Arimannios

In two they have always existed: light and dark, life and death, good and evil. When the world was created, two they were. Now, when we walk the scorching deserts, two they are. When we are long forgotten, two they shall be. Only in the end will there be one

— Introduction to the Gathas, central hymns of Ardhéan faith

The lion-headed Lord of Evil acting in opposition to Eos, the fire goddess worshipped by the Ardhéans, Arimannios is just as crucial to the nomads’ faith as the openly-revered goddess. Locked in an eternal conflict with Eos, the god seeks to corrupt individuals from the pure nature with which they were born. Offering wealth, power, and other such rewards to attract followers and silence the emotional and spiritual disquiet that his influence has on people, Arimannios recruits the souls of those he has corrupted into an army with which he will wage war on Eos and usher in the end of time.

Tenets of Faith

Ardhéan stories claim that all souls not devoted to Eos in the great struggle belong, by default, to Arimannios and it would be sufficient for his ends to seek simply the divergence from Eos' tenets of Good Thought, Good Words, Good Deeds. The thought of being simply a corrupter of Eos' faithful, however, is abhorrent to the Wicked One. Arimannios encourages his followers to walk a different path.

Those worshipping Arimannios hold that all sensations felt by mortals can be summed into categories: pleasure and pain. In the context of Arimannian philosophy, any sensation that provides to the individual's overall happiness is a pleasure and anything that provides for unhappiness is a pain. This philosophic hedonism holds that pleasure is the ultimate good that a mortal can achieve while pain stands in direct opposition to this goal.

Extreme pleasures, with their concomitants, often provide even more extreme pains as a natural end, and are encouraged to be avoided by the high-minded of Arimannios' followers. The ideal goal of an adherent of the Wicked One, is to live a life in which they have minimized pain in their life, be it physical, emotional, or spiritual, and maximized the pleasure available to their end. Choosing the right life, they argue, requires the selfish love of one's self over others to ultimately remove themselves from fear and pain.

Divine Goals & Aspirations

In expectation for the day time is to end, Arimannios is singularly dedicated to amassing a spiritual army to surpass Eos and hers. As, according to Ardhéan belief, mankind is born innocent and good, Arimannios must actively seek to corrupt men, if he is to recruit forces to his cause. As a result of this, Arimannios, moreso than his counterpart or any of the other deities throughout Eudokonia, spends a large amount of time interacting with the world of mortals, learning the hearts of mankind and even assisting individuals in achieving their selfish desires. The shape-shifting god has turned many men onto his path of selfishness and deceit through his pleasant demeanor and largess.

Divine Classification

God

Alignment::Chaotic Evil----Available Domains

Death, Grave, Trickery

Army of Pleasure

Arimannios is aided in his corruption of mortal souls from the path of Eos by a group her followers have called the Seven Demon Princes. These figures, subservient to Arimannios are each empowered with various gifts to offer to those who would follow them down the path of Arimannios.