Diomedes

The Breaking of Heaven

First Son of Lathander Diomedes was the first son born to the Morninglord, Lathander, and the only known child conceived between a god and a mortal woman, Tyche. Unlike most divine offspring, who were fashioned through the combined will of deities, Diomedes was born naturally, embodying the Morninglord's newly realized domain of fertility and the promise that every new life carried limitless potential. Though beloved by his father, Diomedes never found peace within Heaven. The celestial realm was free from death, suffering, and true conflict, a paradise perfectly suited to angels who had been created without want or ambition. Diomedes, burdened with the soul of both god and man, found such perfection unbearable. While angels delighted in endless serenity, he hungered for challenge, purpose, and struggle. From childhood, he devoted himself to the Dawnfire Amphitheater, becoming Heaven's greatest gladiator. Victory after victory transformed him into a living legend, his likeness immortalized in statues, murals, and songs throughout the celestial city. Yet beneath the glory grew dangerous flaws. Defeat filled him not with humility but obsession, and every rival became an enemy to overcome. The death of his mortal mother, Tyche, only deepened this obsession. When Lathander refused to intervene and save her from plague, citing the sacred law that the gods must never interfere in mortal affairs, Diomedes' faith in Heaven began to fracture. His growing pride culminated during his duel against the celebrated arch-deva Remiel. Rather than accepting honorable defeat, Diomedes surrendered himself to wrath, nearly killing Remiel in what had once been a sport without bloodshed. The violence forever changed the culture of gladiatorial combat in Heaven and strained his relationship with his father, who sought to temper his son's growing arrogance through discipline rather than punishment. As the years passed, Diomedes lost both his title and his purpose to his younger half-brother, Nasicus, whose unwavering devotion to duty stood in stark contrast to Diomedes' passionate spirit. Rejected from joining Heaven's armies and denied the opportunity to prove himself beyond the arena, Diomedes came to believe that Heaven had no place for one born with mortal blood.

The Breaking of Heaven Unable to reconcile Heaven's perfection with the suffering he had witnessed among mortals, Diomedes resolved to abandon Paradise forever. Under cover of night, he journeyed to the Gates of Heaven—the colossal entrance connecting the celestial realm to the World Tree and the mortal plane below. There he was confronted by Nasicus, Heaven's appointed gate watcher, whose divine duty was to prevent any soul from leaving without permission. Soon after, Helena arrived, pleading with her brother to return before his decision condemned him to mortality. Diomedes refused. The confrontation erupted into one of the most infamous battles in celestial history. Fighting both siblings simultaneously, Diomedes endured countless wounds while refusing to strike Helena with lethal intent. Instead, he focused every ounce of his strength against Nasicus, breaking two of his brother's arms before pinning him to the World Branch with his own javelin. In an act remembered as the first true sacrilege committed in Heaven, Diomedes tore away Nasicus' wings and cast him from the bridge into the depths of Hell. As Helena descended after their fallen brother, the alarms of Heaven sounded throughout the celestial city. With the hosts of Heaven converging upon him, Diomedes hurled himself into the sealed Gates. The divine wards splintered beneath his assault, shattering the barriers that had separated Heaven from the mortal world since creation. The event became forever known as The Breaking of Heaven. Beyond the gates there was no road—only the endless void between planes. Diomedes fell like a star. As he descended, the unimaginable speed stripped away every vestige of his celestial perfection. His golden armor was reduced to dust, his divine weapons burned to ash, and the immortal radiance within his body faded into mortality. When he finally struck the world of men, the impact carved a massive crater into the frozen earth. Broken, unable to move, and experiencing cold for the first time in his existence, Diomedes lay buried beneath falling snow as the Age of the God emperor knowingly began.

Hanging of the Child King Graywyn

Dio’s first great crusade began in Volanda, where he subjugated and absorbed numerous fractured northern nation-states that had long existed in uneasy alliance with the wider Villean Empire, including Humble Brooke, Haling Cove, and Troford. These early conquests were not merely military victories, but ideological collapses, as the surviving Volandan clans, freed giants, and newly converted mortal followers of Dio’s revelation in Hjarlsbýr swelled into a migrating host. This host formed the first structured expressions of Dio’s will: levies drawn from conquered villages, hardened Viking warbands, and the earliest proto-Inquisitors—disciples tasked with identifying “false divinity” and enforcing the Morninglord’s singular doctrine upon mortal belief. As the crusade pushed southward, Dio’s force became less an army of conquest and more a moving theological catastrophe. Shrines of the old northern gods were dismantled or repurposed, and local priesthoods were either executed, converted under Solveig Silvermane’s emerging scripture, or pressed into service as record-keepers of Dio’s expanding creed. The doctrine born from Hjarlsbýr—of a silent Heaven, a corrupted mortal world, and Dio as the living intermediary of divine correction—spread rapidly through fear, witness, and survival. Upon reaching the failing city-state of Villea, seat of the boy-king Angelo of House Graewyn, Dio enacted the defining act of his early mortal conquest. Graywyn, a twelve-year-old monarch ruling in the shadow of a weakening human empire, was captured during the city’s collapse. In front of the gathered population and the remnants of Villea’s fractured nobility, Dio publicly executed the child-king by hanging him at the city’s old bell tower—once dedicated to the fallen churches and forgotten gods of man. The body of Graywyn was left suspended for an extended period, deliberately displayed as both punishment and proclamation. The bell tower, a relic of the old divine order, was repurposed as a symbol of Dio’s emerging dogma: the visible death of mortal sovereignty and the rejection of all lesser gods. To Dio’s followers, the act represented the final severing of humanity from its false divine protectors, and the beginning of a new order in which authority flowed only from the Morninglord’s surviving son. In the aftermath, Villea was not simply conquered but redefined. Its institutions collapsed into Dio’s expanding crusader-state, its surviving inhabitants either sworn into his migrating host or integrated into the growing administrative structure of Solveig Silvermane’s recorded scripture. The Hanging of Graywyn became the first widely known martyrdom of mortal kingship under Dio’s doctrine, marking the transition from regional conquest to ideological empire.

Modern Inclusion in the Final War

War at the World Tree. Dio leads a renewed crusade against the wood elves and the ancient protectors of the World Tree, marking one of the most destructive campaigns of the Final War. The conflict is remembered for its extreme casualties and the systematic dismantling of Fey resistance along the World Tree’s outer domains. During this campaign, he captures the Six Giants of the elder clans—each representing an ancient lineage of blacksmiths and rune crafters—and binds them within the dungeon-forges beneath Sparksborough. There, they are compelled to serve as eternal artificers, maintaining and expanding the subterranean infrastructure that would later become central to Sparksborough’s war industry and arcane manufacturing. During the same period, Dio and the Runaways collaboratively create the Sanctum Amulet, an artifact capable of temporarily reversing recent death if activated within the immediate vicinity of a fallen individual. Though limited in scope and reliability, the artifact becomes a cornerstone of battlefield doctrine, altering how commanders approach casualty recovery and tactical engagements. Despite its utility, the crusade remains among Dio’s most blood-soaked victories, inflicting irreversible attrition upon the Correlite and Solaris kingdoms. Their ability to sustain the war collapses as internal pressures from the civil conflict between the Wood Fey and High Fey consume their remaining resources and coordination. War of the Last Knight. In the subsequent phase of the Final War, Dio’s role becomes more covert but strategically decisive. Operating beneath the surface of open command structures, he orchestrates a counteroffensive against invading forces advancing toward Duran’gal. These efforts are not always publicly attributed to him, as multiple allied command chains fracture under conflicting interpretations of his doctrine and authority. During this time, Dio also plays a hidden but critical role in destabilizing the longstanding alliance between Duran’gal and Sparksborough, exploiting ideological divides, doctrinal disputes, and competing interpretations of Dioism within both states. This fracture results in the dissolution of formal cooperation between the two powers at a critical stage of the war, forcing Duran’gal into isolated defense while Sparksborough pivots into a more expansionist, self-directed war posture. In later accounts, this break is interpreted variously as betrayal, necessary purification, or strategic unification through separation, depending on the source tradition

Siblings

Helena

• Rule over the First Layer of Heaven by sinking the Troford Dio’s city into Hell
• The Redemption and rising

Nasicus

• Conflict with Diomedes (fight at the bridge)
• Fall into Hell
• Capture by Helena
• Liberation
• Vengeance against Diomedes (creating his own religion by breaking his vow of non-intevension into the plane of

L

Children of Dio

The Children of Dio are the earliest recognized mortal champions, disciples, and war-born saints who emerged from the aftermath of Dio’s initial southern crusades following the Hanging of King Graywyn. Formed from a mixture of Volandan converts, freed giants, former prisoners of war, and ideological followers of Solveig Silvermane’s recorded doctrine, formed 145 years after Dio’s first day in Villea and the Hanging of the Child King Graywyn during the era now known as Sparksborough, when the most recent Great Saint, Selwyn Silvermane—direct grandmother of Marco Silvermane and mother of Cassius Silvermane, leader of House Cassius and secret head of the Nine-Lives Brotherhood—had become central to the evolving interpretation of Dio’s doctrine. They represent the first organized expression of Dio’s mortal faith beyond simple conquest. Each Child of Dio is defined not only by martial capability but by a mythic alignment to Dio’s doctrine of purification, dominion, and divine purpose on the mortal plane. All of the Children of Dio (with the exception of Ragnar Giantsblood, who retained memory of his biological mother from his upbringing in the North before his conversion) were raised within the church itself, having never known their direct mothers. Instead, they were collectively raised and educated by the D’oro Madres, the “Golden Mothers,” a devoted order of caretakers and indoctrinators who served as both spiritual guardians and early-life instructors within Dio’s expanding religious structure.

Ragnar Giantsblood

Ragnar Giantsblood is a living Goliath and widely regarded as one of the most revered warriors among the Children of Dio. Once a northern Viking killer steeped in the violent traditions of Volanda, Ragnar eventually encountered Dio’s emerging faith after years of blood-soaked campaigns. Through this transformation, he abandoned his former allegiances and became a foundational figure in the growing militant religious order that followed Dio southward. In later years, Ragnar became associated with the founding of the “Runaway” movement during resistance against the Profiteers in Duran'gal. He was publicly executed by hanging in the city square for his rebellion. However, he was later revived through the intervention of a redeemed Helene, an act interpreted by followers as divine restoration rather than mere resurrection. This event marked the beginning of what is later referred to as the Golden Crusade, in which Ragnar is venerated both as a living avatar of redemption from his violent past and as a symbol of victory over death itself.

Maria, The Silent Sister

Maria, known as “The Silent Sister,” served as a fighter commander and executioner within the Children of Dio. She was originally set to be married and bear children to Marco Silvermane, but her life was altered when Isaac Blackburn, under a Disguise Self spell impersonating Marco Silvermane, entered into marriage with her instead. The union was initially stable and affectionate. Their relationship ultimately fractured during the Battle at the Growing Tower, when Isaac Blackburn chose rebellion and departure over building a family life with Maria. This decision severed their bond and left Maria fully committed to the militant and punitive structures of the Children of Dio, where she became known for her silence, discipline, and role in executions.

Lazarus the Holy Shadow

Lazarus the Holy Shadow is a rogue and surviving member of the original Children of Dio. He is noted for his stealth operations, intelligence gathering, and survival during multiple purges of Dio’s early militant followers. Lazarus was also a prime figure in the formation of the secret army of Inquisitors, a clandestine force of approximately 2,000 knights who concealed their armor and banners while traveling under the guise of allied movements toward Duran'gal. In secrecy, he trained and organized these underground knights, shaping them into an elite network of operatives who enforced Dio’s doctrine beyond the reach of open war.

Samson the Barbarian Priest

Samson served as both a barbarian warrior and a priest within the early Children of Dio. His dual role combined ritual devotion with battlefield ferocity, embodying the early synthesis of religious zeal and martial violence that defined Dio’s initial following.

Azazel the Grinner

Azazel the Grinner was a ranger and fighter among the Children of Dio, known for his unsettling demeanor and battlefield precision. He participated in numerous early campaigns during the southern advance of Dio’s crusade.

Sister Eden

Sister Eden served as a cleric within the Children of Dio, aligned with zealous interpretations of Dio’s doctrine. She was active in the religious structuring of the early movement and participated as a primary leader in the Campaign against the Crimson Court and the vampires of the Deadwood. Her operations in this campaign inadvertently led to the formation of independent Inquisitor offshoots, which continued beyond central command authority and specialized in hunting, capturing, and executing vampires throughout the Deadwood. These splinter forces became known collectively as the Red Knight Clans.

Apollyon the Glutton

Apollyon the Glutton was a member of the Children of Dio known for his excessive brutality and consumption-driven reputation in battle. He fought in the early crusades but later died during the conflicts surrounding the Battle for the Growing Tower.

Battle for the Growing Tower

During the Battle for the Growing Tower, most of the Children of Dio—excluding Ragnar Giantsblood, Maria the Silent Sister, and Lazarus the Holy Shadow—were slain by the forces of Duke Von Gluer’s Crimson Court. The battle was fought in an attempt to prevent the rising of Morgana and to ignite the Holy Fire intended to permanently destroy Morgana’s body and cleanse the Deadwood of corruption. However, the campaign ended in failure, and Duke Von Glauer’s Crimson Court emerged victorious, successfully completing the ritual that raised Morgana. The engagement resulted in a catastrophic defeat for the Children of Dio and the collapse of their forces in the region, marking one of the most devastating and pivotal losses in the early history of Dio’s mortal followers. Despite this, and despite the devastating loss to the Order of Saint Selwyn and the loss of four of his Children from his closest circles, within Dio’s inner doctrine it is recorded that this outcome was a calculated loss. It is believed that Dio permitted the rise of Morgana as an intentional consequence, resulting in the creation of an archon-class entity and an unweaving undead army that would ultimately be bound to serve him in the Final War and the War of the Last Knight against Duran'Gal. Within these same inner circles, the event is also interpreted as a foundational step in Dio’s long-term design to form a Holy Trinity of living Archons, an attempt to restore his lost divinity through the reconstruction of the Throne of Archons itself.

D’oro Madre (The Golden Mothers)

The Golden Mothers were a group of women who lived within the bathhouses of Dio’s temple in Sparksborough, where they were tasked with raising the many Children of Dio. Most were taken during Dio’s numerous crusades, in which the God-Emperor would spare women and children from conquered settlements and offer them a covenant: to bear his children and raise them as divine beings, instilling in them both sacred purpose and the capacity to become zealous warriors for Dioism and the expanding mortal empire. Few surviving historians have recorded, within niche and well-protected secret archives, that the Golden Mothers numbered in the thousands throughout the span of Dio’s crusades. These same records also suggest that an unusual majority of these women died under mysterious circumstances. The documented causes of death range from complications during childbirth, to violent killings, to cases recorded as suicide, though the truth of these events remains disputed and obscured by time and doctrine. The surviving members of the Golden Mothers continued to reside within the bathhouses of Sparksborough and were regarded as among the most holy individuals in society. Sparksborough held no formal queen; instead, the Golden Mothers—regardless of age or origin—were collectively treated as divine figures, forming a living sacred class at the heart of the city’s religious and cultural structure.