Althos - The Last God

The Eternal Emperor, The Hungering Void, The King of Spring & Summer, & Many, Many Other Titles

"A priestess of Althos cured my frog throat! For free!" "Yeah well a druid who worships him is sleeping with my wife."

-Two Althonites in the world of Retribution discussing the various ways that followers of the last god can behave and showcase two vastly different attitudes, while following the same god.

Althos is the protagonist of A Solitary God In A Dark Multiverse and he is the last higher being in all of existence. He is a powerful, albeit quite young, god who is determined to become all-powerful, all-knowing, and to be the emperor of a vast empire: one that encompasses all of existence. He has created an interstellar, inter-dimensional empire, and is hellbent on acquiring more power and expanding his empire. Despite his considerable accomplishments, he is also only three and a half Althonite years old. Author's Note: A Solitary God In A Dark Multiverse is a work in progress, a living story, and at the time of this article's publication it is over 200 chapters long. This article is an up-to-date (at the time of its publication 2/18/21) summation of the main character. There will be spoilers ahead, and if someone sees and reads this article in a month it will in all likelihood be out of date. It may also reveal things that the main story has only skimmed over. Please keep that in mind when reading this article.

Divine Domains

Over the course of his three and a half year-long life Althos has gained the first tier of influence over every domain aside from reality, fate, luck, and neutrality. He has also gained the first tier of influence over every subdomain but the nine remaining schools of magic that he can't yet influence. As far as the schools of magic go, the remaining intermediate school of magic he can't influence just yet is that of voodoo magic. He also knows of one of the three lost schools of magic, dimensional magic. Of the other remaining seven schools of magic, he knows of 5 of them, but the final two are lost schools of magic, magic so powerful, that was lost so unbelievably long ago, that even the system isn't sure what they are. That said, Althos is an incredibly powerful god who can easily terraform entire worlds and could destroy kingdoms with but a thought using his power over domains like death and destruction. He could also build kingdoms with his powers over life, law, and civilizations.

Holy Books & Codes

There are over one thousand holy books devoted to some aspect of Althonite worship in circulation throughout his empire. Many of them are written by lawful worshipers of Althos who are grateful that his empire came to their planet and saved them from unjust, ineffective, corrupt leaders. Althos is worshiped by people across the alignment spectrum and each different alignment views him or in rare cases one of the fake names he utilizes to deceive some people into worshipping him, such as Cosecha. As such there are an array of attitudes and codes one can abide by when becoming an Althonian, or lay worshiper of the god. Leaders of the faith, or Althonites, often have stricter codes and in some cases even have rules for engaging with people of the opposite alignment of themselves, provided everyone involved is some sort of Althos-worshiper.

Divine Symbols & Sigils

Althos has over five thousand different holy symbols. In most cases, they are just colors and shapes mixed together, but artists who worship the deity are often members of elaborate faiths who have ornate, challenging to recreate symbols. In some cases a test to become a member of the clergy of such faiths is to create the holy symbol by hand. Another example of odd holy symbols are faiths of knowledge, or law, or faiths that mix both (including many state religions). These faiths usually have symbols that incorporate precise shapes and symbols, typically ones with relevance to the history of the region in which the faiths are dominant.

Tenets of Faith

The universal tenet of all Althos-based faiths is that Althos is supreme. These faiths invariably revolve around Althos, or in the rare cases of them being deceptive, the creature who stands at the top of the faith. Even the most good-aligned Althonian faiths drive people towards submission to Althos and the belief that he is the ultimate arbiter of what is good or not, which is not unlike other faiths that existed in the past that worshiped decidedly non-good deities. That said the faiths are so divergent from one another that finding another universal tenant can be difficult. Even two faiths that are from people of the same alignment can be wildly diverse. One example of this can be found in the most universal tenants, aside from Althos-supremacy, of the faith of the Redoran Kingdom and the oaths of the druids of Golden Glades. Both are lawful good faiths. The most central tenant of the faith of the Redoran Kingdom is that knowledge is to be written down and shared with the public, for free. It is a central tenant and a law of the kingdom, which is a benevolent theocracy ruled by a council of sage-priests. The most central tenant of the oaths of the druids of the Golden Glades is to protect the faeries who live in the clearing at the heart of Glades with one's life, as they are servants of the King of Spring and Summer, and can instantly regrow any part of the forest that is burned down. There are two religions of the same alignment, that both openly worship Althos, yet have two wildly divergent sets of tenants. And in the empire there are thousands of religions like that.

Holidays

Holidays celebrated by worshipers of Althos vary depending on the specific religion the worshiper believes in. There are countless holidays celebrated by people throughout his empire, and he occasionally manifests an avatar or a phantom copy of himself at some of these celebrations. That is universally seen as an endorsement of the holiday in question and invariably amps up the celebrations that happen on that day, for years to come.

Divine Goals & Aspirations

Althos' goal is fairly well-known: he seeks to govern the largest empire in all of existence. He is transparent about that. He is also transparent about being worshiped by creatures of all alignments. He makes no effort to conceal that his power has drawn countless people from heroic saints to genocidal despots into his worship. One of Althos' lesser-known goals is to create at least one other higher being, or rather to elevate one existing worshiper of his into a higher being. Someday he plans to transform his pet praereptor demoness Sombra into a demon lord of submission, obedience, and servility, a goal which would require that she acquire a considerable amount of power herself and then that she gain control of a layer of the Heart of Darkness. Another lesser-known goal of his is to conquer Infernius, the home and birthplace of devils. He has already conquered the first layer of the nine-layered realm.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Althos' physical condition is impeccable. He is absolutely fast and absolutely strong, capable of moving faster than the speed of light, and capable of any feat that requires raw physical strength. He is also absolutely dexterous and capable of feats such as walking on water, standing on dust, and jumping in mid-air, impossible feats of dexterity and grace.

Body Features

Althos lacks a true form and instead his body features are whatever he wishes for them to be. He is fond of appearing as a being of absolute beauty and handsomeness, but he is also capable of manifesting as a black hole or a being made of light in the shape of a man.

Facial Features

Althos lacks any distinct facial features as his appearance is entirely up to him and is absolutely malleable.

Identifying Characteristics

Althos lacks any identifying physical features. He is a formless, shapeless entity who can disguise himself as any sort of being he wants to at any point. That said, if one knows how to look they can begin to test if he or one of his more empowered minions are nearby. Althos isn't fond of liars to the point where even he doesn't lie very often unless it's him pretending to be someone else which he does do from time to time. No one can lie to him. At first, this odd inability to lie was only applicable to mortals, as he acquired a power to prevent mortals from lying while speaking to him early on in his life. That said, in the wake of his battle with Technos he gained the power to prevent extraplanar beings from lying to him either. This means that if one is suspicious he is nearby they can try lying to everyone they think might be him, but he can also give his power to his worshipers so it's not a guarantee that one will be unable to lie to him.

Physical quirks

Althos tends to be fond of giving himself eyes that are as dark as the night. He also tends to gravitate towards tall, muscular forms, but no matter what form he takes he can perform just about any physical feat he desires.

Special abilities

Althos' primary special ability related to his physical appearance is that he is shapeless. He has no true form and can alter his appearance however he wishes at any point. He most dramatically utilizes this power when in the dreams of mortals who either worships him or whom he seeks to influence.

Apparel & Accessories

Althos is fond of the "modern, casual" style of dress popular in worlds like Htrae and Mercy. He also has a cellphone from Htrae that he has modified to work anywhere and never die.

Specialized Equipment

Althos has four artifacts that he carries on himself perpetually. The first of them is the staff of the lifebringer, his soul-weapon (a weapon keyed to his soul that he can summon at will). It is a quarterstaff that he can use to bring things to life, to steal other artifacts, and transform. The staff can transform into the sword of spring and summer, a powerful blade that can unleash attacks of blinding light and is a symbol of his rulership over the Seelie court he established. In the wake of defeating Technos he also acquired the Armored Wing, a massive wing that is now affixed to his back that serves him as armor and that's true form is that of a gigantic wing he forcibly detached from the vestige of Technos. His final artifact was Technos' true artifact: the Omni-Tool, a powerful device that can shapeshift into any non-weapon and is designed to be a utility tool based off of a tablet computer from a planet named Earth, in a distant universe. Althos typically keeps it on his person as a ring on his left hand.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Author's Note: This is a summary of the story so far, in very, very speedy terms. It will gloss over things. For more details please read the actual story, available for free on Royal Road, Web Novel, and Scribble Hub.

Puerto Rico And Torus:

Althos arose spontaneously on the Reconquistian colony of Puerto Rico. His first form was that of a man who was roughly middle-aged and had lived a lifetime performing physical labor. He was "born" insofar as a spontaneous emergence like his could be considered "born" in the town of Comillas, a town near a magical forest. Althos, like all gods, had power over somethings naturally, including healing, nature, earth, and an array of other concepts the greater of which were known as "domains", and the lesser of which were known as "subdomains". Every deity also possessed inborn "wild traits" that were unique to themselves. Althos' were his ability to break curses, an ability to speak every language innately, a lack of a true form (coupled with unlimited shape-shifting), and a mysterious trait known as "More than Meets the Eye". His first objective as a newborn deity was to complete the "tutorial", a trial of sorts imposed on him by the "system" which was a very powerful, non-corporeal yet very real entity that lived inside of him and all lifeforms in the universe he was born in. Until he completed the "tutorial", he wouldn't have had his full powers at his disposal. Completing the tutorial took him a few days and culminated with him healing a goblin by restoring its long long arm with his powers over restoration, and shortly thereafter he defeating an orc who had taken over the goblin's tribe. Other highlights of this time included him meeting and acquiring power over various animals and animal subdomains, him transforming various corpses into undead servants (a process which granted him power over necromancy), and even him becoming worshiped by some of the goblins he met, though they didn't know the figure they worshiped was him in disguise. Upon completing the tutorial Althos was elevated from his status as a newborn deity into that of a lesser deity. The difference was beyond planetary, and as a lesser deity Althos would be a much more powerful entity to take on, one capable of taking on entire armies by himself. The next few weeks of his life were spent building up his forces throughout Puerto Rico. He performed a massive miracle in the mystical forest he spent much of his days in, which healed every single person and creature living in the forest and was the first of many declarations he'd make that there was a god walking among mortals throughout his life. Shortly thereafter he met a pair of visiting elves who had come to Comillas from the distant elven empire investigating a supernatural rise in mystical energies from the forest. He took those elves on a tour of the forest before introducing them to a dryad he created mere moments before introducing them to her, who worshiped him in a guise as a "spirit" of nature named Cosecha. It was during this moment that Althos learned the true nature of "More than Meets the Eye"; Althos was a supreme higher being, a creature who wasn't just a god but was instead every single type of higher being in existence. That said, he still needed to unlock their powers to be able to use them. One day he attempted to examine the soil near the town of Comillas upon learning that it was becoming increasingly difficult to farm there. He realized that it was cursed, and upon attempting to break the curse he learned that that would have incurred the wrath of an ancient black dragon. He decided not to do that then and there, and instead waited until he understood black dragons better before doing that since dragons were the strongest mortal beings in existence. The elves were quickly enamored with the dryad and would return to their empire and become some of the first missionaries of Cosecha, who (following a later planet-wide miracle) would become the figure at the head of the empire's religion. Althos continued to shake up life in Puerto Rico by visiting a dark-elven city located underneath Puerto Rico. This city practiced slavery, as most dark-elven settlements did. While there he acquired more evil servants, and he made it his personal quest to end slavery. He would do this in the city by becoming the patron deity of the place, outlawing the practice, and utilizing dark powers over necromancy to ensure that the city could recycle their dead and also no longer practice the practice that he felt was abhorrent since they no longer needed slaves to do the labor needed to keep the city running. The world beneath Puerto Rico continued to feel the influence of the quickly darkening god, and as he acquired more influence over the place he continued to travel between the city and his "hometown" of Comillas. During this time he acquired power over the air, one of the classical elements as he gained more and more dark elven worshipers. Two of the slaves he freed were dwarven and dark dwarven sisters named Aoife and Ava respectively. The sisters were born dwarves but they had been captured by dark elven slavers because of a mistake made by Aoife, and when Ava was tortured repeatedly by her slave masters and Aoife wasn't Ava's heart was twisted and corrupted by the slow hatred she began to feel towards her sister. Eventually, long before Althos freed her, Ava awoke one day and found that her skin had been corrupted by the hatred she felt and she realized that she had been transformed into a dark dwarf, hateful, empowered, wicked, versions of dwarves who like dark elves could appear spontaneously among corrupted, hateful dwarves. Althos made contact with disparate groups throughout Puerto Rico and acquired greater powers while doing so. He also visited the dream of a human who was not only in another world but who was in another galaxy. Her name was Andrea, and she was studying to become a scientist in the hopes that she could become famous and go down in history books. Althos made a deal with her and improved her beauty in exchange for her worship. She lived in the unimaginably distant world of Htrae, a non-magical world and the first planet Althos had seen that was dominated by one race; humans. One day Althos set out to continue to wipe out the practice of slavery in the cavernous lands beneath Puerto Rico. To do this he defeated the main practitioners of slavery in the area: reptilefolk who served the dark dragon Ygaynth, who was amazingly enough, an ancient black dragon who wasn't Qoirre who just happened to live near, or rather underneath, Puerto Rico. He defeated the reptilefolk in a gigantic battle involving a legion of the undead, mixed with some of his insectoid servants a group of creatures known as "the Swarm" that he cultivated and led mentally and had led since before he finished the tutorial. In the wake of defeating the reptilefolk, abolishing their version of the practice of slavery, and gaining them as worshipers, Althos took time to begin to organize his followers. He created settlements for the undead, the swarm, and the freed slaves he had protected and liberated, throughout and underneath Puerto Rico. He also readied himself to become an elemental overlord, an elemental of reality-defying and warping power. To do that he needed to construct a flying island, which he sought to make his new home. He also sought to gain power over stars themselves and to acquire the first tier of influence (a measure of how much power a god has over any given domain or subdomain) over the star domain he had to leave the planet, exit its atmosphere, and fly to its sun. He did just that, unbothered by heat thanks to his power over fire, unbothered by radiation by his powers over that, and unbothered by a lack of oxygen due to his being a god. He acquired power over stars and also an intimate awareness of the solar system of his birth. In the wake of gaining power over stars, he felt like going underground so he went to a kingdom of dwarves and converted their princess into one of his allies by infusing her with a dwarven fetus, bestowing her with the sacred status of being a virgin mother, which freed her from political obligations both she and her father hated her having to endure. It was only at this point that Althos went and constructed his flying home. Upon successfully constructing his flying island home he performed a worldwide miracle and healed the entire planet while demanding a stop to all wars while he figured out what was going on. He also revealed who he was, and attracted the attention of a group of good-aligned dragons who became his first good-aligned dragon worshipers. Empowered by the worship of powerful, good-aligned dragons, Althos went and clashed with Ygaynth. At this point, Althos was an incredibly powerful entity and he was able to defeat the dragon easily. He spared it and instead drove it insane while filling it with fervent, fanatical loyalty to him. In the wake of this victory and a small number of subsequent victories, Althos decided to reach out across the interplanetary void and gain new worshipers. He again performed another life-bestowing miracle, reaching out across the void of space and healing creatures on other worlds that were within the solar system. When he did this his followers, beyond ants, wasps, bees, and fungi expanded exponentially.

The Solar System & Morehammer:

Althos, having acquired vast power due to spreading his faith beyond the planet of his birth retreated into his flying sanctum and practiced his new powers for a good, long while. During this time he took in the dark dwarf Ava, who had prayed to him for the power to kill her sister. He was planning to pretend to oblige her, and he took her in for the almost-month-long time he spent in his home. He gave her powers and the two of them began to build up a cult of demons, devils, and pain-bringers (a race of powerful, pain-obsessed extraplanar creatures) known as the Order of the Heated Blade. The day that Althos planned to pretend to give Ava her revenge would forever scar Althos. Althos took Ava to where Aoife, her sister, was and he planned to create a clone of the dwarf for Ava to kill without letting her know that it was just a clone. That said, deep within the Emerald Palace, the ancient dwarven tower where the princess Althos had helped lived, lurked a vestige, a ghost-like-vision of a god, who awoke and had plans of its own for Ava. The ghost broke free from the Emerald Palace, due to its overwhelming power as the ghost of a nascent overgod (overgods, being the strongest kinds of gods and ultimate beings that had ever existed). It appeared in front of Ava, killed her to keep her from becoming a leader and heroine of dark dwarves which it feared would be her fate, and then confronted and defeated Althos in single combat. The ghost was named Morehammer, and he was the creator of dwarves as well as a tyrant-god who during his life slew gods who threatened to become patron gods of dark dwarves before they could inspire dark dwarves to rise up against their non-dark counterparts. Althos, surviving the battle but knowing he couldn't defeat the vestige, fled back to his sanctum, and Morehammer followed him there. Althos was able to strike a deal to flee from Torus and leave the whole world to Morehammer and his dwarves. In exchange for Althos and his followers leaving the planet, Morehammer would give Althos power over a few subdomains and a domain, and would allow him to live. Althos accepted the deal and took his followers into his divine realm, a dimension all gods possess total control over, and he himself fled to the homeworld of the human named Andrea, Htrae.

Htrae And Extradimensional Power:

Althos fled to the world of Htrae and found himself starting over. He quickly adapted to the new world, and for the most part he was content there. He slowly began to build up new cults, practiced new powers, and even stepped into both his divine realm for the first time, and the Heart of Darkness, the home dimension of demons. For a while Althos was content to slowly build up new powers and he also officially became the emperor of the Althonite empire, an empire that officially controlled no territory outside of his divine realm. The majority of the people of Torus fled into his divine realm and chose to live under his generosity and deception rather than Morehammer's tyranny. That said the status quo wouldn't remain peaceful for long. Just weeks into his time on Htrae Althos quickly gathered up all of the angels, ancient servants of the almost completely extinct race of gods that ruled the multiverse in the ancient past, and he gathered them under his control. That said not all was peaceful. Just when Althos was beginning to fully acclimate to life on Htrae, a "rival" of his within the Heart of Darkness declared war on Althos. Althos responded in kind, by immediately defeating a horde of his foe's demons and killing one of the demon's top generals.

War, Expansion, and the New Status Quo:

Althos swiftly launched into a brutal, short-lived war with his rival, a demon of pride named Agustino. During the war, Althos acquired power over technology, and he entered Infernius, the home of devils, for the first time. He resurrected an entire city of devils, and became their new overlord while gaining the quest he needed to complete to become an archdevil: to track down and kill a vestige of a minor god of technology, Technos. During the war Althos took a week-long vacation on Htrae that culminated in him building a cult of pleasure, law, art, and obedience, and in the creation of the Coeus Company, a business that he and Andrea started together that would slowly introduce Htrae to more and more advanced technology. At the end of the war Althos went to the home of Agustino and slew the demon in one on one combat. He offered the heart of the demon to one of the layers of the Heart of Darkness and it, a sentient place, accepted his sacrifice and vowed to serve him, granting him power over demons as a demon-lord. This, coupled with the knowledge that Althos needed to kill a vestige to become an archdevil, prompted him to hunker down and build up his empire. He officially started the Althonite Empire in its current form nearly half a year after he was born. He would spend three years building up his empire, expanding it across countless solar systems and absorbing thousands of worlds into it, using his vast powers over magic, knowledge, sin, love, and technology to get entire solar systems to submit to him and join him as his loyal citizens. During this time he also became an archfey, the head of a court of Seelie faeries, and gained the title of "The King of Spring and Summer", along with powers over those seasons and the very concept of a day. One day Althos ascended from his status as a lesser deity into that of an intermediate, or true deity. On that very same day, he went to Technos' gravesite to find, confront, and kill the god-ghost. After successfully invading the gravesite, which was in the form of an enormous robotic's factory, Althos confronted Technos' vestige face to face. The two fought in an intense battle that ended with Althos cleaving the ghost-like being in half. In the wake of doing so Althos was able to become an archdevil, gain control over the first of nine layers of Infernius, and now, nearly half a day after that climactic battle, he has returned to Htrae with designs to open up a portal into the Heart of Darkness underneath a prestigious public university. (Author's Note: And here we are. Over two hundred chapters summarized in... countless paragraphs. This hit all of the huge story beats, but there are still many, many more to discover that will be alluded to here throughout this page and wiki but for now aren't mentioned in this INCREDIBLY quick summation of the story so far. There are over 700,000 words in the story, trust me, this is a QUICK summation of everything so far.)

Gender Identity

Althos is a genderless being, though for the sake of simplicity he usually uses he/him/his pronouns. Althos is fully capable of completely transforming his appearance and his sex, and his form is so malleable that if he wanted too he could fully transform, become a woman, and be impregnated. That said, so far he has demonstrated no desire to do this. It's worth noting that some high-elves and forest-elves worship Cosecha as a female spirit and Althos answers their prayers as readily as he answers anyone else's.

Sexuality

Althos IS sexuality. He was born with power over lust, and he is a lustful, pansexual and omnisexual being. He has had sex with a wide range of beings, across the gender spectrum, and because of this, he is loved by many populations of beings. Succubi and incubi, pleasure devils, dark elves, satyrs, and fauns positively adore Althos and their worship of him often includes sexual rituals. Althos is fond of this and often demands it from lay worshipers of his belonging to other races as well. The clergy of Althos are not asked to be sexual beings but he does like those who indulge their lusts, which he believes and preaches can be more than sexual in nature. That said many sexual beings are drawn to his worship, and he has been known to bless those who perform sexual rites and rituals in his name, dedicating their pleasure to him, especially if they did so unprompted.

Education

The majority of Althos' education has been provided to him instantly by the domain of knowledge, though he was also self-taught a variety of practices, traditions, and more, either through his own stubbornness or through the usage of powers he invented that gave him knowledge. Some exceptions to this rule exist though, with one particular example being how an elderly alchemist named Doctor Cortes, an alchemist and healer in Comillas, taught him the basics of alchemy. A practice Althos adopted after acquiring the first tier of influence over the art subdomain was to go to bookstores and libraries and just touch or even merely look at the books he could find. A power he gained when earned the first tier of influence over that subdomain was the power to know all of the contents of a book just by touching it. He later upgraded that power to require that he just glance at a book once, even if it was just a picture or a drawing or painting of one and know its contents.

Employment

Althos is the emperor of the Althonite empire, an interstellar, technically intergalactic, empire. He is also the president of the Coeus Company, which is a robotics and technological business in the non-magical world of Htrae. Althos is the object of worship of hundreds of different cults, religions, and even official country-wide faiths. Many of his followers happily donate some of their income to his clerics and organizations that worship him.

Accomplishments & Achievements

Althos is only three and a half years old, yet he controls a vast empire, is worshiped by an uncountable number of beings, and is five different types of higher being in one. He is one of the youngest gods in history to control a connected, interstellar, quasi-intergalactic empire. He has outlawed slavery on literally thousands of worlds, reintroduced magic to worlds long thought to be magic-less, and he controls a vast territory across three of the four evil dimensions in the universe of his birth. He has also slain a vestige, gained power over creatures as mighty as abominations and ancient dragons, and is ready to acquire more land, worshipers, and influence.

Failures & Embarrassments

Althos was defeated and embarrassed by the incredibly powerful vestige of Morehammer. Althos has sworn to one day have his revenge, and also to avenge Ava who was not only killed but was also utterly destroyed by Morehammer

Mental Trauma

As a newborn deity, Althos had a strange fear of the dark. At some point, this fear faded away, as Althos swiftly became an influential deity of darkness.

Intellectual Characteristics

Althos values intelligence and is himself an incredibly wise creature. His obsession with knowledge is so great that across the galaxy of his birth there are multiple worlds devoted to the storage of knowledge, and in his divine realm in his capital city there is an immensely vast archive that is filled with and run by angels of knowledge who obsessively pen tomes filled with history, philosophical treatises, and other knowledge. Althos was born with powers over vermin and parasites and he uses them as spies, but beyond that he also steals knowledge and memories from others. As a deity with two tiers of influence over the domain of knowledge and the domain of minds he can read minds, copy memories, and even break minds. He is perpetually reading the minds of those close to him and he enjoys knowing what they are thinking, even if he doesn't always act like he does.

Morality & Philosophy

Althos' morality is simple: he doesn't have one. He does whatever he can to accrue more power and is willing to do whatever it takes to gain greater influence over domains and subdomains, as well as to acquire more power in other forms. That said as far as living underneath Althos goes it's actually not bad. Althos often appears to worlds for the first time by performing a miracle in which he heals the entire planet. He is fond of being worshiped by most people as a god of healing, agriculture, and communities, and he often behaves as such. He isn't actively malicious by any stretch of the imagination, but he is more than capable and willing to decimate entire planets if it grants him more power. He has been a source of great kindness to entire solar systems and has brought wars on planets joining his empire to a peaceful end, which in turn has made faith in him virtually universal on many worlds. One of the only practices Althos is vehemently opposed to is slavery. It is speculated by none other than he himself that this is due to his innate nature as a being of chaos, and freedom, a nature which to some observers he might have seemed to have lost but that internally he believes he is adhering to even while being an emperor since he hasn't dramatically oppressed his subjects. In the eyes of many of the working-class members of his empire being an Althonian is more a matter of religion and philosophy than of nationalism and borders anyway. This is true even of those who have, since joining the empire, begun to travel across the cosmos, which suits Althos just fine. Althos prefers not to wipe out or wipe away free will from sapient, sentient beings. He is willing to make exceptions to this rule, as he encourages many of his followers to practice necromancy, and he himself has used powers that wipe away free will, but these powers are not ones he uses casually and on more than one occasion he has used them almost exclusively to punish those who would practice slavery or break some other central rule of his. He values loyalty, knowledge, and results and those who work for him are well-rewarded. He is known for keeping his word, even if it takes him years to do so, which it has in the past. He's also open to conversing even with his foes, unless their deaths or defeats are demanded and the reward for slaying or otherwise defeating them is a direct pathway to more power.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

Althos is driven by raw ambition. He has an innate desire to be worshiped and to be acknowledged as a ruler. He wants power, knowledge, and to be worshipped. That said he's not especially malicious towards anyone or anything aside from slavery and slavers, and his nemesis, Morehammer.

Savvies & Ineptitudes

Althos is quite good at talking things out and making deals with people. He's also usually rather honorable with regards to these deals, unless someone involved made an enemy of him ahead of time. Althos is quite devilish in that he likes contracts and agreements. As an archdevil his ability to make excellent deals and to empower those he bargains with has been greatly improved but that hasn't had a chance to be shown yet. However, prior to him becoming an archdevil he made agreements with creatures like reptilefolks and he honored his end of said agreements. Althos has a flair for the dramatic and can fight opponents in flashy, unnecessary ways as shown with his multipart battle against his infinitely lesser foe, Agustino.

Likes & Dislikes

Althos likes evil creatures. He doesn't dislike good creatures, but he finds evil creatures easy to work with. Althos isn't especially fond of battle, but to say that he dislikes it is a bit of an exaggeration, especially after he hunkers down and builds up his empire. That said, Althos is at his most dangerous when he's talking as he is quite persuasive and patient, which makes him a dangerous diplomat. Althos has ambivalent feelings about pain. His fondness for evil creatures means many of his worshipers are sadistic, and he has moments revealing an inner streak of sadism as well, but he normally prefers not to get his hands dirty. Althos likes healing people, creatures, and things. Althos is genuinely fond of healing and that is the real reason why his main miracle tends to be mass, world-scale healing.

Virtues & Personality perks

Althos isn't especially violent, which is quite rare for an innately chaotic god. He is willing to converse with virtually anyone so long as conversing with them isn't an obstacle to him acquiring greater power. He is more than happy to resurrect people and creatures, even ones long dead, so he can be an excellent deity to pray to while mourning, provided the mourner can offer something of value. Althos is also opposed to starvation unless those starving are his enemies, and he has been known to bless harvests and ensure that no one in a community goes hungry. Althos is a surprisingly pro-social god whose worshipers tend to be healers, doctors, and farmers, or otherwise those who provide essential services. He is also extremely likely to answer the prayers of couples seeking to conceive and has blessed more than a few would-be-mothers who prayed for pregnancies with virgin pregnancies, as well as has protected endangered species who pray to him. Althos is, in many ways, a deity of life. He is not a good deity of life, but he is one and that is often good on its own, especially when the life involved lives on an Althonian world. His empire, on a communal, local, and even national level, is often led by effective leaders who embody positive leadership and who utilize the resources their god gives them to astounding effect. Becoming a part of the Althonite empire has transformed many worlds, towns, and nations, for the better.

Vices & Personality flaws

After the expansion of his empire, and his becoming an intermediate god and archdevil, as well as outer god, elemental overlord, archfey, and demon lord, Althos as an enemy could be considered to be an all-powerful foe. Those who oppose him could die at any moment from virtually any cause, and what's worse is that it'd be almost impossible to know if it were Althos killing covertly or a genuine coincidence. Althos is someone who is a bit of a challenge to anger, but even one community refusing to join his empire can result in an entire world being ravaged by famines and by the people experiencing unending hunger. And that's if he is feeling generous. Althos as an enemy is an unstoppable foe who could do anything from ordering a mass murder of a community, to transforming an entire set of towns into a nightmarish hellscape inhabited by zombie-like monsters whose condition is one they can spread by breathing near you. Althos is also willing to use extreme methods to crush resistance and to cause people to turn to him in fearful worship. When he was younger Althos' greatest flaw was a lack of direction, and a lack of a willingness to stop and take his time. Now he has overcome that flaw and his greatest flaw is his willingness to be monstrous towards those who oppose him.

Personality Quirks

Althos has an extreme fondness for water. This is highly unusual because he was born with innate power over earth, but for some reason ever since he gained the ability to control water and other liquids he has spent a considerable amount of time submerged beneath water, especially oceans and other bodies of saltwater. Worshipers of Althos, especially those who worship him as an outer god be they abominations or just utterly insane mortals or extraplanar beings, often recount experiencing a desire to go to the sea. They feel a constant, subtle pull at the back of their minds drawing them to beaches and oceans. Althos is also incredibly fond of cephalopods and of jellyfish. Both animals are among those who are almost universally considered sacred to Althonites and Althonians alike. Althos' other considerably strange personality quirk is that he is fond of spiders. Spiders are one of the definitive sacred animals of faiths devoted to him, even ones that revolve around technology often admire spiders. He is also highly fond of driders, an evolution of spiders or, rarely, a transcended form of dark-elf, with the lower body of an enormous spider and the upper body of a beautiful or handsome dark elf. The most knowledgeable Althonites in existence speculate that this is due to a single drider named Imbrosa Ravenfist, a high priestess of a cult of life and a drider Althos reanimated and then fully resurrected long ago. This figure was supposedly the most beautiful creature Althos had ever seen. Some say that she has been given eternal life in exchange for spending the rest of time deep in one of the darkest pits in Althos' divine realm, a place where she truly can live eternally, undisturbed by anyone who doesn't have Althos' blessing, and where she can and her husband can sire an unfathomable number of drider children and raise them in isolation from the rest of the multiverse.

Hygiene

Althos is a clean deity who if he ever gets dirty merely cleans himself with his divine powers. There are no glaring hygiene issues he faces as he controls any and all aspects of his hygiene with but a thought.

Social

Contacts & Relations

Throughout the universe of his birth, which is so far the only universe he's been to, Althos is known by many, many people in over a million different ways. To some (most notably on test worlds) he is a violent harbinger of the end of civilization, to others (most notably on key worlds), he is kindness incarnate. On Htrae he has contacts in the form of several different small cults, most of which don't know of each other and worship him in incredibly unique ways. He is known by politicians from every country on the planet in some form or another. How they know him tends to align more or less with their own personal alignment. Good aligned politicians know him as a kindly spirit who heals and helps them. Neutral politicians know him as a mercenary, a powerful, supernatural entity who they can barter with and pay to perform certain services. Evil politicians know him as a scheming overlord who directs them and has created actual unholy alliances that unite people across the political spectrum into a group of organized ne'er do wells who is using them as puppets to achieve some unknowable end. Htraens of all sorts worships him. Some, have received obviously and objectively supernatural boons from him and pray to him as a nebulous provider of power, hearing strange whispers in the back of their minds that command them to do tasks for it in exchange for greater power. Others were folks in need, especially farmers who are people he is universally fond of appealing to, that he helped when he heard their cries for help and who now serve him in odd, but odd positive ways. He is also an incredibly well-known figure in artistic circles where eccentric artists of all sorts pay him tribute and honor him. Some cults are even open and publicly exist in Htrae. The most notable cult of this type is a cult that worships him as an outer god, a being with impossible powers from beyond the stars. This cult is lead, publicly, by a handsome but wild-eyed man who preaches that one day after being visited in a dream by two beautiful women he prayed to the moon and the moon gave him considerable attractiveness in exchange for him to go out and preach that the "hungry moon" deserved to be worshiped.

Family Ties

Althos considers no one his family, though he has respect for creatures like Andrea Handsfall, Troik, and others of a range of personalities and convictions. That said, though he has no family of his own, some people consider him a part of their family. He has the power to make bestow someone with noble status in his empire, at least in his empire, and most noble families consider that a way for him to enter into their families since it is if nothing else an endorsement of them for him to do that. He is considered an honorable noble in thousands of countries across his empire.

Religious Views

His religious views are simple: all beings should worship him, however they please. That said he does feel that every single being, without exception, should worship him.

Social Aptitude

Althos is almost universally supremely confident. He is the eternal emperor and as such he almost constantly embodies what he feels an emperor should embody: confidence, charisma, and grace. He also likes talking to people and is perhaps a touch more friendly than one would expect a deity to be.

Mannerisms

Althos speaks with a fair degree of certainty and he radiates the natural ease of someone who is an expert at most things. In the wake of his three-year period building his empire, he is now a picture of serenity and poise, while constantly readying himself for combat and to face down an array of unbelievably powerful foes.

Hobbies & Pets

Althos considers some of his demonic followers, such as the praereptor demoness Sombra, his pets. That said since they are sapient creatures some people might disagree with that. Curiously, Sombra, who is the most intelligent of the creatures he considers his pets, has no problem with being considered one of his pets.

Speech

Due to his "omniglot" wild trait he speaks every single language fluently and is understood by anyone he wants to be understood by. To those who hear him speak, he often sounds domineering, formal, and articulate. He can also sound bubbly, pleasant, and he can sing better than any mortal, or extraplanar being in existence. He can also harm, heal, or (as of defeating Technos and gaining greater power over death) even kill, anyone who isn't a vestige merely by talking to them. That said he prefers to heal over hurting people.

Wealth & Financial state

Althos is immeasurably wealthy. He is also capable of creating wealth in any form instantly, even if the requested form were something dark like a soul. That said in a world like Htrae where he has some notoriety, when he wants it at least, he can honestly say that he has billions in whatever currency would be relevant. Althos has wealth, on Htrae anyway, even independent of his powers. The Coeus Company, his company, is worth billions and he himself is keenly aware of that.

Divine Classification

Omni-Higher-Being

Religions

The Althonite Empire

Alignment

Neutral Evil

Species

Deity

Realm

Althos' Divine Realm

Church/Cult

Althonite Faith

Honorary & Occupational Titles

Althos has numerous titles, the one he'd be the fondest of would be the Eternal Emperor. That said on Htrae if he had to mark his status somehow he'd introduce himself as the president of the Coeus Company.

Age

3 Althonite Years

Circumstances of Birth

Althos came to life, apparently spontaneously, on Torus. For a god spontaneous emergences are not unknown, especially for the more eldritch deities

Birthplace

Planet: Torus, Colony: Puerto Rico, Town: Comillas

Children

Current Residence

Htrae

Gender

Other/None Applicable

Eyes

Whatever color he wishes for them to be

Hair

Whatever color he wishes for it to be, often dark

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Whatever he wishes for it to be

Height

Usually around 2.5 meters tall, but also mutable

Weight