Teltherus Avonthes

"If the universe wasn't meant to be ruled, why does the power to rule it exist at all?"

- Teltherus, upon his ascension to godhood.

Teltherus Avonthes, born Trevelyan Avonthes, is a human man who once lived a quiet life in the service of the Nocavethian god Ryn. His path was altered when he encountered the Hybrid, and the corruption they wrought on the mortals of his homeworld.

Eventually ascending to godhood through less than respectable means, he led a grand crusade across the stars, to conquer and rule anything he could. Gathering many dark powers and allies, he was eventually stopped, and his corruption exorcised.

Seeking redemption for the destruction he caused, he dedicated the rest of his life to spreading peace and prosperity across the universe, using the assets he had gained during his conquests for the benefit of all people.

Childhood
Trevelyan was born in the small town of Adventurer's Hill to two loving parents, Quentin and Maria Avonthes, alongside his sister Elora. Though relatively poor, the family survived for many years, thanks in no small part to the local priestesses of Dynen that regularly gave food and drink to the lower class. Three years after the birth of his sister, when Trevelyan himself was only 7, his mother contracted a rare disease that healers were unable to cure, leaving his father alone to care for the children.

Several years later Trevelyan and his sister, now 14 and 10 respectively, took a trip to the market with their father. While browsing, Elora stumbled and fell into an Orc, Thurgash the Bloody, who was known to pick fights with anyone who crossed him. As their father ran over to help her, the Orc shoved him to the ground. Elora began crying, only spurring the wicked orc further. As he approached the girl, the entire marketplace heard the sound of a boom, sending many diving for cover. Those who did not hide, Trevelyan included, watched as a beam of violet light struck his sister, sending a wave of energy across the marketplace. When the beam had faded, both the orc and Trevelyan's father lay dead on the ground, and Elora was gone.

Early Life
For the first few years alone, Trevelyan scavenged and thieved what he could to survive, until he was taken in by the priesthood of Ryn, offering him sanctuary for service to their god. He accepted, and began to study the art of martial combat, hoping to become a paladin of Ryn. Though he appreciated the soft bed and warm food provided to him, he longed for the freedom outside of the confines of a divine oath. And though his new companions and friends were good company, he was unable to pursue his goal of finding his sister, who he believed had survived her ordeal. On the eve of his 20th birthday, he left the priesthood behind without saying a word, off to chase his own ideals.

Realizing he would need coin and influence to find his sister, as finding her as one wandering man was unlikely, he grew close to a young noblewoman of the Nocaveth Empire, and courted her. Using the wealth of the family he had married into, he was able to hire mercenaries and buy supplies for his quest. His wife, noticing the dramatic shift in his character since their marriage, brought up the prospect of a divorce. if that came to pass, he would lose the resources he had acquired, and so he hatched a plan.

The details of the plan are too unsavory to be listed here, but in the end she was dead, and he was free to continue with her resources. However, the heinous murder of an innocent girl had left a mark on his soul, and Ryn revoked his power as punishment, leaving Trevelyan no more than a man.

The Old One's Prison
Over years of searching, Trevelyan finally found a lead. An ancient text buried deep within an Anubar temple had described a beam of similar effects, and contained a map to another site that had long since sank beneath the sands of the Abali Desert, where more details may be uncovered.

Gathering a group of mercenaries and curious thrill-seekers, he led an expedition to the site described by the text. The Anubar had called it Morgannon, the Dark Temple, and had cautioned any who valued their sanity. Ignoring the warning, the group entered the temple and delved into its depths.

The deeper they went, the more of them began turning back, mumbling about unsettling whispers and noises in their minds. By the time they reached a flat plateau, the last man remaining with Trevelyan was incoherent, almost schizophrenic, lashing out when approached. Trevelyan was knocked to the ground by the madman, and was forced to defend himself with a rusty blade found lying on the temple floor. As the crazed man fell beside him, Trevelyan stood, dusting off his clothes and putting the rusty blade in his belt loop. As he turned about, back towards the temple depths, the sight that greeted him was immense, in both size and intimidation factor. A gargantuan metal door with no noticeable access points, an engraving of a towering, 5 headed beast covering its entirety. At first Trevelyan assumed it to be a hydra, but the runes below denoted it otherwise.

"Behold the eternal cage of the Old One, Y'Lithae, the Ever-Beating, Bane of the Northern Reaches. The gate is sealed by the blood of those who yet remain here, forever cursed to witness the beast's anger."

Trevelyan stepped back, disturbed by the warning. He turned tot he right and headed down a corridor that eventually took him to a library of sorts. Eventually finding the tome he searched for, the Tome of Balance. It detailed beams of light like the one that had hit his sister being seen only twice before throughout history. Each time, the victim had never been seen again. The Anubar believed it a weapon of the gods, used to destroy any who might oppose them. And so Trevelyan had his next goal. It was time to interrogate the gods.

The Birth of Teltherus
To speak plainly with the gods of Nocaveth, Trevelyan would need to reach their domain in person. And only one before him had ever breached the sanctity of the gods' realm. Elladere the Godslayer. Elladere had worn a mystical and ancient suit of armor that could break the barrier between Nocaveth and its gods. The armor was held within a museum of ancient relics in the imperial capitol city, King's Haven.

Traveling to the city, Trevelyan enlisted the help of three mercenaries to aid him in the heist. Horace Shadowfall, a powerful warlock who could shroud him from prying eyes. Aerie Leafwind, a ranger from Icejewel that could provide him with an escape, and Torin Kael, a dwarven miner with a fascination with explosives, who could cause enough of a commotion outside to lower security in the museum.

As they enacted their plan, Trevelyan vanished in dark smoke conjured by the warlock, entering through a window and perching above the guards, waiting for the distraction. Soon enough, the loud boom that rocked the building gave him exactly the opening he needed. Slipping in as guards cleared the rooms to check on the commotion outside, he ran directly for the Godslayer's Armor. Trevelyan shattered the glass and donned the armor, hurrying out through the back entrance where Aerie had incapacitated the rear guards. He clung to the helmet as he ran, only pausing to look at it when the group had reconvened just outside the city walls in the underbrush.

"A new hand touches the armor. Hear me, Trevelyan. I am Zanathus. Once, I was a being of pure, undaunted radiance. I was robbed of that which I loved, just like you. Don my helmet, oh champion. And I will make you the instrument of my burning luminescence. You will have your resolution, as will I."

The voice had come from nowhere, invading Trevelyan's mind. It spoke deeply, with a commanding and powerful tone, yet there was a warmth to it. Trevelyan looked around at his new allies gathered around him, and placed the helmet upon his head.

"We are bonded for eternity. This day we are not Trevelyan and Zanathus. We, are Teltherus."

Throne of the Gods
Gathering many humans who had fallen out of Imperial favor, mercenaries, and many monks from the Hixet Mountains, Teltherus led an assault, using the Godslayer's armor and the power of Zanathus to open a tear into the gods' realm. As angels and celestial beings in the hundreds raced into battle to defend their masters, Teltherus knocked them aside without lifting a finger, Zanathus' strength radiating from him like a burning star. Backing Ryn, the leader of the pantheon, into a corner and demanding to know the origin of the beam that had claimed his sister and killed his father.

Ryn denied knowing anything of the incident, only that it had not originated from him or the other gods. Teltherus however wasn't so convinced.

The Denizens
Ryn spoke of a pantheon of deities higher than even the gods of Nocaveth, who ruled every world. He called them the Denizens, and claimed that it was they who had sealed away the Old Gods, and that such horrific beings existed across all of creation. Teltherus was initially unsure whether Ryn could be trusted, but the calm voice of Horace behind him convinced him to believe the god. After tense words, Teltherus asked Ryn to call the Denizens to Nocaveth so that he may question them on the origin of the beam as well.