#dutus

Dutus, First Paragon of Courage

A little consept for Dutus since she will show up at some point.

She's the tallest paragon ever at 16'9ft.

Very monotone and blunt speaking.

Struggles to make eye contact.

Would often hang out with Mercia.

Very hard to please, would probably not approve of Xandria as the current Paragon of Courage.

Was in support with Vesiphone on the Spirit Killers. (Mercia was against, Thenios for, Devos for.)

Was killed instantly by a cliff collapse with a meeting with the Ventyr.

She wears the feathers of her ascened.

So Dutus is a cut character datamined in the Alpha named Dutus, Paragon of Service.

I decided to bring her back in my lore but as the original Paragon of Courage.

(I was talking with Vale and was like I should write this world-building down.)

So with most Kyrian Temples the inner politics and lines of succession are pretty simple. Should something happen to the Paragon then the Hand automatically becomes the Paragon upon the Paragon's death.

At first glance however, the Temple of Courage seems rather unorthodox but this is not the case. There are few things that get cleared up with explanations.

The Echos of Courage

The Echos of Courage specifically refer to the Echos of Dutus and Agthia who were former Paragons of Courage. They exist mostly to offer Xandria optional advice that she can choose to ignore. They cannot make choices for Xandria as much as Dutus' echo wishes she could.

Xandria doesn't really like using the Echos as she knows even asking a simple question will have Dutus on her ass and Agthia being 'Be nice.' Xandria and Dutus clash a lot with their ideals but occasionally Dutus does agree with her.

Dutus gets irate with Xandria whenever Xandria asks questions on succession. As Dutus' loves to remind Xandria that Xandria is not part of their succession, as Agthia was Dutus' hand, but Xandria wasn't even a Disciple of Courage when she was chosen. It has been pointed out to Dutus that Aella was killed in the same battle as Agthia and of course Agthia had not had time to appoint a new Hand, yet Dutus is stubborn.

The Three Hands of Courage

What throws Kyrian now is there's three Hands of Courage. Thanikos, Artemede and Apolon. So 'whos next in the line or succession?'

In simple terms it's Thanikos. Should Xandria die Thanikos is to be the next Paragon of Courage. However he is still unsure if he is worthy of this with his current condition. It's Thanikos because he was the 'original' Hand of Courage.

After Thanikos it is Artemede. It was decided when the Twin-Hands where chosen by Xandria that Artemede is a little more elevated than Apolon.

The reason for this is the same reason Xandria chose two hands after Thanikos: Xandria was preparing for her own death. She knew she was sick and honestly didn't expect to survive this conflict. It was also uncertain if Thanikos would survive his treatment with Vesiphone. So her wishes were that Artemede would become Paragon and Apolon her Hand. Xandria did not care that this would break the rule that Paragon and Hand cannot be soulbinds.

Now these wishes still remain even though Xandria is in decent health after recovering from the Maldraxxi Plague and Thanikos' body restored.