Avon’s Folly and Tormund’s Ascension
To celebrate the complete unification of the continent under Avan as the single divine, Avan descended from the heavens to the mortal plane to hold a grand ceremony. At this ceremony Avan granted thousands of blessings for his people; he gave speeches and sermons alike and was well liked by his worshippers. He then summoned a massive 5 crowd of his followers to watch as he gave an ultimatum to the chief of what he called the last remaining tribe not worshiping Avan.
The chief was known as Tormund the blind. The ultimatum given to the chief goes like this: embrace Avan and order your people to follow in step or perish without the protection of a decent god. Tormund the blind faced Avan and stated “I am not blind to your cruelty” Avan smiled and turned to his worshipers he declared that he would grant Tormund godly sight so he could see Avan’s graces and be convinced.
Godly sight is no regular sight however, Tormund could see all of his people, he could feel them too. Avan then telepathically gave the order to gruesomely kill all of the nearly ten thousand members of Tormund’s tribe who were held captive far away so Avan’s crowd of worshippers wouldn’t see them. Avan then asked Tormund if his new sight had convinced him of the benefits to being an Avan worshiper. In response Tormund, kneeling on the ground in horror having just witnessed and experienced the nearly ten thousand deaths of his people, shook his head no, stood up, and drew his sword. This was met with gasps and outroar from the crowd of worshippers, quickly silenced by Avan who immediately started declaring it the first day of the first year of The Divine he named it smiting day and proceeded to smite down Tormund. Tormund’s mortal body turned to ash and Avan’s followers cheered.
Avan however realized his mistake when his godly vision allowed him to see Tormund’s soul rise from the ash adorned in godly attire. By giving Tormund godly sight he allowed Tormund to communicate with other gods in the heavenly planes. While witnessing and enduring the deaths of his people. Tormund raced through the temple of the gods telling every god about the atrocities of Avan. The gods agreed that banishing Avan from the heavenly plane and elevating Tormund to a demi-god to serve as Avan’s warden was the correct path forward. Avan now lives between the mortal plane and the 7 Hells and is free to travel between as a banished God. He still holds influence over his Empire and the mortal plane but his godly powers are severely diminished without access to the heavens.
