Aediculus

"“What if we built a city upside down, under a floating island?”"

Aediculus is the Overmind of invention, the cities, and that little spark of creativity that inspires all living beings.

Description
Aediculus is the largest of the Overminds. He is invisible to all but other Overminds, their champions, and characters with magical sight like Enchanters, Artificers, and Illusionists. 100-feet-tall and resembling a gangly troll with thin limbs, a pot belly, and a long pointed nose, he sometimes sits on two- or three-story buildings during low overcasts so his head won’t be in the clouds, and his bony butt can break or loosen tiles. This is one of the reasons why, even if you’ve had your roof repaired, new leaks appear when it rains.

History
In times past, Cernunnos and Aediculus fought for dominion over the westernmost lands of Eldguard. Cernunnos wanted it wild and teaming with creatures dangerous and fantastical, while Aediculus built linked cities of glass and steel that reached for the sky. Each tried to eradicate the other’s creation. The result of Gaia’s displeasure is now known as The Barren Sands. The brothers agreed to a truce. Aediculus gave Cernunnos the vermin that lives in every city—the spiders, the cockroaches, and the rats in their uncountable millions. Cernunnos gave will and life to the Brand-Forged, a race of robotic men to live in Aediculus’ most fanciful cities, though the latter went their own way.

Personality
Aediculus loves to watch mechanical and social systems work. He asks questions like, “What if a city was built upside down, under a floating island,” and “What if we made a raygun that made everyone in a city sneeze at once?” His infinite inventiveness is thankfully restricted by the economy of Eldguard, so most of his wilder ideas never get built. He can only influence someone’s dreams or give them a mental nudge, and each being can only understand a small fraction of his ideas, based on their experience.

His frustration with humanoids’ focus on money led him to construct the Brand-Forged, mechanical men who build for the sake of building, and Cernunnos breathed monstrous life into them as a peace offering after their feud created what is now the Barren Sands. But while the Brand-Forged built in bulk, they lacked the creativity of organic life and Aediculus got bored. Sophia convinced the Brand Forged to leave for dungeons and the Realm of Order to keep their creations from turning to warfare.

Sometimes, when someone falls off a building or construction site, Aediculus will catch them and set them down, if he’s walking by. This is why people sometimes fall long distances and land unharmed.