Auleo

**Auleo** was the ancient King of the Iskuzai who led his people to conquer Askedoria. Celebrated as the guardian of knowledge, he is said to have ascended to join the Immortals following his suicide near the Crimson Strait – an event remembered in many songs. Auleo is the divine protector of the homonymous island and city, a symbol of the harmony among the Iskuzai. He is identified with the red star that shines with a particular intensity on the celestial sphere. Although the Molubdenoi reject the worship of Gods, they call Auleo **Masfen-Qasis**, the Prince-Priest and they offer him sacrifices in the Observatory Pyramids. He is part of the Tetrad of Askedoria.

## Epithets

* Aimonios-Astron (Blood-Red Star)
* Ektribos (He Who Uproots the Powerful)
* Emerotes (Civilizer)
* Grammatopinax (Cartographer)
* Koreamunter (Protector of Our Daughters)
* Masfen-Qasis (Prince-Priest)
* Matematos (He Who Understands)
* Naupegos (Builder of Ships)
* Pheoeraiade (Son of Phoeraia)
* Zephrydes (Son of Zephrios)

## Worship and Sacrifices

The cult of Auleo is the most recent in Dodekathia. It arose throughout the region after the great King’s death on the shore of the island that bears his name. Although he is mainly honored by the Iskuzai, the devotion to the Cartographer is widespread among the Etoi and the Hattusas, but with different characteristics.

For the Etoi, Auleo is the destroyer of the Coastal Eparchies and the breaker of the peace established by the thiasoi, and therefore they consider his star’s scarlet light a reminder of the blood shed by their people. In their eyes, Auleo is deemed to be cunning and cruel, and his most often invoked name is *Ektribos* (He Who Uproots the Powerful). In some Eastern Thiasoi, the Etoi perform songs and dances to appease him.

The Hattusas claim that Auleo was the eldest son of the Princess of the White Canoe - a great ruler of their people, born from the blood of Zephryos. Their poets sing that the Princess gave birth to a child who had a malformed leg. The unfortunate infant was abandoned, abiding by the ancient Hattusas customs, and death would have been inevitable for him if a band of Iskuzai nomads, inspired by the same dream they all had the night before, had not found him. Thus, the prophecy of the Oracle of Pesimar was fulfilled, since it had been predicted that a small Hattusas canoe with one oar would defeat the entire war fleet of the Etoi.

The God particularly appreciates human ingenuity and the fruits of wisdom, study and research. The most traditional offerings are statues, tripods, shields, swords, and poetic compositions recited in his sanctuaries. Among the Etoi of the Cirta region, it is customary to sacrifice prisoners of war to the God. A similar tradition also exists among the Hattusas, where rams or slaves are fed to sharks or hung in sanctuaries consecrated to *Auleo Ektribos*.

## Temples and Sanctuaries

The **Geographic Temple** was the palace of the deified King. Within its white walls, the sanctuary preserves the Great Map of Askedoria and the Ophiotaurus Ocean, the fruit of Auleo’s knowledge of the land and the insightfulness of the Etoi navigators. It is also the seat of the sisterhood of Priestess-Cartographers, descendants of those Etoi matriarchs who instructed the God in ancient times. Although now integrated into the Iskuzai cultural world, the sisterhood retains the internal organization of a thiasos. Its initiates daily perform memorial rites in honor of the Twelve Warrior Saints buried on the island.

The **Mausoleums of the Twelve Warrior Saints** are the final resting place for the twelve founders of the major Iskuzai cities. Among them, the ones particularly celebrated and those on whose names Iskuzai take oaths are Letheia the Warrior, Mindos the Architect, Psantes the Navigator, Skie the Poet and Iapitos the Advisor. The Twelve Warrior Saints were the ones that Auleo entrusted the task of forging an alliance of all the Iskuzai that would last forever, which is why the memory of their life is intertwined with the cult of the God and is a symbol of the peace that reigns over the capitals of the Amphictyony.

The **House of the Red Stone** is a sanctuary on the highest promontory of the island of Tartus. Within its walls, the Hattusas and pilgrims of other lands pray to a scarlet-colored rock, which in ancient times fell from the sky with such force that the strip of land connecting this terrain to the mainland was submerged, making it an island. The stone is still warm, and only the priests of the sanctuary can touch it. The mysterious meteorite is said to come from the Red Star, therefore it is considered a powerful talisman, for which the citizens of Tartus would be willing to give their lives.

## Rites and Festivities

The **Ekphanesiae** are a festival that celebrates the pre-winter months of the year, in which the Red Star is most visible in the sky, becoming the third brightest object at night after the two Hekaterides. The celebrants carry red painted lamps in a procession, accompanied by the sound of flutes. Legend has it that Auleo’s suicide took place in those exact days, and so it is not a coincidence that the anemones, algae and red corals of the Crimson Strait grow faster in autumn. The Ekphanesiae are celebrated throughout Askedoria, but have particular importance for the island of Aulea and the neighboring cities, such as Beitris, Irria and Letheia.

The **Epagai** are another sumptuous autumnal festival celebrated in the thiasoi of the Cirta region, where Auleo is believed to be the keeper of the Iskuzai military prowess. During the festivities, the most beautiful women of that land dance, accompanied by the rhythm of gigantic drums. In this way, the thiasoi try to persuade the God to descend upon these Etoi maidens and produce progeny of invincible, cunning warriors.

The **Sublime Offering** is a rite that the Iskuzai perform only on the occasions when ruin looms over their city and there seems to be no salvation for its inhabitants. Catastrophes, epidemics and famines, or overwhelming enemy forces threatening the city walls - these could be the factors that call for this extreme measure. When dangers like those are imminent, a wise old man is chosen among the aristocratic lineages or the most celebrated scholars; he then walks alone towards the nearest stream and cuts his wrist with a sharp bronze blade - those were the actions of Auleo killing himself, according to what tradition recalls. Thus, the sacrifice is believed to turn the gaze of the God towards those who most need his favor.

## Talismans

The **Compass of Auleo the Hyperborean** is a wondrous instrument kept in the Blue Library of Adramittum. This extraordinary invention is called the Compass of Auleo the Hyperborean. It can protect travelers from storms, guarantees favorable winds and always marks the north, orienting the spoon in the center of the dial with immaculate precision. Poets sing of the Compass, before it was put to rest in the Library, guiding Xuta, the daughter of Eurysaces, on the long journey that led her to discover the remote archipelago known as the Tooth of Zagrea, the southernmost point of the Ophiotaurus Ocean that the Iskuzai have explored.