Aeli

The Great God of Aelion, which was named Aelion in his honor. He left Aelion long ago and his current location and state are unknown to anyone.

History
Once Aeli turned into a god and gained new powers, the well-being of his country became his main concern and focus. His order grew steadily, and pilgrims traveled far and wide. It soon became clear that there were other people like Aeli. The young man went on a journey to search for his brethren, but what Aeli saw astonished him. Many immortals were immersed in self-worship and sins, having no desire to use their powers for the good of all people. On the contrary, their power was founded on fear, and the tyrants drew faith from it.

One of such cruel gods was a ruler of a small mountain princedom, nicknamed “Old Butcher”. This villain used blood rituals to extend his life. Aeli tried to talk sense into the immortal, explaining the true nature of that gift. The ruler took it as an insult and attacked Aeli. Old Butcher was defeated, and then something unusual happened. Aeli absorbed the ether body of the immortal and became stronger. The people were happy to be free of the tyrant, and the god felt that it could take him to the next level of power.

Aeli had always been against killing, instead looking for friends and allies in other immortals. Nevertheless, he actively used other immortals on his path, and only after establishing his position did he become a promoter of true humanism.

Killing another immortal and absorbing their power became a crime. At first, Aeli would absorb the perpetrator himself, but that contradicted his ideas, so another solution was found. The culprit would be thrust into a makeshift prison: frozen in ice. The immortal would fall into a deep slumber for an infinitely long time. Over time, they would lose their powers, grow old, and die, like any mortal.

Becoming an Elder God
Aeli returned from his great journey, and a welcoming ceremony was held at the main square of the city. The welcoming group consisting of the worthiest and most important people was led by Oristar, Aeli’s father, who was quite old but still full of life.

When Aeli stepped into the square, hired assassins from the guild of immortals came out of the shadows. It was simple revenge exacted by the defeated tyrants’ allies: they slaughtered Aeli’s father and other people before Aeli’s eyes. Aeli failed to save his father, but no killer escaped. The wrath that consumed Aeli was so terrible that he tore the killers apart and absorbed their ether bodies.

When everything was over, Aeli crouched near his father’s body and wept. The god had already attempted to revive the dead and knew he would fail, but he had to try it - for the last time. Aeli focused all his powers and suddenly felt like he was turning into something else; he assumed his divine form against his will, and then a giant ether entity leaped high above the city, covering half of the sky. People from all over the city witnessed it. They would tell their children the story of the day when Aeli became an elder god.

Aeli’s new, transformed ether body granted him incredible powers: he revived his father. He wanted to be great and shape the world to his own desires, like he thought Aeli did. But it turned out that Aeli had already kept a tight grip on the reigns of power.

Mantides Invasions
Nearly a thousand years ago, Aelion was invaded by the Mantides, which were led by the great goddess Sangra. Aeli, already the great God of Aelion, and his loyal immortals drove the monsters back. An entire nation rose up against the dreadful invaders, forcing them to withdraw. Sangra retreated, but some of her army remained on Aelion, hiding in its deepest caves. The pain and unbridled rage of the Mantide goddess was so strong that she ended up resorting to truly appalling measures. As an act of revenge, her plan was to weaken or potentially even destroy Aelion along with all its inhabitants, both mortal and immortal. Even today, it is still unclear how she managed to accomplish this.

Disasters began to occur: mighty storms and tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions – all causing heavy casualties. Aeli attempted to manage the chaos and for a long time he believed that the cause was in the planet itself. However, when Aeli used his divine powers to dispel the volcanic ash clouds which had settled over the continents, something wholly unexpected came into view. The largest of Aelion’s moons, Thea, its path in the sky known for thousands of years, was not where it was supposed to be. Local inhabitants, unfamiliar with what they were seeing, took this vision of the volcanic red sky with flakes of black ash as the final sign of the approaching world’s end. But Aeli, being a god of great wisdom, immediately understood that it was Thea that had caused all the cataclysms across Aelion.