Aestas

> ***"Either befriend or be friendly." - Aestas the Enlivened***
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### Description and Depiction

Aestas' full title is Aestas the Enlivened, and he is the god of ambition, grave, light, nature, and unity. He is the second oldest out of the four gods of Huldain. He teaches that we should treat our enemies as friends, our friends as family, and our family as if they were ourselves, that we should enjoy life because it's short, and to take advantage of all of our freedoms (including the freedom to change religion). Aestas doesn't believe in pointless violence or trying to convert stubborn heretics. He is depicted as a young, middle-aged man who has blonde hair with green eyes, wearing somewhat similar attire to that of a bard. He is rather tall with an athletic build. He also has a necklace with a sun symbol and many rings on his fingers. His common symbols are clefs, freedom, freesias, music, revelry and the sun.

### History

Aestas was born before Huldain like the gods. Jólnir was the one who created Huldain, Aestas, however, was the first to start a religion, then Ostara copied Aestas but perfected it with the use of candles, Aestas and Jólnir then copied Ostara. The three gods then convinced Lord Samhain to join in. Aestas gains his power from his followers' candle ceremony and because of Aestas’ basis on partying it’s much more of an entertaining event than any of the other candle ceremonies with alcohol, barbeques, and fireworks. Back when Kygan was a monarchy the kings and queens would be crowned at the candle ceremonies. It’s the only candle ceremony that takes a week, the last day is to recover and try and make it home. Aestas can reach Huldain by way of a tower called Otsum Tower, a tower built by Jólnir himself. Aestas was the first god to use this tower, and he used it to go to Essapin, once there he was able to convince an Aarakocra to worship him. This Aarakocra then grew the religion from there. His followers then conquered places all over Huldain because his followers thought everyone needed Aestas' optimistic teachings. The faith has changed since becoming friendlier and more about loving thy neighbor. Although a smile can be infectious, it wasn't enough as Aestas just wasn't reliable enough for most of Huldain and the following only truly stuck in Kygan. Aestas has many sacred songs.

### Relationships with the Other Gods

As the second oldest of the four gods of Huldain, Aestas likes to just have a good time with his family and doesn't really worry about what is going on between them. The positive energy he endorses meant many of followers tried to spread the word, though many times he just ended up being kicked out as the one true god. His brothers and sister slightly dislike Aestas for this, though who could stay mad at him? Aestas' followers believe that Ostara is equal to Satan, Jólnir is Aestas’ chef, and Lord Samhain is Aestas’ friend.

### Aestas' Congregation

Aestas' most devout followers are the monks and Guru of Kygan, they take up residence in Kygan's monasteries. The leader of the monks is called the Guru, it is not known why the Guru has to live alone on the top of Mt. Solberk, but that is tradition. It is believed the Guru is a prophet, but since they live alone, it is not known if they actually can speak to Aestas or not. Gurus are monks who had a meteor cross the night sky when they were born. Being a monk is a full-time position while in that position, you are supported by yourself and other monks. The monks usually wear a yellow or white pair of pants, no shirt and a cloak, if they are a woman they wear bandages across the top of their chest. The Guru wears a full hooded cloak covering their entire body with a sun symbol on the back. The monks do not have ceremonial garbs. They have sun symbols on their cloak, so you can recognise them. The monks' holy site is Mount Solberk. Some monks go around Kygan in carts trying to spread spirituality. The monks consider righteous action to be compromising with the enemy, especially over a meal. The monks are the only ones in possession of the books of Aestas. According to these books, when following Aestas, there are four sins you shouldn't commit; rudeness, reticent, retrogression and rift. The hierarchy of the religion is the Guru at the top, the monks under them and then the Kygan residents at the bottom.

### Followers

Aestas is worshipped mostly by the inhabitants of Kygan, and though it is wrong, his followers believe Aestas created Huldain in his own image out of flowing molten lava. His followers are very relaxed people, they do not have a strict regimen to follow to worship Aestas, but whenever they throw a party, they make sure to raise a toast for him. If they need to pray to Aestas, they can pray near bright light sources, though they only pray on overcast days when they can’t see the sun, believing that on sunny days they already have his blessing. To be more in touch with Aestas, they can climb Mount Solberk to pray to the sunstone at the summit. Aestas usually gathers followers by his followers' word of mouth. When followers of Aestas die, they are granted an invitation to the Feast of Aestas, depending on how they lived their life they either have eternal bliss of revelry and meals or relentless service of the feast. Birth is celebrated by his followers by dipping the newborn baby in a keg of alcohol if the baby dies, they weren’t meant for this world. Marriage isn’t a thing in Aestas’ religion as everyone should have the freedom to do whatever they want while not tied down by marriage. Death is not a somber affair for Aestas believers; they gather family and friends and celebrate the dead person’s life. They also pay the waiter’s tip into the barrel (coffin). The corpse and barrel are then lit on fire. Aestas' followers believe that bad luck and bad days are par for the course of life and say that at least they’ll have something to talk about at parties.