Orandos¶
Contested
Named in the open question Creator of the Elves: the newest overview of the gods credits the Elves to Orandos in his entry and to Kalar in its account of the races.
Orandos is the Lord of Light, "Guardian of Light and Knowledge" (S420), brother of Kalar and one of the five great gods of the Kalari Pantheon. Where Kalar is the warm light that sustains, Orandos is the cold light that exposes: truth, order and civilisation are his, and his priests are crusaders where Kalar's are guardians. At the Death of Kalar he gave himself to empower the moon and scattered the shards of light among his followers. In the Fifth Age he is counted among the dead gods still worshipped.
The cold light¶
"He and Kalar were quite tight, were actually brothers" (S428). "Where Kalar focuses on creation and sun (hence Sun god), Orandos is the cold light - Kalar is the warm light, sustaining energy, warmth, life - Orandos' light is more about exposing truth, beating back the darkness, and about order and civilization" (S428). Though Quitas is the god of justice, "because Orandos is concerned about civilization - he's still invoked in court rooms", and "associated with truth and knowledge" (S428). His symbol is the Sun (S429), and the Kalari shrines pair him with the Moon (S008). The newest reckoning places him in the Domains of Creation, Thought and Union (S420); the old compendia call him "Lord of Light, Keeper of the Light, Sun" (S372).
Priesthood¶
"Kalari priests vs. Orandos priests - Orandos is much more militant - paladin orders of Kalar, but they're almost exclusively defensive. Orandos is about attacking the darkness, crusades. Kalari = protectors, guardian, Orandos = crusaders" (S428). Nine of his Ascendants each lead an order, and three further orders "with neutral ideals" have none; six are militant and six defensive, and together they form the Dominion Knights, "a country of Orandos affiliated persons" (S537). The orders and their ranks have their own page, the Knight Orders of Orandos.
History¶
Orandos is "creator of Elves" (S429); see the Contested note above. He offered Ascendancy, with Arcantus, to the Eldritch sage Phaendar, who refused it and sided with Izhtari; Phaendar later banished Orthyss Brightcaller, "an ascendant of Orandos", who "was never seen again" (S164). After the Shattering one of the three pieces of the Worldstone Heart "was hidden by Orandos", and "no one knows" where (S132); the three holders of the Mithis Heartstone were "Kalar, Orandos and Arcantus" (S142).
At the end of the Godswar Orandos "failed in a last ditch effort to save and protect his brother, whom he had been sheltering. With his brother fallen, his own power is greatly weakened and senses his own imminent destruction. In order to stop the cannibalization of all of Kalar's power and sensing his own overthrow as inevitable, Orandos sacrifices himself in a last ditch effort to empower the moon, increasing its radiance, and to split his shard and Kalar's to avoid the Dark Gods getting hold of it" (S420). The fragments, given "to his followers and Ascendants", became the Scions of Light, "bastions of hope and survival for the population. Without them, all would surely be lost" (S420). See the Age of the Dark Sun. "Kalar (Creator and Sun God) and Orandos (God of Light) perished" in that war, and "about 30%" of their shards passed to Anariel (S422). "A piece of Orandos (along with his power) merged with Angwen", so that "only the spiritual successor to Orandos, now the Fallen: Angwen may know" where his Heartstone piece lies (S132).
After the Dark Sun¶
Orandos remains one of the "primary Kalari still worshipped" (S020), and his temple stands among the five in ruined Redallion in the Fourth Age (S328). The Brotherhood of the Sun "follows and worships Kalar, Orandos and Anariel" (S319). His piece of the Heartstone, the Kalamite Spear of Radiance, is "now in Anariel/Angwen's possession, who is living with the wood elves as the Demi-god Gwen'ariel. She uses the spear to destroy any threatening hollows and to 'bless' newborn elves" (S182). Part of his Astral Shard survives in the Rift: the Illuri Fold, a desert "bright ... not from a single light source, but the entire fold has a strong ambient light", holds "some old parts of the Astral Shard of Orandos" and an "Orandos complex (The Tethers of Ambusthene)" where a Sovereign Fire Primordial is imprisoned (S010). Benthus, "former priest of Orandos", leads Anariel's Illuminated Circle (S422).
Earlier accounts¶
The compendium of 2015 lists him without creations (S372); the overview of 2019 adds "Creator of Elves" to his entry while saying elsewhere that the Elves were "created by Kalar to assist the Einar" (S429). The spelling Ordandos appears once (S142).
Gap
No source gives his rites, holy days, or the names of his nine Ascendants beyond the orders they lead.