🌗 Illustro-Nathereth, the Equinox

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The first generation of the Nature Gods, created by the God of Time themself.

Illustro was the adventurous god, while Nathereth is the cautious one—so Illustro was very vulnerable to receiving harsh judgments and treatment from the other gods, even by Nathereth themself.

Story
Psyche
Roles in the other Worlds
- Sacred Earth
- Lands of Equinox
Relationships
Gallery

Story

The Duo

God of Time created the two gods as the first Nature Gods, to help with the creation and maintenance of the Sacred Earth.

Illustro was the god who created most of nature for the world. Bringing forth the sun, the skies, the oceans, the lands, and so on. Nathereth was the one who carefully tended to each of the creations and created what follows. For example, Illustro was the one who created the Sacred Earth's sun, while Nathereth was the one who created the Sacred Earth's moon to reflect light upon the lands where the sun doesn't shine.

During this period, Illustro and Nathereth split themselves into several beings to create and nurture their creations. Eventually, the selves who nurtured and raised the first mortals turn into the First Gods of Mortality—the Guardian Gods. The new Guardian Gods were a part of Illustro-Nathereth's subconscious, in a way. They still got along quite well, seeing each other as equal partners.

The Fallout

After the apocalyptic incident where the Guardian Gods' were destroyed, the Destruction God started to pressure Illustro-Nathereth to keep the chaos in reign and to conform to Creation God's intents. In hopes of not losing their self and purpose, Illustro grew more rebellious against the Destruction God. And in hopes of not ending up like the Guardian Gods, Nathereth grew more compliant towards the Destruction God.

From there, the two gods grew apart.

After Illustro attempted to rebel against the higher gods, they were subjected to Destruction Gods' punishments to the point their psyche was heavily weakened—forcing Nathereth to carry the heavier burden of their duties and turn to other gods instead of Illustro. With the newfound distance between them, Illustro began to feel scornful towards Nathereth—feeling as if their partner god had abandoned them. Nathereth also noticed that Illustro was less willing to cooperate with them civilly, so their bond grew strained from there.

At one point, they developed a hostile and destructive rivalry—the kind of rivalry that made them willing to wage mortal lives and fates against each other. They had already thought about just killing each other at this point, but they couldn't bring themself to do so. So they often resorted to outdoing each other with their creations. They eventually asked the Creation God to let them create their own major worlds to out each other, and Creation God eventually let them create and share the Lands of Equinox in hopes of making them cooperate again. But they didn't.

Demise

Their hatred towards each other contributed to the increasing chaos in the worlds, leading to various kinds of conflicts influenced by the two gods—out of concern for the mortals and the Creation God, the Destruction God eventually killed the two gods once and for all, replacing them with two of the mortals they wagered on—Theltere and Dranogh.

Psyche

Illustro

Illustro was an adventurous, reckless, and stubborn god. They still retain parts of this nature, even if they have been punished for it. Why would they bend to what the higher gods want, when they held the possibility to create and do practically anything they wish? It'd be a waste of their powers. Even when they're severely weakened by the Destruction God, they go out of their way to continue creating things.

After their relationship with Nathereth was strained, Illustro hoped to prove themself to Nathereth, and at the same time, they also wanted Nathereth to fall and end up in the same place as them. The type of god who wanted to bring Nathereth down with them, and make them feel the same suffering they've gone through.

Nathereth

Nathereth was a caring, calculating, and ruthless god. One of their priorities was to maintain the nature they created and themselves. If they were brought into existence with an important duty and a purpose, they believed it's best for both of them to stay alive to accomplish their purpose for as long as possible—even if it meant having to part with Illustro so they may recover from the damages done to them.

In a way, after their relationship with Illustro was strained, Nathereth badly wanted to get Illustro away from them and not to have them suffer anymore. But if that's impossible, they hoped to at least knock some sense back to Illustro. They knew too well Illustro would eventually head to the path of self-destruction if they continued their stubborn nature.

Within the Pantheon Realm

With the two gods' ability to split themselves into multiple beings who took on different forms, they usually focus on multiple things at the same time. One form may be focused on tending to the Major Worlds, one form may be focused on tinkling around with Minor Worlds, one form may be focused on pestering the other, and so on.

The different forms they took were often independent and considered individuals, only sharing the same identity, the own forms came in conflict at times. But it's often not as extreme as whatever's going on with Illustro and Nathereth.

Roles in the other Worlds

Sacred Earth

They both took turns attending to each part of the earth’s nature, during its first years after creation. They had split themselves into several entities to nurture the mortals at first, before turning those forms into the first Gods of Mortality, so the two gods may continue to tend to the earth itself.

Minor Gods and Angels

Both Illustro-Nathereth had several angels and minor gods under them, representing different aspects of Nature.

Land of Equinox

Their hostility towards each other got worse over time. Once the conflict and the fallout between the God of Time and the Guardian Gods had died down, they thought of asking Creation to let each of them create a world and handle it individually on their own.

God of Creation only allowed the two to create just a single world, letting each other manage a half of the world, despite God of Time’s concerns for the world’s fate.

In this world, the two gods played the role of the Sun God and Moon God who ruled over the divided Lands of Equinox. They also provided the mortals the Sunlight Essence and the Moonlight Essence to empower themselves.

Interactions with Mortals

Sometimes, they physically appeared in this world in the form of visitors and advisors, subtly guiding the mortals toward their advancements. They often came in the form of mythical creatures paying a visit to their mortals and dueling against each other.

With their visits, they often brought upon a thing or two to the lands.

Relationships

With Each Other

"That bastard..."

"A burden. A waste of a god. They'd be better off living and dying as a mortal."

At first, they were a duo who complimented and completed each other, as each other's halves. But with their growing refusal to change themselves, their relationship slowly grew more strained.

Even if they found themselves at odds with each other more often, they cared about each other in their own ways. Sure, they'd go out of their way to attack and to bring each other down—but if one of them were to be hurt or destroyed by the other god, the remaining god would avenge them.