Hero-god

The hero-god Psomeira.

This article is about mythic mortals. For the goblins who have ascended to deific immortality, see goblin hero-gods.

See also: Quasi deity

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

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 of the Starstone that split from the Aeon Star and 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.
• Yahuima, whose tears for her ascended lover created the geyser of Yahuima's Spring in Xopatl's Mildanesi Mountains.
• Yllaldo, one of Xopatl's strongest hero-gods, who protected Xopatli from external and extraplanar threats and built a keep now known as Yllaldo Castle. His most notable conquest was killing the demon lord Nolimarthos.

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 declined after Aroden's death.

• The sisters Aelyake and Diaphorea, the first to become hero-gods through myth-speaking, and the respective founders of Aelyosos and Liachora.
• 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.
• Ekriathae, an ancient harpy hero-god who sought vengeance against those who hunted monstrous folk to fulfill myth-speaking prophecies.
• Iapholi, a hero-god who promotes the co-existence of monsters and people who is worshipped in her home city of Dhuraxilis.
• Kelksiomides, a hero-god of gardeners and renewal and one of two rulers of Aelyosos and Pol-Liachora.
• Ludovica, a cyclops hero-god and poet who inspired the creation of the commune of Verdure.
• 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, a hero-god of defense who drove off the leviathan Ousmariku and now rules Aelyosos and Pol-Liachora alongside Kelksiomides.
• Spalkis, a deceased hero-god of skirmishers and sheep-stealing.
• Thonis of Thirty Columns, a deceased hero-god of commerce in Aelyosos. The city's New Columns market is designed with thirty columns in his honor.
• Upion and Warrik, dromaar and human lovers whose mythic powers manifest only when together.
• Ximakter, a hero-god who might be trapped inside Aerekostes.
• Ytildos, a cyclops hero-god of reefs and shipwrecks who served Ongalte before defecting.
• Zdokirae, one of the hero-gods killed in the battle against Ousmariku. As of 4712 AR, an astral deva claimed to be his purified soul.
• Zemesticles, a hero-god of myth said to have fought the giant serpent that became the first hydra.
• 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.