Kalar¶
"Should you move against any speck of dust owned by Kalar, know that I will be waiting and will not suffer you!" — Aion, Ascendant of Kalar, on the Dias of Algahanni (S031)
Kalar is the Creator, the Illuminator, King of the Gods and head of the Kalari Pantheon: the god "credited with creating Terrun and all life on Terrun" (S429), the Sun God whose light sustains, and the only god to hold a shard in every one of the Five Astral Domains. He has slept since the War of the Gods, and his death at the end of the Godswar darkened the sun and ended the age of the old gods. In the Fifth Age his priests still consecrate the dead in his name, though "he provides no active guidance or power" (S020). Also called Kalas (in the oldest compendia), and by his enemies among the Eldritch "Kalar, the Usurper" (S147).
Titles and domains¶
The newest reckoning of the gods lists Kalar first in every Domain: "The Creator, Lord of Creation" in Matter, "King of the Gods" in Creation, "Sun God" in Life and Thought, and "God of Order" in Union (S420). The old compendia call him "The Creator, The Illuminator" and "Chief of the Einar, King of the Gods" (S372).
His dominion runs through everything he made. "Much of the Ether of Terrun is still owned by Kalar (the Creator) at the very top. There is a chain of subservience/worship which defines the hierarchy" (S208). "All souls were created by Kalar, and attached to each one is the Light of Kalar. This acts as a sort of moral compass for all beings. If this is removed and then the soul sufficiently damaged, twisted and corrupted, they become a demon" (S372). The same name belongs to a demon-hunting order, the Light of Kalar. Because "the vast majority of the races are still under the dominion of Kalar or one of the other now defunct members of the Kalari", his death left their dead unable to pass on; see Death and the Afterlife (S318).
Creation¶
Kalar "is credited with creating Terrun, the planes and planting the first seeds for all life on Terrun", and "it is also said he brought the Einar to Terrun" (S372, S429). After the Throne of Law fell, "many new races were formed during this age by Kalar and the other younger gods, including Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Trolls, Orcs, Draconians and others" (S208); the Elves in particular were "created by Kalar to assist the Einar" and "abandoned in the physical sense when the Einar retreated from the Material plane" (S429). The place of making is remembered: the Comet of Origination, "where Kalar forged most of the mortal races" (S143), and the Well of Souls in the Rift, "the place where Kalar created the souls of all the greatest beings: Primal Dragons, the Archwizards, the Eldritch" (S076). Three "Kalari creation sites" are spoken of, and a true god could unmake a Primal Dragon's heart at one of them (S143).
Kalar also built the great prisons. With a shard of the Throne he "forged the Anthu'Mithis (Worldstone, which created the Mithis Plane)", splitting off "a portion of the Material Plane into a separate plane known as the Abyss" to bind the demons; "this was a tremendously destructive act and shook the foundations of Terrun" (S386). He "chose one on High to oversee the prison he had forged to contain the invading darkness", and that warden was Arcantus (S185). The Eldritch "were imprisoned by Kalar and the younger Gods", their spirits "shattered and split into pieces which were then forged into holy Kalari Relics" (S141), and a prison for a Necruspex of Teneb'Vari beneath Alyr-Emuien "was constructed by Kalar himself, and there is no one now who knows how or has the power to reinforce or repair it" (S053).
History¶
The rebellion¶
Kalar led the Einar who broke the Throne of Law. When Izhtari banished her opponents from the Astral Plane, "a group of Einar led by Kalar made a pact with four imprisoned Primordial Elementals and managed to break into the Astral Plane and destroy the Throne of Law. Izhtari's power was broken" (S386). The Primordials who "helped Kalar overthrow the Old Gods" were freed as their part of the bargain (S279, S421). One account makes him Izhtari's "favorite, and firstborn son", who "led the rebellion which overthrew his mother" over "a rivalry between Kalar and Zatan, specifically over his creation of Demons" (S498). The Eldritch remember it as "the Rebellion of Kalar", which "tested the faith" of their sages (S164).
In the Age of Titans the Ventari, the servant race of the Einar, "became fractured as some decided to follow Rakkor, while most remained loyal to Kalas" (S372, S384). The Augurs' Order of Agalon, "which literally controlled the fate of the world", was destroyed when the betrayer Heruditus "helped gods (Kalar) to destroy the order" by showing them "how to be invisible to the auguries" (S536).
The god-sleep¶
Kalar and the faction that wished to restore the Throne, the Izhtarus, fought across the Dragon Wars and the God Wars. "Many Gods also were committed to the endless sleep during this time, including Kalar" (S386). The old compendia say that "in the War of the Gods, Kalar was killed and is now a sleeping god. However, he still possesses great influence over his creations, as well as among those Einar that remain loyal to him and seek a path for his return" (S372). A sleeping god's "spirits wander blindly across the material plane", and "their high priests are unable to commune directly with their deity" (S372). Even asleep he kept his dominions: when the archdemon Asmodeus seized the Mithis Plane, "it is only partial dominion, Kalar remains principal. However there is no one presently capable of casting Asmodeus out while Kalar still sleeps" (S031).
The Godswar and the Death of Kalar¶
The Dark Gods started the Godswar when Necatus "discovered a way to transfer sharding away from the sleeping god Kalar" (S420). It ended in "a pivotal event, Kalar's death", which "results in the darkening and corruption of the sun, which becomes a beacon of suffering, corruption, decay and madness" (S420). Orandos, who had been sheltering him, failed "in a last ditch effort to save and protect his brother" and gave himself to empower the moon and scatter the shards of light; see the Age of the Dark Sun. "Light sources become extremely faint and provide 1/10th of their previous luminosity. It is clear that the very source of light is at risk" (S420). One campaign note proposes that the archdemon Bhaal "was partly responsible for the diminishment of Kalar by stealing the Well and leaving him vulnerable and unable to replenish his own soul" (S076).
After the Dark Sun¶
Kalar's heir, Anariel, took "about 30% of Kalar and Orandos's combined astral shards"; "the remainder of their shards were split among the Kalari, Rakkari and Necatus" (S422). "Since the death of Kalar and the ascension of Asmodeus over the Mithis plane, demonic corruption and the use of Mithis magic are intertwined" (S304). The Sancturi called his faithful Riven and purged them; in the Divine Period that followed, "religious scholars surmise the Divine was able to take over most of Kalar's old shards which held back doors into many of the other shards" (S112). To the Eldritch "Kalar, the Usurper is dead", and they see themselves "as the rightful heirs of Tamariel" (S147).
Worship¶
Kalar's priests are guardians rather than crusaders: "paladin orders of Kalar, but they're almost exclusively defensive" (S428). His holy day is Godsday, "Kalarsday / Creatorsday", the last day of every week (S388). His relics are the Tears of Kalar, "a handful of ordinary looking small white crystals" that serve "as a prayer focus in the absence of a holy symbol" (S004), and the Mithis gems named for him, Aurumite "Blood of Kalar", Maban "Tears of Kalar" and Maril "Eyes of Kalar" (S419). The Kalamite Chestplate of the Rising Sun, "inlaid with reddish gold filigree" around "a red-rising sun", is his piece of the Mithis Heartstone (S182). His clerics once kept a piece of the Worldstone Heart as "The Elysium Star: to the clerics a literal piece of heaven" (S132).
His temples keep a sun. At the Kilmarn complex the Halls of Kalar are "lit by sunlight coming from an open roof (illusion) with a great radiant ball of fire (sun) coming directly down (regardless of time of day). There are no shadows, even under cover" (S163). The same complex holds the Figurine of Barantus, "a legendary demon-hunting Kalari paladin", Saint Gydlor's Quill and the Cincture of the High Sun (S163). A Kalari shrine lost in the Rift carries tombs of a Disciple of the Earth and a Disciple of Life, opened only by prayer (S008).
In the Fourth Age the Temple of Kalar in Marshford has a High Priest who still works great healings (S359), and a Temple of Kalar stands among the five in ruined Redallion (S328). In the Fifth Age his worship persists in the Riven Kingdoms: Alghert, whose "patron god is the God Kalar (God of the Sun)" and which forbids all magic "other than from the Priests of the patron God Kalar" (S319); Udenica, "governed as a Kalari theocracy" (S319); the Duchy of Miralt, where a High Priest of Kalar leads the Order of the Crimson Sun and priests are "Brothers of Kalar" (S174, S173); and Floren, with its "Kalari church in docks" and ivory statues of the god (S170). In the Divine Alliance his worship is blasphemy "punishable by death", kept alive in secret by the Moonlight Order (S004). Highlord Bertran Godebert, "a former ancient paladin of the Burning Sun cursed with Immortality by Kalar", is the public face of The White Fire (S319).
Ascendants¶
Aion, "his white and golden robes flowing around him", sits on an alabaster throne as steward of Kalar's domain and will defend it "at the cost of my existence or yours" (S031). Of the others, "most have joined Kalar in the god-sleep"; two "are even more stubborn than Aion", and one "is Fallen and out of reach" (S031). A "weakened ascendant of Kalar" guards a vault in Alghert, "awoken by the hollow and ... using it to negate it" (S182). Calassa, "former priestess of Kalar", passed into the service of Anariel (S422). A Fourth Age note names Aeradris, "Mother of the Arctic Sun", under the heading of Kalar's Ascendants (S358). The archwizard Lothos "coordinates long term strategy with several ascendants of Kalar, Arya and Khardas" (S329). See Ascendants.
Earlier accounts¶
The oldest overview says that "in the War of the Gods, Kalar was banished from all planes of Terrun" rather than killed (S429); the compendium of 2015 already has him "killed and ... now a sleeping god" (S372). Those compendia also spell him Kalas in their account of the Age of Titans (S372, S384).
Gap
No source describes Kalar's appearance, his symbols, his rites, or the organisation of his priesthood beyond the orders named above. The seven "old gods" who give the week its days are not listed.