Saren

Introduction

Saren, the God of Time, is among the most unique of his peers. Aloof, distant and with unknown goals, he has long been a source of theory and conspiracy among mortals, and even Gods. What is interesting to most about Saren is that he has not changed much since his fall, supposedly viewing his current circumstance as only one state in one reality, among many possibilities that have come, and have yet to be.

History

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Recollection

Saren: I wasn't born wealthy, or powerful, like the rest of them. I was born on the slums of Ardat-Yur, scrounging for bloodmite in the streets of Strata-Five. You don't know where that is, it's — it's closest to the ground. Where the thermal vats and their fumes would radiate. The immortal ones in the skies didn't need to worry about that, but we did. I saw so many people I knew die.

Memory: And how did that make you feel?

Saren: It made me feel nothing. It was life — it was living. It was how it had to be. I always had dreams, though, of the future. A world where I wouldn't be a nothing. It took everything I ever knew being deleted, but eventually I did become a something. I became a God, didn't I? To maggot and mice, but a God nevertheless. The bloodmites on Ardat didn't worship me. I don't even know if they feared me. They squirmed, and when I bit off their head, the blood flowed.

Past

Saren was found aboard a cold, withering vessel, destroyed from within by a plague of madness that had long since spread through his kind: desperation. His people were witnessing the end times, watching slowly as the stars and their worlds vanished throughout the galaxy, and the promise of future and purpose dimmed, becoming bleak and empty. The destruction of his escape vessel was prompted by nothing more than stragglers seeking revenge, slaughtering members of the crew who had once wronged them back when order and law still lived. Saren was one of the few to survive, and when Venadak boarded his ship in search for something, it wasn't survivors he was after. It was the vessel's core, brimming with power, the God-King finding Saren holding onto it for dear life. He knew he was worth nothing, but the core was worth a great deal, and if he could even touch its radiance he might pose enough of a moral quandary to its excavator that he could trade his life for the orb. He did. The worthless gutter-slinger from Ardat-Yur was allowed to live.

From there, Saren proved his worthiness to the Adac involved in building Eridan-5 over time. He would act as a scavenger for Evitrix, a spy for Tenebrax and an ear to Venadak who found his company soothing. Before he knew it, he was a member of the inner circle, overseeing elements of the project meant to save their race. Saren was changed by this, away from a simple longing to survive. He felt purposefulness and duty, first to the cause, and then to Venadak. Over time, as the final years went by, Venadak and Saren began to fall in love, an experience the slum-dweller had never once had.

Years later, their project came to fruition, and Eridan-5 launched in its journey beyond the confines of time and space. The Adac left their home to reaches very far away, and very dark compared to the luminant galaxy they had emerged from. As is known, they arrived to their destruction, intercepted by the star-devouring beast they had sought to avoid. While the surviving Adac scattered by the thousands in the face of the Outsider, Saren's first instinct was to find Venadak, and accompany him. The two of them emerged from the wreckage of their ship together, escaping to the fringes of the unknown galaxy and biding as they sought to recalibrate their path.

Over the course of centuries, they located those left who were most essential to their mission, and to each the two proposed a new plan of survival: creating a barrier within the boundaries of physical space that could not be seen, or penetrated by, their apocalyptic foe.

Future

Thousands of years went by, and throughout it all, Atharen (or Refuge in the Adac language) was an uncompromised success. The Adac not only found a new home, but a place within which they could plant a seed borne of their narcissism, one that grew to infinite heights. They began to call themselves Gods, and the beings they created to resemble them both listened and worshiped. They gained great power from this dominion, funneling life through the Well of Souls that allowed them to sustain and maintain the planar barrier.

Saren never enjoyed this life, or took it very seriously. He never wanted to be worshiped or praised, or to be the consort of a God-King, or anything like it. He wanted to survive, and then he wanted to protect the man he loved. He figured that by playing his part in the gilded opera of his peers, he would accomplish both things, but did not find meaning or value in it all.

Nevertheless, he achieved great things as a so-called God. Saren achieved Apotheosis sometime during the construction of Eridan-5, and through Venadak's intervention began to learn how to perform magic. The man, who became exalted by fluke, learned that he was the only Adac ever known to be capable of traversing through time, both past and future. This made him powerful and influential among his peers, and bolstered his worship as he developed his abilities. It took thousands of years of innovation, but Saren eventually constructed one of the most sophisticated artefacts of his species: the Hallway of Time, and within it, the Eternal Corridor. At this point, he largely disappeared from the present, as all doors and pathways opened to him at once, and he began to explore and understand the laws that underpinned probability itself.

Saren immersed himself in this reconstruction of reality, and became lost in it. He was no longer Venadak's primary counsel and source of warmth, as his fixation on discovering truth and retracing time prevailed over love. As tensions between the Adac and the Unbroken Empire grew, Saren sought to solve their dispute by seeing echoes of the future; the things that might pass, and the threads of action that led up to them. He was gone too long, though, and too often. By the time he had predicted the Bleeding, Venadak had already engaged in the perfect course of events that brought each necessary thread in the chain of probability together. When Saren emerged from the Eternal Corridor, it was to the blast that devastated the integrity of the plane. He immediately fell to his husband's side.

Decay

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Depiction

The symbol of Saren is the compass, with the main dial shaped like an hourglass; pointing both ways, hoping to navigate through the pluripotential of converging and diverging realities. Most people do not understand Saren's purpose, or how he works, or how time works in general. For this reason, he was always one of the least revered deities, with only a select number of scholars taking interest in him. More commonly, he is prayed to concerning his domain of fate, often by those who wish for some form of cosmic mercy, or to have their way on some desperate matter. Rarely has he ever seemed to reply, or even acknowledged these prayers.

The Corrupted has not changed much since being locked in Bel, for reasons that will be described later on. He has always been depicted mostly nude, without any upper garments, with some sort of mask covering his face... though in reality, he wears some odd Imperial-Era technical contraption over his features, and has done so before such technology even existed. It is said that only Venadak knows what he looks like beneath the mask, though this is untrue, as other partners or even friends of his have seen him beneath, and report that he appears to be a somewhat boyish-looking young man with black hair and bright blue eyes, with sharp Elven ears. Others report essentially the same story, but with womanly features instead.

Saren is usually depicted as a man in statues, but in truth, he - or she - is a sexually dualistic being, equally representing both sexes. Saren is referred to as 'hermaphroditic' by most scholars, though this tends to lessen the complexities of his being. Those who have known him throughout history know that he is a being of temperance, and typically presents a middle-ground between typical masculinity and femininity. He is not overly aggressive, nor overly agreeable or demure. He is as likely to sire a child as he is to mother it, and he may do either or both in the shape of a woman or a man. Saren is often called the 'Lover' of the Gods for his adaptability, and for his marriage to Venadak, which began and has continued through the ardors of time. For this reason, he is often depicted alongside Venadak in statues, with symbols of light and time intertwining.

Domains

As the God of Time, Saren has unique abilities, even among his peers. With Venadak effectively serving as a sort of God of Space, the two of them have always been capable of accomplishing fascinating achievements, defying the expectations of others around them. It is doubtless that Saren is powerful. While many speculate that Gods acquire further power from their following, perhaps from their souls or even their faith, Saren acquires it largely from the odd nature of his domains. His ability to harvest and exploit closed timelines lends him incredible capabilities. As an example, he wields perhaps the most divine artifacts of any God, as he plunders divine treasures from these timelines and takes his horde to the Defiled Eternity. The nature of his powers also makes him wildly difficult to manipulate or dupe, as he is the only being in existence who can truly perceive the full breadth of potential futures. He can use this power to anticipate betrayal, to preempt one's actions, and to always be ahead of the curve.

The significance of his domains, in the spiritual sense, comes more from his second and third domains: Fate and Decay. Saren is a God whose existence curries theories around pre-destiny, and purpose. Many who believe that life has some sort of plan for them - perhaps a divine one - believe that Saren inscribed it, that any such plan was made for them long ago. He is rare in that, despite being a Corrupted God, perception of him has not largely changed on the surface. He is still seen as a weaver of destiny, neither good nor evil, but purposeful.

His domain of decay holds great significance as well. He is the God of things coming to an end, through the passage of time. Civilizations falling to ruin, cultures changing or scattering to the wind, love dying and a body falling to illness and age. While he may not be worshiped for this domain, old age and other coming inevitabilities are often credited to him, as 'Saren's plan' or even 'Saren's curse', despite the fact that these realities were a part of each race's design. All decay is a part of his purview, so many scholars place responsibility upon him for the fact that objects and organics whittle over time, and rot.

Influence

Unlike other Corrupted Gods, Saren does not specifically lead any particular cult and does not attempt to influence the surface world. His greatest influence is his role in Adena, serving to keep Venadak sane and to lessen him from being overwhelmed by corruption. While Saren essentially destroys closed realities in a line, he does appear to be committed to keeping the current one away from war and destruction, perhaps because he knows it is Venadak's wish. The remainder of his influence comes from his existence alone, as he continues to maintain his domains, keeping the continuity of the timeline stable.

The Chronologers Purge

Saren is the least corrupted of all of the Corrupted Gods. The reason for this is a gruesome one, perhaps speaking of the uncaring nature of many of the Creator-Gods, so willing to discard the lives of the rabble made by them. Saren, who is capable of accessing closed timelines (ones that do not influence the present), frequently enters these timelines only to dump his corruption into them. He does this up the line, going as far back as he can and expunging what he calls his 'chaos' into them until the plane is completely flooded with corruption, all life on the planet coming to an end. Considering new closed timelines are always being created, Saren can theoretically do this for all time, though he continues to doom millions of lives each time he does. He also frequently dumps Venadak's corruption into other timelines, and serves as the primary reason for his husband's relative sanity, despite living in the festering realm of Adena.

Dogma

Saren has, and has never had, any strong dogma or public theology. He has always been a reclusive God with little desire to influence mortals, and without any need or desire for followers.

Notable Religious Factions

The Chronologers

This group, deriving their name from one of Saren's Holy Titles, has a simple purpose: to seek out and rediscover Chronomancy, Atharen's true lost art. The group has been active for nearly two hundred years, and has at least narrowed the Lost Magic's last remnants down to a nation: the Daravinic Empire. They operate out of the city of Arlain, frequently seeking out other mages and scholars to help them in their search. The Chronologers have no specific connection to Saren, and while they often pray to him for guidance, he has never once answered.

The Defiled Eternity

Saren is the one God other than Venadak who is allowed into Adena. This means, between spending time with Venadak in the lower Mantle and moving through other timelines, he is scarcely within his own realm -- and this can be felt the moment one enters it.

The Defiled Eternity is the crux and heart of time. It is where all timelines come to meet. In Chronomancy, time is described as a hallway with an elaborate tapestry upon its walls, with more turbulent or impactful events and times leading to that tapestry becoming more colorful, prominent, and mesmerizing. The doorway to this corridor of time can be entered individually by Saren or by a Chronomancer's Mark, or it can be entered through the heart of the Eternity. Whatever the case, this realm is a sacred one. It was important enough that when Bel was created, Venadak and the Living Gods allowed it to be brought into the corrupted plane, just to ensure Saren did not become separated from it. It is said that his connection to the Eternity is what keeps the timeline stable, and without it, chaos would reign throughout the corridor of reality - including the present day.

The Eternity is a realm much alike others in Bel, dark and bleak, only it does not feel lived in as the others do. Its darkness is one that is pervasive, unable to be navigated through. It is said to appear highly technical, however, with levers and switches that can turn on dim lights, revealing the city-like nature of the abode. There are spirits within it, mostly Dregs created by Saren to keep watch, many of them idling in the corners of the urban domain. These Dregs tend to appear as gaunt figures, often wearing unique and brightly colored clothes, often yellows, pinks, purples and blues. The Eternity is wildly modern, moreso than any city that exists in Atharen. However, it is dilapidated - decayed, some would say - covered in grime and with falling foundations, the stairwells rusted over, the rooftops slowly whittling away.

If one were to bring light to shine on the city, they would find it to be colorful, patterned with truly intricate artwork along the walls of buildings. At the core of the city is Saren's true domain, and the access to the hallway of time, called 'the Eternal Corridor' in theological writings. Sometimes, Saren can be found roaming around the center of his city, speaking with Dregs or mindlessly keeping watch. Most of the time it is desolate and empty, allowing those permitted into the realm free access to the Eternal Corridor. Those who would enter the hallway and move through time, however, do so likely surrendering their lives.

Demigods

Saren is not known to have many Demigods, as he appears to mostly be monogamously tied to Venadak. There have been some in history, and perhaps even today, but those who do exist often go unnoticed as the God rarely if ever reaches out to them to awaken their divine blood.