« back xephyr Range of cult worship. Little is known about the pariah god Xephyr outside the sphere of the originals. Nearly all written records containing his name were expunged around the year 1000 BC, leaving only the odd, overlooked mention of him in accounts of other originals' doings. A sharp-eyed scholar of original fairy history might discover that Xephyr was the divine of ancient Scythia (specifically, the region now known as the Ukraine), but would have little luck learning more. The event which triggered Xephyr's disappearance from Earth and its history was his trial in the 11th century BC, when he was called before the Star Chamber for disciplinary action. The crime he answered for is no longer common knowledge, but the obliteration of all record of the god's activity on Earth is a testament to its severity. It is thought that Gwythr (then [acting judge] of the Star Chamber), with his concern for appearances and stability, was the one responsible for quietly removing Xephyr from the history books. Following the trial, Xephyr - disgraced, though not banished from the Council of Originals - was forcibly sent off Earth to a small, dismissable world called Lymbria, where he has lived for the past three thousand years. On his new world, Xephyr is rumored to have stayed confined wholly to his citadel, kept company only by nine of his immortal cult priestesses. The human population of Lymbria call these priestesses witches, and fear them. Shortly before the events that resulted in his departure from Earth, Xephyr fell devastatingly ill. The sickness did not respond to divinity's best attempts to heal it, and it was believed amongst both the original faeries and the Xephyrean cult that the god would die. His recovery was considered a miracle of miracles, but the experience was said to have affected him catastrophically in more ways than one, and he has never returned to full health. Xephyr's relationship with the other originals is openly hostile and laced with paranoia. He bears undisguised ill-will toward the Council, and refused contact with them while on Lymbria. His opinions of Aura are particularly harsh and complicated. « back