Canethri, Champion of Creation (can-ETH-ree)

Canethri was born—not created, like the other Monarchs—on Kairos before the Exodus. In her mortal life, she was a warrior and a guardian. Now he watches over the material plane, protecting those who bring the beauty into it which he so adamantly protected during his life.

Canethri's Doctrine

Of the nine Monarchs, Canethri is the most inclined to share his power without being entreated first. She is, above all, a patron of beauty and the arts. While bardic magic doesn't come from Canethri, he is a favored deity of minstrels, bards, artists, and writers. The power she grants her clerics, however, is generally used to protect those sources of merriment rather than to create them. He values mortal creation above all else, and although he now holds the divine power of creation, he would rather uplift mortal art than help create it. While she is a patron of song and art, most of the power she allocates to her clerics is granted to those who would protect the small, joyous parts of mortal life. It is said that his throne in the Pillar of Creation is located in the center of a great, ever-expanding maze, which is filled with every piece of art, song, and story that mortal minds have ever created.

A Mortal Champion

Before the Exodus, mortals walked alongside creatures well beyond current reckoning, facing threats that are now nearly incomprehensible. The First People in turn had great warriors and mages who rose to protect their kin. Canethri was one of these warriors. In her time, she became a legend—a figure of terrifying combative prowess with a reputation for dealing swift justice to creatures wielding terror and destruction. Eventually, the legend turned into a myth turned into a religion, and people began to revere him as a deity walking among them. In truth, her reputation as a vicious warrior was mostly untrue. While his skill with a blade was just as impressive and terrifying as the legends made it out to be, he wasn't solemn or cruel. She loved the world, and all she ever wanted was to protect its beauty. The reason he never stayed in one place for long was that he wanted to see and experience all of it, and along the way, her reputation grew, but she never lost sight of the little things she so adored. As the story goes, she never died; she was simply taken by the God-Queen in the Exodus, treated like one of the divines and granted a throne to match. Now, the story has shifted, and he is well-known as a beacon of joy and grace. She is a Monarch now, and as far as anyone knows, she has not had to draw her sword and shield for eons, but if she ever needs to, there is no doubt that she will be just as deadly with them as she always was.