Talis, Syimlin of Light

Light exposes the shadows others use to hide, but don't think he doesn't appreciate the nuances of Darkness. They walk, side by side, everywhere.
~High Priestess of the Sun, Kasoris

Talis by Shanda Nelson
Background by Kordula Vahle from Pixabay

Hair

Bright red

Eyes

Sky blue

Age

21,549 years

Ascended

Aged 25

Primary Temples

The Blinding Shadows, Evenacht
Jero Senae (Righteous Light), Talis

Primary Symbol

lightning, which he used to destroy the Aristarzian Light Temple

Personality

Worshippers consider him:
generous
patient
calming influence on Ga Son
illuminator of dark plots and corruption

Syimlin consider him:
moody
quick to smile, slow to burn, and when he gets truly angry, run
prankster
the spark that lights infernos

Light's ascendancy, as told by the Keel

Talis, as all Syimlin, was once mortal.
He hailed from the Aristarzian, a northern people who held Light as their most treasured deity. The priesthood selected boys with red hair and blue eyes and who also held great magic ability because they superficially resembled the god, and put them through a rigorous training to create an earthly replica of the one they worshipped.
Talis worked hard to become the earthly reflection of Light. He outshone the others who were brought to the Temple of Illumination, and the clergy advanced him beyond the meager others. His flair for magic impressed the most important priests, and they gave him increasingly difficult tasks to overcome.
He succeeded in all, a bright light of leadership others could only trail. During all this, he realized a darkness had infiltrated the temple, one meant to harm those seeking to reflect the Light. The Temple of Illumination had fallen to greed, for wealth, for power, and the high priesthood purposefully warped their calling to accommodate it.
Knowing he must work in secret, Talis devised a plan that came to fruition on his twenty-fifth birthday. On that day, he tore the Temple down. Brick by brick, column by column, tile by tile, he rent the physical to prove the worth of the metaphysical. The corrupted priesthood shrieked and pounded their beared breasts, but could not halt Light's burning revelations.
Talis, above all others, had proven his worth. Seeing a true successor, Light appeared and Gifted him his power, to carry into the future the noble righteousness of Illumination.

Light's ascendancy, as told by Talis

Talis, as all Syimlin, was once mortal.
He hailed from the Aristarzian, a northern people who held Light as their most treasured deity. The priesthood selected boys with red hair and blue eyes and who also held great magic ability because they superficially resembled the god, and put them through a rigorous training to create an earthly replica of the one they worshipped.
Abusive and deadly, the training killed more than it elevated. Watching friend after friend die, Talis created a plan he unleashed on his twenty-fifth birthday, the day he was to ascend into the ranks of the upper priesthood.
He slaughtered the priests and destroyed the hallowed temple they hailed as Light-protected and indestructible, and vowed on the bodies of those abusers, that he would bring Light to his willfully blind people.
The amount of magic the priests used against him, combined with his own, created a backlash he absorbed. Instead of sucumbing to it, he mastered it, and unintentionally became a minor Syimlin in the process.
Noticing the commotion, Light, having grown weary of his position, unceremoniously handed his Gift to the fiery young man without asking whether he would accept the burden, and disappeared. Overnight, Talis had gone from Light acolyte of righteous destruction to being a Greater Syimlin.
He had become that which he hated the most. Death, an obnoxious old man who found too much humor in the events, Gifted him with Life, sealing his fate.
He now held the Gifts of Light and Life. And he had no idea what to do with either.

This is my response to "why save your work". I created Talis in high school, along with the other syimlin in my Evenacht serial. The original tale I told was the one mentioned in my Badeçasyon article. Unlucky treasure hunters wanting to loot tombs arrive on Sensour just in time for the empire's invasion.
Talis has taken a bit of a darker turn since then (as with all my work). But I can see my development. It's not just in art. It's in my writing as well. And yes, I've saved my writing from my childhood, and still have most of it. And yes, it does provide inspiration. Your younger self looks at things differently.