Ter-Anaht
"The coldest winter promises the warmest summer."
Epithet: Arctic Aurora[edit]
Introduction[edit]
Unlike the rest of the Great Spirits that hold vast dominion over much of the Sarean worlds in fixed positions of power, those of the air are constantly shifting and changing. Save for Ai and Phee, who remain above the rest within their elemental domain by virtue of the Dragons, no spirit of wind and sky stays for long. As the centuries turned, so too did the winds, and with them, the frozen currents from the north and the south became well recognized for the entity that rode upon them. Ter-Anaht, a giant, white owl with the face of a mortal, now travels from one end of the world to the other, and with it comes the the snows that blanket Rhyst.
Background[edit]
Ter-Anaht was known only by those who dwelled far to the northern or southern extremes of the world. Though continents apart, both communities have written and canonized Ter-Anaht in their writings as a deity. The owl’s approach is said to mark when the region it is visiting will fall into the Cold Night, a time where the sun ceases to shine for weeks and the tundras become nearly inhospitable. Its departure, on the other hand, denotes the coming of the Day of Warmth, the parts of the year where these places receive sunlight and the people there are able to thrive.
Though the spirit brings with it darker days and colder temperatures, those who know it well recognize it as a benevolent force, one that challenges the wills of its followers to deliver them into the sun stronger and more resilient than they were before. It is believed that Ter-Anaht knows no fear, yet has seen every trial that mortals will ever face, and for this reason, the snow falls.
These beliefs are not universal, however, and many around Rhyst have only recently recognized the Owl as a Great Spirit in its own right. What is collectively agreed upon is that Ter-Anaht is the reason why Ai and Phee’s weather patterns are not predictable, and why despite steady and deliberate currents being formed around the world, rain, snow, and even the seasons are almost always scattered and shifting. Even some of Melous’ thunderous conjurations or Eschen’s hurricanes have been blown off course by Ter-Anaht, and no one seems to know why. Not even the spirits that dwell outside of the arctic poles where the Owl comes to rest have ever really communicated with it.
But Ter-Anaht carries on its wings the chill from its double domains, and some say that many spirits that have lost their own domain endeavor to follow the Owl’s journey around the globe. The harsh blizzards that destroy the crops, the short summers that don’t last long enough, they are all considered to be a result of Ter-Anaht’s flight path.
Trivia[edit]
Ter-Anaht is a “new” spirit to be labeled as Great by any scholars who recognize their might and power within the world of Rhyst
It is believed by some that Ter-Anaht directly flies over Isegrad both two and from its visits to the southern arctic, and though Zahhak’s departure was largely to blame for the desert freezing over, it is due to Ter-Anaht that the area remains blanketed in snowfall
When Ter-Anaht’s journeys become erratic, the seasons grow out of tempo and not even a well attuned shaman can predict the weather
Ter-Anaht, like most spirits of the sky, seems entirely disconnected from the conflicts of Rhyst and remains a distant yet wondrous force in the world