[Edeia] Atlas

“Monumentality evokes an aura of greatness, a sense of power and gravity that demands public recognition.”

Personality: A lumbering, somewhat lethargic giant, Atlas seems indifferent to the business of the little people and to humans in general. It carries a constant air of exhaustion, as though it is barely on the verge of sleep, but is unable to rest. It's used to being treated with reverence and awe due to the nature of its very concept, but as that's a very lonely existence to have, Atlas has found itself wanting for company. It does enjoy the reverence, though, as it was something it never achieved in life.

Abilities: Infinite expansion - Atlas is capable of changing its size at will, though it is often unable to become smaller. But it can grow and grow at exponential levels, dwarfing everything and everyone in its vicinity. In theory, it could grow past the size of entire universes, though that level of growth takes a lot out of it so it does not do it very often.

Intensity - Atlas possesses an incredibly intimidating aura that can bring lesser beings to their knees. It's hard to look at it directly, especially when it is consciously using this ability. However, it's not something that he can turn off on command, he can only make it stronger when he wants to. It keeps people away from him no matter what he does, but it does inspire awe and reverence towards him.

History: Atlas was once a human man, a sculptor based in ancient Greece who was tapped to help build the Colossus of Rhodes. He was honored to work on the project and frequently tried to contribute his ideas to it, but they were often rejected in favor of the one singular vision that the Colossus was to be based upon. Still, he was desperate to prove himself and would often act against the will of his superiors. They were not especially fond of his antics, and eventually, he was let go from the project. He could only watch as the statue was completed without his help and ideas.

Angered and spiteful that his chance to work on something that would be his legacy was stripped away from him, Atlas began work on what he hoped would be an even larger statue: a monument to the titan Atlas (the one in Greek mythology), a mocking of the revered statue of Helios he had been let go from. It was around this point where he entered into contact with a number of Edeia who helped to fuel his obsession and manic work ethic. He began to understand the idea of Actualization and that he could have some kind of potential for it, but was more concerned with being revered as an artist than some strange spirit he didn’t fully comprehend. All hours of the day and night, he spent working on his statue. What little family and friends he possessed slowly faded away, frightened of his obsession with his work and feeling neglected by him. But that didn’t matter to him. He wanted to create something big.

When he was reaching old age (for the time, at least), he had managed to finish his monument, but disaster soon struck. A horrible storm swept through the area, causing the foundations of the statue of Atlas to crumble and toppling the whole thing. The titan had been reduced to rubble spread over a field. Atlas (the person) was despondent. His health was worsening due to the fact that he'd put his work over his wellbeing so many times, and now he had nothing to show for it.

On the last day of his life, Atlas used the remainder of his strength to hobble over to the Colossus of Rhodes. The structure that could have been his legacy, if only he'd listened. He stood at the statue's feet, gazing up at the metal god and feeling tidal waves of awe and dread crash over him. He came to the realization that it was not something that had been crafted by people in search of a legacy. It was meant to honor the sun god and be a monument worthy of import for its own sake. Atlas realized that he had been selfish, failing to appreciate the statue’s true monumentality. It was only after he had answered for his selfishness that he could truly understand the gravity of such a creation. 

He spent his last days around the colossus, letting the feeling wash over him until he felt he understood it. People spoke of the strange old hermit who stood at the feet of the statue looking up for hours on end. At the end of his life, he had realized the truth of what he had wanted and the error of his ways, and it was this revelation that caused his Actualization.

Since then, Atlas has possessed the awe-inspiring scale that it always seeked in its human life, but with the same loneliness that came with its journey to find it. It wishes to reach out to others, but fears that it will somehow destroy them, crushing them beneath its vast wings. They are too heavy with which to fly, serving only to block out the sun. Its interactions with humans are fairly minimal, though it does occasionally commune with artists to offer guidance.

Abstraction: An infinite forest of marble pillars the size of Redwood trees, stretching off into the sky. They've started to take on a green tint with age, and one cannot comprehend their height or when they end. The only living things in Atlas's 

Abstraction are withering vines that wrap around the base of each pillar, yearning for sunlight that is blocked by the scale of the pillars.