Ad'onís

Ad'onís is a prophet in the Sylfaen faith around the province of Medena. Ad'onís was sent to Eldham by Sylfae to recover, restore and preserve the world's knowledge. Despite having no outside claim to this holy mission, Ad'onís has been constructing libraries and monuments across the Kingdoms of Irisnia and The Pale.

Before Arriving to Eldham
From Ad'onís' own account, he recorded and preserved the history of his previous travels before arriving at Eldia. From his native realm, Ad'onís was the ruler of a prosperous city-state that he calls "Boltophia". The city rose and fell in many cycles over the years, and Ad'onís was the caretaker and record keeper of the city. One day, a fearsome conquerer tried, and failed, to seize control of the city. It is said that, as the city inhabitants hid in the city's underground vaults, Ad'onís received a vision of two massive stone tablets, with the entire known history written on them. After the conquerer was forced to flee, Ad'onís dedicated his life to preserve as much knowledge as possible, and to safeguard his city. For a decade afterward Ad'onís protected his city of Boltophia, until he became too old to run the city government anymore. He handed power to the people of the city and left, hoping that the people could preserve what they have for as long as possible.

Ad'onís began his migration across the land. After leaving Boltophia, he settled along a jungle coastline and created a small village, recording the entire history of the area. One day in the village, Ad'onís saw two great lights in the sky, one being the sun, but the other was unknown. Suddenly, the light grew brighter and brighter until Ad'onís found himself in a pure white vacuum. Standing in front of him was a figure who Ad'onís could not make out any features of. All he knew was that this figure was covered in white robes and the light seemed to be emanating from them.

"Who are you, what am I doing here?" Asked Ad'onís with a quiver of fear in his voice.

"Be not afraid. I have seen your passion for recording your experiences, and I am offering a trade with you. I believe you wish to go back to the days of youth, right? I will grant you that wish, however in return for that I must send you far away to aid others in preserving their pasts"

After contemplating this offer for what felt like ages, Ad'onís agreed to the figure's demands. The next moment, he found himself in a snow-covered field. However, while before he had been a wrinkled old man, now he felt full of life again. Ad'onís interprets later on that the world he landed on must be Eldham, the land he was sent to help.

Arrival
After trekking through the snow biome for three days, Ad'onís came across an abandoned wooden fort. There, he settled for the night, trying to figure out the history of the ancient structure. However, Ad'onís needed to find food, and could not stay in the fort for long. Eventually, he came across a recruitment poster for the recently independent Razuni Sultanate. Believing this was a sign from the divine being, Ad'onís settled into the city of Eldia within the Razuni Sultanate. After studying the city's religious and history books, Ad'onís came to the conclusion that the divine being he saw was an avatar of Sylfae, who provided the people of Eldia knowledge and wealth long ago. Ad'onís, with this newfound knowledge, began constructing libraries and monuments across Eldia as a way to preserve not only his own history, but the city's history as well.

Encyclopedia Ad'onícas
Ad'onís decided that, in order to preserve knowledge within the material realm, he had to write down all his findings into books. Thus, Ad'onís began a series of encyclopedias dubbed the "Ad'onícas". The first of the three books was finished on January 15, 2022, right after the Medenan war of independence. The second and third books would be completed on January 17th, 2022. The Encyclopedias contain information about Sylfaeism, Cubism, and many other topics that Ad'onís discovered whilst writing the books.

Sylfae-Cubist Syncretism
During the writing of the second encyclopedia, Ad'onís traveled to Horizonte and met with current Azcor Yimis of the Cubist faith. During discussions about Cubism, Yimis noted that the Cubist pantheon, according to scholars of the faith, was missing a god. They also speculated that the missing god was the god of knowledge and good fortune, a perfect match of Sylfae's description. Soon after the completion of the second encyclopedia, Ad'onís and Yimis continued discussions about the missing god theory. Religious texts were exchanged between both faiths to try and find a link. Sylfaeism discovered that they did not have a creation myth, while the Cubists became convinced Sylfae was originally part of their pantheon. As of January 29, 2022, both faiths have not officially syncretized, however the Sylfaeists and Cubists are both very friendly towards each other.

Sylfaen's Sanctuary
Ad'onís wanted to create an island temple complex dedicated to the preservation of knowledge. However, he discovered that he could not communicate this desire to Sylfae. Instead, he explored the Irisnian coastline to find a suitable island and finally came across one. After clearing out the island Ad'onís created the Bibliotemple of Sylfaen's Sanctuary. The Bibliotemple would go on to become one of the biggest centers of knowledge in Irisnia.

Controversy with the Bibliotemple
Leading up to the creation of the Bibliotemple of Sylfaen's Sanctuary, a controversy arose when the concept of the Sanctuary was first brought up. In Sylfaeist Holy Texts, the city of Eldia was the product of Sylfae's divinity, and Sylfae's presence was very limited outside of the city. Despite the controversy between Eldia's pharoah Vanderis Arianrhod and the prophet Ad'onís, a compromised was reached. In the Holy Books of Sylfaeism, Sylfae sacrificed his physical body to bring life to Eldia, as such various fauna, mosses and material was transported directly from Eldia to the new location, in hopes that the land contained Sylfae's essence.

Death of the Pharoah
Pharoah Vanderis Arianrhod's mental health suddenly took a turn for the worst around late February. During his time as sole ruler of Irisnia, the stress of statecraft was too much for him to bear, and he unfortunately died to a stroke. With the death of Vanderis, the Arianrhod's last major member is Alaina, who has been ill for the past months and sent away to recover. In a dream, Ad'onís spoke to the spirit of Vanderis, who was trying to convince him Sylfaeism was dead.

"Without the Arianrhods, there is no way to contact Sylfae" Vanderis' spirit said

"So long as I am still living, Sylfaeism too lives" Ad'onís replied

"You poor fool, there is no Sylfaeism without the Arianrhods" stated Vanderis with a sense of disappointment, "Without us, there is no possible way to activate the Temple"

"I will find a way, I refuse to abandon Sylfae's way"

The spirit of Vanderis grinned a little, possibly at the naivety of Ad'onís, or at his determination. Right then, Ad'onís woke up from this dream, with tears streaming down his face. His dear friend was gone from this world, and it was up to him to protect everything he learned from Vanderis.