Keranos, God of Storms

Keranos is the god of storms and wisdom. Merciless and impatient, Keranos is equally likely to strike out at mortals with a bolt of inspiration or a blast of lightning. To revere Keranos is to exult in the power of wisdom, clarity of purpose, and the fury of the storm. He is favored by tinkerers, inventors, and sailors as well as those seeking solutions to intractable problems. He doesn't tolerate the company (or the worship) of fools, and he despises vapidity and indecision. Keranos rarely appears directly to mortals, preferring to communicate through an epiphany or a crashing bolt of lightning. When he does deign to manifest in the mortal world, Keranos prefers the form of a stout, bearded, male human wearing a purple loincloth girdled in a mithral chain belt with a clasp in the form of a dragon's skull. His bearing is upright and stern, with a clipped, brusque way of speaking. Particularly clever plans and observations bring a hint of a smile to his face. When interacting with mortals, Keranos sometimes appears in the form of a great horned owl with lightning strikes flashing in its eyes.
Keranos’s Influence Keranos is the embodiment of wisdom and insight unhindered by compassion or patience. Just as the storm vents its fury unpredictably and without warning, so does Keranos deliver the wisdom he chooses to impart.
A storm, for all its unpredictability, can still be weathered by those who apply foresight and knowledge. So it is when dealing with Keranos. He rewards those who act with forethought and decisiveness and punishes the reckless for their stupidity.
Those who seek to solve enigmas and create wonders of art and science often invoke his name. The creative process is fraught with frustration, and his insights make short work of such hindrances as easily as the lightning parts a mighty oak.
Keranos dispenses inspiration without regard for the morality of its application. He is just as likely to reward the shrewd general seeking to topple a polis as a gentle healer searching for a cure for a malady. Good and evil don't color his thinking, only action and the thrill of birthing new ideas into the world. Furthering the act of creating—be it ideas, weapons, art, or magic—is what matters most.
Keranos’s Goals For good or ill, Keranos exists as a disruptive force. He doesn't desire authority over other gods and, in fact, doesn't particularly enjoy their company. Keranos finds satisfaction in investing bright mortals with prescient visions to see how they adapt. Those who prove themselves decisive and intelligent, such as the missing Queen Cymede of Akros, earn his grudging respect and continued blessings of precognition. He finds satisfaction not only in granting insight, but also in expressing the awesome fury of the storm. Where others see only chaos and destruction in storms, he sees them as shaping the firmament in ways that challenge and engage mortals. His blasts of lightning set house and forest ablaze, thus rendering the soil clear for new life and new creations. His is a vision he alone is equipped to see. He is content to watch his divine kinfolk scheme and plot while he looks on, stern and inscrutable.
Worshiping Keranos Keranos's name is often invoked by those amid a storm who seek safety, or by someone who is faced with a particularly difficult problem. Only the foolhardy call out to Keranos frivolously or in jest, since he might well smite the offender with a bolt from the blue.
In Akros, where Queen Cymede actively promoted the worship of Keranos, elaborate ceremonies are conducted beginning just before the first summer thunderstorm. Intricate, open-framed sand paintings with complex geometric shapes are created by dancers in flowing blue silken wraps. Then, as the rains fall, the paintings are washed away, symbolizing the impermanence of genius and the power of change. Akroan oracles strive to predict the exact time of the first storm in hopes of allowing enough time to stage the celebration. A similar festival in Meletis, called the Lightning Festival, gives its name (Astrapion) to the third month of the year.
On the last day of every month, Keranos's priests and laity bring offerings of fish and distilled spirits to his temples. The fish are cooked under a skylight open to the stars, with a shot of spirits thrown on the fire.
Keranos’s Champions Alignment: Usually chaotic, often neutral
Suggested Classes: Barbarian, bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, wizard
Suggested Cleric Domains: Knowledge, Tempest
Suggested Backgrounds: Acolyte, entertainer, guild artisan, noble, sage, sailor
Most champions of Keranos are calm under pressure, creative, and clever. They often seek to challenge the status quo and thrill at wielding the power of the storm.
Keranos’s Favor Keranos chooses champions who are deliberate and wise, yet able to bring the storm's fury when needed. He expects his champions to be aggressive and self-reliant and disdains the lazy and the foolish, who deserve whatever ill fortune befalls them.
The god of storms is inscrutable at the best of times; thus, it can be difficult to discern why you've earned his favor. What prompted him to gift you with foreknowledge of important events? How have you demonstrated your potential?

Myths of Keranos The myths and legends told of Keranos’s deeds demonstrate his wisdom and wrath, dispensed in equal measure.
Epiphany. The lightning bolt is a symbol of both Keranos’s fury and his ability to inspire. Pondering this combination, he entreated Purphoros to create a mighty weapon, a javelin that strikes with the force of the storm. Keranos channeled his anger into a furious storm, which Purphoros then captured and smithed into a gleaming javelin that hummed with power. When Keranos wants to send a message, of either destruction or enlightenment, Epiphany is his tool of choice.
Font of Fortunes. In ages past, Keranos created a bronze font fed by a pure mountain stream that would grant great oracular power if one drank deeply from it. As Keranos wanted only the wisest and most clever mortals to gain his favor, the font lies at the end of a series of fierce traps and riddles. It exists both in and out of Nyx, hidden to all but the most diligent of seekers.
Lightning Diadem. Years ago, Keranos received an exquisitely cut sapphire set in a delicate silver diadem as an offering. Deeply appreciative of the skill and craftsmanship required to create it, Keranos imbued the gem with a spark of divine genius. Inventors and philosophers coveted the diadem, for it conferred a fraction of Keranos’s inspiration to the wearer—granting incredible insights or fracturing the wearer’s sanity. Its last owner, the tormented genius Zexso the Unblinking, is said to have created a massive contraption to assure that the lightning diadem wouldn’t shatter the mind of any other mortal. The inventor’s machine launched the diadem into the heavens, where it’s said to have landed upon a griffin-inhabited island floating in the clouds.
Riddle of Lightning. Once, an arrogant oracle boasted of her infallible insight, which flowed from Keranos himself. Bemused, the storm lord arranged for the oracle to meet a particularly cunning sphinx and engage in an epic battle of wits. The objective set forth by Keranos was to solve the Riddle of Lightning, an enigma devised by Keranos himself. After days of deliberation, the oracle realized the answer, only to be struck down by a bolt from the heavens. Among the faithful nowadays, the term “Riddle of Lightning” is used to denote a question that one is better off not knowing the answer to.
Silent Storm. Occasionally, Keranos seeks to make his will known with all the subtlety of the master of storms. Should lightning strike the same point multiple times yet never echo with thunder, followers of Keranos claim that is the way their god draws attention to secrets he wishes to share. While repeat lightning strikes would normally cause considerable damage, strikes that convey the god’s will often leave a scorch in the shape of Keranos’s symbol or no mark at all.