Athelios

Primarily believed to be the aspect of Ymir's duality, Athelios is often credited to govern either conflicting or complementary domains. Light and shadow, the sun and the moon, law and crime, justice and mercy. Depictions of his mythos may vary, those foreign or even contemptuous of his worship believe his history is a sordid and deceptive one, yet the main branches of Athelios worship view him as a benevolent redeemer and the one guiding light to true cosmic balance. Some that remain in the middle believe the cloaked god masked in black and white to be a mix of the two, after all he's often portrayed bearing two separate personalities that shift with the setting and rising of the sun.

Of Ymir’s children, Athelios took to a different crowd than most in his presence on Meranthe. Though most of his siblings would bless and guide those that already sought to fit their image of perfect followers, Athelios looked beyond those already on his desired path. He took to criminals and outcasts, guiding them to better lives. In doing so, he’d learned more of their capabilities and talents, using them to convert more and more. Humanity’s capability to sin was a part of them. Those who fall into the shadows turned out to be the most suited to rising to light. A philosophy that could not withstand Helheim, yet it remains one with such ambition to inspire many to seek that same cosmic order.

Pre-Divine War

When the ten walked Meranthe, Athelios took a more subtle role in the world. He would still appear for his worshippers, guiding them in conflict and strife, but he also explored the darker parts of their societies in times of peace.

There are stories and legends that often depict Athelios disguising himself as a mortal, clad in a cloak and typically masked. Criminals and their organisations would be infiltrated, the cloaked advisor often being too knowledgeable for them to ignore. He’d explore their operations curiously, acquiring knowledge of the workings of the outcasts and villains. The stories would always involve Athelios making suggestions for refocus to whomever he ingratiates himself with.

He would be depicted as offering guidance masked as curiosity. “Wouldn’t your operation be more efficient if you’d invested in raising the homeless and downtrodden to be loyal workers?” and “If you’re so knowledgeable in the creation of these illegal substances, isn’t there a profit to be made in using that knowledge in medicine and alternatives for addiction?”

The stories progress with Athelios learning more of the inner workings of those he infiltrated, and the ultimate state of whomever he’d associated with functioning no different to benevolent philanthropists, yet with all that guile they had from their existence in darkness prior.

These myths highlight not only Athelios’ capability of redeeming others, but they also portray even the sinners and criminals in a positive light. Their own craftiness and capability to function as they had isn’t discounted, it’s praised and repurposed for a grander goal. The stories don’t only end with the sinners learning an important lesson, but even Athelios is depicted to have gained a new perspective from the experience as well.

That was the goal, as Athelios sought the spread of these myths and stories, that concept that sinners only needed a nudge in the right direction was one he hoped to spread far and wide.

Divine War Involvement

For the first divine war, Athelios actually took to the rebellious position against the angels that sought to wipe away humanity's freedoms. He understood the fallibility of man to be part of Kraus’ vision, and he’d fully devoted himself to exploring their ability to redeem themselves. He took to Azrael’s side and helped secure humanity’s freedom.

For the same principles, he of course sided with the council in the second Divine War against The Betrayer. Though he once fought alongside him, to maintain man’s fallibility to further explore their capability for redemption, Athelios firmly stood as Azrael’s enemy.

When it became time to leave Meranthe and govern the spirit world, Athelios sought the most ambitious role of his siblings. He became Helheim’s guardian, shouldering the responsibility of caring for the darker spirits and souls his siblings would rather not deal with. Helheim called to the souls of strife, the ones with darkness in their hearts and proclivity for sin from their previous life. Athelios attempted that which he always had, providing stronger organisation and order to those weary souls, working to cleanse and repurpose some of that darkness for their rebirth.

Helheim's Fall

All who would die with tainted souls would find their way to Athelios, some seemingly too far gone for redemption. Helheim itself drew them there, as it was intended to, but it had also begun working against Athelios in that same vein. A realm meant to house and attract all the world’s evils could no longer stand for its ruler’s attempts at expunging it.

The marquis of Helheim formed, Athelios sought to staunch the spread of chaos that worked to steal his realm from him, but with ease they managed to taint the souls even further. Athelios was overwhelmed with the souls under his care being shifted into Nethradin and vile patrons of condensed chaos and evil. Despite his efforts, he was pushed back from his own realm, struck back by one of the marquis at the behest of the dark lord and forced into either exile or hiding within his own realm, the reality still debated by his followers.

The defeat and betrayal struck at Athelios to his core, depictions of how he handled the encroaching conflict within his realm vary. Some say his failure was due to his strict adherence to his ethics when his enemies were the lack of which personified. Some say this is where Athelios’ second personality began to form, adopting the cruelty of his enemies in a desperate bid to push them back, some go as far as to say he even resorted to forming and relying on his own Nethradin, but stories that go to these extremes are often disputed by worshippers.

Regardless, Athelios’ delve and development of a cruel personality that had been forming since his time exploring the darkness of the world is generally believed to culminate to its most extreme point in this conflict. Athelios could not fully abandon his beliefs and personage, instead shifting towards that festering cruelty within the night as he returned to his senses during the day. Some claim the shifting of personality has none to do with the time of day though, believing the crueller to sometimes pretend to be the merciful for an edge.

The Citadel Upon the Edge

Athelios' devoted believe him to have retreated to a castle that orbits upon Helheim's edge, between the remaining light of existence and the absolute limit of the dark lord's reach. It is said that within this realm in between, Athelios mounts the gathering of humanity's most capable, from the noble to the redeemed, to eventually rid Helheim of the encroaching culmination of humanity's sins beyond redemption. Learning that his mistakes have escaped into the land he once called home, beckoned and summoned by witches and riftmancers that further violate the cosmic order of the cycle he hoped to perfect, Athelios created his race of devotees, the Faceless.

The Faceless represented his accumulated guile and knowledge of organization and secrecy. Crafted meticulously to be the epitome in espionage and subterfuge, acting as effective spies and deadly assassins, the Faceless were tasked with ridding the world of the vile filth that the stolen Helheim spewed, as well as growing and strengthening the Athelios faith on Meranthe to further strengthen the deity for an eventual taming of Hel, leading to an operation which lead to the founding of the kingdom of Aphros, still lead by an Oracle of Athelios since its formation.

Their ability change appearance and identity was not only incorporated to mimic the deity or for its practical use, however. They, and all of his followers were tasked not only with cleansing, but learning.

He'd learned that there existed evil that rendered some like the takers of Helheim beyond his redemption, yet it brought about conflict within Athelios. When was a soul beyond that teaching he sought to share? When does one escape that cycle of betterment, where they've fallen so far that they could only fall further? Athelios held the perspective of a god, he could not make this assertion on his own with a perspective that differed from theirs. If he was to judge when those gifted with mortality have completely absconded that cycle, it could not be done without the input of those very same mortals.

So Athelios beseeched his progeny, his followers, his faithful and devoted, the faceless and all other mortals. To not only cleanse their lands of the invaders he could not hold, but to learn from them and from one another. To look into the many lives of their fellow mortals, to see the light and shadow within their souls, to discover where that line was and to share their answers with him.

He beseeched them to join them after death in the Citadel Upon the Edge, as warriors, as members of the court that would judge the souls they'd sent to him. To see whether they could be redeemed, or whether they deserved that redemption. Whether they too would join the Citadel's ranks in cleansing Helheim, or if their souls too had belonged there all along.