Thatia, Light of the Sun, God of Fire

Thatia is the light of the sun and god of fire; she is among the most widely worshipped and beloved of all the divinities. Her domain includes light, fire, sun, heat, combustion, energy, inspiration, vitality, passion (love and anger), action, radiant energy, order, desolation, and incendiary change.

Summary

Amtaeus and Yionn soon realized that the various forms of life to which they gave rise were born into a universe both cold and dark, and that the life cultivated in such conditions were cold of heart and dark of purpose. For these various First Children, Amtaeus and Yionn devised spaces and realms hospitable to them and suited to their natures. As realm after realm came to be populated by dark, cruel, ravenous, or malicious forms, Yionn desired the creation of beings and creatures capable of cooperation, propagation, and love. She realized the creation of such beings and creatures required a space of warmth, light, and abundance for them to be born into and in which to live. Thus she and Amtaeus set about the generation of their divine siblings, forming great vessels capable of absorbing the energies of dense concentrations of lumenspawn, and investing these with the spark of life. The first of these siblings was a conflagaratory being of light and heat, the very essence of fire: Thatia.

Whereas Amtaeus could give things form and function, and Yionn could invest forms with life, it was Thatia who could cast warmth and light and impregnate forms with these properties, changing their very nature from cold to warm. So hot and so bright was Thatia’s power that she was bid to leave Amteaus’ workshop and choose a distant sphere of creation to establish her home, and, with her powers of fire and light, to form within that sphere the preconditions for beings such as Yionn desired, beings who live in warmth and light. Thatia chose what simple folk refer to as Crommen, but what the learned refer to as the material plane, and took up the heavens as her home, and fashioned there a great flying disc in which to live.

Historical Basis

Fire cults and sun worshippers have a long history among the speaking people's of the world, most of whom have tales within their myth cycles of men and women steeped in the mysteries of fire and light and capable of performing miracles and deeds of great power. The Orcish folk sing the praise of Gruumshakk!, a warrior chief of legend who is reputed to have summoned orbs of fire to smite their enemies. The Elves sing of Shalleh'ia'teea, a mystic from before the Dragonfell who summoned daylight itself when the dragons of the dark punished her people to 1000 years of darkness. And the Halfling continue to tell tales of Twyne Reddel who saved his people in the Age of Rebellion by summoning a wall of flame. Depending on the tale and the teller, these figures may be regarded as Thatia's avatars, people literally embodying the divinity of fire and light on earth. Usually, however, they are regarded as prophets and saints either greatly favored by Thatia or needed by her for some purpose.

Spread

While Thatia is among the most revered and worshipped among the divinities, some folk place Thatia on a second or even third tier. The Gnomes of the Rock and the Gnomes of the Wood, for example, tend to hold Cutaeus, the divinity of the stormlight, at the center of their religious life; and the dwarves tend to favor Amtaeus. Sages hypothesize that the swamp folk, likewise, place Thatia on the periphery of their worship, but even less is known of the ways of these savage people than the extraordinarily secretive gnomes. The Vapayai, meanwhile, are unique among the speaking people's of Crommen in that they worship Thatia almost to the exclusion of the other divinities.

Variations & Mutation

Being among the most favored of the divinities, the myths and legends surrounding Thatia are subject to considerable variation. Some cultures have it that Thatia was not fashioned by Amtaeus and Yionn, but was found by them, a stray travelling flame incinerating creation wherever she would go, and that Amtaeus and Yionn made for her a great spherical furnace so that she might control her fires and direct them to supporting the work of creation. In other versions, Thatia sprang up from the fires of Amtaeus' ovens. And in many versions of the tale Amtaeus is blinded by Thatia, which becomes the cause of her eviction from his workshop.

Cultural Reception

People learned early that sun and fire bring with them light, warmth and growth, and that too little just as too much of them brings desolation, destruction and death. Of all the divinities it is perhaps Thatia who is appealed to most for favor or forgiveness. While Yionn may rule over health, hearth and home, it is Thatia who, through drought or darkness, can render the health, hearths, and homes of entire kingdoms into fecundity or waste. It is perhaps for this reason that the Temple of Light rose to such prominence as the chief organizational structure binding together the public service role of clergy and shepherding the worship and faith of the communities in which temples and chapels came to be situated.

In Literature

There are many literary works featuring Thatia. Within the Realm of a Dying Sun is among the best known; many people can recite portions of it. It is a lengthy epic featuring the hero Gyeirgen, an avatar of Thatia, who must fulfill twelve great tasks to restore sunfire to the world. To perform the entire epic would take at least ten hours, but embellished with instrumental passages and stage performance it would take even longer. Once every ten years, in the city of Eversunn, the entire epic is publicly performed over the course of seven days at the time of the summer solstice.

In Art

In art, Thatia is variously depicted as a flaming sphere, a beam of light, or a woman with coppery skin and a severe countenance, usually wreathed in yellow or amber flames, or draped in similarly colored robes. Her symbol is typically a circle or sphere with any number of rays extending from it, usually eight, but sometimes as few as four and not uncommonly as many as twelve. Sometimes she is allegorically depicted as a torch. Perhaps the most famous visual artpiece depicting Thatia is located in the Great Temple of Light in the Holy City within the City of Eversunn. It as a large mosaic depicting 'The First Dawn', and encompasses the walls and ceiling of an entire chapel within the temple.