Helios (Hee-lios)
Whenever humans embark on a new journey, enter a contract, or start a political or romantic relationship, chances are good that they whisper a prayer to Helios, deity of dawn, renewal, and vitality. Though he is among the oldest of Theras, the Morninglord nonetheless retains the cheery optimism of youth that makes him the perfect symbol of beginnings. Ever willing to pass over the defeats of today to focus on the victories of tomorrow, Helios preaches a doctrine of proactive good works and constant reevaluation of society’s traditions and mores. He also urges the destruction of undead, which he views as a vile corruption that mocks creation and true life.
Critics suggest that Helios' aggressive altruism often gets in the way of his good sense. His vanity and enthusiasm cause him to discount the consequences of his actions: He simply hopes for the best and attacks a problem head on, regardless of the ramifications.
Divine Symbols & Sigils
Clergy, Temples and Worshippers
Helios' faith remains extremely popular and powerful today, especially among idealistic young nobles (though seldom their parents). They claim to be personally tasked by the Morninglord to see to the affairs of their lessers, as though their fortuitous accident of noble birth granted them a writ to serve as Helios' mortal representatives. For many young aristocrats, a foray into Heliosism represents a last act of rebellion before accepting the responsibilities of the nobility. Those of truer heart, however, remain in the church and often end up making a profound difference in their community. Commoners appreciate such treatments, making the Morninglord popular among all social classes. All of Helios' clergy respect art, liberty, nature, and culture; promoted betterment of oneself; and strove to bring hope to their followers and others. Many of these followers work in various creative arts. They are intolerant of evil, especially undead and inaction that causes evil to prosper. Most ceremonies of Helios are held at dawn and actions and contracts agreed to at sunrise are said to be blessed by him. Funerals, among his followers, are held at dusk, and followed by a wake that lasted until dawn. Powerful members of the church protect their communities from malign extraplanar interests by acting as exorcists or fiendslayers. The church recognizes no central authority; the head of each temple is afforded similar respect by followers everywhere. Clerics refer to one another as Dawnbringers. The ostentatious cathedrals of Helios, with their abundant statuary and gaudy stained-glass windows, reflect the order’s great wealth. All temples include a mass hall that faces eastward, allowing the congregation to watch the first rays of the rising sun. In crowded or walled cities, temples are built for height, with ceremonies held on the third or even fourth floor of the structure. When such construction is impossible, a complex series of mirrors channels the sun’s rays. Heliosian architecture is dominated by elaborate fountains that often spill into shallow moats of holy water winding throughout the temple complex. Some followers of Helios insisted that he is in fact the reincarnation of Ixtaar, the Menedynn god of the sun. Others took this heresy further, claiming that he would take up the mantle of the lawful neutral Ixtaar again, and that the transformation from deity of the morning to sun god is imminent.Hierarchy
The Heliosi faith holds no singular authority over the faith or hierarchy that bound individual churches to one another. Each priest holds sole jurisdiction over their own temple, shrine, or congregation, regardless of their rank or title within the church. Heads of Helios' temples occasionally meet at conferences whenever issues affecting the church at large had to be addressed. TitlesTitles within the church included (in descending order): Sunrise Lord, High Mornmaster, Mornmaster, High Morninglord, Morninglord, Dawnmaster, High Dawnlord, Dawnlord, Dawngreeter, Dawnbringer, and Awakened for novitiates. Despite the numerous titles, Heliosian clergy commonly referred to one another as "Dawnbringer" or "Dawn Priest". It is customary for priests to take on a new name for themselves, as revealed to them by Helios. This act symbolized their "rebirth" as an official member of the clergy. Novices in the Heliosian faith were called the Awakened, while clerics were known as Dawnbringers. The full priests took a new name in his service when they were ready to signify that Helios personally recognized and accepted them. This new name could either be used instead of their old name or simply used only when addressing other Dawnbringers and when in solitary prayer. Other titles included (in ascending order): Dawngreeter, Dawnlord, High Dawnlord, and Dawnmaster, while an elite cleric was referred to as a Morninglord. All followers were required to be of neutral to good alignment.
Day-to-Day Activities
Followers of Helios are directed to provide aid unto others and foster innovation to better the lives of folks in the Realms. They cultivate lands that are otherwise barren, culled monstrous creatures to make way for new settlements, fight off the forces of evil, and impart civilized ideals to discordant locales. Heliosi offer much assistance to adventurers, pilgrims, or others that travel across the Realms. They make efforts to recover long-lost relics, magic items, or creative works such as literature or art in order to further their own innovative endeavors. Priests offer a wide variety of services to their parishioners, including marriages, birthings, funerary services, and even public announcements of new public works projects. Heliosi temples often sponsor non-combative athletic events, such as wrestling, archery, riding, running, swimming, and the like. They also honor creative competition in the arts, including the arts such as literature. More often, local clergy host grand revels for forward-thinking scholars and intellectuals, in order to stimulate their creativity and inspire new ideas that would further advance culture and civilization across Theras. Priests of Helios often concern themselves with new business ventures, offering loans to business people seeking more startup capital than their neighborhood moneylender could offer. Some of them take this entrepreneurial spirit even further, becoming investors, merchants, and financial brokers for their own personal enrichment. They are often viewed as overly enthusiastic hucksters. Yet other priests choose to propagate more humanistic unions, serving as matchmakers to prospective lovers that have yet to find their partners.Rituals
Clerics of Helios pray at dawn. Most holy services take place just as the light of the sun breaks the horizon, with secondary gatherings occurring at high sun and sunset. Ceremonies are joyful but dignified and feature singing, offerings, and ritual drinking of well water touched by the light of dawn. On Midsummer morning and on the mornings of the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, Heliosian clerics perform the Song of the Dawn, a popular and complex musical ceremony that attracts even nonworshipers to the Morninglord’s cathedrals. Clerics of Helios tend to be ebullient utopians, “morning people” in every sense of the phrase. They encourage social, cultural, and political progress as agents of personal liberty, artistic expression, and racial harmony. Helios' clerics sponsor athletic and artistic competitions to showcase the talents of the community, and they often finance the recovery of lost treasures or important symbols to give the people hope and encourage further good works. The tenets of Heliosism urge respect toward one’s fellows and the natural world and intolerance for evil or those who unwittingly aid evil through slothful inaction. Militant followers stand at the vanguard of efforts to clear civilized lands of harmful beasts or purge the taint of the undead from the world.Tenets of Faith
Strive always to aid, to foster new hope, new ideas, and new prosperity for all humankind and its allies. It is a sacred duty to foster new growth, nurture growing things, and work for rebirth and renewal. Perfect yourself, and be fertile in mind and body. Wherever you go, plant seeds of hope, new ideas, and plans for a rosy future in the minds of all. Watch each sunrise. Consider the consequences of your actions so that your least effort may bring the greatest and best reward. Avoid negativity, for from death comes life, and there is always another morning to turn a setback into a success. Place more importance in activities that help others than in strict adherence to rules, rituals, and the dictates of your seniors.
Physical Description
Identifying Characteristics
During his numerous visits to The Great Mother's Garden, Helios appears as a giant of a man, to match the size of his lover, Thea. His visage radiates bright shine of the morning sun and his hair burned with flaming orange-red fire. Helios appears as a handsome young slender muscled Human man. His preferred clothes are a set of colorful robes of reds, pinks, and yellows. A red and golden sash embraced the god's waist. He wears golden sandals and left scorch marks everywhere his feet touched the ground. Helios often floats and likes to materialize in a glorious spectacle of dawn sun beams. His radiant face darkened akin to sun eclipse when the god is angered or upset.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
It is said that Helios was a being created by the will of the people that venerated the sun.
However, those that have knowledge of the truth, know that Helios is only an Aspect of Stronmaus. For when the elves venerated the moons and the stars, Stronmaus had used the will of the other races in the war to help the giants survive the onslaught of the dwarves and the elves. This power came directly from the sun.
They are many that compare Ixtaar to Helios and call him the Father, meaning the father of the human race.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Despite being among the oldest of Theras' gods, Helios nonetheless retained the cheery hopefulness of youth. His is an eternal optimism, a constant willingness to focus on hopes for the future rather than wallow in the failures of the present. He is a doggedly determined god who encourages proactive altruism and constant reevaluation of the old ways. Exuberant and friendly, his interests lay in vibrant life (regarding both birth and nature), and conversely urges the destruction of the corrupted mockeries of life that he see the undead as.
Though liked for his many positive qualities, Helios also has a reputation for displaying the flaws common to the young, such as zealotry, vanity, and excess. Though enthusiastically altruistic and only slightly vain, it is said by his critics that his aggressive do-gooder mentality often prevents him from taking more sensible courses of action. His headstrong conceit can blind him to the consequences of his actions as in his idealistic crusades he simply attacks directly and hoped for the best, ignoring the ramifications.
Social
Contacts & Relations
Helios is a son of “He-Who-Was”. Helios holds a bitter hatred for Asmodeus, Dispater and Zariel. He thirsts for vengeance against Asmodeus.
Helios' friendly demeanor makes him almost as popular among other deities as he is among the mortals of Theras. The deities, however, tend to have longer memories than their followers; many appreciate Helios' calls to action and altruistic rants but try to keep him from doing too much damage to the status quo. He gets on well with other idealistic deities such as Soryna and Nevel, or with those such as Lurue and Atzul, who prefer to focus on the pleasurable and good things in life. The Morninglord’s command over creativity brings him into friendly contact with Oghma, Adis, and Gond, and his unflinching hatred of the undead has made him a fast ally of Baravor. Thea seems to appreciate his exuberance more than any other member deity of the world, perhaps because it brightens her ancient soul. She and Helios believe that their fates are intertwined, and while their romance has faded and flared intermittently over the centuries, they always seems to return to each other.
Helios somewhat naively holds evil deities such as Bane, Khaziba, Ella'li, and Talos personally responsible for the majority of Theras' ills. He particularly dislikes Nyx, whom he views as an eternally corrupting force, the foul cancer at the heart of every shadowy intrigue against him and his church.
Titles:
The Morninglord;Commander of Creativity;
The Rose-and-Gold God;
Bringer of the Dawn;
Lord of Birth and Renewal;
Patron to Spring and Eternal Youth;
Mentor of Self-Perfection;
The Father;
Divine Classification
Religions
Alignment
Neutral Good
Realm
Children
Other Affiliations
Ruled Locations
| LG | NG | CG |
| LN | N | CN |
| LE | NE | CE |
great article.when can i join?