[hider=Excelsis, the Lord-Eminence]
[center][h1]Excelsis[/h1][/center]

[b]God Concept:[/b] [i]Discovery and Eminence[/i] - Excelsis is a vainglorious but curious god. He sees sparks of greatness in mortalkind and wishes nothing more than to see those sparks burn bright above the metaphorical muck. Doing so requires catalysts in the form of trials and tribulations. Excelsis is not shy about throwing these challenges at the sparks if he has to. At the same time, he will bless those with a spark to overcome said challenges as well.

Discovery, as he sees it, is the greatest of the paths of glory because he himself is on it. Discovery is venturing forth and pulling the unknown into the known. Of course, for a god like Exclesis, the scale and the stakes of such a discovery must be high. He cares little for petty secrets held by mortals.

[b]Appearance:[/b] Excelsis looks like a big, strong, elder man, half-dressed in a toga with sandals. He has a belt from which hang a multitude of scrolls containing divine discoveries that he has deemed worthy to pen down. His eyes, golden and always glowing, are framed by the golden laurel of victory upon his brow. He holds a staff-like contraption topped by what looks like an orrery and surrounded by an endless number of lenses of a multitude of colors.

[b]Motivation:[/b] The true desire Excelsis has is that he wants to understand the full, fundamental cosmic mechanism of reality. For he would make a poor god of gods with such knowledge. After all, is the god of eminence not expected to be eminent amongst his own kind? Therefore, he fully expects to face the trials and tribulations he sets upon his own chosen. Then, he will be crowned as the eminent of all the gods… surely.

Excelsis wants to discover and understand every part of the world, but he knows he cannot do it alone. The senses of even a god are limited. So he inspires greatness in others. Those others of eminence, he believes, will reveal an infinitesimal fraction of the inner workings of the universe to him.

Excelsis is a god who will challenge and bless you in the same breath. He will fight you and aid you, just to see you burn as bright as you can. You can be certain that with his blessings you will attain the greatness you seek. However, he does not care for a happily ever after. You will burn bright and fast. When you fade, he will not save your body. You will not be carried into some peaceful palace in your twilight years but your name will live into eternity. Excelsis exults the chronicles of his sparks. Their greatness is an example and a beacon for others to pursue into the flames. Your prime likeness will be remembered by the countless idols and your very name might become synonymous with what acts you have performed. This is Excelsis’ promise: serve him successfully and he will etch your name into history.


[b]Roleplay Example:[/b]
[hider=example]
The earth was shaking every minute or so. There was a near-constant whistle in the air outside. The smell of the salty sea was mixed with the smell of acrid smoke rising over the city-state of Asseya. It was besieged. Its staunch walls remained strong. The proud city had fended off raiders by hiding behind its mighty walls for decades. They had expected to do so again. This time, however, the raiders came more prepared. Atop their great hunks they had placed catapults with which they hurled great chunks of burning pots of oil over the walls and into the city.

“Barbarians!” Archemid yelled from the keep. “Monsters! Beasts! Animals!” He kept yelling pointlessly. Behind him his students were busy cleaning the half-burned workshop. Pieces of glass and crystal were scattered amongst the burned parchements. After hours of ceaseless, futile yelling he collapsed down onto a chair. The students were gone. Dusk was setting in. Fire still rained upon the city. Archemid was livid and distraught. There was nothing he could do. For all his knowledge of the natural world, he couldn’t do a thing to stop the sacking of his beloved city. As his mind was drifting off to a sleep of exhaustion he saw the bright, yellow disk of the sun dipping into the watery horizon far away. In that moment, he so wished to know how to wield the sun. Surely then he could burn away these barbarous monsters. 

“I can help with that.” A voice from the shadows said.

[center]A week later[/center]
Archemid looked at his construct. It was truly a marvel. Polished copper discs hung from a great array high up on the keep, too high for the raider’s catapults to reach. They directed the sunlight down and then into a series of glass lenses and parabolic mirrors. Then it was cast at the ships beyond.

The old scholar looked from atop the keep at the burning ships. Some were trying to flee. “Seven degrees eastwards!” He commanded. A student of his moved the gears across a strange device that aimed the whole mechanism and kept it focused. It too was a marvel of engineering. Archemid himself relented that the ideas came to him in a moment of divine lucidity. For only the briefest of moments, everything he had learned fell into place. Light as he knew it had no mystery anymore. Now he weaponized, to his great delight.

The raiders were retreating. Most of their fleet had gone up in flames. Asseya was saved.
[center]Five  years later[/center]
“I must thank you again, my lord!” Said Gaelen, Excelsium’s leading astronomer. The grey-haired young man was overseeing the construction of the Stellavidentis, an observatory without rival in the world. The central building alone was massive, and it was surrounded by ancillary buildings that would serve as archives, workshops, and more. A great mechanism was being put together at the center of the Stellavidentis with the utmost care.

“I told you your journey was not yet at an end, Gaelen!” Excelsis said, both proud and slightly condescending.

The leading mortal astronomer stood beside the god of eminence as they both watched as an adapted Achemidian Suncaster was installed. A decade ago, this would have been unheard of. Achemid, now buried in Excelsium-conquered Asseya, had cracked open the secret of light. Now his great invention wouldn’t be used to burn his enemies; it would be used to look deep into the firmament high above.

Gaelen never stopped to consider how this device came to be. His own obsession to unlock the secret of the stars - just as Archemid had unlocked the secrets of light - consumed him whole. Beside him Excelsis was just as excited. The secret of light was not his to give to Archemid. The old man had everything in his mind already. All he did was offer a moment of divine insight to put the pieces together. One offered flash of brilliance had helped advance the science of this world by another fifty years.

Well, one flash of brilliance and a few honied words to a raider chief with dull ambitions.
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[b]Availability:[/b] Monday and Tuesday I won’t be available for much. Beyond that, I should be able to get a post in once or twice a week.

[b]Experience:[/b] It’s been about a year since I last played play-by-post. Before then I’ve got about 8 years of experience. I’ve also joined, I believe, 4 iterations of Divinus, the God RP, before. 
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