Atraziah, God of Storms

Of the Aeons that make up the pantheon of The Eye, none are feared and loathed as much as the scorned God of Storms (at least, none that are acknowledged as gods at all). Those who must roam the seas and wild paths look first to Sachione for the blessing of safe travel, but failing this, Atraziah is the name they beg for their lives. Some consider him to be the violent aspect of the Lord of Water, and others a hateful idea birthed in the age of the elementals, but there are few travelers that do not know his name. For while he provides no blessings and shows no sympathy for mortals, his status as a god cannot be disputed, nor can the risks of disrespecting his dominion be understated.
The God of Storms is most commonly spoken of in Nalanosa, where he takes a role not unlike a bogeyman to the various peoples living there. He represents the warning not to try to roam the frozen wastes alone or unprepared, the threat of exile, and ultimately the need for community and cooperation to survive. As hardy as Nalanosans are, the blizzards of the far south still pose a very lethal threat, and pride in one's abilities has a way of working hand in hand with the biting cold to claim the lives of even the strongest warrior. From here, many seafarers have come to consider his name all but synonymous with the storms and waves that rip their vessels apart, along with the massive and monstrous beasts that follow.
The sentiment towards Atraziah in the southernmost continent goes deeper than fear, however. Over the centuries, a myth has come about that the spiteful god was directly responsible for the Murder of Summer, plunging their lands into biting cold forevermore. In this story, it is said that he had killed a goddess of love and warmth in jealousy of the peoples' adoration of her, leading some scholars to believe Mana may have previously been worshiped in some manner on the continent. In truth, there is no verifiable case of such deicide, and the only real basis for this story is an old, all but forgotten aspect of the one now called the God of Storms.
Just as mortals refer to their world as 'The Eye', storms are a fact of life, a harsh return to balance in nature. In the Age of Illusions, Atraziah represented this balance first and foremost, equalizing temperature, moisture, and pressure to keep the elements in balance despite the constant conflict of the time. He was by no means a god of peace, but an arbiter that prevented the squabbling elemental civilizations from ripping the world apart. Now, it might be said that the inhabitants of the world are more fragile, and such respect has fallen out of favor, leaving him demonized and vilified even as his own role remains largely unchanged. More knowledgeable mortals treat the scorned god with sympathy and respect, but these examples are few and far between.
Some theorize that Atraziah's domain is The Eye itself, with its name loosely matching those used by many other deities, but it is a theory that has held up more due to its dramatic nature than any verifiable basis in fact. Others suspect that he simply keeps his domain secluded from outside contact, mirroring the solitude and distance he keeps from mortals. Others still believe that he must reside within the Plane of Water, in keeping with theories of his status as an elemental avatar. In any case, there is no way to confirm whether the God of Storms possesses a domain at all, or merely spends all his time going about his lonely work on The Eye.

Divine Domains

Weather, Storms, Seclusion, Balance, Disaster

Divine Symbols & Sigils

Atraziah is typically associated with bird feathers, which adorn any altar used to give him tribute. Some believe that the rarer and higher quality the feathers, the more likely the God of Storms is to be appeased by the sacrifice, but just as many suspect that this is simply a rumor started as a marketing scam.

Tenets of Faith

Traditionally, worship of Atraziah is done in the form of appeasement, in the hopes of avoiding his wrath. Some druids are said to follow his teachings, however, which speak of the balance of the classical elements in constant stalemate. To these druids, appeasing Atraziah is a matter of maintaining this balance without the need for catastrophic natural disasters to restore equilibrium, a mirror of the order sought by Remphos, God of Time.

Physical Description

Identifying Characteristics

More so than the other gods, Atraziah rarely appears in a form even vaguely reminiscent of a contemporary mortal. Fitting with his status, he frequently appears as a pair of glowing eyes in the midst of a fog or stormcloud, occasionally with a matching mouth. The few times he has been seen in person, he has appeared as a tall elven male with long dark hair and greying, tattered avian wings - an appearance commonly used in more sympathetic religious depictions.

Divine Classification

Deity, Aeon