FOIROS, SANTHARIAN GOD OF THE SUN

God of the Sun, often also refered to as the Burning God. He is one of the Twelve Gods or High Spirits (Aeolía) who sprang from the Dream of Avá the Beautiful according to the elven myth as recounted in the Cárpa'dosía. Together with Armeros (God of War) and Etherus (God of Excess) Foiros is one of the three Gods dedicated to the element of Fire, and especially the Burning God is often identified completely with this element, but not with its destructive powers. Foiros plays a central rule among the Gods as the Lord watching over morality of the Children of Avá. He represents the ethical strength lying within the Mother of All and the will to keep the desire in check kindled by the elemental fires of life. Foiros therefore is often seen as the God of Justice and called upon when inner strength is needed to resist desire and lust. The seventh month of the Santharian Calendar, the Month of the Burning Sky (elvish: Efér'Ypheró) is dedicated to Foiros solely.

Foiros, God of the Sun

View picture in full size Image description: Foiros, the God of the Sun and Lord watching over morality. Picture drawn by Artimidor.

Mythology. Foiros was one of the first Gods who followed the wish of Avá and helped Her putting the world of Aér'aí'chán to order. Alas, not everything Foiros did to please the High Goddess turned out well. He endowed the races and the animals with the burning longing for the opposite sex, he brought fires to the lands and created a gigantic self-consuming ball of flames in the midst of the darkness to light the paths for the people inhabiting Aér'aí'chán. And it shone on all things living, thus making them grow and prosper.

But the fires on the earth consumed most of Jeyriall's work and the flames of the sun were carried away by the winds. Thus Foiros banned the fires from the surface and hid them in the depths of the Underworlds, and he forged a crystal cage for the flames of the eternal light in the sky with the gems he took from the proud creations of Urtengor. The encaged ball was named the sun by the humans and the Injèra (guide) by the elves and it throned unmovingly high above all other things. With His creation of the Injèrá Foiros not only created an image of Avá the Beautiful to the world, of Her completeness, eternal being, immortality and Her uncompared vividness which shows in Her constantly changing Thoughts of the everlasting Dream. The encaged Injèrá is also a sign of the virtues for the races which are required to achieve and maintain inner equilibrum and beauty in order to resemble the Mother of All, and these main virtues are Honesty, Compassion, Humility and finally Love.

However, when the first Children of Avá, the elves, the humans, the dwarves and the orcs roamed the Aér'aí'chanían lands,many of them became blind when viewing the splendour of Avá through the strong light of the Injèrá - not only with their eyes but also in spirit. Therefore Foiros moved the Injèrá to the end of the world, away from reality, into the nothingness and possibility of the Etherial Void, which for the Children appears to be located at the south of Aér'aí'chán.

Later on when Eu'reóll, the Tree of Life, started to burn under the influence of Coór and the world began to float away from its original location caused by the Eternal Darkwinds of Coór's evil minions, the Injèrá sank below the world and it became dark again like at the Beginning of all Time. However, Foiros gave life to the Injèrá so that she could counter the evil winds lifting the world above her magnificence. And since this time the Injérà moves in an unceasing circle in front of the world, hiding at nighttime just in order to return again and to teach the Children the importance of the virtues they may have forgotten when the Veil of the Shadow cloaked the lands. The eternal, necessary fight of the Injèrá against the Darkwinds now is known to all the Children as the change between day and night, and the gems which the Darkwinds tore from the sun and are carried throughout open space are known to the humans as the stars.

Nevertheless many of the moral implications of the Injèra stated in the Cárpa'dosía are lost in the human religion interpreting the role of Foiros. However, the elves still heed the tale of the virtuous Injèrá and pray to the light of the sun which represents Avá in Her purest visible form.

The Unicorn

View picture in full size  Image description: The Unicorn, symbolic animal of Foiros, God of the Sun. Image drawn by Enayla.

Symbols/Colors. The symbolic animal of Foiros and the Injèrá is the unicorn. The white unicorn represents in its uniqueness and its purity the sun and thus Avá. The unicorn, one of the most magical of all mystical beasts therefore is also associated with complete virtue which can only be found at a virgin's purity.

The sign of Foiros is the circle, which is also the sign of Avá and Her pure, innocent Dream, of eternity and immortality. The movements of the Injèrá as well as the Eternal Winds chasing the stars who were torn of from the sun are also circular ones.

The colors related to Foiros are white and gold. The architecture of many magnificent temples throughout the lands devoted to Foiros is based on the combination of these two colors. At most of these temples hundreds of tongues of fire adorn the facades of the buildings.

Historical Incidents. It is told in the legends of the Mène'téka that Foiros once directly interfered in the destiny of the Santharian peoples when He heard the bidings of the humans who suffered terrible under the Dragonstorm which had commenced at 1650 b.S. In 1649 b.S. Foiros let the burning orb of the sun descended below the world. The Injèrá returned not before one year had passed, so that a deadly coldness afflicted dragons and humans alike. Many dragons and humans failed to survive the so-called Vardýnnian Atonement in the Year of Darkness.

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