Suriyel
Suriyel, also known as the Dreamlord, Nodens, and the Moth on the Moon by the Auriledi, is the god of the moon, dreams, illusions, rebirth, cycles, frenzy, and memory. They are once of the principle gods of the night, alongside their wife Kokabiel, and patron deity of dream elves, changelings, moths, wolves, illusionists, and the nation of Bethe. They are also the lord of Somnia, the Plane of Dreams.
In Lucine tradition, Suriyel is one of the two eldest divine children of Tamiel, with Lailah as their twin. They are also known for their rivalries with the god Turiel and the Archon Ygravone.
Mythology
The Suriyel Cycle
According to Lucine tradition, Suriyel was born shortly after the end of the War in Heaven as the first godly offspring of Tamiel. Initially, Suriyel was adopted by Kushiel the Godsmith, the rebuilder of Heaven, who taught Suriyel to shape and control the fragments of Heaven, and the divine essence they shone with. While Kushiel initially intended for Suriyel to serve as his partner in the Rebuilding, Suriyel soon grew discontent, and they departed the Empyrean to travel the emerging planar landscape, in a journey which would last for 30 eventful days. Suriyel first journeyed to Gea, the Plane of Earth. Here, as Suriyel had learned from Kushiel, Turiel the Mountain had been laboriously fashioning a partner-world for Eosis as a gift to Tamiel and her mortal children, in the hopes of winning her affection. When Suriyel announced his coming to Turiel, the Earth god organized a lavish reception in his court of metal and crystal, hoping to impress Tamiel's young offspring. However, Suriyel instead snuck into Turiel's forge, and was so awestruck by the silver-white sphere he had made that they could not resist taking it. Suriyel fled the Plane of Earth before Turiel's wrath could fall upon them, this time heading to the Material Plane. Once on Eosis, Suriyel began to live among the Fey and nascent elves, taking on the appearance of a young woman. After spending a season with them, she became awash with guilt over her theft of Turiel's partner-world. She began a trek to the Wise Moths of the Auriledi, to ask. what she should do with the great silver orb. While journeying across the continent of Slederon in her mortal form, Suriyel was attacked by the Oni lord Huar, a great huntsman and dread servant of the Archon Ygravone. When Suriyel proclaimed her divine status as a daughter of Tamiel to the Oni and his hunters, they laughed at her. Suriyel retorted with an offer: if she could not best Ygravone himself in an even fight, they could keep her as their captive, but if she could, they would let her go. Huar mockingly professed his agreement to the challenge, and in response Suriyel summoned Ygravone to the Material Plane. While this combat has been described in many different ways, the Lucine version of the myth depicts the two deities transforming into a pair of wolves to fight on even ground, with Suriyel emerging victorious and peacefully continuing on her journey. It is because of this humiliation, many myths suggest, that Ygravone tethered lycanthropy to the full moon, as an act of spite towards Suriyel. Upon Suriyel's arrival at the Sea of Moths, the Auriledi, likewise awestruck by its shimmering beauty of Turiel's sphere, suggested the young god lift it into the sky to keep the world lit by night. Suriyel gleefully heeded this advice, and proceeded to climb the tallest mountain in the world, the Moonspire. Once at the peak, Suriyel hurled the orb like a javelin into the orbit of Eosis, where it began to shine down its silver light as the Moon. Satisfied with their work, Suriyel returned to traversing the planes, this time followed by a posse of early elves and Fey creatures the god had gathered in their worldly travels. Out in the Periphery, they began to hear of a Great Moth of Nyog'Sothep, Kadathis, who had taken one of the largest fragments of Heaven and created a new plane through which to infest sleeping mortal minds with fears and delusions. Having begun to see themselves as a protector and benefactor to mortals by night, Suriyel resolved to deal with this. Ever the trickster, they adopted the form of a beautiful green moth with flowing, tailed wings, and made a show of courting Kadathis, while the rest of the posse hid amongst the Astral Plane. However, once they were close to the Great Moth, Suriyel swiftly slew him with a silver sickle hidden in their wings, and with the elven army storming in, took the plane for themselves, naming it Somnia. They then fashioned the Moth's body into the city of Kadath near the plane's heart, for their disciples to live in. Here, Suriyel found themselves ready to settle down, as they adopted the persona of the Dreamlord, and their followers who settled in Somnia became the dream elves. With this strange, psychic plane, they could twist the Moth's original purpose to create an amorphous world of fantasy, desire, memory, and gateways to the rest of the cosmos, birthing the mortal experience of dreams. However, exhausted from their journey, Suriyel spent the last of their divine strength to shift Somnia to this new purpose, and collapsed from the strain, dying. As the brilliant god began to fade away, it became the collective dream of all his followers and friends, now holding the strange power of Somnia, to see him resurrected. Miraculously, the power of the plane to realize dreams enabled these to come true, rebirthing Suriyel almost exactly as he had been at the beginning of his journey. The Moon, for its part, settled into a monthly cycle paralleling Suriyel's journey, and Suriyel would often revisit elements of it in likewise fashion: the waxing moon representing their early travels and learning, the full moon representing her aspiration to greatness, the waning moon representing their acceptance of their altruistic and protective side, and the new moon representing both Suriyel's settling down with wholeness of purpose and his subsequent sacrifice, only to be reborn by Somnia.Divine Relationships
Suriyel has a number of notable connections to other gods. From their core myth, they are tied to Tamiel as her child, to Lailah as her sibling, to Kushiel as a student, and to Turiel and Ygravone as rivals. Suriyel also has a unique relationship with their younger sibling Sauriel, the god of autumn and the harvest. The two bear a similar name and are often conflated, particularly in earlier myths, and are not defined as separate gods until the Lucine Empire's codification of the pantheon. In the modern version of the myth, Suriyel and Azrael jointly teach the seaonal gods how to prepare mortals for the death of nature in winter, and its rebirth in spring. As thanks, Sauriel creates the Shadoweve on Ocotober 31st, during which the boundaries between the Material Plane and the Otherworld, Somnia, and the Ethereal Plane are thinned.Kokabiel
Suriyel's relationship to their wife Kokabiel is only mentioned in some tellings of the Suriyel Cycle myth; otherwise, the tale is told separately, and their meeting is generally placed at some point during Suriyel's journey on Eosis.Characteristics
Suriyel is often characterized as a capricious but benevolent trickster god. Their ever-shifting, whimsical, and impulsive nature emulates that of the moon and of dreams. Throughout their myriad aspects and interpretations, Suriyel's gender is said to be expressed differently depending on the lunar cycle. During the Waxing and Waning moons, they are considered androgynous. Suriyel as the Full Moon is generally considered feminine, while Suriyel as the New Moon is, conversely, masculine.Divine Domains
Most interpretations of Suriyel associate them with the domains of Trickery, Twilight, Knowledge, Grave, and/or Mind.
Divine Symbols & Sigils
Suriyel is often represented by various portrayals of the moon, a luna moth, a chrysalis, or a silver wolf. They may also be depicted as a three-faced androgynous god carrying a silver, moon-shaped sickle.
Holidays
Nearly all traditions honor Suriyel in accordance with lunar cycles, as opposed to specific dates. The first full moon and last new moon of the year are the most common pair of festival days.
Suriyel is also a part of the trio of gods honored on the Shadoweve.
Mental characteristics
Gender Identity
Fluid
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