Althena

Althena (アルテナ) is a fictional goddess who appears in the role-playing series Lunar. She is the primary deity of the inhabitants of Lunar, venerated as a goddess of love, beauty, and song. Her name likely derives from Athena, a goddess in Greek mythology. Althena is usually depicted as a graceful woman with long blue hair. She wears simple, 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. Zophar manipulated the negative emotions of humans of the Blue Star, inspiring them to fight brutal wars among each other. Feeding on the dark desires of humans, Zophar later began to twist humanity even further by turning corrupted humans into bloodthristy monsters. Humanity implored the goddess Althena for salvation. In the end, Althena defeated Zophar and sealed him away, but the battle left the Blue Star devastated and uninhabitable.

In response, Althena created a new refuge for the surviving humans on the nearby Silver Star. She used her power to turn part of the 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 region that resembled the Silver Star in its original landscape. This wasteland came to be known as the Frontier. Althena also created the Four Dragons (the Black Dragon, the Blue Dragon, the Red Dragon and the White Dragon) at this time in order to protect the new world.

Additionally, Althena never intended to abandon the Blue Star, and set mechanisms into motion on Lunar that would eventually restore Blue Star. She entrusted the wasted, ice-bound world itself to Lucia of the Blue Star, who would watch over it until it was once again ready for humanity. Just as Althena is the keeper of the Silver Star, Lunar, Lucia is the keeper of the Blue Star.

After humanity settled down on Lunar, Althena resided in the Goddess Tower, watching the progress of life.

Althena, the goddess
It was Althena's power, also known as magic, that made the creation of Lunar possible, and that magic permeates the creatures of Lunar. Most humans are capable of harnessing this power and using it for the betterment of life, but some gifted individuals can use it to cause harm. Thus, Magic Guild of Vane, situated on the floating island of Vane, was created to train and govern Lunar's magic users. It was at this Guild that many of Lunar's greatest wizards were produced, including Ghaleon, Mia Ausa, Nash Rumack and Lemina Ausa. The priesthood of Althena serves a similar purpose to the Magic Guild, though perhaps received the greatest of Althena's gifts - the power to heal injury and illness with the power of Althena's blessing.

The people of Lunar show their gratitude and love of Althena through the goddess Festival, a celebratory offering of singing and dancing. Althena is said to revel in watching her people celebrate. 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.

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. Dragonmasters use this power to protect all of Lunar.

In order to become the Dragonmaster, a human must 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, gaining the sense of responsibility needed to wield 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.
 * Jian, the hero of Lunar Dragon Song, who challenged and defeated the 4 Dragons themselves to steal the title of Dragonmaster from Ignatius.
 * Dyne, one of the Four Heroes, said to have the greatest magic power of all Dragonmasters before Alex's time.
 * Alex, the last Dragonmaster and one of the Five Heroes who defeated the Magic Emperor.

The original Lunar: Eternal Blue mentions Dragonmasters 'Cyclone' Zeon and 'Iron Fist' Loka, whose names and descriptions strongly parallel Leon and Gaull, Dragonmasters named in the remakes.

Althena, the Human
Althena has been known to come among the humans of Lunar as a mortal, though different titles in the Lunar series differ on how frequency and mechanism of this occurrence. According to the Sega CD continuity of the Lunar series, Althena reincarnates often, and not always in human form, returning to the Goddess Tower when her incarnation served its purpose. Althena's last incarnation was a human girl named Luna, who lived until the age of 15 unaware of her divine nature. She fell in love with Dragonmaster Alex and eventually elected to become mortal and live out her life with him.

In the remake continuity, Luna is the only known incarnation of Althena. Realizing that humans were too dependent on her, she decided to fully place humanity's fate into their own hands. With help from Dragonmaster Dyne, Althena was reborn as Luna. She began life anew as a baby and would end it as an elderly woman - the life of a mortal human being.

There were only two witnesses to this event - Dragonmaster Dyne and Ghaleon, two of the Four Heroes. While Dyne was confident in Althena's fateful decision, Ghaleon was shaken to the core. Ghaleon believed that humans were too weak and foolish to be left to their own devices. In Ghaleon's mind, there is no world without Althena. Althena's decision would have repercussions 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 life, Luna would leave behind final messages for Lucia and Hiro, the adventurer, to be read a thousand years after her death.

Lucia Collins of Lunar: Dragon Song may be considered a human incarnation of Althena, though the exact nature of her existence is unclear. Althena became Lucia in order to hide from the corrupt Dragonmaster, Ignatius, and her powers and memories as Althena are sealed. It is unknown whether she was born as an infant, or simply assumed the form of Lucia at some later point. Nonetheless, she does not revert to her Althena form when her memories and powers are released, and though 'Lucia' is eventually killed, Althena assumes the form of Lucia again soon after.