Hilathu

Former: Snakes and serpents of all kinds, summer, venom, poison   Current: The afterlife, the deceased, the journey to the afterlife, ghosts, vengeance, cruelty, sacrifice, greed. Worship is outlawed.

Snake skins, death masks, gravestones, travel tickets.

Hilathu's body is heavily decomposed, mostly being that of a snake skeleton wrapped in shed skin. He lacks muscles, tissue, and organs almost entirely, long since having rotted away, except for his tongue and some connective tissue along his spine and jaw.

Hilathu had long since been caught in a battle for the position of the god of all serpents, a position that at the time, would have granted immense power over not only mortals, but other gods, possibly securing his position as a member of the big five. By becoming the god of all snakes, Hilathu's following by absorbing that of all other snake gods may have grown greater than that of Ferventi, God of Wolves. He found much resistance from the other snake gods and their allies, and began to use underhanded tactics by pitting the other gods against one another and then attacking when they were weakened.   When the other gods became aware of this, they began to unite against Hilathu. The threat of their combined might scared him, and he turned to one last and final resort- Shia, the God of Death. Hilathu begged Shia to name him the god of all serpents, claiming that his power surpassed all others and he was deserving of it. Shia repeatedly shot him down on this, for Hilathu did not have the respect of many cults under the other snake gods due to his treachery. Hilathu continued to beg and make demands, and at one point offered all the lives of his would be followers if he was the serpent god for this power, claiming he was willing to give up everything that was 'his'. This was an another attempt at destroying the power of the other snake gods, as by offering the lives of all serpent gods' followers he would not only have killed his own following, but that of all the other snake gods as well. As he at the time had the smallest cult, his power would not have been reduced as drastically, but the other gods would be devastated and perhaps killed through this action alone. If not, easy for him to kill and claim the position for himself.   Shia saw through this trick, and was angered by the sheer audacity Hilathu had as well as him openly asking the god of death to commit a genocide in his favor. The cruelty he would wreak upon the world and sacrifice thousands of lives for his own greed for power. For this action, Shia partially granted his request, saying he would forever be known as the God of Serpents. Hilathu was overjoyed at first, and quickly killed by the death god and raised into undeath. Shia then said to him that forever more, he was the disgraced God of Serpents, the Greedy One, The Cruel God. As further punishment, he was replaced as the god of his kind by a rival's heir, and his followers found to be complicit in his plan killed as sacrifices to the other gods. As insult to injury, Shia had what was thought to be complete control over his mind, forcing Hilathu to watch as a passenger of his own rotting body as he carried out Shia's will, often acting as an escort for the undead to the afterlife.  

Modern times

In the current day, Hilathu has proven to have been much more active than was previously believed, operating in the shadows to grow his cult significantly and begin pursuing allegiances with others against the pantheon, most notably, the Lunar Dragonflight. Despite extreme amounts of surveillance and control over Hilathu by Shia, he was still able to grow his cult and coordinate with them and his allies, culminating in escaping from Shia's binding magics entirely during the War of the Moon, and as his first act of freedom, Hilathu attacked and envenomated Fire God Vega, leading to his death.   Hilathu also revealed that over the millennia, he has been steadily siphoning power away from the god of death for later use by way of testing his binds, requiring more and more magic to keep him under control that would be drained by his cult's members using dragonsglass batteries and spells to divert the magic elsewhere. This magic was used at Limbo's Crossing to redirect it, shattering the crossing itself and allowing him free access to Limbo in order to revive Batterion from the dead. It's believed that Hilathu may have accumulated so much of Shia's magic that he was able to trick the afterlife's safeguards into believing he was Shia.   Following Batterion's revival, the great dragon was not truly under Hilathu's control, and attacked him. Since then, Hilathu's whereabouts are unknown, though he was last seen fleeing the crossing. Although claimed to still be active by his cult and many of the gods that have allied with his forces, Hilathu's condition is unknown.

Hilathu is primarily motivated by anger and revenge against the pantheon for his death, viewing his attempt to cause a genocide and mass sacrifice against other snake gods' followers as not only fair, but as just for the many past wars between them during his lifetime when he attempted to become the god of all serpents. He plans to restore himself as a god and destroy the pantheon and rebuild it in his image by killing all other gods and controlling them with the same magic Shia has used against him for millennia, forcing them to enact his will and to prevent any chance of revolt.

As part of his punishment by Shia, Hilathu's body is in a perpetual state of decomposition, known for its intense smell, rot, and decay that makes him hard to approach. It has been commonly said that one can smell Hilathu from miles away, with his state of decay having become so mythologized as to state plant life and small animals will die from merely being near him.

Among all but Hilathu's own cult, he is widely regarded as one of the most evil and vile gods to have existed, using his power solely for his own gains and immense greed for conquest. Even his closest allies, the Lunar Dragonflight and Neia Lun De Draco notably do not view Hilathu or his forces as trustworthy, and merely allies out of convenience and short term goals.   The Naga have largely disowned the image of Hilathu, his cult, and his ideals, widely being known to not associate with him outside of small pockets of his cult who view Hilathu as a martyr. Among naga society, it is quite common for imagery depicting his fall from grace to be worked into art, literature, and even tattooing, with the Serpent's Constellation being a prominent symbol to separate themselves from him.

The Lunar Dragonflight is strongly allied with Hilathu and his own cult due to shared goals of upending the pantheon.

Formerly, like all gods, Hilathu could be understood regardless of language spoken or understood by the listener. Now, as part of his punishment by Shia, he is forced into silence and cannot speak, only able to respond by nodding or shaking his head in response to questions.