Amaphoron the Herald of Civilization

As god of the polis, Amaphoron sees herself as the founder of civilization. She watches over cities, protecting them from outside threats. She is credited with establishing the first code of law, which Meleta has preserved and the other poleis and nations beyond Elaeus have imitated. Even more important, she helps cities reach their highest potential, becoming centers of scholarship, industry, and art.
Amaphoron appears as an animated statue of a bipedal snake-haired Gorgon whose body is entirely fashioned from smooth, polished black marble streaked with cracks that have been refilled with gold. In this form, she wears a floating stone crown, resembling the capital of a column. When she chooses to walk about her cities at human scale, she often takes on the form of a dark-skinned human woman in her mid-thirties to early-fifties. In either form, she is always dressed in blue, gold, and white, and her expression is usually serious but not unkind. She often carries a large urn on one shoulder, with the dark, star-studded sky of the celestial realm of the gods pouring from it and dissolving into mist as it hits the ground, and a set of mystical scrolls that only grow longer with each discovery or innovation that occurs in the cities she oversees.
Amaphoron’s sphere of influence is the polis and city. Although worshiped in many places, she is most beloved in urban areas, whose citizens credit her with the city's founding. Many city walls bear Amaphoron’s face, fashioned thus in the belief that each of her images watches over the part of the city it looks upon. Amaphoron’s face is therefore a common sight in cities. Marble buildings, stone walls, and similar surfaces usually feature a sculpture or relief of her visage. People often swear oaths or engage in verbal disputes in front of these images, believing she won't let a falsehood told in front of her go unpunished. Whether she actually intervenes is unclear, but conflicts that play out this way are often resolved peacefully, without a need for the justice system to get involved.
Amaphoron is strongly affiliated with the daytime, when cities are awake, alive, and at work. Her followers generally pray at midday, with the sounds of the city forming an appropriate backdrop to their rites, as industry itself is sacred to Amaphoron. Many aspects of city life and culture fall under Amaphoron’s influence. Scholarship is closely connected to Amaphoron, as are philosophy, architecture, writing, and the sciences, namely biology, mathematics, and engineering. Amaphoron is also highly concerned with civic wisdom and justice, and many politicians and other leaders seek her guidance in how to rule.
To an extent, Amaphoron’s devout show their faith by going about their lives and contributing to society. Midday services at Amaphoron’s temples often feature a brief prayer, followed by a longer talk from an industrial or civic leader on a topic of general interest. Attendants often bring meals to eat while on a break from their jobs.

Myths of Amapharon

The Founding of Meleta

The Elaeusian city-state of Meleta was once part of the Nefel Agnomakhos's empire. The nefel ruled his territory with absolute cruelty. Amapharon, in collaboration with Eleuthemene the Star-Dappled and Kryphios the Hidden One, bestowed divine power on the subjugated populace to enable them to fight back and overthrow Agnomakhos. The newly freed people then established Meleta as the settlement on that site is known today. The founding of Amapharon's favored city is still celebrated today, both in Meleta and elsewhere among the god's followers as a summer holiday.

Savior of Cities

Many tales speak of the protection the Herald of Civilization offers to cities in need. For instance, one myth tells of a kraken that escaped its sea lock and once threatened a small seaside city in Albadara. Recently weakened by a Merfolk raid, the city had no defenses left and would have been destroyed by the attack. The people prayed to Amapharon, and the large image of her face on the city's wall came to life. The walls of the city grew impossibly high and strong, and the kraken could do no more than dash its head against the impassable barrier. The monster soon returned to the ocean to find an easier meal. Another tale tells of how, during an enormous earthquake, many of the structures in the Naprian city of Osselli crumbled. Amapharon kept her temple standing throughout the mighty quake, making it a place for Ossellians to take refuge in the following days during the aftershocks. After the cataclysm, she shared designs from her scrolls of sacred knowledge with the architects of Osselli so they could rebuild the city to be much more resistant to earthquakes. From that day on, the Ossellians made sure to make the temple of Amapharon in Osselli one of the god's largest and grandest places of worship in Etheria. It is kept in perfect repair, and worn or damaged pieces of the structure are quickly replaced.

Progenitor of the Gorgons

Ages ago, long before The Draconic Exodus, the pre-Etherian peoples worshipped an early human iteration of Amapharon who now exists only in a single extant historical record. At some point, Medoucys, a favored priest of Amapharon, found herself pursued by an incensed gang of raiders pillaging and raping an ancient city. Medoucys rushed to the temple of Amapharon, seeking protection in the stone arms of her deity, but the temple doors did not hold shut. Before she knew it, the raiders had set upon her as she hid in the sacred pool at the feet of the statue, and there she cried out in terror and anguish. Amapharon, despairing, heard her priest's agony and responded by transforming her into the first Gorgon, turning her hair into a mass of writhing, venomous snakes and her visage into a stony weapon. Bestowed with such a blessing, Medoucys overpowered her assailants, took her kylix in hand, dipped it into the pool, and rushed to the defense of her fellow citizens, offering them a divine drink which transformed them and gave them immeasurable power as well. Together, the few remaining citizens-turned-gorgons turned the tide of the raid, rebuilt their city, repopulated, and spread the word of Amapharon's blessed intervention. Over the years, Amapharon too was transformed, adopting the form of her favored followers who quickly became famed for their power and the protection they could offer others from threat.

Trial of Zuberi

A man named Zuberi committed many murders, targeting members of the government and some of their family members. When he was arrested and put to trial, he claimed that no one could fairly judge him because every qualified judge was personally affected by the case. Amapharon herself came to the city to serve as judge for the trial, since no one could accuse her of anything but perfect impartiality, and she found Zuberi guilty.

Divine Domains

Civilization, cities, community, and the protection thereof; industry, culture, scholarship, sciences, mathematics, history, biology, architecture, philosophy, and charity; and communication, language, eloquence, law, writing, drama, and rhetoric.

Divine Symbols & Sigils

Sacred Animals: Ants, bees, ravens and crows, mice, pigeons, and pigs.
Sacred Plants: Pineapples, larkspur, maples, birches, ginkgo, coneflowers, and lavender.

Divine Goals & Aspirations

Amaphoron seeks always to further cities: establishing them, protecting them, and seeing them grow. She supports those who build new cities and those who free others from tyranny. Amaphoron knows that not all threats to a city come from outside it, and she encourages her followers to watch out for tyranny and injustice from within. She seeks for justice to prevail in civilized lands.
Amaphoron seeks far more for her cities than mere safety. She drives every city to aspire toward efforts that help its people thrive. Civic responsibility is essential in Amaphoron’s eyes, and having an engaged citizenry is important. The pursuit of knowledge is also a vital task, and she encourages advances in philosophy and science. As the scholars in her cities obtain or derive new knowledge, Amaphoron’s magic scrolls grow ever longer. Finally, art is of critical importance to a thriving city. Amaphoron particularly supports architecture, the creation of which often drives industry and sculpture, though she doesn't scorn other varieties of artistic expression.

Social

Family Ties

Amaphoron and Helionax the Light-Crowned have aligning interests since they both value structure and justice. Amaphoron works toward establishing judicial systems that enforce the laws and uphold the values that Helionax holds dear.
Amaphoron is also on good terms with Thalassakles the Crashing Wave, the god of the sea, because Amaphoron recognizes the necessity of water for a thriving city. She also admires Orodamas the Ringing Hammer and Episophon the Cloud-Gazer's respective crafts, realizing the essential role of the forge and other forms of industry and arts to build a city.
Amaphoron and Theromedeon the Wild Guard are almost polar opposites, and there is no shortage of bad blood between the god of the cities and the god of the hunt. Theromedeon resents the construction of every building in a place that once held plants and animals, and Amaphoron has no patience for any wild creature that encroaches on a settlement. Amaphoron looks at the wilderness and sees only wasted potential, while Theromedeon looks at cities and sees only destruction.
Amaphoron has a deep-seated hatred for Ginnir the Silver-Tongued and Inyu the Bloody One. While Amaphoron can appreciate the perspective of most of her peers, she has no such understanding for those who would deliberately try to undermine a thriving social structure. Amaphoron opposes Ginnir and what she sees as his utter disdain for everything she stands for, but at the same time finds herself begrudgingly appreciative of some of the trickster god’s less overtly devious creations, such as politics, diplomacy, commerce, trade, and strategy. Inyu, on the other hand, represents some of the darkest impulses of mortals, civilized and not, and often incites mortals to commit atrocities against one another and the social order Amapharon so dearly loves.
Her relationships with Thanatimetra the Merciful Mother and Deimophone the Dream-Clad are difficult ones from either perspective. Amaphoron approves of agriculture and wealth, key ingredients for the development of cities, and all three gods are concerned with defense of settlements and the ambitious spirit of mortal life. Even so, Thanatimetra is tied to the wild lands and rural areas where Amaphoron is distrusted, and although Thanatimetra and her brother Theromedeon have their own complicated relationship, Thanatimetra strongly favors her twin over Amaphoron. Meanwhile, Deimophone encourages mortals to pursue their dreams and desires, ventures which often overlap with those which foster civilization; however, Deimophone's influence can also lead mortals to rash action, misery, despair, and hubris, acting out of fear, envy, and self-interest to claim what they seek. From Deimophone's perspective, Amapharon is only building castles and cities to lock away and tame the truth of mortal life and desires: that humans, no matter how communal, are also intense self-interested and opportunistic and that, no matter how cushioned a life they lead, they will always dream of more and fear the unknown.

Divine Classification

Deity

Gender

Female

Eyes

Smooth black marble veined with gold

Hair

Smooth black marble snakes veined with gold

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Smooth black marble veined with gold