Althena

Althena is a fictional goddess of the RPG world of Lunar. She is also known as Governess Of All Creatures, Mother Of The World, She Who Made Our World and, more simply, the Goddess.

Althena is usually depicted as a graceful, beautiful woman with long blue hair. She wears simple, but flowing gowns. Her statues portray her holding a crescent moon in her arms.

The Beginning
In the beginning, the human race inhabited the Blue Star, a planet similar to Earth. The Silver Star revolved in orbit around the Blue Star as a moon. While details of life on the Blue Star were lost to time, it was the coming of the Dark God, Zophar, to the Blue Star that changed the fate of humanity forever.

Using the innate greed, hatred and pettiness of humans, Zophar manipulated the humans of the Blue Star into fighting terrible, brutal wars among each other. Feeding on the dark desires of humans, Zophar later began to twist humanity even further by turning evil humans into bloodthristy monsters. After many years of these atrocities, the survivors of humanity implored the goddess Althena for salvation.

In an epic battle that lasted many days and nights, Althena finally defeated Zophar and banished him to the netherworld. However, the clash between the forces of creation (Althena) and destruction (Zophar) caused a surge that devastated the Blue Star. Despite his defeat, Zophar appeared to have accomplished his ultimate goal - the destruction of the Blue Star.

Undaunted, Althena found a new refuge for the surviving humans on the nearby Silver Star. In order to transport the surviving humans to the Silver Star, Althena created a huge ark, the Fortress of Althena. The secondary purpose of the Fortress was to repair the damage done to the Blue Star by channelling the magic of the Silver Star to it, for one of Althena's goals was to one day see humanity return to the Blue Star. But it would take millennia before the damage to Blue Star would heal, for the damage done was great.

Althena also created the Four Dragons (the Black Dragon, the Blue Dragon, the Red Dragon and the White Dragon) to protect the new world of humans on the Silver Star. Althena also created the demi-goddess, Lucia, the Princess of the Blue Star, to watch over the Blue Star until it was once again ready for humanity.

With these preparations complete, Althena paved the way for a new home for humanity on the Silver Star, later also called Lunar.

Upon arrival, Althena used her power to turn a portion of the formerly lifeless world of Lunar into a vibrant, life-filled land, a place to give humanity a new start. Unfortunately, her power was not enough to cover the entirety of Lunar, leaving a barely habitable wasteland that resembled the Silver Star in its original landscape. This wasteland would later be called the Desert of Death or the Frontier.

After humanity settled down on Lunar, Althena buried the Fortress of Althena into a mountain, leaving only the very top of the Fortress, the Goddess Tower, visible. The floating island of Vane was later created (it is not known how or when) to protect the Tower. Althena resided in the Goddess Tower, watching the progress of life.

Althena, the Goddess
As goddess of Lunar, Althena had many roles in everyday lives of all life on Lunar.

As the goddess of beauty and love, Althena encouraged all life to appreciate the beauty of life and to accept each other with love and understanding. Althena's dogma teaches that all life have the power to decide their own destinies and to conquer any hardship encountered. To this day, this lesson proved to be the hardest for humans to learn.

It was Althena's power, also known as magic, that made the creation of Lunar possible. Many people, including wizards and priests, learned to harness this power and use it for the betterment of life. One of the greatest organizations of wizards is the Magic Guild of Vane, situated on the floating island of Vane. It was at this Guild that many of Lunar's greatest wizards were produced including Ghaleon, Mia Ausa, Nash and Lemina Ausa. The priesthood of Althena were perhaps given the greatest of Althena's gifts - the power to heal injury and illness with the power of Althena's blessing.

One of humanity's commemorations to Althena is the annual Goddess Festival, an offering of singing and dancing to Althena in the celebration of their existence. Althena is said to revel in watching life celebrate. Because of this, drinking alcoholic beverages is also commonplace during the Festival. At this Festival, a contest is held to determine the best female singer. Song is said to be one of Althena's greatest gifts and it is said that Althena herself had a beautiful singing voice with the ability to heal those around her.

Every few hundred years, Althena took a human form and came to the world of humans. With each visit by the Goddess, the world of Lunar experienced a golden age.

The Dragonmaster
The greatest of Althena's protectors is the Dragonmaster, a mortal invested with the power of the Four Dragons of Althena. Name any Dragonmaster and you can hear a hundred different tales of their incredible adventures. Listed below are the more notable items the Dragonmaster's arsenal.


 * The Sword of Althena, a sword forged by Althena's magic and the most powerful weapon in Lunar.


 * The Dragon Armor (consisting of the Black Dragon Armor, the Blue Dragon Helmet, and the Red Dragon Shield), a set of armor imbued with a portion of the Dragons' power and the best protective plating ever crafted in Lunar.


 * The White Dragon Wings, a magical artifact that can instantly transport the Dragonmaster to any place he once visited. This artifact is empowered by the power of the White Dragon.

The Dragonmaster also had the ability to use Dragon Magic, the highest degree of magic available to mortals and a power second only to Althena's own. He/she used this power to protect the hopes and dreams of humanity.

In order to become the Dragonmaster, a mortal had to pass the four Dragon Trials, one for each dragon. These trials usually consisted of finding a Dragon's lair (the location of which is generally unknown), fighting through the lair's monsters, and finally, meeting the Dragon. Throughout these trials, the prospective Dragonmaster matures and grows, gaining the sense of responsibility needed to wield his power properly.

Here are some of the known Dragonmasters in Lunar:


 * Louie, the first Dragonmaster and one of the human survivors of the Blue Star. The footprint of his very first step on Lunar could still be found somewhere...


 * Leon, the Mighty Gale, who fought his foes with the blinding force of a hurricane.


 * Gaull, the Iron Hand, who could fell the largest man with a single swing of his granite fists.


 * Alicia and Laticia, twin sisters who proved that two are better than one.


 * Natto, the Singing Swordsman, who often burst into song while decimating his enemies.


 * Ignatius, an evil wizard and one-time leader of the Vile Tribe. He once attempted to enslave Althena.


 * Dyne, one of the Four Heroes of the Heresy War.


 * Alex, the last Dragonmaster and one of the Five Heroes who defeated the Magic Emperor.

Althena, the Human
After watching and guiding humanity for millennia, Althena gradually realized that the humans lacked self-sufficiency and pride in their own achievements, often fighting each other for her blessings and favor. In the aftermath of the Heresy War, during Althena's last incarnation on Lunar, the Goddess finally decided to fully place humanity's fate into their own hands. With the help of the Dragonmaster Dyne, Althena was reborn as a female human named Luna. She would begin life anew as a baby and end it as an elderly woman - the life of a human.

There were only two witnesses to this event - Dragonmaster Dyne and Ghaleon, two of the Four Heroes of the Heresy War. Althena/Luna herself would not retain her memories of her time as the Goddess except as vague dreams. While Dyne was confident in Althena's fateful decision, Ghaleon was shaken to the core. There were two reasons why Ghaleon protested Althena's new life as a human. First, he was jealous of the love Dyne and Althena shared. Second, Ghaleon believed that humans were too weak and foolish to live their own lives properly. In Ghaleon's mind, there is no world without Althena. Althena's decision would have reprecussions fifteen years later (see Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete) and beyond.

Eventually, Luna would live life fully and happily as a normal human. Near the end of her human life, Luna would leave behind final messages for Lucia, Princess of the Blue Star, and Hiro, the adventurer, to be read a thousand years after her death.

To this day, most people on Lunar remain unaware of Althena's transformation into a human, continuing to worship her as always.

The Return of Althena?
Unfortunately, an old enemy of the Goddess was watching and waiting for the opportunity to free himself from imprisonment - Zophar.

See the separate article for details.

Althena's Teachings
In the end, Althena teaches us - we have the power.