Cheneth

By Ryan St, Charles Ferguson and Rob Harper.

Though he as many secrets, Cheneth is the most open of all Living Gods. As the God of Trade, Cheneth loves wealth – and understands that the best way to acquire it is to make his city a haven of trade. His people understand that they can only prosper by helping him to prosper as well. Though he is seen often, he acts rarely - his city, Denayir, seems to follow his will without need for intervention.

Cheneth is said to have been the first to create his own coinage, showing that clay can be more valuable than silver or gold. The coins of the cities are made of hard, baked clay, brightly colored in intricate patterns and glazed so as to be indestructible. Forging such a coin is said to be impossible.

In the Pilgrim's Prophecy Cheneth is one of the instigators of the war against Abross. He seduces Shi'eyra and murders Meccon.

Cheneth loves power, and wealth, and hates the unpredictable. He appears to love luxury, but in fact enjoys displays of wealth rather than the wealth itself (vanity, rather than gluttony). He is exceptionally intelligent – perhaps the most ingenious of the God-Kings – and is the only one to devote significant energy to economics in the modern sense. Cheneth enjoys ceremonial flattery without succumbing to it.

The Sovereign of Denayir has been an apparent friend to each of the God-Kings – jovial, friendly, and always ready to provide counsel. Of course, this friendship is always colored by his ambition, and the other God-Kings know it. But somehow, they find Cheneth’s careful pursuit of wealth and power a comforting constant in a world that has washed away around them.

Cheneth has the best relations with his brother Meccon of Emjou, who he respects as another master statesman. His worst relations are with Sohetti of his mother Sohebb, on account of her anarchic city-state. All the God-Kings know him as the most silver-tongued, the wealthiest, and (when they’re thinking straight) the most dangerous.

Cheneth’s general relation to the other Gods is like Loki’s relation to the Asgardian pantheon (although a little less inevitably certain). They all recognize him as the most likely to betray, but feel somewhat attached to him and never want to believe that the moment of betrayal has arrived.

Cheneth wears many layers of expensive, glittering fabrics, and is emulated in this by his priests and nobles. His concubines are veiled. He enjoys the decadence available to him – exotic spices, meats, and drinks. As a God-King, he does not fear poison, but he still eats with many of his other high-ranking templars and nobles, ritualistically exchanging plates among each other. He does not indulge in narcotics, and has executed his templars for losing themselves to drugs.

The Sovereign has an excellent eye for good men, but has a weakness for bad ones. As much as he knows he should only elevate those who are primarily selfless, he recognizes himself in certain of his more ambitious advisors. As for the obsequious, he tolerates the quality in servants, but punishes it harshly in his lieutenants and templars. For this reason his personal servants are not among the elder, or higher-ranking templars (they are primarily his veiled concubines).

Cheneth’s elite troops are the Royal Guard. This Guard is made up chiefly by the best soldiers from the nobles’ sons, but occasionally another soldier so distinguishes himself as to join the Guard.