Nox, Lord Aphelian

Tjersenn, Watcher of Stars; Ahaju, Dream-Eater

It was as if the night sky had descended upon us from the firmament above. His great shadow fell upon us, drawing the wounded into slumber. Lunar radiance shone forth from His jaws, and the abyss could not endure it. In His presence, the truth of our 'selves' became inescapable - yet there was comfort in that mirror, that starry reflection.

— Telum Starspeaker, first Harbinger of Nox

Too many fear the night. As the sun fades from the sky, night fills the firmament with silver and black - to be turned back by bright lanterns and bolted doors. Yet the shadows that are so feared are cast strongest in daylight. Nox is the Eldest of the Wolflords, stars like jewels upon His coat and moonlight glinting in His claws. He walks in shadow and stillness, treading paths that few dare travel, as He uncovers long-forgotten truths and challenges the all-consuming abyss.

Truth in Reflection: Nadir

He is the endless vault of the heavens. The Dark is but a starless mockery.

— She Who Passes Dusk's Gates

Nox is the most elusive of His brethren, and the least well-understood. His is a world of boundaries: dreaming and waking, the Midnight and reality. From the moment He was born, He was locked in a struggle with the darkness that threatened to consume the nascent Creation. As His siblings walked in the light of the new world, the Eldest of the Wolflords fought in the dark. Only when the stars were set in the sky was His vision first illuminated; their radiance descended upon Him and adorned His dark coat.

Nox's chosen, the night mages, share in His knowledge of the world's dichotomies. Under the watchful gaze of the silver moon, Argen, they guard against the encroaching Midnight and walk in dreams. Yet by the power of Enrus, the charcoal moon, the chosen of this Wolflord tread the darkness, in which all lies and fantasies are burned away. In this way shall the truths of the world be revealed, and the foundations of reality be sustained.

Solitude and Starlight

"Wolf Aphelian, walker of stars,
Reveal the truths of ourselves in dream and shadow."

— Prayers to the Seven Foundations

Few can properly understand the Midnight, not without experiencing it first-hand. Shadows and the night hold nameless fears for mortals, inherited from distant ancestors who witnessed the 'inversion of the heavens'. And so Nox is frequently neglected, only remembered on cold, clear nights when the firmament is ablaze with starlight. But He does not begrudge this - mortal souls are brilliant as the stars in the sky, and He will fight to preserve each one.

However, it would be remiss to not mention that, in the distant past, the Dream-Eater's incarnations were often the most fearful of his brethren. Witnesses spoke of constellations and galaxies like dust upon His coat, a titanic form half-fading into the surrounding shadows, and the burdened gaze of His massive red eyes - and often losing consciousness immediately afterwards. Dream encounters were no less overwhelming; there, He drew the shapeless subconscious to Himself - framing Him in both blissful reveries and terrible nightmares. Such was the terror and vulnerable discomfort of those who received dreams from Nox that, upon waking, they could not recall how He looked.

Aspect of the Wolf: Singularity

"Cleansing starlight, or all-devouring calamity. Ahaju, final home of all dreams, treads between two worlds, and will not be denied."

— Jiiri, Shadow Seer

Nox's Aspect - the casting which embodies His power - is known as a Singularity, and may be the most destructive casting in Wyral. Its details have long been kept secret, revealed only to the most reliable of the Exalted; even Nox Himself has only used it a handful of times. While it is often described as a more powerful destruction rune, this falls laughably short of reality. Once the stars descend from above, there is no hope of escape. Nox is the guardian of the boundary between the world beneath the skies and the lightless sea. He alone chooses when to rupture it.

Wyrpath: Night

Siblings: Imber, Aspira, Fulmen, Sol, Lapis, Lyra

Divine Classification

Great Wolf

Current Status

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Realm

The Araen Wastes

Pronouns

He/him

Divine Symbols

a full Argen encircled by a crescent Enrus, surrounded by seven crimson comets

Divine Relics

The Sunderer is one of Nox's teeth, sharpened and welded to a staff of muumo - an old tree which naturally transmutes wyr. It has passed from wielder to wielder, often by force, to use its ability to cut through anything: flesh, the Midnight and its constructs, even less tangible things. Ideally it should be only be used when world-rifts open and the Midnight pours into reality, but the last battle fought over it sent it into the dark waters of the Archipelago.

Nox's Spears

Nox has always fought the shadows, but the shadows fight back just as hard. When the darkest abyss of the Midnight first threatened to arise, Nox descended to meet it. There, in the deepest Nadir of the Midnight, he bled for the first time. Outraged, the stars themselves rained down upon the Midnight, shearing through the darkness. These stars impacted the real world as well, lacerating the stone of the Araen Wastes. When Nox emerged, weary but successful, he was surrounded by pillars of rock like spears cast down from the sky, dead stars smouldering at their cores. These are Nox's Spears.