Purphoros

Domains
Purphoros is associated with the forge, the restless earth and the fire. He rules the creative force of heat and energy in the souls of sentient beings: this energy is chaotic, something that needs to be harnessed and shaped by labor and passion. For this reason, Purphoros is also the god of artisans, of obsession, and of the cycle of creation and destruction. It is said that his forge burns in the heart of a great volcano, attracting dragons with its blistering heat.

Personality
The mere presence of Purphoros is inspiring. He forges the most ornate and delicate items, only to dash them into flame and start again. Purphoros once loved Nylea, the god of the hunt. His passion inspired his most astounding works of art. The divine blacksmith is reasonable yet unrestrained, following no rules save his own creative and destructive impulses. Sometimes, this means covering a whole area with lava to make way for something new. Purphoros' main flaw is that he feels himself easily frustrated, limited and constrained. For this reason, he's always pushing against the barriers of mortal imagination, sensing that there is much more to express. This can cause him to plummet into despondency and then lash out at the world with raw destruction.

Worship
Followers of Purphoros brought the secret of metallurgy to Orbis, forging stronger objects and armaments than any created previously, and the most sanctified shamans of Purphoros also possess small quantities of a metal said to come directly from the god's forge, adamantine and mithral. Not only smiths worship him. Artists, humans and the satyrs especially, worship Purphoros on altars built on volcanic slopes. Warriors give him homage when lighting a bonfire. Potters inscribe their works with markings meant to honor him.

Signature Item
Purphoros wields Akmon, a large hammer whose head is similar to an anvil. A blow from Akmon can render the earth molten, and when it strikes metal, each spark becomes a new enchantment, some of which can even take on life. Among Purphoros creations are the oreads, shaped out of stray coals from his forge, and the manticore. It is said that Purphoros forged the manticore's tail from bronze, its teeth from silver, and its heart from hate.

Myths
The myths about Purphoros revolve around one of two themes: his wonderful creations or his explosive anger.

The Gift of Bronze
Long ago, mortals on Orbis fought and hunted using weapons made of stone and wood. According to legend, it was a satyr smith named Tecton who discovered how to refine copper ore and work it into tools and weapons. Purphoros, delighted, saw this as the mortals' first tentative steps toward true craft. Some smiths, hastily copying Tecton's methods, devised a way to blend copper and arsenic into a crude form of bronze, but the forging method was dangerous and often yielded defective results.

To reward the smith who took the first steps, Purphoros appeared to Tecton and granted the satyr the secret of smelting copper and tin into true bronze. The manufacture and use of bronze weapons spread across Orbis, launching an age in which heroes conquered the wilds and founded great civilizations. Years after, bronze was upgraded to iron, and will remain so, at least until Purphoros decides that more than a few are ready for the secrets of steel.

Purphoros' Twin
When the world was young, Purphoros was jealous of Iroas and Mogis and wanted a twin of his own. He created Petros, a constructed double of himself crafted of divine iron with a touch of mortal flesh. Petros aged as the eons passed, and Purphoros was forced to patch cracks with strips of bronze and refill the vessel of his Nyxborn twin. Petros lacks the spark of true life, though, and can't speak. He toils day and night in Purphoros' forge, making wonders that would shame any mortal smith but can never match Purphoros' work in beauty or originality.

The Stone Winter
In Orbis' earliest days, the people vociferously honored Heliod, Nylea, and Thassa for the comforts of nature. Gradually, Purphoros grew bitter that mortals never acknowledged his flames, which kept the earth warm and fertile. So, Purphoros quenched the world's core. For a year, a lifeless winter gripped the world, with neither the sun nor the seasons warming the corpse-chill earth. Ultimately, it was the mortal engineer Prome who brought about the winter's end. Instead of cursing the situation. Prome sought a solution, creating a hypocaust system to bring warmth to her community. Delighted with the innovation, Purphoros waited until Prome completed and lit her substructure furnace. When she did, the god returned warmth to the entire world. Today, an autumnal festival called the Kindling or the Forge-Lighting. During this festival, worshipers keep a bonfire burning from sundown to sunrise, acknowledging that Purphoros warms the earth and makes the harvest possible.