Taidu in his female form by Tsuhara
The creator and patron of the Ye'en and also the god of fertility, Taidu appears as either a male or female Ye'en whose only consistently remarkable feature is either the sun or moon orb above his head (Taidu can be referred to as a male or female, but the default gender with which to refer to him is masculine); he has no claim to the sun or moon, but nonetheless he finds them useful to symbolize his masculine and feminine nature. When he appears as a male, the sun orb is above his head, and when he is female, the moon orb is likewise present; in this form, the heavier with child "he" appears to be, the fuller the moon (new, half, full, etc.). Of course, when he is in disguise and visiting his people, he appears without the sun and moon orbs. As his divine self, Taidu so often bears children, both the spirits of the dead awaiting rebirth and those of people whom he feels are worthy of children, that over almost every course of one complete lunar cycle, he conceives and bears offspring, no matter the race's normal gestation time (the end of each "pregnancy" results in the child/ren's spirits being sent to the mortal world to be born to the appropriate parents).
Unlike most of the other deities of Aesira, Taidu spends much of his time in the mortal world, rather than sit back and observe from afar. He does this because he sees something special in the mortal willingness to make the most out of their relatively short lives, something to which most of the other patron deities don't relate; that, and having spent his days before divine ascension among mortals, he still feels strong ties to them. He has lived several Ye'en lifetimes, from "birth" to "death," amongst mortals, cherishing each family member he lived with and each friend he made.
History and Current Status[]
When Ralthos was killed, marking the dawn of the First Age, Taidu was one of the many spirits that rose from his essence. At the time the Fertility Spirit, the then-nameless Taidu wandered the mortal realm, guiding and aiding those who wished to have children. These efforts were noticed by Tarrea, who decided that the spirit should be ascended to godhood, to better fulfill his role. And so the Fertility Spirit became Taidu, who immediately attained his own realm and all the powers and responsibilities of a god.
Taidu's first official act as a god was to do as all who came before him had done: create a mortal race in his own image. Thus came the Ye'en, the founders of their kind born from Taidu himself as his children. For this reason, Taidu will push his duties aside to assist the Ye'en, they being his first and most important priority above all else. This has earned the chagrin of many of the more lawfully inclined gods (such as Tarrea and later Donacles) but they will usually let it slide simply because Taidu is an otherwise extremely competent caretaker of his spheres.
As a deity of fertility, Taidu also watches over those who are expecting children, those who want children, and those who help in the delivery and upbringing of children, though upbringing is actually not within his spheres of influence; that role falls to the goddess Tarrea. He has quite often sired or born the offspring of his faithful. At the same time, he knows that there must be a limit to fertility or the consequences would be catastrophic.
Some time after the Nameless God was born and cast out of its mother's realm by Aureus's order, Tarrea arranged in secret for Taidu to take it in and raise it in her stead. Taidu, owing Tarrea for his ascension to godhood, accepted. He brought the Nameless into his realm, and there rebirthed it-now-him in his own image, and gave him a name (known to only the two of them). Taidu later even assisted the Nameless in the creation of the Dingo, and so is considered their second patron in a sense.
Dogma[]
People should think of their whole communities as something of their extended families, so Taidu smiles on those who provide well and work to better not only themselves and their families, but everyone with whom they live and work. One's belongings, from material possessions to emotions to even the body, may be shared freely but not irresponsibly, and to take more than what one needs from either another being or from the world is to take advantage of the entire sense of community.
Taidu also teaches strong appreciation for the simple yet necessary joys in life: when you have enough food to eat, shelter from the elements, and loved ones with you, all else will fall into place as a matter of course. Wisdom takes precedence over intellect, and simplicity takes precedence over complexity. This is not to say there is nothing inherently wrong with complexity, particularly in the area of social interaction: even with the simplest lifestyle, an individual can have countless unique traits. Indeed, they should: after all, if everyone were the same, not only would life be incredibly boring, new problems would have no one able to solve them.
While Taidu's dogma appeals most strongly to his people, who have little need or ability to accumulate wealth, he watches the members of other races closely. A wealthy individual who donates his or her resources to improving the lot of those not as fortunate as him or her will certainly please Taidu.
Worshipers[]
Almost all of Taidu's worshipers are the tribal Ye’en; he is largely unknown, but nonetheless active, outside their lands. He does not have priests per se; his more devout followers are closer to shamans than anything else, though Ye'en who fill the role of midwife, as well as Ye'en who are expecting or wanting children, worship him for his fertility aspect in particular. The Dingo also worship Taidu in a sense, but due to their largely shamanistic and spiritual religious bent, they still worship him as "the Fertility Spirit".
Realm[]
(Update Needed!)
Relations With Other Deities[]
Ralthos is his progenitor. Having received his divinity from Tarrea, as well as she having control over a domain in which he is interested (raising children), he considers her to be someone to whom he is still indebted. He is also closely allied with the Nameless God, thinking of him as a son, and has been the lover of Karushen many times in the past.
Avatars[]
(work in progress)
When Taidu leaves his realm to spend a long time in the mortal world, he leaves his avatars to run his godly duties. Each one represents the race (in whole or in part) with which that particular avatar's concept most strongly resonates.
Agape - Paired Lutras.
Animus - Reptus.
Anima - Lynx.
Eros - Fox.
Philia - Pryconian.
Storge - Dingo.