Thanon
The Unyielding Arrow
In the dawn-light of the cosmic era, when the Eeirendel still walked freely among their divine creations, a momentous event shook the foundations of Aranon's mountain fortress. The year 3501 saw the birth of Thanon, son of Aranon and Thiana, marking the arrival of the first Eeirendelios or "Grandchild of Time." His emergence heralded a new chapter in divine lineage – neither one of the original hundred gods formed by Te Vevutur nor a lesser deity, but something unprecedented: divine offspring born from the union of two Eeirendel. As his first cries echoed through the cavernous halls, the very bedrock of Zerthia trembled in acknowledgment, and veins of precious metals spiraled up from the deepest depths, forming intricate patterns that sages would study for millennia.
From infancy, Thanon displayed both the unyielding might of his father and his mother's radiant nobility. While other divine children played with clouds or ocean waves, young Thanon reshaped entire hillsides with casual gestures, his divine nature manifesting in a profound connection to earth's enduring strength. The mountains themselves seemed to bow in his presence, recognizing in this divine child a master whose will would one day command their deepest foundations. Under his touch, the most stubborn stone flowed like water, responding to his innate understanding of its secret nature.
His formative centuries passed under the tutelage of Kudram, God of Mines and Precious Metals, who recognized in Thanon a kindred appreciation for order and structure. Deep beneath Zerthia's surface, in caverns illuminated by gemstones that had never known sunlight, Kudram taught him to hear the songs of precious metals and to understand the language of crystal formations. These early lessons instilled in Thanon a deep reverence for hierarchy and natural law – patterns he would later apply to all aspects of divine governance with increasing rigidity.
In 4167, Thanon embarked on his Journey of Sovereignty, a divine rite of passage that would span 512 years. This extensive pilgrimage through all Five Realms subjected him to trials designed to test his worthiness to rule. In the burning landscapes of Malondria, he withstood flames that would have consumed lesser deities. Among the endless depths of Marenwe, he learned patience from ancient sea creatures whose memories stretched back to creation's first moments. The cloud cities of Gerlandria taught him to perceive patterns in chaos, while Thiandalune's radiant spires revealed how light could both illuminate and blind. Throughout these centuries, he absorbed knowledge and power while developing the unyielding sense of justice that would define his reign.
Upon his triumphant return to his father's house in 4679, Thanon had transformed from promising divine child to a formidable god in his own right. The mountains of Zerthia were said to straighten in his presence, as if standing at attention before their future master. His commanding presence and unwavering principles quickly earned him responsibilities beyond those typically granted to even divine offspring. Aranon appointed him overseer of the northern territories, where his rigid application of cosmic law brought stability to regions long plagued by elemental conflicts.
The arrival of his brother Branon in 5436 brought both companionship and subtle competition to Thanon's existence. Nearly two thousand years his junior, Branon quickly displayed martial prowess and charismatic leadership that sometimes overshadowed Thanon's more calculated approach. Where Thanon ruled through principle and decree, Branon inspired through presence and passion. Their relationship, though marked by occasional rivalry, formed the foundation of what would become a legendary brotherhood that would shape cosmic history.
Branon's own Journey of Sovereignty began in 5796, establishing him as a god of tremendous capability in his own right. During his absence, Thanon's life took a profound turn when he wed Danisa, daughter of Enonta, in 5801. Their marriage, while advantageous for divine politics, lacked the passionate connection Thanon secretly yearned for. He fulfilled his duties as husband with the same precision he applied to all aspects of his existence, but those closest to him noted a certain hollowness behind his formal demeanor.
The birth of Saenon in 6001, the third son of Aranon and Thiana, completed their divine trinity. Displaying wisdom and compassion from his earliest days, Saenon quickly earned the title "the Blessed" for his remarkable combination of beauty, kindness, and insight. Unlike his elder brothers' occasional rivalry, Saenon brought a harmonizing presence to their relationship. His natural diplomacy and genuine goodness softened Thanon's rigid edges and tempered Branon's occasional impulsiveness, creating a balanced triad of divine power.
When Saenon returned from his own Journey of Sovereignty in 6634, a momentous decision crystallized. In 6644, the three sons of Aranon departed their father's keeping into the wilderness of Zerthia, beginning what chroniclers would later call the "Age of Three Brothers." This period of grand adventures would span nearly two centuries, establishing legends that still echo through divine and mortal realms alike. Together, they faced challenges that no single deity could overcome, each brother's strengths complementing the others' in perfect harmony.
It was during these wanderings that Thanon first encountered Nera, daughter of Eadrasa and Naerwen, born in 5101. Their initial meeting occurred during negotiations over disputed territories where water met earth – regions claimed by both divine houses. Where Thanon arrived with precise maps and rigorous territorial definitions, Nera brought tidal patterns and water memories that defied such rigid boundaries. Their fundamental disagreement over the nature of borders gradually evolved into mutual fascination with each other's perspectives.
Nera's fluid grace and adaptive wisdom offered a counterpoint to Thanon's structured worldview that both challenged and completed him. Where he perceived the world in absolutes, she showed him the value of edges that blur and boundaries that shift with circumstances. Their philosophical discussions sometimes lasted decades, spanning snow-capped mountains and ocean depths as they explored the complementary nature of their elements. Branon, returning from his Journey, joined these expeditions, his practical strength bridging their theoretical differences.
The three formed a divine trinity unlike any other, though such arrangements were not uncommon among gods whose relationships transcended mortal understanding. Their union balanced Thanon's rigid structure, Branon's dynamic strength, and Nera's adaptive fluidity. Though Branon would formally wed Nera in 7010 for political reasons, their three-fold connection continued in private chambers where cosmic energies merged in ways that transcended conventional bonds. Divine chronicles speak of mountains that danced, oceans that sang, and storms that wrote poetry when their essences joined in perfect harmony.
Their legendary adventures tested this unusual bond through trials no single deity could overcome. In the Crystal Caverns of Zerthia, they faced ancient stone guardians whose riddles required perfect balance between Nera's intuitive fluidity and the brothers' earth-bound logic. During the Sky Whale Migration, they soared through Gerlandria's cloud kingdoms, with Nera's water powers creating paths through storm fronts while the brothers stabilized their passage with earth magic. The Taming of the Winter Tide saw them quelling a rogue current in Marenwe's deepest trenches, combining their powers in ways that awed even experienced water deities.
The birth of Bron in 7450 to Branon and Nera marked the beginning of subtle changes in their divine trinity. Though Thanon performed all the proper ceremonial duties of an uncle, he regarded the child with a mixture of affection and concern. Where divine children typically displayed clear alignment with their elemental heritage, Bron seemed caught between worlds – neither fully of earth nor fully of water. His questions about the fundamental nature of power sometimes struck uncomfortable chords within Thanon, who preferred established cosmic order to revolutionary thinking.
As the child grew, Thanon observed with mounting concern how Nera secretly taught Bron water-based approaches to power that contradicted the strict earth-based education Branon attempted to impose. Though he never spoke of it openly, Thanon sometimes wondered if the boy carried echoes of his own divine essence – a thought that both thrilled and disturbed him. His attempts to guide Bron toward more traditional paths of divine development only widened the growing distance between himself and the child.
The Ceremony of Divine Ascendance in 7465 confirmed Thanon's worst fears about his nephew's divergent path. Watching Bron's unconventional demonstration of power transformation rather than the traditional display of raw strength, Thanon experienced conflicting emotions. Part of him recognized the revolutionary potential in the boy's theories – ideas that resonated with certain suppressed aspects of his own divine understanding. Yet his commitment to cosmic order and tradition forced him to stand with those who condemned the display, driving the final wedge between him and Nera, who alone defended her son.
Bron's subsequent departure created irreparable fissures in their once-harmonious trinity. Branon retreated into stoic silence, his pride wounded by his son's rejection of tradition. Nera's grief manifested as quiet defiance, her private support for her son's path creating a growing gulf between her and both brothers. Thanon, caught between loyalty to divine law and his complex feelings for both his brother and Nera, found the delicate balance of their trinity increasingly difficult to maintain, their chambers now filled with silence where once cosmic harmonies had flowed.
The eruption of the First Black Fire War in 7596 marked a pivotal turning point in Thanon's existence. When Aejeon and Malovatar unleashed the destructive Malo Balar, the divine realms were thrown into chaos. Thanon immediately assumed command of Zerthia's northern defenses, drawing upon millennia of martial knowledge to organize resistance against the corrupting forces. His Death Bow, crafted in 7825 during the brothers' adventures, proved devastatingly effective against the emerging Celevesi, its arrows capable of piercing even their Black Fire-enhanced defenses.
The eight-year Battle of Ruzanhelm tested Thanon's leadership to its limits. Fighting alongside Aranon and Branon, commanding countless Zervesine troops against the combined might of Lavos and Azmodonai, he witnessed horrors beyond even divine comprehension – gods dying in agony as their essence corrupted and dispersed, immortal beings transformed into abominations that should never exist. The desperate struggle forged a temporary reconciliation between the brothers, though the deeper wounds in their relationship remained unhealed beneath the surface unity.
The war created strange alignments that briefly reunited Thanon with Nera, though never in the intimate way they had once known. When his forces became surrounded in the Battle of Singing Gorge, Nera led a daring water-based rescue operation that saved his elite guard from certain destruction. Their brief reunion amid the chaos of battle rekindled memories of their former connection, yet the gulf between them had grown too wide to bridge, their conversation formal where once it had flowed with deep understanding and shared purpose.
The catastrophic failure of the Matrix of Earth in 7713-7714 marked the final tragedy in their fractured relationship. Though Nera had warned against attempting to replicate the water-based matrices in the more rigid element of earth, her concerns were dismissed by both Aranon and Branon, with Thanon supporting their decision out of loyalty to traditional authority. When the prototype matrix collapsed, the resulting explosion not only devastated vast regions of Zerthia but created a catastrophic backlash that traveled through elemental connections back to Marenwe, claiming Nera's life as she monitored the experiment from a distance.
Her death sent shock waves through both divine and mortal realms. Dāéranon's grief manifested as storms that raged for months across all oceans. Branon, devastated by the realization that his dismissal of her warnings had directly contributed to her destruction, abandoned his duties to the House of Aranon and disappeared into self-imposed exile. Thanon retreated into increasingly rigid adherence to divine hierarchy, perhaps seeking in structure the comfort he could no longer find in connection, his heart hardening further with each passing century.
The war's end in 7735 left Thanon deeply scarred in both body and spirit. Fifty-nine Eeirendel had perished, and Te Vevutur himself had intervened to save Aina from total destruction. The cosmic order that Thanon had believed immutable was revealed to be fragile, its foundations cracked by forces he had never imagined possible. The Drandsia Vatar, foundation of all divine law, was weakened beyond recovery, leaving the surviving gods to reimagine cosmic governance with diminished powers and shattered certainties.
Most significantly for Thanon's evolving worldview, the aftermath saw the emergence of strange new races and creatures born from the chaos of war – beings that had no place in the original divine design. To him, these represented living violations of cosmic law, abominations whose very existence mocked the divine order he had fought to protect. His grief over Nera's loss and the estrangement from both his brothers twisted into a hardened resolve that would eventually corrupt his sense of justice entirely, transforming divine purpose into zealotry.
In the aftermath of catastrophe, Thanon found purpose in restoration. While his brother Saenon began his wanderings throughout the Continuum in 8009 and Branon focused on rebuilding the shattered Zervesi communities from his exile, Thanon turned his attention to reestablishing divine order on a grand scale, his methods growing increasingly draconian with each passing century. Dissent was no longer met with debate but with swift divine retribution, his once-balanced application of justice giving way to rigid enforcement of traditional hierarchies.
In 8021, Thanon united the scattered Zervesi under his leadership, founding the Kingdom of Alaspanar. Where their father Aranon continued to rule from Alvardis, Thanon established Aestiron as his seat of power in 8025, forming what would become known as San-Alaspanar. From this mighty citadel, he extended his influence across vast territories, bringing order through increasingly strict application of divine law, his decrees allowing no exceptions and recognizing no mitigating circumstances.
For many centuries, Thanon ruled with stern but generally fair governance. He orchestrated campaigns against genuinely chaotic forces that had emerged after the war, particularly focusing on the Vashar created by the demon Uz-Uzog and the growing threat of vampirism following Thayzor's dark transformation in 8576. The Vampire Wars of 8910 saw Thanon wielding his Death Bow to devastating effect, leading armies against the forces of Thayzor with unyielding determination. These victories, while necessary for the safety of Zerthia, further reinforced his conviction in his righteous cause.
During these middle centuries, the hollowness in Thanon's personal life found temporary solace in his relationship with Hyira, a beautiful Zervesi maiden whose spirit burned with an intensity that reminded him of what he had lost. Their clandestine affair, conducted over centuries in the shadows of Aestiron's mighty halls, produced an illegitimate daughter, Mayori – a birth he kept hidden from both his wife and the divine community. For a time, he maintained this double life, finding in Hyira's arms echoes of warmth that his formal marriage to Danisa had never provided.
Yet as millennia passed, the strain of secrecy and the growing fear of discovery began to warp his love for Hyira and Mayori into possessiveness and paranoia. The turning point came in 13925, when dark whispers reached his ears – hints that Te Nesavatar, the dread necromancer once known as Malovatar, had taken interest in his hidden daughter. Whether these rumors were true or merely fabrications designed to manipulate him remains unknown, but their effect was devastating, pushing him toward an act that would mark his irreversible descent.
In a moment of panic and rage, Thanon attempted to eliminate all evidence of his indiscretion. Outside the ruins of Aestiron, atop the 1,100-foot cliff of Etati, he cut the throats of both Hyira and Mayori before casting their bodies into the depths below. Hyira perished, but through mysterious intervention – later revealed to be the work of Veniasonis – Mayori survived. Her rescue and subsequent placement in Zastor's care would have far-reaching consequences that Thanon could never have foreseen, setting in motion Events that would eventually lead to his downfall.
This act of attempted filicide marked Thanon's first truly unforgivable step toward darkness. The guilt and shame he refused to acknowledge festered within him, corrupting his sense of justice and righteousness. What began as divine purpose twisted into a need to prove his righteousness through increasingly extreme measures, each new edict harsher than the last, each punishment more severe, as if through perfect enforcement of divine law he could somehow atone for his own hidden transgression.
His descent accelerated when he encountered Paerdys, a goddess whose origins were shrouded in deception. Unknown to Thanon, she was the daughter of Aranon and Anicul, born of trickery when the fire goddess took the form of Thiana during the chaos of the First Black Fire War. Raised in secret in Malondria and nursed on hatred for the Ayn Auline, Paerdys saw in Thanon a powerful tool for her ambitions. Their relationship quickly transcended mere alliance; she became his mistress and confidante, whispering poison disguised as wisdom into his ears.
In 13303, this dark partnership bore fruit with the founding of the Order of the Lord Inquisitors, or Endraosai. Ostensibly created to promote the truths of the Drandsia Vatar, the order quickly revealed its true nature as a fanatical cult dedicated to purging all "heretical" races from Zerthia. Under Paerdys's subtle guidance, Thanon transformed from stern ruler to zealous tyrant, his once-balanced application of divine law giving way to genocidal campaigns against races he deemed unworthy of existence in a "pure" cosmos.
By 13671, the Endraosai's crusades had become infamous for their brutality. Entire communities were put to the sword, cultures erased, and ancient sites desecrated – all in the name of a "purity" that existed only in Thanon's corrupted vision. What he failed to realize was that these actions served Paerdys's hidden agenda and, ultimately, the designs of Te Nesavatar himself. Each atrocity committed in the name of the Drandsia Vatar actually undermined its principles, creating the very chaos he claimed to oppose.
The Nordland Campaign in 13814 marked Thanon's first significant defeat. The Northlander Clans of Hangard, bear-like beings who followed Zastor and practiced his magick, proved far more formidable than expected. When initial diplomatic overtures failed to bring them under Zervesi control, Thanon launched a military campaign, expecting swift victory. Instead, his forces were met with fierce resistance, forcing them to retreat into the Armantle Mountains with heavy losses, his golden armor stained with the blood of his fallen elite warriors.
Enraged by this unprecedented defeat, Thanon summoned reinforcements from the outpost of Eci, determined to crush the Northlanders once and for all. Unknown to him, his cousin Ardenas, God of Dwarves, had grown increasingly disturbed by the Endraosai's crusades and chose this moment to intervene. In 13815, Thanon's forces returned to Hangard only to find the Northlanders not standing alone, but aligned with the Ardenasi legions and the shamanic Veleosai warriors. This coalition thoroughly routed the Zervesi army, forcing Thanon into a humiliating retreat back to Aestiron, his divine pride wounded more deeply than at any previous point in his existence.
When Ardenas attempted to bring the matter before Aranon, the High God refused to hear the charges, though he promised no action against his cousin for aiding the Northlanders. This perceived betrayal by his own father – choosing neutrality rather than supporting his son's cause – widened the growing rift between Thanon and the rest of his divine family. In his increasingly isolated state, he began to view even his closest divine kin as potential enemies or weak-willed obstacles to his righteous mission.
As Thanon retreated into bitter isolation following his defeat in the North, the subtle machinations of Te Nesavatar began to bear fruit. The Dark God's agents, often disguised as loyal Endraosai or repentant heretics, brought carefully crafted "evidence" of conspiracies against Thanon's rule. Each lie built upon the last, constructing an elaborate paranoid fantasy that Thanon, in his wounded pride, eagerly embraced, seeing enemies in every shadow and treachery in every disagreement.
By 14051, as Te Nesavatar's sects began to engage in open militaristic activities across Edrion, Aranon could no longer ignore the threat. He personally ordered Thanon to capture Te Nesavatar at any cost, a command that the fallen son eagerly accepted as validation of his lifelong crusade. In 14055, Thanon marshaled the full might of the Endraosai while Paerdys mobilized the armies of her southern domains. Together, they prepared for what Thanon believed would be his crowning achievement – the capture of Te Nesavatar and the vindication of all his controversial actions.
The campaign began with initial successes as Thanon's forces pushed back the cultists and corrupted creatures serving the Dark God. Yet these victories were carefully orchestrated by Te Nesavatar himself, drawing Thanon deeper into a trap from which there would be no escape. In 14056, Thanon's forces reached what appeared to be Te Nesavatar's stronghold. Eager for the final confrontation, Thanon led the assault personally, his Death Bow in hand and Paerdys at his side. As they breached the inner sanctum, however, the true nature of their predicament became clear.
They had not found Te Nesavatar's hideout, but one of the gates to Hell itself. As the portal opened, Azmodonai's legions poured forth, and Te Nesavatar emerged in his full terrible glory. The battle was brief but cataclysmic. Thanon fought with all the might and skill accumulated over millennia, his Death Bow cutting swaths through demonic hordes. Yet against the combined power of Te Nesavatar and Azmodonai, even a son of Aranon could not prevail. As he fell, mortally wounded by weapons forged in hellfire and dark magic, Paerdys revealed her true allegiance, abandoning him to his fate.
With his dying breath, Thanon finally comprehended the magnitude of his fall. The righteous crusader he believed himself to be had become merely a pawn in greater powers' schemes. His death was not a noble sacrifice but the inevitable consequence of pride and zealotry, his divine light fading from eyes that had once burned with purpose. The God-King of Earth, who had once embodied justice and order, perished alone, betrayed by allies and estranged from family, his grand vision of cosmic purity revealed as nothing more than manipulation by the very forces he had sworn to destroy.
Thanon's death in 14056 marked the true beginning of the Second Black Fire War. The Endraosai, deprived of their founder and leader, fragmented under Paerdys's inconsistent leadership. His passing left a vacuum in divine leadership that accelerated the collapse of traditional order. Within years, Thiandalune closed its borders, Phin-Mahr committed suicide, and even mighty Aranon would perish in battle against Te Nesavatar. The firstborn son of Aranon, who might have been the greatest force for order and justice in the Continuum, instead became an unwitting agent of the very chaos he despised – a tragic fall that echoes still through the corridors of divine memory.
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