The Sun-Rider
(The Hero; White Bull Rider)

Description: Legend has it that the sun, an iridescent bull elephant of monstrous size, once roamed across the heavens at whim. This wreaked havoc on the land and seas below. The other gods of the sky attempted to channel its motions into a series of paddocks, but it always broke free and wandered as it pleased, scorching some of the world below into barren deserts and icing others over with endless winter.

In the end, a mortal hero ascended to the sky. After many adventures she confronted the beast, rode it, and tamed it.The gods “rewarded” her with immortality… and a commission to ride through the sky, directing the Sun into an orderly path, for as long as the world lasted. Against the blazing many-hued brilliance of the Sun’s hide, she is a small dark spot.

Worshipers: Yes. The sun is worshiped across cultures in a variety of guises and through a variety of practices. The above legend is well-known, and there are significant religious practices revering the rider, either on her own merits as a hero to ascended to demigod status, or as an intermediary for pleas to the sun, as a sort of saint of the solar godhead.

Servitors: No. Many of the other inhabitants of the sky are on good terms with the hero, and most will act to prevent any attempts at causing trouble, which protects her indirectly, but their relationships are collegial rather than hierarchical.

Confrontation: The White Bull is massive and blinding. Its tusks burn to the touch and can pierce every known material if applied forcefully. Normal weapons can’t even dent its hide… but if the White Bull is wounded, any blood that comes out is a blast of vaporizing nuclear plasma. Unless directed by the hero, the Bull will blissfully ignore its surroundings unless hurt, at which point it will lash out violently until all perceived threats are gone, devastating the local area as if a nuclear weapon had detonated.

The hero is a skilled rider who can climb to any point of the Sun’s body and cling there one-handed. She carries a bow that fires comets – arrows of infinite range that freeze their targets on a hit. She will not hesitate to use the Sun to ride down any enemy that comes near. In extreme cases, she may switch to bare-handed combat; if given time to prepare, she’ll wet her hands in the Bull’s tears, which annoys him but renders her skin invulnerable for a time.

Aspect: Plasma, power, heat, heroism. Those present at the hero’s defeat boost each ability by 1. She is considered to have been “consumed” by anyone who takes any of her possessions after her defeat, even if they never touch her flesh.

Powers – Tier 1: None.

Powers – Tier 2: Boost each ability by another d4 points and become unaging and immortal. Any character who embraces the power taken from the hero also embraces her mission, and is bound inextricably to the Sun. They may not go more than “area” distance from it, and even that, not for very long. The gods of the sky recommend that the character begins studying the White Bull’s ways and practicing a skill set similar to what the hero used in her duties.

Powers – Tier 3: None.

Powers – Other: None.

Example Checks: None. Either you embrace the hero’s essence and become bound to the Sun – or you don’t, and remain essentially unchanged.

Notes: This demigod is a trap of sorts for god-eaters. To slay the sun’s rider is to either take her place (and probably become an NPC), or doom the human world to chaos and devastation in the face of climate change as the Sun leaves its orderly progression and wanders aimlessly across the heavens. Slaying the Sun itself would be a much more dramatic undertaking and have much more dramatic effects, so we’ll leave that for another day.