The Imp of Sodh says:
You asked me once about the official god of Great Staraya.
Many deities are honored at High Vigil, although some not in the open, but the god venerated by Queen Daentrella and her paladins is Vael, the god of the Iron Vow.
The Sign of Vael
Amusing story about how he achieved godhood.
His birth name was Kenneth. That’s correct. Kenneth. If he had a surname or family designation, it’s been lost to time.
Kenneth was an experienced militia soldier from either Aetic or Rath Talorr (sources disagree on that point). At some point he became a sell sword, though a scrupulous one of high morals. Apparently he was the polar opposite of the bon vivant personality.
About two years into his adventures, he was knighted after saving the lives of some prominent nobles (their names are also lost to history, though many suspect they were of the Staray clan), and thus began his true quest.
Kenneth rose in power and prestige, and as the years accumulated he realized that Death wasn’t that far away for him, so Kenneth became obsessed with becoming a god.
As I’ve told you before, the gods of Fayn were all once mortal; through encounters with Archonic relics, they all achieved apotheosis and became the Seventy-two Gods of Fayn.
Kenneth was one of the final gods to achieve that status.
The story was thus: Kenneth had aligned with some other adventurers who sought the same thing as he did. Lore records them as:
Vesper, the master thief (and some said a high ranking cultist of the Gareth Coil)
Valen the Magus (one of my former students, actually, and in my employ until he developed some unnatural cravings and simply had to go; not without a sense of humor about himself, he often traveled under the name The Malcrave)
Thorgar, an exiled Dwarven prince, gem smith and recognized grand master of competitive ax throwing.
Sera, a high priestess from far to the north. Rumor is that she had eccentric rituals when it came to bathing. Her deity or cult was either never recorded or has been lost to history.
Valen himself assembled this adventuring party because he had discovered precious lore concerning Archonic magic housed in The Threshold of Ouros, and needed help reaching it.
The Threshold was, and still is, a legendary structure somewhere deep in Najhas Taloth. Since I had repeatedly warned Valen never to journey into Najhas Taloth… ever… I was surprised to read that he actually did it.
Legend describes The Threshold as a large, cyclopean structure of unnatural angles thrusting up from the side of a ruined mountain deep in that forbidden area. I will not discuss the further lore I’ve accumulated over time… because I don’t want you to lose what’s left of your sanity… but the story is that Valen was also quite the student of The Threshold and conned the rest of the party into accompanying him inside.
Two things he did not mention to them… one, the promise of apotheosis he knew resided inside would only work for one person (and he meant to get it for himself), and two, all of those faces carved into the smooth, purplish granite of The Threshold’s exterior were of adventurers who entered and died within.
Lore has it somewhere at the center of The Threshold was the Engine of Ascendance… two large obsidian discs which rotated against each other in opposite directions and surrounded by floating rings which revolved in random directions. The entire apparatus floated about ten feet in the air.
Details about what went on once they gained access vary across story tellers and centuries. It seems the hidden detail about solitary apotheosis was finally revealed.
Swords were drawn, spells cast, magic was expended, and blood was spilled.
In the end, only Kenneth stood after reaving Vesper’s skull like the rat she was.
How Kenneth achieved apotheosis after that horrible battle he has never said, but godhood was his and he took the name Vael and swore the Iron Vow that law and order through cold leadership would be his ever lasting obsession.
Vael is Master of the Final Watch, Patron of the Last Stand. His symbol is a broken circle of silver wire bisected by a plain, vertical iron broadsword pointing downward into an empty skull. His cult is mostly paladins, though his clerics are prominent in Great Staraya and preach unyielding duty, sacrifice for the greater cause, and unyielding resolve.
Where is his domain now? Where are the domains of any of the gods? It is said that he sits on a stone throne on a high peak somewhere in the Kyrenic Mountains, and that may very well be true.
This is the god who Daentrella serves.