Zodeleth the Theologian
"The Red Era was a darker more savage time than the current era which formally began after the destruction of Vladimir the Conqueror and the shattering of his undead armies, this is true but it's an oversimplification. The Red Era didn't become the Feudal Era overnight. The civilization of Scarterra's Third Age was a slow gradual process shaped by many hands. No single person was probably more beneficial to this process than Zodeleth. Which just goes to show that humanity reaches it's full potential with a dragon's gentle guidance." Zodeleth the Theologian is the most famous draconic scholar in the Third Age, maybe the most well-known Scarterran scholar of all time. She lived so far in the past that most of the details of her true self are lost. Stereotypically, Scarterran dragons are not known for their piety. Allegedly, a lack of piety is what led to the First Unmaking and the long slow of decline of dragonkind since. More than a few dragons broke the stereotype, Zodeleth was one of them. She was priestess of the Cult of the Compact towards the end of the Red Era and was a prolific writer of theological texts. She is the primary author of The Complete History of the Age Before Ages through the First Unmaking which is the closest thing Scarterra has to a universally accepted religious document on every continent.-Gorisonad the Wise, dragon fan boy of Zodeleth's written worksKovenoth AI Headshot by me with MidjourneyPhysical Description
Body Features
Supposedly, Zodeleth did not hide the fact that she was a dragon, but she spent most of her time in human forms working with humans. Very few humans saw Zodeleth's dragon form. It's not commonly agreed on what she actually looked like. Artists' depictions of Zoldeleth commonly show her as being yellow or gold. Though many say that this artistic revisionism. Most modern scholars wear yellow or gold robes as part of their uniform, so many illustrators believe that he most famous scholar of all time should also be yellow A lot of historians claim she was green, or sliver or black or any number of colors. Credible historical records and surviving portraits show that her human form had blonde hair and was a roughly 50/50 mix of fiery and airy in skin tone, facial bone structure, and build. Just because she had blonde hair does not mean she had blonde scales. When a dragon learns to take a human form, they usually take the same human form every time but their human form may or may not ressemble their draconic form.Special abilities
Almost all adult dragons are sorcerers. By her own admission, Zodeleth was "average" as a draconic sorceress. Since she was reputedly was one of the most modest dragons of all time, many speculate that her claim to being "average" meant she was actually incredibly gifted as a sorceress. She focused on Illusion magic above all others. She liked to fly, but reputedly she was usually invisible when she flew which is why no one agrees on what her draconic form looks like. While she was no stranger to pen and paper, she allegedly she created magical orbs that project illusory pages for ease of reading though if any of these orbs still exist, they are sitting underneath dragon hoards or in forgotten dungeons. Reputedly, Zodeleth's showed signs of aging in her human form yet she died of old age anyway. Most attribute this to illusion magic. Some believe she actually invented the spell, Memory's Visage. Dragon theurgists are rare but they are not unheard of. Many bards and minstrels claim Zodeleth was a powerful theurgist, but most academics believe this is fiction and state that no credible source verifies that Zodeleth was a theurgist.Mental characteristics
Personal history
Zodeleth spent roughly eight hundred years as a scholar and shaped generations of human theologians and scholars. Before this she reputedly flew across the world quietly seeking knowledge incognito. Her magnus opus was The Complete History of the Age Before Ages through the First Unmaking often nicknamed "The Origin of Scarterra by Zoldeleth". A tome that covers how the Nine engineered and fought the Divine Rebellion and how they worked out their conflicts and disagreements through the the First Age . Zoldeleth's wrote about events tens of thousands of years before she was born. She claims to have painstakingly unearthed lost tomes and fragments of ancient writings and to have spoken with ancient spirits of the Nine, but more than a few modern scholars doubt the veracity of some or all of her claims.Sexuality
Most historians believe that Zodeleth promoted the idea that priests and priestesses should ideally be chaste and celibate, so as not to let family, romance, or children distract them from their religious duties. Most historians also believe that Zodeleth was not a hypocrite so therefore she never took a lover, human or dragon. A vocal minority of scholars indicate that Zodeleth didn't actually believe that later scholars forged writings in her name to promote clerical celibacy. Or alternative she DID believe in clerical celibacy but slipped up a few times. A great many humans and dragons claim to be distant descendants of Zodeleth but few people believe these claims.Education
Before she revealed herself as a scholar and a priestess, by her own admission she spent four hundred years flying around Scarterra incognito learning everything she could.Accomplishments & Achievements
Besides writing the most widely circulated book in Scarterra's history, she was pivotal in shaping human scholarship traditions and the modern Cult of the Compact having trained dozens of scholars and clergy over her long life. Zoldeleth is one of the most famousTapukeah in all of Scarterra. Some speculate that she actually received her title before she died, though her death was so long ago that that is impossible to prove or disprove.Personality Characteristics
Likes & Dislikes
The overwhelming majority of Zoldeleth's students were humans. Before Zoldeleth, human scholarship was considered little more than a joke by the elven scholars of the day. If Zoldeleth wanted to write a scholarly refutation of another scholar's work, she had little choice but to refute an elf's work. She reportedly did this hundreds of times. This led to speculation that Zoldeleth wasn't motivated solely by professional ethics and she was actually prejudiced against elves. Centuries after her death, Zoldeleth's harshest scholarly critics are frequently elves.by me with MidjourneyRepresentation & Legacy
In Art
Khemra, named by Zeta GardnerZodeleth herself attested that she loved all the Nine equally, but a lot of theologians claim she had a bias in Khemra's favor. Khemra is the goddess of scholarship and Zodeleth was is the most famous mortal scholar of all time, so the two are linked in the minds of many. The Nine themselves have physical forms that are beyond mortal comprehension but it is common for artists to depict the Nine in human form or dragon form. Depictions of Khemra tend to show her as a blonde haired woman or gold scaled dragon. Some speculate many artists' depictions of Khemra are actually based on Zodeleth whether the artists know it or not.In Written Works
It's very common for scholars and theologians to say "Zoldeleth's account is mostly correct, but it is incorrect in these following seventeen points. Here is my scholarly proof..." The The Complete History of the Age Before Ages through the First Unmaking is Zodeleth's best known work but she wrote many other tomes that are circulating around Scarterra. Zodeleth is so famous and respected that it was and still is quite common for to make forgeries of "authentic" Zodeleth texts. Two thousand years later, it is very difficult to separate her real words from her imitators, so to say nothing of transcriptions with unintentional translation errors.The Complete History of the Age Before Ages through the First Unmaking is the most widely copied and circulated book in Scarterra. Around the world, if a student wants to become fluent in written Draconic, this is the book they usually study first. A lot of apprentice scriveners practice writing by copying pages from the tome which is part of the reason why copies of the tome are so widespread. The Kingdom of Swynfaredia as the most definitive and accurate account of the Nine in all of Scarterra because all four Founding Dragons endorsed it. Note that not everyone agrees with the Swynfaredian take on the book being near flawless, but almost every Scarterran scholar has read the book or a translation of it.In gender politics
First Age dragon society was not egalitarian with regards to age, wealth, geographic origin, phrenology or magic, but they were egalitarian with regards to sex. The ancient dragons wouldn't see it as a big deal that a female scholar would be remembered and respected and Zodeleth probably didn't see it as a big deal either. But centuries after her Zodeleth's death, Zodeleth is held up as an icon for female human scholars and priestesses to aspire to be like.Zodeleth's scholarly works are especially beloved in land of Swynfaredia. The Second Swynfaredian Civil War was fought over whether female Swynfaredian Dragonbloodshad the right to inherit lands and titles and a lot of sorceresses held Zodeleth up as an example of female empowerment.Swynfaredian Coat of Arms by Me with Worldspinner's Heraldry programSocial
Family Ties
-Akeem of Magicland, Professor Emeritus of Historyby Eron12 with Hero Forge"By most accounts, Zodeleth had no children, dragon or human but this doesn't mean she had no family or legacy. That said, she had well over a hundred human apprentices and most of them had apprentices of their own, creating the largest lineage of wisdom of the the Third Age. It's likely one of my mentor's mentors' mentors traces back to Zodeleth in some fashion but I can only trace back my academic lineage four generations and you'd need to go at least twenty generations back to reach Zoldeleth."Wealth & Financial state
Some believe that she took a vow of poverty and was one of the few dragons who kept no hoard. Other believe that she kept a hoard...of books. If this is true, Zodeleth was neither the first nor the last dragon to collect a vast library. Locating the "Lost Library of Zodeleth" is a a dream of many a scholarly adventurer.
Species
Conditions
Currently Held Titles
Date of Birth
unknown
Date of Death
unknown
Life
1600 BCE
400 BCE
1200 years old
Circumstances of Birth
Turoch Marked (allegedy)
Circumstances of Death
old age (allegedly)
Children
Sex
femle
Eyes
gold (allegedly)
Hair
blonde
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
gold (allegedly)
Aligned Organization
In response to the prompt Write about a person who lives on in myth. How do their fabled acts differ from their real life?
Character Portrait image:
by
Me with Midjourney
okay zodeleth is such a fascinating figure, the fact that she spent 400 years just flying around learning stuff before becoming a scholar is so cool. also the "lost library of zodeleth" being a dream for scholarly adventurers is such a fun detail. wait, did she actually die of old age or is that just what people assume because of her illusion magic?