Theromedeon the Wild Guard

Theromedeon is the wild, carefree god of the hunt. He claims dominion over the whole of the natural world, particularly hunger and predation, conservation and sustainability, and the forest.
Theromedeon is comparatively a gregarious god and can be spotted frolicking joyfully with his immortal lynx Velos, his favorite nymph Hyale, or even amongst his favorite mortals, a group of druidic naturalists he hand-selects and calls Wildlings. His most faithful mortal followers, Wildlings live their lives in the woods, coexisting peacefully with the wild far from the mar upon the earth that is civilization and defending their appointed wilds with their lives from contamination and spoiling. But he also savors solitude, and on the hunt he is deadly serious, almost animalistic, in his mood. He is nearly as quick to anger as Orodamas, enacting swift revenge on those who harm the natural realm or those under his care.
From waist up, Theromedeon usually appears as a handsome green-eyed, green-skinned dryad with long hair made of vines and leaves that change color with the seasons. He sports a dashing goatee and majestic deer antlers that grow from the top of his head, behind which a set of rear-facing spike-like horns grows. From waist down, Theromedeon possesses the powerful hind limbs of a stag. His extremities are wooden and knotted like tree bark but nonetheless smooth, transitioning from the green of his flesh from about mid-forearm and mid-shin/calf. He might also appear as a majestic specimen of any animal, most frequently a lynx or a wolf. When he desires stealth or solitude, he might take the form of a tree, usually an oak or an olive.
Theromedeon is worshiped by hunters, but his concerns go far beyond humanity's ability to subsist on the bounty of the natural world. Like his twin sister Thanatimetra, he controls the birth, growth, death, and rebirth of living creatures, though from a purely physical and biological standpoint. Therefore, his priests often double as midwives in their communities, blessing babies as they come into the world, though much of the actual rearing and raising of those children he leaves to his sister Thanatimetra. Birth, growth, death, and rebirth of the spiritual kind is another arena he leaves to his sister. Usually, he ushers each thing in and out of its cycle on schedule, but when angered, he might refuse to permit the repopulation of beasts and wild plants to fill the hole left in the natural balance of the world by its progenitor. Sometimes, he has been known to overpopulate beasts and wild plants out of fury, which can result in just as deadly if not deadlier consequences for mortals and the natural balance.
Theromedeon is the best archer in the world, and contests of archery are often held in his name. Those who hunt their own food pray to Theromedeon for success, and he blesses their natural predation. Poachers and those who kill for sport, however, know that he loathes such activity, and they try to stay hidden from him at all costs. Theromedeon has personally slain many of those who killed wantonly in his sacred Ossion Wood.
Theromedeon's association with metamorphosis also makes him the target of prayers from those who seek to dramatically change their own nature or identity. He is worshiped by those who want to reform or transform society in ways less violent than those favored by gods such as Orodamas, Iroanos, or Inyu. He is also revered by those who cherish the solitude and serenity of the forest. More commonly, though, mortals all over Etheria pray to Theromedeon when they rely on hunting or nature's whims for their livelihood. His most ardent followers are Satyrs, Centaurs, Elfs, Hobgoblins, Humans (particularly those who live in remote locations or in the wilds), and Nymphs of all kinds, especially dryads.
Theromedeon blesses those who are kind to animals, considering such acts as wordless prayers. Those who must kill a dangerous natural animal or cut down trees often pray to Theromedeon for forgiveness, sometimes leaving food for other animals or planting new trees as atonement.

Myths of Theromedeon

The Three Hunters

Three young men from wealthy families were hunting for sport in the Ossion Wood. Theromedeon accosted them before they had taken any prey and gave each man a chance to bring him a gift that would atone for his intentions. The first man killed a stag and made an offering of it in Theromedeon's name, so he turned him into a stag to compensate for the one he had killed. The second offered wealth from his family coffers, so Theromedeon turned him into a tree clinging to a cliff face by one root. The third, remorseful, threw himself on a bed of moss, and a cerulean butterfly came to rest on his hand. Carefully, he carried the butterfly back to Theromedeon. The Wild Guard not only spared him, but blessed his house and all his descendants.

The First Hunt

Each spring, communities observe the festival of the First Hunt. In ancient times, the festival involved hunting, but in the modern form of observance, it is a day of picnics, outdoor games, and frolicking that has little to do with Theromedeon except that it celebrates the renewed rebirth of the earth which the Wild Guard helps to bring about alongside his sister and the Horae. Tales tell of Theromedeon being passingly bitter about the celebration and, annually, visiting a First Hunt celebration in disguise. If he finds himself duly honored during the revelry, he blesses the event and might personally participate. If he finds no mention of his works, he curses those in attendance, sometimes sending rampaging beasts to disrupt the event or turning participants into game animals for true hunters to stalk.

The First Caryatid

A Naprian archer named Ninetta claimed that she could outshoot anyone, even Theromedeon. Word of this unwise boast spread, and in response Theromedeon appeared at the next archery contest held in Ninetta's village. He challenged Ninetta to an impossible feat of archery: to shoot an arrow into one of the twin trunks of Kryphios the Hidden One's great trees at the threshold of the mortal realm and Nyktheon. Ninetta immediately realized that neither refusal, failure, nor success would forestall Theromedeon's wrath. Nonetheless, she held her head high, she and Theromedeon both let fly, and both arrows hit. Impressed by the mortal, Theromedeon took Ninetta to his sacred grove in the Ossion Wood and planted her there as a caryatid, immobile but forever occupying a place of honor.
Since then, Theromedeon has honored dozens of other champions and worthy mortals, blessing them with the long lives of mighty trees and planting them in sacred groves around Etheria. The grown seedlings of Ninetta and Theromedeon's other favored continue to share their wisdom and protect Dasikos and its jungle-like forests to this day.

Velos the Lynx

One day, Theromedeon came upon an enormous lynx lounging in the shade of an olive grove, blood on its maw, the carcass of a colossal boar beside him. The boar had been one of Theromedeon's favorites, and what followed was a legendary chase where the god pursued the lynx through the heart of the Alpenwode. Whenever Theromedeon drew close, the great cat vanished into the forest's shadows. Seasons passed as the god loosed arrow after arrow at the lynx, but his efforts remained fruitless. Theromedeon eventually abandoned the hunt, only to find the feline waiting for him at the edge of a stream the next evening. The hunt resumed, but with the same outcome. It continued like that for some time, until Theromedeon began to grow fond of the beast. Soon, the pair started hunting together, and the lynx, which he called Velos, became one of Theromedeon's confidants.

Divine Domains

Forests, groves, wildernesses, and things lost in the deep woods; trees, fruits, flowers, and untamed natural beauty; terrestrial beasts, conservation, sustainability, hunters and trackers, and the hunt; and resilience, endurance, refuge, and shelter.

Divine Symbols & Sigils

Sacred Animals: Lynxes, wolves, deer, boars, butterflies, and hydras Sacred Plants: Olive, oak, amaranth

Divine Goals & Aspirations

Compared to many of the other gods, Theromedeon's goals are modest. He wants only to keep the natural world free and healthy and to enjoy the beauty of the land. In his darker moments, though, he realizes that the very existence of civilization on Etheria is a mounting threat to nature—perhaps even an effort by the rest of the pantheon to destroy him. After all, he was one of but a few gods not in favor of decimating the Alpenwode after the Wild Hunt in the interest of protecting Etherians and therefore the gods' power, and naturally, the destruction of the majority of Etheria's natural woodlands hurt him the most.
If it were up to him, he might as well wipe away all the cities, states, and nations, leaving only scattered tribes of mortals to live in an enforced balance with nature. He isn't out to eradicate sapient beings, blaming his fellow gods for the spread of civilization rather than the mortals themselves.

Social

Family Ties

Theromedeon seldom comes into open conflict with the other gods, and he would say that all his clashes with them result from their encroachment on his territory. The most frequent targets of his irritation are the gods who encourage the spread of civilization. Helionax the Light-Crowned and Amaphoron the Herald of Civilization brought law and ambition to mortals, persuading them to congregate in stone-walled cities and consider themselves separate from his realm. Ginnir the Silver-Tongued gave them politics, which Theromedeon has no qualm with, but the god of deceit also granted them duplicity, greed, and treachery, all of which are the most common motives backing mortal efforts to decimate the wild and spread civilization.
Orodamas the Ringing Hammer oversees some of the natural processes of earth and fire that help Theromedeon's realm flourish, but she also gave mortals the gift of bronze, steel, iron, and other hard metals, enabling them to make axes and spears. In both her destructive and creative guises, Orodamas might threaten what Theromedeon holds dear. As a result, he remains wary of her designs.
@Iroanos the Battle-Wise and Inyu the Bloody One are harbingers of warfare, which is always devastating to the natural world. Theromedeon is virtually incapable of distinguishing between them and the ways in which they attempt to distinguish between themselves as patrons of the "noble" and "brutal" aspects of their shared domain, considering that all forms of war are a senseless waste of life and energy.
Perhaps most complicated of all of Theromedeon's relationships is that which he has with his twin sister Thanatimetra the Merciful Mother. He is disappointed in Thanatimetra, precisely because of the overlap in their spheres of influence. His sister insists on transforming nature into a mockery of itself, yoking once-wild beasts and contorting plants through agriculture to feed the ever-swelling population centers. Moreover, her beloved pet project, agriculture, threatens to consume the wild, claiming space which had once been Theromedeon's to guard. He is also mildly jealous of his sister's absolute control over the seasons, believing he should be the god solely responsible for shepherding the seasons through their yearly cycle. At times, Theromedeon even finds himself confused by Thanatimetra's obsession with the afterlife. He acknowledges death as a crucial part of the life cycle, but after all, what matters is that nature takes nourishment from the bodies of the deceased, not from the disposition of their intangible souls. Despite all of this, Theromedeon loves his twin sister fiercely and would do anything for her, even begrudgingly ceding more of his territory to her when she comes to him with requests to attempt new agricultural projects.
In the pantheon, aside from his sister, Theromedeon's most stalwart ally and friend is Akhara the Death-Touched. Both gods respect their natural domains and the complementary roles the other plays in the lives of all living things: Theromedeon birth and maturation, predation and hunger, and Akhara senescence and death, illness and convalescence. It also doesn't hurt that Theromedeon is consistently fascinated and amazed by the wondrous things Akhara is able to make from his creations or from those produced by her own mind without upsetting the natural balance, things such as poisons, hallucinogens, medicines, toxins, elixirs, potions, etc.
While it is quite rare for a god to have interpantheon relations with a god from another pantheon, Theromedeon considers Ulvhara the World Bear, one of the Fey Realm Deities, to be his closest comrade. Ulvhara, a giant six-horned and rune-scarred bear with a thousand blades from a thousand fallen warriors stuck in its hide, once left a swathe of destruction in its wake as it traveled the lands of Etheria, hollowing Llychlyn out into its den from its pacing and leaving lakes to fill its paw prints. Over time, though, Theromedeon witnessed Ulvhara's gradual transition from a god of destruction, ruin, and untamed rage to one similar to himself: a god of life, nature, and tenacity, one who evolves out of necessity and one who recognizes the value of evolution.

Divine Classification

Deity

Species

Satyr

Gender

Male

Eyes

Glowing emerald green

Hair

Long vines and leaves that change appearance with the seasons

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Pale leaf green with woody extremities