Zariel the Golden

Zariel the Golden is the son of Amir. He is also said to be the god who bears the sun and stars across the heavens. His golden chariot, drawn by steeds of fire, is said to drag the very orbs of light through the firmament, bringing dawn and twilight in his passage. The common name “Zariel” is used in hymns and prayers, while “Sustarre” is the older and more mystical epithet, whispered in rites of divination and celestial augury.

He is depicted as a radiant man crowned in solar rays, clad in golden robes that blaze like a thousand torches. His eyes are said to burn with the light of morning, though many legends hold that those who look too long upon him are struck blind. In Southrun, his cult associates him with the discipline of astronomy and the fixed order of the stars.

Zariel is the upholder of cosmic order. Just as the stars turn in their endless cycles, so too must mortals honor the turning of seasons, the keeping of law, and the fulfillment of appointed times. His priests teach that light reveals truth, that no oath sworn beneath the sun may be hidden, and that his presence watches over every laborer beneath the day’s sky.

Shrines to Zariel are built with great open roofs, designed to catch both the sun’s rays by day and the sweep of stars by night. Fire is his sacred element, kept perpetually burning upon his altars. His festivals fall at solstices and equinoxes, where celebrants greet dawn with trumpets and mirrored shields to catch and scatter his light.

When the gods sought to bind the heavens into order, it was Zariel who volunteered to drag them unceasingly across the sky, lest chaos return.

Some tell that he is twin to Utunos, the chained god of the sun, though others dispute this, saying that Utunos drags by brute strength what Zariel commands by divine majesty.

Mortal kings often claim patronage of Zariel, styling themselves “sons of the sun,” but his devotees know that no man, however great, may rival the charioteer of heaven.

In tales of heroes, Zariel is invoked as a guide through the wilderness, for he marks the way by sun by day and stars by night. In some myths, he has been known to lend his fiery steeds to mortal champions for a single ride—always at a terrible cost, for no human flesh can endure their flames.