Lughad
The Exile | The Thunderking | The Tempest at the Helm | The Horizon | The Father to the Unwanted
Patronage:
Seas, Storms, Fosterage, Chaotic Justice
Primary Clerical Order:
The Tempest Hand
Propitiation:
Vigilantism and piracy, fostering and adoption, burial at sea.
Date of Manifestation:
Sometime before 595 BE.
Family:
By his wife Róa, Lughad has three children. Xelve was born 1268 FED. Calliad Atonia was born 60 ES, and split into Calliad, Nelos, Giritas, and Mydon in 7 EB. Oibrín was born 229 EF.
Exiled, Defiant, Determined
Lughad and his sister Zynterra always differed on various beliefs, but none more so than their stance on justice. Zynterra respected the processes and systems her creations put in place, trusting them to treat one another fairly and justly. Lughad found their processes meandering, slow, and ripe for manipulation. He routinely sought to intervene and enact his own vision of justice against the mortal world. His intrusions steadily grew more rapid and harsh, and Zynterra was compelled to intervene. She, along with Somnan, banished Lughad to the mortal world, forbidden from returning until he repented and reformed his ways.
Though immortal, Lughad was left powerless. The seas lay still, the skies grew clear, and this only incensed the Exile further. He traveled the world enacting justice on swift and stern terms. His followers rallied to him, and soon he was at the head of a fleet of legendary proportions. Though on the surface, Lughad appeared unrepentant, the surrounding of mortals aboard his ships supposedly saw him stay his hand more often, and he softened in his conviction incrementally.
It was in this exile, at the Battle of Baros Yyetin, that Lughad met his love and future wife, Róa. Being mortal, Róa eventually passed on, and Lughad in turn doubled his efforts to return to Godhood, so that he might see her again in the next life.
Appearance:
The appearance of the Seraphim morphs to resemble the race of the beholder. In many cases, the Seraphim appear human, as humans have long since monopolized art and depictions, skewing the expectations of other races. Though there are still many facets of a Seraph's appearance that are consistent across depictions.
Lughad is always shown with short, sandy blond hair. A keen blond goatee matches, adding to the angular nature of his thin, sharp face. Unless depicted alongside his wife, he is invariably shown scowling with a constant, ready-to-burst rage. His clothing and accessories vary wildly, even down to the occasional appearance of a hook in place of his right hand.
Background:
This tale concludes the events set in motion by Zynterra with the Great Fissure. The world was sunless, and people resented the Gods. They continued to scheme against them and against each other, so Zynterra sought the help of Lughad, resulting in his return to godhood.
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This account is of unclear provenance, but is the account held to be true by many followers of Lughad across the world. This may be why, though Zynterra requests stern and swift justice, many of the events that follow appear to be gifts. Other accounts have depicted Lughad in a far harsher light, evoking apocalyptic levels of destruction from his storms. It is little wonder this one is preferred by his followers.
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The tale is oddly uniform across these holy orders, with the sole varying factor being the measurement given for the horizon. This is naturally to give a better sense of distance to those using the various measurement systems across Rivaazlin. This account likely originated in Norem (now Etralia), given the use of the forrach, a measurement roughly equating to forty yards. The text has made quite the journey, as it now lies with a group of Tempest Hand priests at the southern tip of Salwerkshire, Thelaron.
The Return of Lughad & his Terms
The Gods had been insulted, and the world had been ravaged. Rivaazlin was divided by great ravines and the seas were dried up and the sun was hidden behind black clouds that let no rain fall. Every ship lay unreachable in the salty silt at the bottom of the great basin. In the overcast days, the people were spiteful and hated their queen from the sky, for there was no shining in their lives.
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Yet the warping of their forms and the making foreign of languages had the desired effect. Wars began between the new races and cultures and tongues and chaos was expected. And the split earth of Zynterra’s creation was of little consequence when construction began on great bridges spanning her ravines.
Lughad was without sea and thus without purpose or direction. He was made restless and was set to demand audience with his sister, when his sister did so for him. Zynterra appeared to the exiled sailor and made offerings.
‘Return to us, brother, for the people have not learned. I can punish them no more; my heart does not allow it. But you are of a callous and stern mind and your justice is swift.’
Lughad saw opportunity, and so he smiled as he perceived his sister. ‘You will first hear my terms, and you will accept them, and I shall return to you.’
‘Speak then, brother of mine, and let me know your terms.’
‘I will be returned to my Godhood. And in exchange I will descend as a terrible storm, emptying the sky of every cloud.’
‘This is reasonable,’ Zynterra said.
‘With these rains I shall make a terrible ocean, one that fills the fissures of your creation and drives them apart so totally that no one land can reach another with all the stone of its quarries. And in exchange, my fleet will sail eternal as emissaries of my will.’
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‘Such is your right.’
‘And on this terrible ocean I shall stand eternal, a hundred and fifty forracha from everything, from where I will block sight of all things further, protecting your creatures from their greed. And in exchange, I will be wed to my dead love, and she will be made as we are.’
‘This matter lies with our brother, but you will have my support.’
‘I have nothing else to offer, but I would ask that I am made God of all unwanted things and father to all the fatherless. And it will be my edict that my followers will care for them.’
‘It warms my heart to hear this, brother. Let it be done without exchange. Are these your terms?’
‘They are my terms,’ Lughad replied. And with that, Lughad was made godlike again. And he descended as a great deluge of rain and hail and lightning that tore through the great bridges with which mortals had walked around the will of their queen. The land was made damp again and the dead earth exploded with new life. And as the rain settled in every crevice and fissure it rose again in waves the size of mountains, and lands were pushed so far that they were forgotten.
And Lughad then took up his distance and let no men spy beyond to those forgotten shores. And only those with the courage to pursue Lughad and the surety to act well in his perceiving would sail on his waves. And Lughad’s people praised him and his wave and his thunder and took on the unwanted as had been his want. They stood out in his tempest and let the water long forgotten cascade across their form. They drank of the skies and stood stalwart in the gale of three hundred years’ waiting. The Exile’s heart was full. So as his great storm ended, he let the fish of his domain fall to Rivaazlin, as they had once died with the mortal oceans, so that his people might spend many years from land and never want for food.
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And in this alliance between siblings the world yet walked today was formed.