Demigod

Demigods are powerful, quasi-divine individuals that can be found in Exandria.

Fan art of Uk'otoa, a demigod, by Clara.

There are three types of cases in which someone is considered a demigod: in the most literal sense, a demigod can be born from the union between a deity and a non-divine being; another possibility is that a deity creates an immortal entity that isn't divine itself; last, there are individuals who, by gaining physical and magical power, are acclaimed as demigods among mortals.

Powers and abilities

Demigods are empowered by magic that allows them to survive attacks that would have killed anyone else, and some of them cannot be permanently killed. Even those who remain technically mortal can experience an extension of their natural longevity.

Fan art of two demigods facing a fiend, by Cyarna Trim.

For those that were born from the union of a deity and a mortal, it is natural for them to manifest divine abilities (such as the rebukal of dangerous entities) and/or specific magic connected to their divine parent: the children of a god of light, for example, might manifest some form of photokinesis.

Their power is such that some become lesser idols, granting magic to mortals in exchange for loyalty, favors, and adoration; precisely because of the quasi-divine nature of certain demigods, some have aspirations of godhood, insisting (like several other idols) on being treated as deities.

Some of the most powerful demigods cannot cross the Divine Gate by themselves, though they are not completely blocked by it, being able to enter or exit Exandria via conjuration magic.

Known demigods

Fan art of Alyxian the Apotheon, by Sang.

• Alyxian, the Apotheon: A mortal Ruidusborn human who was empowered by three different deities (Sehanine, Avandra, and Corellon) and eventually became a demigod-like individual, although he disliked being called that.
• Crysa-Thul: A stillborn deity, essentially a demigod in its own demiplane.
• Haylie and Topher: The mortal children of the firbolg Amaris and the human Trist, the mortal avatar of the Everlight during the Calamity.
• Uk'otoa, the Leviathan Lord: A creation of Zehir who was meant to control the seas in his name but ended up declaring himself a god and demanding worship, angering the Cloaked Serpent.
• Woden: A demigod of the storm who once lived among storm giants in the flying city of Tempestar, representing them in the Council of Seven Scepters.

Other entities known in Exandria are believed to be demigods, treated as such, or they're actively pretending to be:

Fan art of Lady Vesh, by Mikael.

• Desirat, the Twilight Phoenix: The fiendish flying mount of Asmodeus during the Calamity. Like Uk'otoa, she is considered a "pseudo-god", so she could be a demigod like him.
• Quajath, the Undermaw: This worm-like scion of Torog acted as his scout during the Calamity. Like Uk'otoa, it is considered a "pseudo-god", so it could be a demigod like him.
• Vesh, the Bloody Siren: This beautiful but dangerous entity from Issylra has had cultists and followers for centuries, as well as a realm of her own, but her true nature is unclear. She seems to have some connection to the fey, and some believe her to be a demigod.
• J'mon Sa Ord, the Soul of the Jeweled City: The mysterious and long-lived emperor of Ank'Harel is surrounded by theories regarding their origin and true identity, one being that they are a demigod in disguise. Although the Marquesian ruler (whose true form is that of an ancient brass dragon called Devo'ssa) has had four centuries to disprove rumors if they wanted to, they are still present in 836 PD.
• Eyvindr, the Eye of the Storm: This entity is worshiped by cyclops stormcallers as the first of their kind, who gave her only eye to see the devastation of each storm as if she was inside; these cyclopes touched by the Stormlord's perform rituals, gouge out one eye of each of their victims, growing stronger in the process. However, the Eye of the Tempest is actually a storm giant, posing as a demigod to earn the unconditional devotion of the stormcallers before sending them out as his own personal army to exact revenge on the Council of Seven Scepters.
• Some sahuagins are known to fall under the influence of aboleths and other aberrations who act as demigods for the sea devils to worship.

Related entities

• Empyreans are the celestial offspring of deities, more divine than demigods, although without being gods themselves, and dependent on their parents.
• Despite not being considered demigods themselves, other divine creations (such as Sahyaadon, a spirit connected to the Wildmother; the Emissary, a mortal herald of the Lawbearer; Jourrael, a fiendish assassin of the Spider Queen; or the Sun Tree, planted by the Dawnfather and transformed by the blood of the Knowing Mentor and the darkness of the Chained Oblivion) can share the same type of origin and manifest incredible abilities.
• The mortal descendants of demigods can be born as aasimar, or manifest specific celestial powers through their blood.

History

The Calamity

The same day Aeor fell from the sky the demigod siblings Haylie and Topher used their divine magic inherited from the Everlight to protect the town of Hawk's Hill, in Gwessar, from a devil army sent by Asmodeus.

Depiction of a vision of Alyxian, the Apotheon, by Andrew Mar from Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep, p. 34.

During the Calamity the human Alyxian, despite having been bullied most of his life (even being called the spawn of a Betrayer God by some), still wanted to defend the innocent. He asked for the blessings of the Moonweaver, the Changebringer, and the Arch Heart, and empowered by them and their vestige, the Jewel of Three Prayers, he became the demigod-like hero that people called "Apotheon", and fought against the forces of the Betrayer Gods. During his final battle, defending a utopian city of elves and orcs, the Apotheon blocked an attack of Gruumsh the Ruiner, preventing the god from completely destroying the continent of Marquet. Although Alyxian survived the impact, its strength, combined with planar energy and the demigod's own connection with the strange influence of Ruidus created a prison, the Netherdeep, in which he spent centuries slumbering.

Post-Divergence

After the Divergence, Zehir expected that his creation, Uk'otoa, would rule the Lucidian Ocean as his proxy, but the demigod started gathering his own followers, becoming the protector of the Ki'Nau and defeating their enemies, and demanding their allies to worship him as a god of the seas. Enraged by this, Zehir conspired against the False Serpent, and his followers defiled the idol's temples and sealed him beneath the depths of the Lucidian Ocean, not long after the city of Ank'Harel was founded in about 445 PD.

Presumably at some point between 512 and 612 PD, Tempestar was destroyed above the Lucidian Ocean, and its storm giant society scattered. Until then this flying city-state had been the seat of the Council of Seven Scepters, in which the demigod Woden represented the local highborn. However, after the fall of Tempestar Woden abandoned the storm giants, as well as his position in the Council. As of 836 PD the demigod's throne remains empty, and his Scepter of Wodensdottr is kept in the vaults of Jovatthon (the city-state of the cloud giants, and the new seat of the council). Although Woden hasn't come back, the current leader of the storm giants, Sea Dreamer Galadawna, hasn't claimed Woden's possessions or responsabilities despite being present in each meeting since he left.

Fan art of the final strike against the False Serpent, by Danielle Weires.

Uk'otoa tried for centuries to be free of his prison, making alliances with other entities who had suffered similar fates, and forging warlock pacts so his followers would use their powers to free him. One of those warlocks was Fjord, but Fjord eventually freed himself from the pact and became a paladin of Melora. Despite the efforts of Fjord and some of his allies to keep Uk'otoa sealed, the Great Leviathan was released in 837 PD. However, Fjord used a boon granted by Zehir and the help of his own friends, the Mighty Nein, to defeat Uk'otoa in combat and seal him beneath the Lucidian Ocean once again.

In the meantime, Alyxian awoke during the 830s PD, when an agent of the Consortium of the Vermilion Dream extracted a sample of a strange substance produced in the Apotheon's prison. Conscious but not entirely sane, the hero of yore began to pray that someone would come to his rescue.

At around the same time, in 836 PD it was known that some demigods, among other entities, were imprisoned floating through the Astral Sea, presumably after failing to travel between Planes of Existence.

Trivia

• In our world the most famous demigods in popular culture are the offspring of gods and mortals (very prominent in mythologies such as the Greek and the Roman); however, the term also covers other cases, such as weaker deities, deified heroes, or non-human entities reaching some form of enlightenment. Exandrian demigods take inspiration from multiple sources, given their miscellaneous origins.
• In 5th Edition rules demigods are supposed to be unable to hear and answer prayers, or grant magic to clerics, but in Exandria it has been established that any entity powerful and worshiped enough can have clerics.
• If Alyxian can be used as an example, even in their last years as mortals, weakened by old age, those that had become demigods still retain some of their strength and magic.
• Keyleth once described Vecna as a "demigod" on his path to ascension to full godhood.
• Torm, the founder of Torm's Hill, was in a sense a distant descendant of the All-Hammer.
• Matthew Mercer confirmed that there are several bloodlines in Exandria that retain traces of the power of demigod ancestors, and that some aspect of it is being explored in The Legend of Vox Machina through Pike Trickfoot.

References

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