Caius, God of War

Caius is the God of War. He was created by Guul during the First Era.

The *Librum ad Finem* lists Caius as one of the deities that will bring about the end of Somara.

## Origins and Creations

Caius was created alongside Nox and Xyas as part of the Triad of Entropy. Caius helped introduce the concept of war and battle to the early mortal societies.

Sometime during this time, Caius, participating in a war, fought against Valen, the God of Labor and the Father of the Elves. Caius, repeatedly challenged Valen to combat, calling him (and his race) cowards, until Valen finally relented and fought against him. During their duel, Valen put out Caius's eye, a slight that Caius has not forgotten.

At an unknown point in time, Caius gained control of the Outer Plane known as Acheron, which he turned into an endless battlefield, were war is the only constant. Souls who enter Acheron are thrown into the combat, trapped in an endless cycle of death and battle.

Caius has a son, Dionus, with Iella.

## Appearance

Caius tends to take on a wide variety of mortal forms. Typically, when he joins a conflict, he adopts an appearance similar to that of the soldiers he fights alongside, to better blend in with them. The only common thread is Caius's right eye. Owing to his pride, Caius chooses never to remove this injury whenever he appears as a mortal; as a result, every form he takes wears an eye patch over its right eye.

Caius's most favored form seems to be that of a tall, burly orc (even for that race's standards), owing to that race's ties to combat and war. His pale green skin is heavily scarred, with a clean-shaven head and face. He wears heavy plate armor, and carries a pair of blood-stained battleaxes.

Aside from appearing as an orc, Caius has been known to often take human, dwarf, and goblinoid forms, among many others. However (likely due to his feud with Valen) Caius has never been known to appear as an elf.

## Personality

Caius lives for the thrill of battle and combat. He frequently will enter Somara in the guise of a mortal form to join ongoing conflicts, living and dying endlessly with the high of adrenaline coursing through him. Though not much of a strategist, Caius is deceptively perceptive and quick-witted. He has mastered every from of combat to exist on Somara, and can wield any weapon he picks up with extreme skill.

Caius respects strength more than anything else, and typically forces his worshipers to undergo some grueling physical task to prove their worth to him. Sometimes, he will take on a mortal form and challenge his worshipers to fight him to the death in order to insure that none of his servants are weak.

Caius has a good relationship with Mogus, God of Warriors, and the two frequently fight alongside or against each other. He also seems to care for Iella, the Goddess of Beauty, even having a son with her, though this relationship did not last. Though he and Dionus have differing outlooks on warfare, Caius seems to show respect for his son, and he harbors an appreciation for the effect strategy can have on warfare, though he has no interest in it himself.

Caius is mortal enemies with Valen, and because of this, he generally despises elves and half-elves, rarely entertaining them and often joining wars against them. However, there are exceptions to this. He has been known to support drow and shadar-kai efforts, and there have been several half-elf champions of Caius who have earned his respect.

## Worship

Worship of Caius is most common among neutral or evil warlike societies, including orcs, goblinoids, duergar, some chromatic dragonborn, githyanki, and goliaths. Though most of his worshipers tend to be fighters and barbarians, Caius does not eschew the use of arcane power, and will entertain clerics of the War Domain, paladins of the Oaths of Conquest, Treachery, and Vengeance.

Sometimes, when a favored follower of Caius (most usually an orc) slays an elf and burns its corpse as sacrifice to their god, an aspect of Caius will appear to them and demand an additional sacrifice: one of the follower's eyes, symbolizing the eye he himself lost to Valen. If the follower removes one of its own eyes, it gains some spellcasting ability and the right to call itself an Eye of Caius.