Hero-god

This article is about mythic individuals. For the goblin pantheon of demigods, see Goblin hero-gods.

Hero-gods are mortals blessed with mythic powers that elevate them above other mortals. They appear in multiple cultures of Golarion but are particularly associated with Arcadia and Iblydos. Their mortality is often all that separates them from divinity.

History

The Arcadian hero-god Psomeira.

With their incredible power, hero-gods have shaped history in the region in which they were active.

In Arcadia

In the Arcadian nation of Xopatl, their hero-gods—also known as saints, or yans and yantis—were granted power by a weaker shard that split from the Starstone that crashed into the Mildanesi Mountains. This granted power was not limitless, and over the centuries it gradually waned.

The hero-gods of Xopatl effectively created the landscape of modern Xopatl by using their mythic powers to wear down an entire mountain range. Beyond this, their powerful abilities allowed the hero-gods to declare independence from the then all-powerful Razatlan Empire, causing the empire to crumble. They also helped Xopatl weather the Age of Darkness with greater ease than most other nations.

• Purnállo, the only living Xopatli hero-god, mummified herself while still alive and continues to be worshipped at the temple known as the House of Yanti Purnállo.
• Quldari, one of the last of the Xopatli hero-gods, is most famous for building Quldari's Vault, which is said to contain everything Xopatl will ever need to defend itself.
• Ulvedro, whose fortress in the Mildanesi Mountains protected the fledgling nation of Xopatl from the Razatlan Empire and later became a centre of mystical enlightenment.

In Iblydos

Inhabitants of the island nation of Iblydos primarily worship their hero-gods, though they also worship other divine entities. Iblydan hero-gods are spoken into existence by cyclopean myth-speakers whose powers have declined since Aroden's death.

• Aerekostes, an intelligent falcata of contingencies and intelligent items.
• Chinostes, a hero-god slain by a powerful vampire and cursed with vampirism who now both protects and preys upon the Iblydan city of Reanpharos.
• Drokalion, a dire lion barely aware that he is a hero-god.
• Iapholi, a hero-god who promotes the co-existence of monsters and people who is worshipped in her home city of Dhuraxilis.
• Kelksiomides, one of the two hero-gods who rule over the city of Aelyosos and is known as a god of gardeners and renewal.
• Ongalte, a cyclops hero-god who seeks to slay all other hero-gods, viewing them all as having abused the mythic power granted to them.
• Pharimia, an aiuvarin hero-god of ports and lighthouses.
• Psomeira, one of the two hero-gods who rule over the city of Aelyosos who drove off the leviathan Ousmariku.
• Upion and Warrik, dromaar and human lovers whose mythic powers manifest only when together.
• Ximakter, a hero-god who might be trapped inside Aerekostes.
• An unknown centaur hero-god from whom the sorcerer Hao Jin stole the invincible shield known as the August Dilemma.
• In the creation myths of minotaurs, an unspecified Iblydan hero-god cursed the stonemason Tavdrinos to become the first minotaur for building a temple to them that mistakenly enshrined bulls, instead of depicting them as their enemy.

Other hero-gods

See also: Category:Hero-gods

Hero-gods also appear in art or stories of ancient Ghol-Gan and Mzali, and at the Divine Garden and in vanara settlements of Vudra.

• Namzaruum, a peerless swordsman and hero-god who lived during the height of ancient Ninshabur.

References

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.