The Teros of Atlantis [Scion Companion]

Scion

Greetings, true believers! Meghan here, with an excerpted preview from the Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World. This preview is just a snippet of the Atlantean pantheon, and an example of the kind of pantheon design advice this chapter will contain. Please keep in mind that this is a first draft; anything and everything is subject to change. Enjoy!

The Teros of Atlantis

In the World of Scion, Atlantis is fallen, a ruined and lost Terra Incognita. Its Gods, if they ever existed at all, are long dead. The Atlantean pantheon depicted here is optional canon, which Storyguides can choose to integrate into their campaigns if they like.

Atlantis was the first city. The birth of Ytar and Aeva, the Twin Gods of Time and Space, from the Void’s womb also marked the birth of the World, and Atlantis was there at its center. As centuries passed, humanity and its Gods came to Atlantis, refugees from some ancient crisis led through their flight by Badarus of the Oceans and Amnis of the Rivers. Ytar and Aeva, who’d grown lonely watching the World from distant stars, watched the rise of Atlantean civilization and descended to greet its Gods. The twins granted wondrous gifts to both the Gods and mortals of Atlantis — miracle-machines, god-technology, knowledge of transcendent sciences.

Atlantis became a utopia unimaginable to even the most technologically sophisticated modern societies. Towers of crystalline song gleam in the sun, their interiors twisted through hyperspatial architecture to accommodate vast foundry-temples and palatial estates. Gene-forged clone lines and memory transplant gems afford Atlantis’ nobility nigh-immortality. The mighty arsenal of the Gods, from many-minded supersoldiers to word-weapons made of living stories, held at bay the aggression of the Titans, whom Atlantis calls the Deros.

Long has Atlantis sequestered itself from the World, enjoying a splendid isolation from the tumult of what it sees as its primitive neighbors. While the myth of Atlantis is well-known throughout the World, and many seek it out, the island’s space-folding engines and singularity cloaking keeps it concealed from even the most intrepid explorers. Ruled by an immortal aristocracy and cut off from the rest of humanity, Atlantean culture has grown stagnant over the millennia. Now, some Atlantean Scions advocate for ending its isolation, for reaching out and taking a place on the World stage. They upload extensive primers on Atlantis’ history and culture to the mortal internet, and establish secret lines of communications with government leaders. Atlantis can no longer remain hidden away, but what will happen when it returns?



Principal Members

Aeva, God of Time and Death

Aeva is one of the genderless Gods of Reality, alongside their twin Ytar. When Aeva was born from the Void, their first act was to sing. Their music was the first thing in the World that had an order and a pattern to it, and the first thing that changed, marking the beginning of linear time. Though this was necessary for the World to begin, it also gives Aeva an ominous reputation, for the beginning of time was also the beginning of entropy, which guarantees death and destruction must come to all things. Aeva takes on a three-faced form, gazing into past, present, and future simultaneously.

As God of Time, Aeva is worshiped by those who seek to forestall its ravages and postpone death, illness, or decrepitude for one day more. When the end comes, Aeva solemnly oversees the dissolution of the soul into the Void. Not all of Aeva’s roles must be so grim; they’re also the protector of procrastinators, musicians, horologists, and broken-hearted lovers. Aeva’s favorite Incarnations are singers and musicians, though they sometimes take on more somber roles as hospice nurses, gravediggers, crisis hotline volunteers, and executioners. Most of Aeva’s Incarnations travel outside Atlantis, where they can escape the baleful reputation associated with them.

Aeva’s Scions are almost all Chosen; the guilt they feel over the suffering linear time causes humanity makes them reticent to create new life of any kind. They expect these Scions to do what is necessary, even if it is not pleasant, whether leading bloody revolutions to overthrow oppressive governments, providing counseling and therapy in the aftermath of tragedies and disaster, amputating a limb to save a patient, or investigating a criminal conspiracy at great danger to themselves.

Callings: Creator, Guardian, Liminal

Purviews: Artistry (Music), Death, Fertility, Forge, Health, Order, Passion (Dread), Stars

Ytar, God of Space and Void

A carefree fool and merrymaking trickster, Ytar is the other twin God of Reality. When Ytar was born from the Void, they stretched out their limbs wide, unfolding all of space so the World could take form. Their most common manifestation is a human-shaped silhouette cut out from a great darkness, filled with spinning galaxies and gleaming stars. Ytar holds no formal position among the Teros, abhorring responsibilities, but is venerated by God and mortal alike for sharing the wondrous technology of Atlantis.

As the God of Space, Ytar answers the prayers of cartographers, navigators, architects, physicists, and those seeking lost things. Much of their time is spent devising sophisticated tricks to play on both their fellow Teros and Atlantis’ mortal rulers, teaching them the lessons Ytar believes they’d benefit from learning. They can take this jovial, lackadaisical manner to excess, shunning Godly duties even in times of crisis, but their twin Aeva forces them to live up to their obligations. Ytar takes on Incarnations as a way to enjoy the variety of mortal life, often taking roles that leave him well-placed to work mischief on the powerful and haughty: a multibillionaire C.E.O.’s secretary, a president’s chief of staff, a news anchor’s makeup artist, and so on. Ytar doesn’t limit their Incarnations to staying in Atlantis, enjoying the World’s diversity, though they’re careful to keep their true identity secret.

Ytar’s Scions are usually Chosen from mortals whose mischief impresses the God of Space, or Created in their divine workshop from dark matter, crystalline nanomachines, or even stranger substances. They have some Scions through liaisons with mortals (almost always Atlanteans). Regardless of a Scion’s Genesis, Ytar’s expectations for them are the same: enjoy yourself, don’t take things too seriously, and make the World a better place. As carefree a parent as they are a God, they make no effort to control or direct their Scions, leaving some wishing they had more parental guidance.

Callings: Creator, Trickster, Sage

Purviews: Chaos, Darkness, Deception, Epic Strength, Forge, Journeys, Passion (Joy), Stars

Designing Aeva and Ytar

Aeva and Ytar fill two archetypal roles: they’re the Atlantean mythologies’ creator gods, and also divine twins. Their different roles in creating the World contrast the differences in their nature by associating them with different kinds of creation myths: Aeva’s role follows the model of the God who brings order out of the Void’s formless chaos; Ytar belongs to the ranks of the trickster Gods that play a role in creating the World.

Both Aeva and Ytar have the Creator Calling for that reason, along with their invention of Atlantis’ miracle-technology. Aeva’s role in staving off death and misfortune gives them the Guardian Calling, while their status as the God who oversees the progression of the dead into the Void gives them the Liminal Calling. Ytar’s fondness for making mischief and playing tricks that impart some vital wisdom to their recipients qualifies them for the Trickster and Sage Callings.

Aeva and Ytar share the Forge Purview to reflect their joint invention of Atlantis’ god-technology, and the Stars Purview, which encompasses both time and space. They also share the Passion Purview, but with opposite emotions. Aeva’s Artistry and Order Purviews reflect the way they created time; their Death, Fertility, and Health Purviews reflect their role as both the cause of death and a guardian against it. Ytar has Darkness and Journeys as the God of Space, Epic Strength to reflect their part in creating the World, and Chaos and Deception because of their trickster god status.