Menta Vedra
The Sea Father (a.k.a. Thalapontos or Tartarus)
"Menta Vedra, Eyf; Efya te el ven, Efya thugen met spolim,---Stanza 6 of Ec kin Ur Vedra [Me and the Water], a fisher's ballad
Ur spil vad met chamen venchamen; ur vegen vad met Dospi."
Translation"Father Ocean, him; he who is water, he who listened to my song,
The song of my arms swimming swiftly; the flowing of my Body."
Divine Symbols & Sigils
The Crystal Hydra
A subtle nod to one of his depicted forms, the multi-headed serpent represents both adversity and resilience. It is usually carved out of a gem, or made using Ziel in a specialized mold, as the semi-transparent crystal resembles the waters in which he rules. Legends say that each head rests in the rivers connected to the ocean.
The Cephalopod
Typically seen on amulets and coins with the limbs curling counter-clockwise, the cephalopod refers to another of Thalapontos's forms: instead of having multiple heads, he instead has multiple limbs with eyes. In human card decks, a humanoid Thalapontos is used as the King of Cups in Tarot, or as a bearded King of Hearts.Tenets of Faith
- Drift with the currents: allow life to take you to where it wants you to.
- Make your own waves: do what feels natural to you, but be mindful about it.
- Surf the waves of others: collaborating can be an invigorating experience, so consider it.
- Every wave must crash: if your actions lead to failure or harm, understand its impact and do better.
Holidays
Sea Appreciation Week: Lune 78-84 [Cetos 22-28, or September 6th - 12th]
A holy week that, unusually enough, brings back the tradition of sending the Beast a tribute. It's sometimes referred to as a "Week of Thanks", as Leviathan's seas allowed humans to survive up to now. This week signifies Lune Vacation for school systems, and jobs usually have the latter half of the week off for employees.Divine Goals & Aspirations
Thalapontos's ultimate goal is to constantly monitor the state of the planet's aquatic environments via an interconnected "hivemind" state between him and all non-sentient sealife, as all the water connected to the Sea of the Styx is directly connected to him. When it comes to water broken from his source, the Sea Father communes with the Nature Guardian using a unique kind of communication called tectonic sign language: his waves crash into their land forms, and they respond with oceanic tremors.
Thalapontos is dependent on his divine spouse, the Sky Father, for his existence: without the tight, atmospheric coils of the World Serpent, the world's water would either evaporate or freeze, ultimately destroying him in the process. If he dies, then Lune would have unrestricted control over the oceans, heralding the apocalypse.Physical Description
Identifying Characteristics
Thalapontos is best characterized by his many eye-possessing tentacle arms. Another important feature of his is the fact that his arms seem to terminate into darkness, which is often implied to be where his head rests. Many artistic depictions of Thalapontos draw him with a diamond-shaped head possessing forward-facing eyes.
Like most Primordial deities, Thalapontos hardly makes himself appear physically to the planet's inhabitants-- rather, he prefers to send visions of himself into the minds of passersby. Interestingly enough, Thalapontos has created his own vision of himself when he does this: it is of a dark-skinned man with long locks of tentacles in place of his hair and beard, and a gown that obscures his entire lower half.Mental characteristics
Gender Identity
Deity of the Ocean, Lakes, and Rivers
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