furious temper and fights with a spear of pure lightning. He especially revels in violence between other celestial beings, though none know why. Generally he holds very naturalistic beliefs. All beings come from energy, and in death their energy returns to the world while their soul passes on to the upper or lower planes. As a god the laws of man don’t concern him and so he is more prone to following his emotion and temper. The laws of man may not concern him, but he still holds their lives as important regardless. He is ultimately a protector after all.

General Beliefs and Values:

* Death is a natural part of existence, and killing is necessary to maintain the circle of life. Heedless murder causes unnecessary imbalance however and is frowned upon.
* For a beings energy to properly return to the world, they should receive a burial with the appropriate rites. Ideally a burial at sea.
* Magic is much like a storm in itself and is a perfectly natural part of the world. A magic practitioner should be aware of the power they are dealing with and treat it with the proper respect.
* Listen to your emotions and instincts. Internal conflict is a storm in itself; it should be heard, controlled, and channelled.

Worship of Kyros is sparse, as he isn’t one of the three brothers, nor is he a patron deity of one particular race. There are no established churches or large organisations put in place to worship him. The only “priests” he has are the few Storm Sentinels scattered across Oriath, protecting his mysterious temples. That’s not to say Kyros is without worship however. Many sailors and fisherman pray regularly to Kyros for protection at sea or a stormless Autumn. Occasionally one might even venture out to one of the holy temples, to make prayer directly to Kyros before venturing out on a long voyage. Kyros is well known by the smallfolk of the coast as a protector, and occasionally punisher.

There are many temples dedicated to Kyros scattered all across the lands of Oriath. They are confirmed to exist in Aegoa, however it is unknown whether other such shrines exist across the great oceans. Not much is known about the temples as a collective whole, and it is even rumoured that their age predates even Kyros himself. Each temple could be wholly different from another, though they do often share common traits. Many hold the honorific “Kyr” before their name, such as the temple “Kyr Tolen”, and more often than not their foundations lie near the sea. At any given time, a temple will be protected and maintained by a single Storm Sentinel. When a Storm Sentinel is unavailable to protect the temple, Kyros himself is able to grant it brief protection until the sentinel returns. The temples have stood the test of time for thousands of years without fall, which says a great deal about whatever magical properties keep them safe.

Known temples include:

* Kyr Tolen, on the eastern coast of Elerest