Sovethas, The Ashen King

In educated circles, it's unjust how the courts of the Fey are represented as simply a balancing act between summer and winter, life and death. It's shown as if its a simple coin with two edges, one of The Summer Queen and the other of The Queen of Air and Darkness. In actuality, no such division exists so plainly between the Seelie and Unseelie. Their very nature defies such a neat and tidy categorization. For example, though The Queen rules her Unseelie Court from a throne of ice and shadow, it's hardly true that her ancillaries follow rank and file. The Prince of the Long Night commonly bows to his dark Lady, though plots often behind her back. The civilizations of the Satyrs rarely care who their revelry celebrates so long as the mead is plenty and the party carries until the sun rises, sets, and rises once more.

The Ashen King is the greatest exception to this false dichotomy.

Sovethas, as he's been named, stands as the third act to the Feywild's cyclical performance. As the seasons shift from Unseelie to Seelie, and the trees begin to bloom and new life scurries across the forest floor, it's Sovethas' domain that so inspires this change. He is both the lord of renewal and the lord of the embers that burned it down. His missing place among the triumvirate of Fey is simple enough to explain, however, as his absence is self-caused. Unlike the mirrored Queens, he has no desire for governance or godhood among the material races. Instead, he accepts his role as creation's igniting spark and solemnly carries out the necessity of settling the ashes that remain after. Due to his independence, many scholars have begun to question the origins of The Ashen King, as he seems to stand equal to his sister Queens and yet still separate, dependent on neither yet requisite for them both. One theory is that his existence was manifest as Summer and Winter swore the Accords that bind the Feywild to its cycle. Another propose that he is a different sort of Deity that simply chose the Feywild as his seat of power. Either way, his authority is fast and should his worship spread to the Material Plane, it's uncertain what that might mean for either of his sister's ambitions. 

Domain

The Grove of the Burnwillows

The Feywild is a fluid place, with no true definition of north or south, middle, or end. Even more so, however, is The Grove of the Burnwillows, home to the often underrepresented throne of Sovethas, The Ashen King. Some claim that the force of its King's personality keeps the place evasive, flickering like the wicks of its famed flaming branches. Others argue that the place is protected by The Feywild itself, as the Burnwillows are its heart and its most vulnerable place. Either way, it's rare that any non-devout will ever walk beneath the falling branches, like streams of raining flame, for even should they find a path to the mysterious incandescent forest, the denizens there tolerate no trespass.

As a result, many depictions of this place vary greatly in its portrayal. The most famous piece, painted by a D. Hudnut, show the forest as being filled with willow trees with each individual leaf radiating a light like the core of the a blazing hearth. Other representations, such as the famed portrait by C. Childs, instead envision the falling branches of the willow like dripping lava, cascading as a viscous stone towards the fey floor.

Nyran, Hart of the Ashwood

The Hart of the Ashwood is another common muse of Bardic story and art. The stories tell that she is the most ancient being of The Ashwood, another name for the mystic Grove, and is older even then her King. Nyran represents the fundamental chaos in nature. At once she is the defiant growth of the untamed forest, and the roaring flames reducing the trees to cinder. She is the cycle of renewal even moreso than her lord, and while her passing incinerates the world, so too does it clean the path for new growth and new life.

Divine Classification
Prime Archfey

Divine Domains
Creation, Destruction, 
Change, Fire, Nature

Divine Portfolio
The Feywild, Fire, Creation, Destruction

Other Titles
The Ashen King
Lord of the Burnwillows
King of Renewal

Holy Symbol