Vestus (Ves-tus)
God of Protection & Guidance
Vestus is one of the 8 major gods of Centaria and is the second most followed after Ilos, with 2 separate countries pledged to him. He also has the second highest generational retention rate (also behind Ilos) and the most amount of temples in all of Centaria. In The Founding Era, he established family values and the hierarchy of a family which, eventually, tied deeply into the Social Class System of most countries. He spent a fair amount of time on the mortal plane, spending most of it teaching those who wished to learn from him and smiting those who would do them harm. During this era, he was the only god to directly interfere with mortal conflicts.
While Vestus may not be the most followed diety currently, that has certainly not been the case for most of history. Vestus has historically gained followers at astounding rates, with his congregation peaking during war times. This is most likely why it has gone down in recent years, as Centaria is currently in peacetimes and nearly all are focused on academics. The argument could also be made that his follower count has dropped due to how rigid his doctrine is, and how religious apathy is on the rise. Put simply: many young people would rather follow a god that allows for more freedom in day-to-day life. His followers are expected to follow his doctrine unwaveringly and attend services twice weekly. They are to be pious and upstanding, with any follower acting immorally being immediately ex-communed by the church. His priests are slow to forgive transgressions, and those who wish to repent are subject to penance. Before The Romantic Era, when religious freedom was widely adopted, entire countries dedicated themselves to his code and punished deviators accordingly. While his doctrine is difficult to follow, those that do are typically held in high regard.
His temples are the most ubiquitous across Centaria, and he has the largest in the world: The United Temple of Vestus in Galetthia. While he does have smaller churches in most towns, large temples can be found in major cities that both host services as well as house priests and nunneries. Vestus is also the only god to have specific early-education schools that incorporate his teachings into the curriculum.
While nearly all religions co-exist peacefully, the one exception to this is occasionally Tedite and Vestus' churches. During The Divine Era, the two of them lent their celestial beings to opposing sides of the war (see: The Celestial Stalemate). While the bad blood between the two gods has (seemingly) been rectified, some followers still cling to the animosity. Given that the two are the most dogmatic of all religions, their beliefs are hard to change.
His symbol is a ceremonial headdress.
Celestial Beings
Vestus' celestial beings are some of the only of their kind that has stringent roles they hardly ever part from. The men are always soldiers or working in a political environment in one of his pledged countries, and the women are always either nuns or pedagogues of some kind. All of them hide their celestial nature, with the only exception being head priests and the highest state officials. Many believe this is so Vestus can "spy" on his congregation and mortals as a whole, which the church vehemently denies. The observer stereotype isn't helped by their personalities, which are nearly always rigid and uninviting. In the best cases, they are simply devoid of emotion and passive, though most others carry a strong sense of strict authority and are quick to let others know. Despite all the "negative" personality traits, Vestus' celestial beings do work for the greater good, just as their god does. Vestus' celestial beings naturally have bright turquoise hair.
Divine Classification
God
Children