Arawn

((Arawn, right? And yes, that is the proper spelling, it’s based on old Celtic so get over yourselves. Ok. BASICALLY))

Arawn was the first ever god. ((I was actually surprised no one caught on; I gave a small piece of exposition earlier on divinity as a kind of magic, and described the old gods, and their chief: Arawn. So. The first thing we need to clear up, is some of you seem to have a big misconception, seeing him as the god of cycles or something. That’s very false.)) He is more like the god of edges - things that make up the border between powers or forces, or the places where those powers are brought to bear. His domains include: sunrise, sunset, war, summer (one of his, if not his most iconic domain), desert storms, divinity, life, faith, and glory.

 

So, aside from being an elder god, and the chief elder god, he belongs to an even deeper subset: primeval gods. There are four of these, and they are the biggest and baddest, even among the elder gods. Their domains are a bit deeper and far more impactful than this, but this is the simplest, and if you don’t understand anything that comes after, just remember this: the easiest way of putting it is that they are spring, summer, autumn, and winter. They are all still alive (Jade killed Morlin’s daughter, not Morlin himself).

 

Kayda is the deity of spring, Arawn of summer, Aithne of autumn, and Morlin of winter. But these are old gods, from when sciences were not so well understood and mysticism was king. So think on old druidic rituals and beliefs. Seasons are just about the strongest things there are. Again, strength may not be a good word for it. But there is more power and meaning in the seasons than anything else save the world itself. To oversimplify offensively, the four seasons have everything worth a damn, and even the things that aren’t worth a damn, inside them. So spring is not just a collection of months; it’s beginnings, rebirth, birth, the passage of time, and growth, all wrapped up in a nice bow. And things just keep dividing further and further until, in one season, you basically have a quarter of everything. So the thing about the elder gods, and especially the primeval gods, as they are all just basically lackeys to or children of the big four, is that any other god if that exists shares a domain with them, any time that god gets worshipped, the elder gods get a portion of that power, and primevals get an even larger portion. They essentially collect a tax. So two or three of the primeval gods, if the season was favorable and depending upon the combination, could be a match for Tiamat. That’s not to say they could kill her, but Tiamat could not win - although she probably wouldn’t lose either, but no matter.

 

Arawn is chief among them because he has within his domains divinity and worship. Ergo, he collects a tax from every god. He is, ostensibly, the avatar of gods. Really, the only reason he isn’t always gloating is that Morlin kicks him around a bit whenever he gets TOO full of himself. See, Arawn isn’t patient - well, he’s patient as a stone, but in terms of immortals, he’s pretty rash, and Morlin always knows just what buttons to push, and he has defences strong enough to hurt Arawn’s pride. Sort of a, “if you’re so cool, how come I’m still standing?” deal.

 

The primeval gods do, however, have a few flaws. They are historically pretty wrapped up in their own shit, and they have a hard time answering prayers that don’t happen right in front of them. Also, unlike every other kind of god, the elder gods can die. They’re still immortal; age will never hurt them, but a knife in the back will put them in the dirt. Again, though, they are significantly more powerful. Also, they are more human than the normal gods. They glow - well, some do - but they can’t turn in to pure light and give oracles from heaven. They have a single, fixed form.

They do have some secondary domains, like spring being mischief. In general, they get along. They’re friends, acquaintances, and in one case lovers (Kayda and Aithne), but as a rule they get on. They’ve never actually directly fought one another. They’re allies, but they are immortal, and very human, so there are spats that have been going on for literal ages.