Jereth

Jereth is the omnipotent Earth deity of the known realms of the universe, including Ombs. While there are many powerful spirits who operate with godlike powers throughout the various worlds, in reality, none of them hold the supremacy of him.

Appearance and Nature

Jereth is a tall deity, brown-skinned with black eyes and a modest frame, although he is capable of taking other forms as a "mask" when necessary. He often wears white or silver robes akin to an agbada, with a traditional necklace and wristbeads that all the ancient gods once wore as a sign of status and to identify themselves by the realms and cults they governed. As the only deity remaining however, the sacred jewelry is mostly cosmetic and symbolic. A magical axe of incredible destructive and creative power over the elements is worn at his side, and it is said that Jereth uses this otherwise unassuming axe to enact his most drastic measures.

In contrast to the many sprites and lesser-deities throughout the realms that exist, Jereth is a relatively straight-forward person that maintains a notably calm temperament. This temperament is disarming, however, as Jereth often makes decisions that can entail enormous consequences without being burdened by any moral or ethical weight of them whatsoever; Jereth can just as easily mete out a devastating punishment against an offender without losing his cool. No one has ever truly seen Jereth angry, and if the stories that sprites who've served him are true, his wrath is an apocalyptic force unrivaled by even the strongest known magic in existence. Despite this, Jereth is known to be a relatively patient and understanding deity to many of the disciples in the cults that worship him, and his kindness, as demonstrated in his choice to spare the remaining humans who'd opened the Ark, suggests Jereth is a fairly-reasonable, if no-nonsense deity that shows no favoritism, even to the 12 demigods he sired.

Abilities

Jereth possesses the powers of Prime Godhood, the primordial gift that only the original deities who once walked the realms of the universe had access to after being created by the Missing God who once reigned supreme over all known existence, Hyphernoen. These powers make him all but invincible to mortals and other supernatural beings, no matter how strong the other beings that roam the varying worlds and realms may be. Along with this comes a nigh-unlimited knowledge of the arcane that provides him with a mastery of the forces of magic itself. Jereth however, is concerned with and governs only the realms that comprise Earth and Ombs, and is relatively apathetic to the affairs that take place in the other realms, now dominated by demigods and other lesser beings who essentially replaced the other Gods that once existed as their chief rulers.

Jereth wields incredible creative and destructive power, capable of forming matter from nothing as well as dismantling it just as easily. While he does not necessarily require a conduit for his powers, Jereth is a master artisan and perfectionist who created one to optimize his abilities and represent the essence of his nature both as the most ingenious Prime God that has existed, and as the supreme overseer of the realms that he rules; it is both a tool of divine craftsmanship and a weapon meant to enforce Jereth's will.

Hún, the divine axe of Jereth

Jereth's arguably greatest creation is a magical axe, called Hún, made long ago before the Ark of Jereth was fashioned, and it possesses power just as arcane as a result. He uses it in part as a tool to magnify his array of abilities, allowing him to interact with both the material and supernatural realms on an unprecedented level. Jereth's axe also holds the powers to open, seal, and create new doorways to wherever he wishes, as well as destroy them. With Hún, Jereth can also bind and release other beings with sacred magic unique to his weapon, revealing and/or concealing the target's true nature with a unique form of divination. It is with this sacred magic that the powers of Hún are bound to him.

Even if, for example, Jereth's axe were stolen from him, the wielder of it would only destroy themselves trying to harness its power. It is said Hún is a supreme extension of Jereth's willpower and can obliterate the very immaterial souls of those who try to harness its power or even touch it without Jereth's permission. This is because Hún is a sentient weapon permanently attuned to Jereth. Jereth in fact is always aware and capable of ascertaining where his axe is, no matter the location Hún is at in relation to him. He will always find it, and Hún will always yearn to return into Jereth's possession.

Hún served as Jereth's chief weapon whenever he clashed with the other Prime Gods that once existed, though he rarely engaged in direct warfare, preferring instead to battle through wit and intellect as a first resort. True to this nature, Jereth's greatest accomplishment with the legendary axe was the creation of the very artifact for which he'd become most famous, cementing his place as the chief savant and sorcerer of the Prime Gods: the Ark of Jereth.

History

Age of the Prime Gods

Little is known about Jereth's life prior to the great cataclysm that destroyed the Prime Gods upon the first opening of the Ark of Jereth. Oral history from ancient griots of his cult on Ombs have many stories, some historical, some allegorical, and some mythological; this has made understanding Jereth, an already-mysterious deity that is shrouded in rumors and exaggerated legend, highly difficult for anyone not initiated into the upper echelons of the Jereth griot cults. What is ascertainable has come from the few times throughout history that Jereth has chosen to interact with mortals and other supernatural beings, with much of Jereth's nature and function being inferred through the actions of his twelve children, famed sprites with a rich history ranging from the fanciful to the infamous.

The oral histories of Jereth's cult assert that he was one of the countless children of Hyphernoen, the primordial Missing God said to have fashioned all of existence entirely before Its children, the Prime Gods, were born. In contrast to most of his divine siblings, however, Jereth did not share an obsession with expanding his influence beyond the realms he already ruled over. Relative stability reigned amongst the innumerable Prime Gods and their pantheons for a time, with only a few rivalries spilling into full-fledged animus. The disappearance of Hyphernoen through a means never uncovered would rock the fabric of the universe and test the alliances of the Prime Gods that descended from It.

The disappearance of Hyphernoen created a power vacuum that otherwise maintained an essential check to the evolution and spread of the many Prime Gods and their pantheons, some of whom now spanned cults across multiple worlds, and in the most extreme cases, galaxies. Jereth, however, was more than content with the influence he had, as well as the skills he'd perfected while monitoring the progression of his realms. His skill with the arcane and mastery of the hidden laws of the material and supernatural realms earned him renown among the Prime Gods and their pantheons, with the creation of his legendary axe Hún being considered his crowning achievement. This respect soon morphed into resentment and jealousy, which he combatted with diplomatic wit and a steadfast impartiality rarely witnessed among the other Prime Gods. Yet, Jereth's actions were ultimately scorned as weaknesses by the fiercest of the Prime Gods who'd begun to expand their pantheons by conquering the realms of other deities.

The creation of the Ark of Jereth, and the Gods' disappearance

An invasion by a rival who wanted to seize Jereth's powers and realm for himself led to the Earth God's first active war with another deity, though oral histories of his cults' Griots remain conflicted on who this particular enemy was at the time. Nonetheless, with his mastery of the arcane and the sheer might of Hún, Jereth was successful in defending his realm and ultimately won the first of several wars that other Prime Gods waged against him. Jereth's magical skill was unmatched, however, and he used the powers of Hún to protect his realm from future invasions. Jereth then began an endeavor that would reshape the entire universe: he secretly created the legendary Ark of his namesake and sealed untold power inside of it that would judge those who sought it.

Jereth stored the Ark in a location still hotly speculated by his cult's Griots, and the Prime Gods, eager to find a means to definitively "end" a war that ravaged countless realms, discovered it. These gods, seeking a peace that seemed more like a benign totalitarianism, opened the Ark of Jereth's case. The powers of the Ark of Jereth were unfurled and the Doom of virtually every Prime God aside from Jereth was exacted, resulting in their annihilation. Jereth alone remained amongst the Prime Gods that had once spanned the universe; only the Missing God Hyphernoen's fate was unknown for It had faded into mystery long before wars and chaos had overtaken the realms.

The vast worlds that were once ruled by the innumerable Prime Gods were now lost in disarray as their cults disintegrated and began warring with each other in response. The void created by the death of the Prime Gods posed a threat that Jereth couldn't ignore. Jereth soon sired many children, immortal sprites that he hoped would counteract the worst of the unrest that had taken hold throughout the many worlds and realms, but many had designs of their own and instead sowed even more chaos into the universe.

Local nature spirits soon became demigods while others died out as the civilizations that worshiped them were destroyed in warfare. The balance of the natural and supernatural dimensions were frequently tampered with at a whim, and the mortal races of countless worlds began to take on identities that no Prime God - not even Jereth - could've anticipated. Jereth, however, allowed this, and devoted the gist of his time to ensuring the Ark would be protected, charging his children with its protection - as well as the preservation of the sacred key used to open it. Prophecy however, ensured that Jereth would return to exact his own judgment when the moment called for it, and as the creator of the Ark of Jereth, waited alike he had when the Prime Gods had first sought the Ark's power.

The extinction of Earth Realm

The extinction of Earth Realm began with the decades-long war involving the known nations of Earth Realm, a planet located far from Ombs. In a fight to "unify" the lands underneath a single banner after nuclear war and other atrocities had taken place, the most dominant of these nations turned toward New Kmt, a storied nation that evolved to comprise greater influence politically and culturally than they could've anticipated. The nation itself was led by Queen Rukhy, the daughter of royalty.

In yet another example of the incessant meddling of Jereth's children, the sprite Mikael secretly brought the Ark to Earth Realm and stole the key from his sister Arlyntha, a sprite charged with protecting it, and presented it to Rukhy as a solution to the ensuing conflict. Veyard's growing influence in the conflict as well as Mikael's trickery led to Rukhy using it in desperation, and the Ark destroyed nearly every nation and most of the life on Earth Realm, with only small bands of survivors to testify that the event had taken place. Jereth soon appeared and explained the purpose of the Ark, charging Rukhy to be its eternal steward both as atonement and binding her very essence to it as punishment- if it ever was opened again by the unworthy, she would also be destroyed.