Nevaras
Nevaras (Antissan: Newāras) was the founder of Siriash and a significant figure in Sirian, Palthachist, and Vaestic beliefs. In both Siriash and Palthachism he is regarded as having been an Asmedon, a demigod-like being. However, while Nevaras played a largely subsidiary role in Palthachism, in Siriash he is revered as the teacher of the secrets to enlightenment following his descension into the realm of mortals by the vengeful and envious Sebanants around the beginning of the first millennium BCE.
In Palthachism
Nevaras' role in mainstream Palthachism was traditionally a minor one; in keeping with his name (probably from early Antissan newahas, “renewal”), he was seen as the patron of change and new enterprises, and his intercession was sought in particular by farmers at the beginning of a new growing season. However, early Palthachism ascribed to him a much more significant role; the Asmedons were originally conceived as responsible for transitory matters in the affairs of man, and the fact that the concept of “change” functionally encompasses all such matters made Nevaras the leader of the Asmedons and the most powerful among them. Practices such as parkuyatar tried to tap into the powers this domain could potentially bring. The threats of such deviancies to public order led to repeated suppressions of these sects, but with the breakdown of the late Larhine Empire and the increasing fissibility of Palthachism itself, esoteric 'Asmedonism' and its promises of power ultimately triumphed over the spiritually bankrupt official Sebanant pantheon.
The discovery in 601 BCE of the long-forgotten texts now known as the Book of Transcendence by Menrot brought to light, in Nevaras' own words, the tale which is now accepted doctrine within Siriash - the celestial war known as the Arayan, the Sebanants' enslavement and neutering of the Asmedons, Nevaras' discovery of the true nature of humanity, and his betrayal by his peers and subsequent exile to the mortal realm. Revulsion at the monstrosity of the Sebanants' actions reaffirmed the convictions of the magic-practicing Protosirians, and spread like wildfire; the new religion of Siriash overwhelmed its parent, virtually obliterating Palthachism within the next 150 years.
In Siriash
The revelations of the Book of Transcendence completely changed the position of Nevaras within the nascent hierology of Siriash; in the new interpretation he stood at the centre of the battle against the trickster Sebanants. Epic literature such as the Inspired Meditations sketch out his prowess as a hero during his descension, and he steadily acquired the character of a warrior in popular imagination. But his own people had disowned him, and he could not fight that battle without support from the mortals who had seen the truth of his message and teachings, that would allow them to break down the barriers separating them from their true birthright as Asmedons. In his testimony to the human world he had declared to his faithful that he would not abandon them until they were ready to take that final step beyond the human-normal: in the Script of Judgements, the tenth of the eleven documents which form the Book of Transcendence, is the statement “to here I came, and to here I will ever return”.
This and other scriptural extracts have led some thinkers within Siriash to believe that Nevaras, although capable of Ascension, deliberately chose not to do so until such time as humanity as a whole was ready to Ascend with him, and that he remains incarnate on Arden even today. Arguments along these general lines achieved their most prominent, and by general estimate most damaging, manifestation in the Zusammenist heresy, expounded and led by the renegade Ebenburger lamneant Klaus Schneider in the middle 18th century. Although declared transgressive in the 1753 ataronic statement As the Strength of Ten – which preceded the purgation against the Schneider group in the same year – Zusammenist sentiments or fears thereof have never quite been extinguished within Messenian Siriash, gaining a small foothold among some fringe Siyettist groups in northern Lestria if not continuing to be invoked (albeit often polemically) as an accusation of heterodox ideas.
In Vaestism
Nevaras has a secondary role in the sacred history of Vaestism, where he is known in High Secote as Nivarǔ. The Vesnites hold that he was an imperfect forerunner of the Prophet who failed in establishing a means of correctly perpetuating Knowledge, and whose teachings were thus corrupted irreparably by heresy. Moreover, he perceived the truth of Knowledge only incompletely, and fell short of attaining apotheosis. This view is stated prominently in the Notaries on the Practice and the Commentaries on Knowledge, but its significance receded as Outer Joriscian Siriash and Siriophile heresies were uprooted, and the need to interpret the role of Nevaras disappeared. In modern Vaestism, the role of Nevaras has become a cautionary example concerning the contagious potential of heresy and the need for constant vigilance.