Artheous

Artheous was the hero who saved Arteonia from the Wyrms and became the central divine figure of Arteonian tradition. His story belongs to the late Wonder Age, when human settlements on Arteonia were close to extinction.

Slayer of the Wyrms¶

Around 10,000 BLC, humans arrived in Arteonia but lived in fear of the great Wyrms that dominated the island. The creatures were descended from modern dragons and had exterminated or threatened every settlement that tried to survive there.

Around 9,827 BLC, Artheous intervened with the help of the Victory Goddess. He killed the Wyrms and made permanent Arteonian civilization possible. The timeline treats this victory as the beginning of Arteonian culture.

Religious Schism¶

Artheous was worshipped as a god by the Arteonians, but his nature became disputed. Around 1,850 BLC, northern Arteonians argued that he had been fully human, while southerners taught that he was a demi-god. This disagreement became the Arteonian Religious Schism.

The schism mattered because it changed how Arteonians understood divine favor, heroic ancestry, and the Victory Goddess's role in history. It also gave later Arteonian peoples competing claims to the correct memory of their founder.

Legacy¶

Artheous represents the moment Arteonia ceased to be a land ruled by monsters and became a homeland for human civilization. Later wars, colonization, and religious politics all unfolded in a world made possible by his victory.

See also: Viktreic, Religions, Timeline, Atheus the Conqueror, and Historical Events.