<!>Post your goddess/god! (2014-05-29 12:51:53)
Post your goddess/god!
Anthologica Universe Atlas / Forums / Department of Creativity / Post your goddess/god! / <!>Post your goddess/god! (2014-05-29 12:51:53)

? Rhetorica Your Writing System Sucks
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Not bad! Y'know, it's really time I posted something in here...

Alestéa is the Lilitic deity of Harming, corresponding to one of the eight primitive drives in traditional Ksreskézaian metaphysics. In her various aspects and contexts, she can function as a force for social change or an empowering force in a time of war, but when left unchecked, she reverts into an agent of strife. She is traditionally classified as a Dútéan goddess (i.e., grouped with Dútéa, the goddess of misery) as contrasted with the Tshayéan (hope) goddesses, but (according to the epic Faltúbilis zeves sawai, Ítossífa! by Sarthía) only manifested some time after the Fall of Ksreskézo, a trait she shares with the Goddess of Secrets, Úravéa.

Her physical appearance is well-described: fiery red hair (often described as being literal fire), ashen skin, massive antler-like horns, and armour modelled after the Ksreskézaian exoskeleton. These traits do more than make her menacing—red or orange hair is considered stereotypical of the largest gender/caste of the Lilitai, the Windgivers, and reminds them that they are expected to have courage. The armour and skin, on the other hand, are drawn from Atvôdslefa Salkza, an ancient pre-Lilitu who won her freedom by force in the gladiatorial arena. Alestéa even uses the same weapons as Atvôdslefa, the alestura slashing forearm blades, which are built into her armour.

In Faltúbilis, Ítossífa!, Alestéa first appears as an instrument of destruction, at the beck and call of the Mitradzhethíasa, a conservative sect of the early Lilitai who want to rebuild their masters' fallen empire. She provides them with their strength and aggression, and seems poised to enact the assassination of Géa (a pseudonym of Gleméa il Lilitina, the first leader of the Lilitai), but the attempt is thwarted at the last moment by her companion Dezhéa (Egrithía), and Alestéa later dissolves during a speech by Géa at the following tribunal. It is not until months later, when the Lilitai engage in the Globkhro War of Independence against the Hogedep, that Alestéa's productive side, Levadí Alestéa, She Who Cleaves, becomes manifest, in superposition with her normal, chaotic form. The goddess's influence is credited as instrumental in the success of the defence of Globkhro.

The cult of Alestéa is well-established, and one of the largest cults amongst polytheist Lilitai. In the early period following the Exodus, the Lilitai did not maintain places of worship or a priestesshood, however, and so only prayers and pageants existed. The primary pageant of Alestéa is the only Dútéan rite held during Dzhemesselía (the Festival of New Love), and incorporates the Ksreskézaian tradition about Atvôdslefa, which was the only Ksreskézaian dramatic production that portrayed an alien as a heroic protagonist worthy of being ascribed Ksreskézaian traits.

A temple was founded to Alestéa on Illera in 679 LILPO, though at the time it was regarded as a fringe obsession by the remaining Mitradzhethíasa. Since the events of the Globkhro War and its fictionalized counterpart, the Lilitai have been broadly pacifist, and Alestéa is generally harnessed as a force of renewal.