Longhe (they/them/theirs) is the
Deity of the Sky. Their
Divine Domains include Air, Ambition, Destruction, Freedom, Indulgence, Might, Tempest, Tyranny, War and Wealth. Other aliases include "The Twin Wyrm," "Shan" and "Hou."
History
Longhe is considered the first true dragon, born of elemental chaos when the mortal world was still in its infancy. They quickly became the object of mortal worship due to their striking appearance and awe-inspiring power. Though initially content to merely be a ruler of mortals, they witnessed the rise of
Fern Ndana and creation of her giants and grew jealous. They desired followers who could rival the giants and so created dragons more akin to those known today. These early dragons grew quickly and conflict with the giants soon broke out, leading to the Battles of Heaven and Earth and giving momentum to the first of The Divine Wars.
The two deities and their children clashed time and time again, but the grand scale of these battles crushed many mortals and their villages. Seeing the devastation wrought on their first followers, Longhe and Fern Ndana came to a tenuous agreement that their conflict could not continue. Longhe granted that the giants existed peacefully on the Material Plane before the dragons, and agreed to withdraw the dragons to
their realm and to leave the giants as shepherds of the mortal world.
Longhe's involvement in the Divine Wars did not end there, however, as they took it upon themself to retaliate against any deity who strayed too far from their rightful domains. In so-doing, they garnered animosity from many deities who only allowed Longhe to continue unchecked due to their quarrels with others.
Personality
Longhe believes firmly in a proper order of things—the sky above the earth, predators above prey and light balanced with dark. As such, they willingly lend their aid to any who pray to them for help righting a wrong, so long as they agree on the wronged party. Those judged undeserving of their aid are often struck down, brought lower than they were before. On occasion, however, mortals have been able to play on Longhe's pride and garner potentially undeserved favor by swearing their belief in dragons' superiority and rightful place as masters of the sky and all below it.
Appearance & Aspects
Longhe appears as a long wyrm whose body ends with a fierce, maned dragon head on each side, twisting through the sky and able to see forward and backwards, up and down, impossible to ambush. Though the two heads almost always act in unison, they were of different minds in what forms their creations should take which led to their two primary Aspects. Though dragons may feel greater kinship towards one of the Aspects, they remain respectful of the other (and vice versa as the Aspects harbor a certain fondness for dragons of all bents).
The first Aspect is Shan, the Bright Dragon: a massive dragon with impossibly hard pearlescent scales which emit a pure white light, and blue eyes that change shades with his mood. Shan created the metallic and gem-like dragons to serve as righteous rulers of the mortal world. Shan is thought of as the part of Longhe most compassionate towards mortals and is sometimes derided for seemingly placing them at equal importance as dragons. This does, however, make him a more common choice among mortals to worship over his counterpart.
The second Aspect is Hou, the Mother of Dragons: a tall, pale woman with floor-length black hair. Hou created the chromatic and elemental dragons to serve as fearful rulers of the mortal world. Hou is also sometimes called "The Weeping One." As Longhe came to the agreement that dragons would leave the Material Plane, Hou secreted away dozens of dragon eggs and hid them throughout the world to later hatch and take their rightful thrones. She is depicted as crying tears of sorrow ever since the seemingly unjust treatment of her children.
Relationships
Longhe is still somewhat isolated from most of the other gods due to their interference with so many battles of the Divine Wars. Longhe has few, if any, true allies.
Longhe and Fern Ndana only reluctantly maintain peace between themselves, still not entirely trusting each other since the Battles of Heaven and Earth. Their children, however, openly despise each other and will fight at any opportunity, each believing themselves the proper inheritors of the mortal world.
During the Divine Wars, Azazul was particularly prone to overstepping his bounds and upsetting the natural order of things. Longhe spent years attempting to pin down the chaotic deity to no avail. Finally, Longhe was able to instruct their followers in crafting a powerful artifact which imprisoned the powerful demon Azazul considered his closest ally. Azazul has been nursing a grudge ever since, and his followers are prone to interfering with Longhe's.
Followers
High priests of Longhe call themselves the Appointed while other followers are the Adopted. Those who elect to worship one of the Aspects seldom have a unified naming convention. Regardless of which form of Longhe they worship, all of their followers agree that action is far more important than prayer and endeavor to show their devotion through deeds first and words second.
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