| Churches of the Sator | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Number of Deities | 4 |
| Type of Following | Any |
| General Acceptance Level | Vastly Accepted |
The Sator, meaning "creator" in Sanctus, are the first four deities created by Arwaith. They created light, the four elements, Etan and several races that now inhabit it.
Deities[]
- Ardel - The Wise One and the creator the element of air and the elves. He is renowned for his wisdom and level attitude.
- Faris - The Passionate One, she is the creator the element of fire and the khin. She has a kind heart and good intentions, though she can be quick to anger. A threat to her followers does not sit well in her mind, as she is fiercely protective.
- Glaile - The Healer, she is the creator the element of water and the saquan. She is also the goddess of kindness, extending a gentle hand to those who need help.
- Ogden - The Resolute and creator the element of earth and the dwarves. He is known for his stoic nature and resolve. Once his mind is made up, it is extremely hard to make him change it.
History[]
Creating Etan[]
The Sator were created by Arwaith, whom they revered. When Arwaith left, the Sator restructured time into a linear fashion. Next, they created light and scattered it throughout the heavens. They then split up and began their own projects. Each created their own element: Ardel created Air, Faris created Fire, Glaile created Water, and Ogden created Earth. They began experimenting with their own elements to create new things. The Sator then combined their elements to see what else they could create. Eventually they decided to create a gift for their creator as a token of their appreciation. They combined their elements and roughly fifty years later, they finished it.
Creating Life[]
When Arwaith returned, the Sator presented him with his gift, a throne world they called Etan. Unfortunately, he was not impressed and took little notice of Etan. He left for the cosmos again and the Sator were left alone having their gift rejected. They decided that their work shouldn't go completely to waste. They took Etan as their on personal home. The Sator continued experimenting with new creations. After much experimentation, they managed to create life. Not wanting to continue to be alone, they populated the world with plants and animals.
Creating Humanity[]
After a few years, the Sator noticed that the life they created eventually died. They were extremely distraught by this fact and felt they had failed. Then the Sator noticed that the life seemed to be creating copies of its self before dying and their numbers were actually growing. Intrigued by this, the Sator decided that if their creation could copy themselves, then the Sator should be able to as well. They began an attempt to create a copy of themselves. Like their creations, they worked together to create one copy of themselves that would have a combination of the Sator's traits.
Eventually, they succeeded in creating their most intelligent, complex, and powerful creation yet: humans. Humans were both wise and passionate, strong and kind. They were an image of all four of the gods combined . They also inherited a strong curiosity and strong desire to experiment and create. The Sator saw only one flaw in their experiment: humans were just as mortal as all their other creations and still did not come close to the power of the Sator.
The Sator spread the humans throughout the land and lived among them, teaching them and guiding them. They vowed never to abandon the humans like Arwaith had abandoned his creations. The Sator lived in harmony with the humans and their other creations. Other deities began arriving from the cosmos and the Sator and humans welcomed them. They also began to notice new life appearing that the Sator did not create.
The First Divine War[]
- See also: First Divine War
Roughly 2200 years after his last departure, Arwaith returned to Etan to finds the Sator had created life and the humans, and many of the deities he created had made Etan their home with the Sator and humans. Consumed with jealousy that someone other than him was powerful enough to create life, much less intelligent life, he demanded that the Sator return creation to how he had made it, insisting that no one could do better than him. The Sator refused and many of the other deities followed suit. Enraged, Arwaith attempted to destroy it himself. He created a few new deities to assist him and he attacked Etan.
The destruction was great, but Arwaith found his power diminished from creating so many other gods. The Sator drove him away and Arwaith and his allies retreat to the cosmos vowing to return and finish what he started. In the wake of Arwaith's retreat, Faris drew much of the light scattered throughout the heavens and condensed it with fire to create Vultus to keep watch for Arwaith's return.
The Last Attempt[]
Around five years after the First Divine War, a new deity arrived at Etan. He was a friendly and kind god named Skoros and he rapidly made many friends among the gods, especially with the Sator. Over the years, the Sator came to see Skoros as a strong confidant and sage adviser. Skoros slowly used this trust to spread doubt about the Sator's friendship amongst each other. The Sator at first began to doubt the level of accomplishment creating humans really was. Believing they had erred, they made another attempt to create divine life, what humans were supposed to be. The attempt went horribly wrong and the Sator were forced to banish their unstable creation beneath the Dor'Mar Mountains.
The Divine Schism[]
Skoros used the failure to spread ill will among the Sator. He persuaded each of them that the others were incompetent and responsible for the failure. He told each of them that they were the superior god out of the Sator, and that they could do things better if they just set out on their own. The Sator began bickering amongst themselves and distrusting each other. One of the Sator took it upon themselves to "fix" humans and create an altered superior race that was much more like them. It is uncertain who was first, but Glaile was the last to follow suit in the human alterations. Ardel created elves, Faris created khin, Glaile created saquan, and Ogden created dwarves.
The Sator began openly arguing among themselves over which race was better. They ultimately decided to find out once and for all by pitting the new races against each other. It was agreed that the races would be put to war against each other and the gods would not interfere. Unfortunately, whenever a race would begin to lose, their respective god would accuse the others of cheating. It's not known whether or not any of the Sator cheated, or if Skoros manipulated the war to further tensions, but eventually, the accusations developed into full out war among the Sator.
The Second Divine War[]
- See also: First Divine War
Just before the second millennial anniversary of Arwaith's defeat, the Sator discoverd that Skoros was an agent of Arwaith. They became worried that he was going to return, and paranoid that any other gods could be allied with Arwaith. Skoros retreated into hiding and the Sator, unable to find him, began accusing each other of hiding Skoros and working for Arwaith.
When Arwaith returned, he found the gods and Etan still consumed in war. Arwaith began his attack immediately and slaughtered several deities in the beginning, restoring more and more of his own power with each kill. The gods tried to stop him, but they refused to work together and were not strong enough on their own. Accusations of treachery and treason went flying among the gods and some were even forced to flee, believed to be another spy. The destruction visited upon Etan was greater than had ever been experienced before.
The Divine Exodus[]
- See also: Divine Exodus
After ten years of fighting, the gods finally set aside their differences and begin to present a unified front against Arwaith's forces. Unfortunately, too many gods had died and Awraith was too powerful. After two more year of destruction, the gods try a drastic plan: they created a barrier to sever the gods from Etan and prevent Arwaith from visiting any more destruction upon Etan.
To this day, the Sator continue to keep Arwaith at bay, while Faris, along with Vultus, take up the charge of pursuing Arwaith through the heavens. Eventually, after Skoros, the Sator discovered ways to effect with the mortals through the divine barrier, but their influence has been minimal.