Zarthus
Zarthus Dalgari
As the moon has many faces, so too does Zarthus have many faces. He is a patron of small communities and self reliance. He is a patron of outcasts, bastards and half-breeds. He is a patron of music and art. He is a detective seeking out hidden dangers and hidden evils. He is a staunch foe of oppression.
Zarthus' priests, priestesses and holy warriors are frequently referred to "The Lanterns of Zarthus" or simply the Lanterns. They were given the nickname "Lanterns" because their temples are frequently decorated with a large number of lanterns, a nickname they were happy to take because they want to shine a literal or proverbial light in the darkness. The Lanterns are fairly numerous and widespread but also very decentralized.
Accomplishments and Failures
Zarthus came up with the core battle plan of the Divine Rebellion and took the Traitor out of the battle. He created a new aspect of nature entirely for there was no moon before Zarthus. Through his spirit and mortal minions, Zarthus has defeated many hidden evils. Zarthus' track record for defeating institutionalized evils is less than stellar. Most revolutions led by Lanterns fail. Even when they succeed, most new regimes built by Lanterns and Lantern sympathetic people collapse in less than two generations.Zarthus' followers have better luck when they work with existing regimes as sort of a voice of the people. A lot of kings and queens find it preferable to politely listen to the legitimate complaints of Zarthus' followers rather than unleash their soldiers on them. In addition to use Zarthus' priests and priestesses as go-betweens between rulers and ruled, most Scarterran court jesters are Zarthus worshipers and they get a relative free rein to criticize those in power.
This had lead to rulers being more conscientious of the needs of the peasants throughout Scarterra which is a victory but it is also a compromise, and Zarthus is not particularly fond of compromising even though he has to do with this with the rest of the Nine fairly often.
by me with Midjourney
Divine Domains
Zarthus Portfolio includes but is not limited to: The moon, the tides, light, exposing the corrupt, finding the hidden, music, art, self-reliance, community, bastards, half-breeds, orphans, freedom, vengeance, trickery to reach objectives,
His Dominion is the moon. The moon didn't exist until after Turoch was slain. Zarthus insisted on its creation because he didn't want Scarterra to be in total darkness half the time. Ironically, this ties him to his rival Phidas. Phidas' Dominion didn't exist before Turoch's death either.
His Gift to mortals is art and music.
The favored domains of his theurgists and favored souls are Augmentation, Crafts, and Hexing.
Artifacts
Zarthus' symbol of power and Divine Trophy is a rapier forged out of Turoch's spine.
Divine Symbols & Sigils
Most Zarthus iconography usually involves lanterns or the moon or both. A few more subtle and subversive followers of Zarthus use less obvious and more abstract symbols to demonstrate their faith to each other and present plausible deniability to the world at large.
Tenets of Faith
-Provide for yourself and your family, help others do likewise.
-Those who restrict another’s ability to provide for themselves or enjoy themselves must be punished.
-Seek beauty wherever it may be found so you can enjoy it and share it with others. Art and music is the greatest expression of beauty.
-Seek corruption wherever it is hiding, so that it may be removed before it festers.
Holidays
Zarthus' Zodiac month is roughly located in mid-Autumn stretching from the start of the Month of "Hayweed" into the Month of "Harvest" on the secular or farmer's calendar. Zarthus official zodiac holidays are Zarthus' Dawn, Zarthus' Zenith and Zarthus' Solace marking the beginning, middle and end of his Zodiac Month.
The War Against the Darkness is a common late winter Zarthus festival that truly showcases how the Lanterns acquired their nickname.
The Lanterns use Zarthus' Zodiac holidays to take care of internal business but they don't often make a big deal of these days publicly preferring to interject Zarthus venerations to various harvest festivals that occur near these days such as the Hay Day which is a secular holiday with many pro-Zarthus components sneaked in via various friendly contests and muscial exhibitions.
Divine Goals & Aspirations
Zarthus has great compassion for others and hatred for those who harm the innocent. Zarthus wants to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
Zarthus opposes evil in all its forms but his least favorite kind of evil is when people in positions of power use their privilage as a weapon to harm others and use their status as a shield against retribution. His second least favorite kind of evil is when evil uses disguise and trickery to hide their darkness until it's time to strike.
As far as Zarthus is concerned Phidas embodies both sorts of evil. Pretty much every kingdom in Scarterra that gets in bed with Phidas' Masks ends up with an resistance movement led by Zarthus' Lanterns. The Lanterns will not hesitate to go after institutionalized corruption or viscious monsters that are not affiliated with Phidas.
Zarthus is a god of revenge but he is not only a god of revenge. Zarthus shines a light in the darkness to expose hidden evils, but also shines a light in the darkness to allow for optimism and hope. He is not a complete anarchist but he believes that institutions of powers lead to corruption and likes to encourage small tight-knit communities of self reliant people with very simple power structures close to the people. He likes to encourage art, and story, and song in order to spread merriment and encourage peace and community.
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Social
Contacts & Relations
Zarthus loves Mera , perhaps obsessively. The Lanterns and the Tenders usually get along. They both want the same goals, helping the lowly, they just disagree on tactics.
Hallisan and Zarthus are feuding for the romantic attentions of Mera. In a way they are feuding over goodness itself. Hallisan and Zarthus are definitely divided by their similarities. Both value community, hard work, craftsmanship, and bravery but they disagree on all the details. In the mortal plane, their respective followers are usually good natured rivals. They might trade insults a lot, but they rarely fight. They enjoy saving pulling the other group’s butt out of the fire, so they can gloat about it later.
Maylar is there to remind Zarthus that freedom needs to be coupled with responsibility or it become destructive. Maylar and Zarthus are at odds a lot and their followers fight all the time, but it is rarely personal. They just happen to have goals at cross purposes right now, and they probably will be at cross purposes again. Zarthus believes Maylar is so short-sighted that while he will always present a localized threat in a small area, but none of his machinations will bring down Scarterra as a whole.
The Compact primarily drafted by Khemra established day and night as a compromise between good and evil. Zarthus hates compromising with evil. He created the moon to deliberately undermine Khemra's interpretation of the Compact. This pretty much sets the precedent for all of Zarthus’ interactions with Khemra to follow. What is frustrating to both Zarthus and Khemra is they know the other has good intentions. They both also know they are right and the other is wrong, so they are very bad at compromising.
Zarthus does not get along well with Greymoria mostly because Zarthus loves Mera and Greymoria hates Mera . Besides intervening when the Children start wrecking stuff, Lantern affiliated mages have also started worming their way into the magical economy, trading in regents, spell books, and magical items. Zarthus preachers tend to say that arcane magic is only as good or evil as the person wielding it.
Phidas creates systems of oppression and hides behind a thin veneer of respectability. This galls Zarthus on every possible level. Zarthus and Phidas arguably have the strongest most unyielding rivalry of any of the Nine.
Composite Display of the Nine's portraits by Zeta Gardner
If Mera is the wife that Zarthus cannot nail down then Nami is the mistress he cannot quit. Zarthus and Nami share a love of freedom. If only Nami had more empathy for the unfortunate. They normally get along, but the Lanterns and Rovers have been at cross purposes more often than either side would like to admit.
Zarthus and Korus usually get along. The Lanterns are usually pretty eco-friendly and the Stewards are usually pretty freedom-friendly. Their paths just don’t intersect much outside of barbarian tribes or the wood elves , groups which value both Korus and Zarthus highly.
Scaraqua
Scarquans commonly refer to Zarthus as Dalgari, one of the Sons of the Sky. Dalgari is the middle of the divine pack status wise. He is the god of tides and that is important and all, but the tides are something most Scaraquans tend to take for granted. Merfolk love art and beautiful things. A lot of them honor Dalgari as a god of art, but many other Scaraquans do not have much of an eye for aesthetics and find the Merfolk’s obsessions with beauty trivial. Astakalians, Ojiongo and Karakhai generally view worshipping Dalgari as being a waste of time. One major difference between Zarthus and Dalgari is that Dalgari is a lot less of a rabble rouser. The tides are fairly predictable after all. Also, most of the biggest patrons of art under the sea are wealthy Merfolk nobles. Dalgari is still a foe of evil, but his Scaraquan followers are more likely to work within the system than outside it.
Divine Classification
god
Religions
Alignment
Chaotic Good
Current Location
Realm
Church/Cult
Children
Sex
male
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