Celestians (Kings of War)

Celestians are the gods of Kings of War existing as 37 different beings who were split into two halves, good and evil. Some are associated with specific factions, while most haven't been introduced at all. Why have 37 then if you don't bother to name them all? Expansion potential, of course.

Background

Way back when before all kinds of bad shit happened in the Milky Way Galaxy Pannithor, there were three great civilizations. These were the Kingdoms of Elves, the Underlands of the Dwarfs, and the Republic of Primovantor. Apparently there weren't any orcs or demons around and things were good. These three kingdoms also worshiped the same pantheon of gods; the Celestians. The Celestians might have been gods or might have been ancient aliens, no one really knows, but regardless they aided the three great races by guiding them and teaching them to build sweet stuff like great cities and stargates.

So everything was great, but then trouble came to Pannithor. High honcho elven mage Calisor Fenulian was busy going on adventures (guess they were still having adventures somehow even though there weren't any monsters around) when he met a beautiful human woman named Elinathora. He tried his best charm check, but that failed, so he went to do what any elf would in such a situation, namely mope around feeling sorry for himself.

While he was wandering around feeling sorry for himself, Calisor happened upon a Celestian named Oskan. Oskan suggested he Calisor create this artifact called the Fenulian Mirror made with god tears and other weird shit. He was sure if Elinathora looked into this mirror everything would work out great, for you see this magical mirror would show her the future. I'm sure nothing bad could come from doing something like that. To be fair, Oskan did give one of those vague, half-assed warnings that gods and elves seem to love giving.

So Calisor went on this epic quest outlined in about a paragraph and made this mirror. He had Elianthora look into it. She saw that they would make a great couple, have great sex, and make a bunch of kids. So far so good. However Calisor had ignored those vague warnings and got so caught watching the show that he didn't turn the thing off when Elianthora died. After her death she saw Calisor banging a bunch of other chicks and mucking up the whole world before finally being killed by his own children. This didn't look good, so she smashed the mirror.

As one would expect who plays these sort of games, smashing the Fenulian Mirror caused reality to start shaking up. Most of the Celestians were killed outright while apocalyptic earthquakes and floods covered the world. A total of 37 Celestians survived, but they were torn in two; a good half and an evil half. These became known as the Shining Ones and Wicked Ones, respectively. The history of Mantica was from then on shaped by these two forces and their allies.

Notable Celestians

Note: Some of the characters described below are 'true' Celestians, others are the Wicked and Shining aspects that were created when the Celestians were split. The nature of some of them is not entirely clear in the lore, and this is possibly due to the fact that stories and legends of their deeds have been passed down over thousands of years, with details and facts not entirely consistent. Some Celestians seem to have retained their original name for both of their aspects when they split in two, others got new names. It is unclear as so why this was the case, but their names may be just how they are known to mortals and different races and cultures may might have had their own naming conventions.

Ariagful

Goddess of the Abyssal Dwarfs. She is said to imbue their weapons and armor with the dark fire that protects them and grants their ironcasters their magical prowess. Her Shining One half is Fulgria and is worshipped by their regular dwarf cousins.

Domivar the Unyielding

A young Celestian and the son of Mescator, God of Justice. Domivar appeared before Bolisean, ruler of the twin cities of Primovantor and the Golden Horn, when that human nation was about to fall for good, and created an army of Elohi to save the cities, which in turn lead to the creation of Basilea out of the ruins of Primovantor as unified mankind. Domivar also slew Oskan in the God War and created the Abyss to imprison 27 of the 37 Wicked Ones loyal to him at the cost of his own life.

Durunjak, Dark God of Death

Durunjak is the Wicked One responsible for the creation of necromancy. He aided the Ophidians in their quest for immortality and it is said that every time a soul is forced from heaven into a necrotic shell of a corpse he laughs in the Abyss.

Eoswain

A Celestian who split in two like the others with the shattering of the Fenulian Mirror. Her Shining One half kept the name Eoswain, while her Wicked One half became known as Zbortan. The two fought throughout the God War before coming to the skies above the Ardovikian Plain at the height of the war. They two fought until both were too weak to fly, resulting in them crashing to the ground below. They left a crag where they hit, although it is unknown if they perished. Some in the League of Rhordia believe that the tremors in their country are the result of their continued battle deep below the surface.

Fotia

A Celestian aligned with Basilea. She was cut in half in battle, half her corpse cradled in the arms of her lover Irdima. Irdima offered a desperate prayer and a miracle took shape. One half became Jullius, Dragon of Heaven, while the other became Samacris, Mother of Phoenixes. Basileans tell this as a parable of love as these newly born Elohi are lovers, but there doesn't seem to be any mention of Irdima after this. Did she become part of Samacris, or did she just get left out in the cold? The world may never know.

Fulgria, Goddess of White Fire

Chief goddess of the dwarfs. Fulgria is said to have blessed dwarfs with the gifts of iron craft and it is she who dwarf warsmiths of the Golloch Empire pray to when imbuing their weapons and armor with runic seals. She is also said to, at times, grant the rare dwarf magic user the ability to wield fire magic. Her Wicked One half is known as Ariagful and is worshiped in turn by the Abyssal Dwarfs.

Garkhan the Black

The Wicked One who created the Orcs. Hilariously his name is misspelled Arkhan the Black in the Orc section of the rule book, but spelled correctly everywhere else he is mentioned. Garkhan was one of the Wicked Ones who served under Oskan, but while his other dark brethren worked at corrupting existing races, Garkhan decided to create his own servant race whole cloth. It only took him 900 days, which seems like pretty good time, to make his own race of orcs. He is also one of the 27 Wicked Ones imprisoned in the Abyss. Recently created the Riftforged Orcs.

Green Lady

Nature goddess worshiped by the Sylvan Kin, The Herd and other minor races. When the Fenulian Mirror was shattered, the Celestian Karinna actually managed to prevent her being from splitting in two, protected as she was by her sacred grove. She found herself unstable and at risk of splitting if she left the grove. Fortunately she came across the Wicked half of the Celestian Liliana, who's split into good and evil halves had been less than clean. Liliana was suffering, so Karinna bound her soul to her own, both to save Liliana and to stabilise her own being. This kept her being from separating, but she was not yet powerful enough to protect the natural world from the God War, and Liliana would not be truly at peace until she was whole again, so Karinna hunted down Liliana's Shining aspect and bound her to her soul as well. When this happened, Karinna and Liliana were reborn as The Green Lady, a powerful gestalt being who stands between between the forces of Good and Evil, preventing either from gaining dominance. She is a champion of the lesser races of Mantica, seeking to protect them and the world they inhabit from the wars between good and evil.

The Green Lady's main concern is Balance, and therefore can be see aiding the forces of Good and Evil alike, depending on the situation. Her most recent notable action was leading the forces of Good in the Edge of the Abyss campaign, which culminated in The Green Lady and her Thuul Aquamages melting the Frozen Sea and drowning the Abyss in melt water, quenching it's fires and destroying its armies... temporarily at least.

She is known to reside in the Forest of Galahir, but few will ever see her in person. She projects avatars of herself onto distant battlefields to aid and heal her allies in battle. Were the Green Lady ever to emerge from the Forest and take to battle in person she might well be the most powerful warrior in all of Pannithor.

Kyron

A Celestian associated with nature. When the Fenulian Mirror was shattered, Kyron split in two like the other Celestians. His Wicked One and Shining One sides both retained the name Kyron, both seeking to continue to watch over the creatures of nature. The wicked half was known to be cunning and cruel, while the shining half was known for his kindness and bravery. It is said the two halves, instead of engaging in physical combat, argued incessantly with one another about the proper way to guide the natural world.

The Wicked One half worked with Garkhan the Black to create the orcs, while the Shining One half rescued the discarded souls of their experiments and formed them into the Herd and the creatures of the Trident Realms of Neritica. Their rivalry eventually led to the two eternally chasing one another through the skies of Mantica, forever locked in a back and forth combat known as the Great Hunt.

Mescator, God of Justice

Father of Domivar the Unyielding and one of the gods who watch over the Basileans.

Oskan, Father of Lies

Instigator of the God War and the one responsible for inspiring Calisor to create the Fenulian Mirror. It is said when he split in two, the Wicked One half of Oskan consumed the Shining One half immediately to increase his power (but wouldn't that make him the same power?) and that he had planned for this eventuality all along. After throwing the world into chaos, he organized many of the Wicked Ones under his command and led them in forming a number of slave races to wage war upon the three great nations.

The God War raged for centuries with Celestians on both sides being slain alongside their various allies. Eventually this culminated in a battle between two armies numbering in the hundreds of thousands. During the course of the battle Oskan faced off against Domivar the Unyielding and Laria, High Consul of Primovantor. As Oskan weakened, he fled into the sky, pursued by Domivar. Domivar slew Oskan, seizing from him his Black Axe, and used it to create the Abyss, a hellish dimension most of the Wicked Ones would eventually be imprisoned within.

Winter

Thousands of years after the God War, an unnatural winter fell upon the land. Elven seers used their foul arts to deduce that a female Wicked One, aptly named Winter, was behind this. An alliance of elf, dwarfs, and humans marched north to fight her. but the war dragged on for 150 years. Eventually she was struck down by Valendor the Great in a magical duel straight out of Magic: The Gathering. Her death however, caused all the glaciers she had formed to melt, flooding half the world and reshaping the map. This was the last major war in the timeline before core rulebook's time frame, so the various nations are often described in terms of how they have fared since this event. Hopefully she has a living Shining counterpart so we can have an Elsa expy.

Valandor The Great

Shining One who lead the Forces of Good against Winter. Valandor is a hero to Elves and Men alike and was both a great warrior and a powerful mage. After Winter's defeat he tried in vain to prevent the flood that washed over Pannithor and created the Infant Sea. He spent the last of his life force using magic to create a great wall encircling the Elven city of Therennia Adar as the sea levels rose around it, thus creating the city-in-a-bucket commonly know as 'Walldeep' we know today. His body currently lies in state in Therennia Adar, but his spirit is not entirely extinguished. He is still capable of possessing the bodies of worthy warriors for a short period of time (see: Dungeon Saga: Return of Valandor expansion). Valandor's Wicked aspect and archenemy is Ba'el.

Ba'el, Bane of the Mortal Kingdoms

Valandor's Wicked One counterpart, Ba'el was one of the most feared leaders of the Abyssal forces in the God War. It is said that he wiped entire civilisations out of existence and created rivers of blood from his unnumbered victims. Basically this is one demon-god you do not fuck with. He was eventually brought down by Valandor, who bound him in an eternal prison beneath the last civilisation he erased. Why Valandor didn't simply kill Ba'el and rid the world of a great evil is unclear, but it is rumoured that Valandor could no more kill Ba'el than he could kill himself, being as they are two halves of the same soul (whether Ba'el thinks the same way is a different matter, he wouldn't be the first half-god to slay his opposite number). Ba'el remains imprisoned to this day, but he has the power to manifest himself in the outside world in a similar way to how The Green Lady projects her avatars, so Pannithor still isn't entirely safe from him.