Temos, Great Deity of the Stars

Temos is the deity of the stars. She is a constellation in her own right, one that uses millions of stars to form the image of her, and the gods under her power can also be seen as images in the night sky. She rules over curiosity and ingenuity, asking for her followers to wield information, fact, knowledge as a power capable of changing the world.




Beyond her entanglements with sisters Khades and Sriae, Temos has lived a quiet existence. Her people often develop hubris that convinces them she is not real, her temples oft lie in disarray, her children get more attention than she does. None of this worries her, however. She views it as the cycle of her life.

Originally thought to be the youngest of the twelve deities, Temos was always there. She sat quietly in the stars, infusing people with the curiosity that demanded them to think of more than wealth, longevity, or family. The curiosity to understand the world around them, to solve its happenings with math and science. To finally comprehend what the world was.

It was Khades who finally discovered Temos, realizing that none of the other deities had given this curiosity to the mortals. Most of them were either too self-serving to risk the questions, others simply didn’t believe it was a trait that mortals needed - so who was causing them to think? Who was encouraging them to develop the world around them? Invent? Create? These traits were godly, the mortals certainly hadn’t evolved this way on their own. And so, Khades went in search of the force that was fostering such uncertainty.

She looked everywhere she could think of, tracing every piece of mortal territory and rooting out every hold that seemed promising. She sent her followers looking for it - but found instead that they would eventually question the reasons why they were searching. Frustrated after hundreds of years of looking, Khades needed a new way to look.

Perhaps, she thought, This force is obscured by my own darkness.


This thought lead her to seek help from her sister, Sriae, who thought that Khades’ ideas were foolish. Certainly it was one of their cousins, or mothers, who had decided to gift these powers to the mortals. Deities could not just appear, they had to be made - and no deity could be made in such secret that neither her, nor Khades could know! Still, Khades begged. The curiosity had infected her, too, and she was obsessed with solving this mystery. Sriae finally consented, and gifted Khades with two beautiful mirrors.

To add light into your dark nights, my sister, I offer you these mirrors. The first, a piece of my heart, to remember that just as your shadows appear in my day, the sparkling radiance of my light is a part of your night - because we are sisters, now and forever. The second, a piece of my mind, in the hope that you see the truth, even when it is concealed. And these two mirrors, these shall be our Moons.


Khades graciously took the two mirrors, and when their meeting came to an end, she disappeared until her night returned. When the darkness spread again, she lifted up the two moons into the sky, shining a shimmering white light onto the world. The two moons were regarded with beauty from the people below, but still Khades could not see the source of the strange thoughts. Finally, she decided that perhaps her sister was right. She had simply been lied to by one of the other deities, they were responsible. She curled up in the sky, looking into the beautiful moon, and prepared to sleep -- and then she saw it.

The mirrors didn’t just offer some light to the mortal world, it also lit up the sky - which was suddenly different than before. Khades had never noticed the many sparkling stars that glittered in her blanket of darkness, and she had certainly never seen these stars smile at her.

This was the first meeting of Temos and Khades. Khades would go on to question Temos’ existence, ask questions, and when she stopped, surprised at her own curiosity Temos would smile and say:

Do not be afraid of these questions, dear Khades. I have watched you search and seen the fire that it drove in you. These questions connected you to your mortals more deeply than you had ever been - you cared the way they cared, wondered the way they wondered, and look what you have to show for it. Not only this answer that I have been waiting for you all this time, but these two beautiful moons that have given your people a beacon to your greatness.


Khades realized that Temos was right, that over the last several centuries she had done much for her people that she would not have done without this curiosity. She had given them powers that made them more powerful, knowledge that made them wiser, guidance to make them more cunning. She had touched them directly - something she had never done before - and it was because of Temos.

The nights were now much more full with Temos to spend time with. Both of them longed throughout the day for the sun to set so that they could speak at length about the world. Temos would discuss all of the things she had quietly observed in the mortal world, and Khades would tell Temos about the other deities - Temos’ cousins. The two talked for eons, and soon fell in love.