Aaryav

True A'arden God of Magical Study, Alchemy, and Knowledge

The Light of Insight; Aide of Arcania; The Divine Scholar (a.k.a. Ethan Cato)

A Lesser Deity of the A'arden Pantheon, Aaryav is the devoted Aide of the Goddess Arcania, the Goddess of Arcane Magic, the Arcane Weave and Weavecrafters. Aaryav is the God of Magical Study, Alchemy and Knowledge, who assists Arcania with her eternal maintenance of the Weave. He is wholly dedicated to Her, and it is thought that on some level Aaryav may be in love with Arcania, though the God has never been known or inclined to act on these feelings if they are true.

Aaryav is typically a quiet God, content to observe from the periphery of Mortal life and gently nudge when necessary. He is contemplative, studious, and generally avoids conflict where possible. However, He and Arcania's other disciple, Duvessa, frequently fight over the latter's lack of participation in maintenance duties, as he considers her "lack of respect" to be quite an affront to the Goddess that gave them purpose.

In many circles, Aaryav is considered something of a bookworm, with some dismissing Him as little more than a boring Lesser Deity following in the shadow of the greater Arcania. But Aaryav cares little for these slights, shrugging them off nonchalantly and generally ignoring any crass comments in favour of reading the next "Mortal bestseller". It is rumoured that Aaryav has read every Mortal book ever written (as Mortals do so write some strange things these days...) and can perfectly recall every written piece with perfect precision. He prefers His followers to figure out problems for themselves, and He is exceptionally fond of puzzles, mysteries and memory games.

While Aaryav prefers not to engage in conflict, He is known to wield an array of throwing knives, which He also uses as tools to assist Arcania with Weave maintenance. Aaryav is also known to be able to "redistribute knowledge", having the ability to extract (sometimes permanently) and give knowledge from and to any entity or object He wishes.

Divine Domains

• Knowledge
• Arcana
• Order

Divine Symbols & Sigils

Holy Associations

Holy Symbol: An open book with a key across the pages

Favoured Mineral: Amethyst

Favoured Colours: Purple; Dark Blue

Favoured Animals: Owls; Ravens

Shows Preference To: Dedicated scholars and explorers seeking new knowledge

Known Avatars

• Ethan Cato - Aaryav can temporarily manifest in a Mortal appearance, and while it is significantly less powerful than His true form, it is still powerful enough to be ranked amongst the strongest of Mortals. This avatar is generally seen as a slender man wearing dark blue hooded robes that hide the majority of his features. Those that do see Aaryav's face in this form speak of him as being "quietly pretty" with stunning blue eyes.

Common Manifestations and Omens

Generally a quiet God, Aaryav typically sends messages to his followers through dreams or visions, often in the form of puzzles or riddles. He has been known to send omens in the form of book pages turning of their own accord or the sound of rustling papers in an otherwise quiet space.

Divine Realm

Aaryav's Realm is known as Emyntisysha, which translates from Old A'arden to "grand library". It was a gift from Arcania, who knew that Aaryav would never claim a Realm of his own unless he was essentially pushed into it.

Physical Description

Identifying Characteristics

Aaryav is quite shy, and is typically viewed as a tall, slender male dressed in loose, flowing robes and a large floppy hood that hide His physique and features. The hood often has slits in the edges that allow a set of short horns decorated with silver disks and purple-black feathers to poke through. In the few instances where He goes without the hood, Aaryav is described as having an elegant face with high cheekbones and beautiful blue eyes. His skin is a light tan-beige and He has a shiny blue mask-like marking across his face. A line of small, boney ridges line across his brows to merge with the front edge of His small horns, and His ears are slightly pointed. His hair shifts between shades of dark blue and purple, though the tips, which are around shoulder length, are typically a paler sky-blue. Aaryav also sports a set of iridescent-blue ethereal wings, though he typically keeps these tucked low behind him.

Special abilities

Aaryav is most well known for his ability Redistribution, which allows him to extract, move, and insert knowledge into and from any object or entity he wishes. It can be used as both gift and punishment, but Aaryav is careful about his use of it.

Less well known is Aaryav's Recollection ability, which allows him to summon a perfect copy of every document ever written, even if the original has already been destroyed. While it is known that Aaryav's Library-Realm houses every book and legal tome ever written, it also houses every letter, personal note, diary entry, memo, and reminder too, meaning that Aaryav is privvy to many secrets that have long been lost to time. Recollection allows him to summon any of these written items, not just the books and tomes, making it quite dangerous for anyone that has ever written down a secret in any language.

Apparel & Accessories

Preferring to hide himself behind his clothing, Aaryav is typically dressed in loose, flowing robes with a large floppy hood coloured blue and purple with brown trims. He tends to wear sandles or go barefoot, and his short horns are typically decorated with leather straps sporting silver disks and purple-black feathers.

Divine Classification

True A'arden Deity, Lesser

Realm

Emyntisysha

Ruled Locations

• Emyntisysha