Zilaths, Archons or Rulers. The ancient catalysts of the history of the entire Grand since the Dawn. They are the terrible angels of the Creator, powers forged and quenched a thousand times in the world’s floods, overthrown and risen again, killed and ascended from death. Their act cannot be seen by mere mortals and history will never tell their deeds in full, for they are untouchable in mind and word. In their disembodiedness they are often like the Azhar themselves, for they cannot be spoken of as “this king is Zilath,” but rather only as “this was the act of Zilath” after something has happened. Their power is not enclosed in a single person or thing, but is quite free to permeate and control the world.
The Zilaths can take any form, such as the form of the highest gods of the Order, they can imitate any mind and speech, and they are all in one the supreme Masters of the Lie. This is why it is impossible to describe their “characters”, for they change faster than the colors on an oil slick. And yet some of the wisest of their adversaries can tell which of the Zilaths they have just had the pleasure of dealing with, for they see for a moment Zilath’s black chest exposed.
There are moments, however, when Zilath assumes his original form, often in the moment of his now inevitable triumph, often when he dares to bid the game, but sometimes for a reason that no one will ever guess. For each of the Zilaths was once a living being, a hero, the supreme champion of the Order. It was the purest and most hopeful heroes, who exemplified perseverance, bravery, and divine excellence, that Zilabaoth chose in ancient times, and one by one, in unknown ways, corrupted and won to his side, to make a cosmic mockery of the Azhar and prove to them that they were never safe “among their own kind.” The heroes of old tore their hearts from their chests and sacrificed them to Baoth, and he touched them with his creator hand and transformed them, as the only beings on the Grand, into what he calls Perfection. And they accepted the change.
Legends and the knowledge of the mages say that there are seven Zilaths, and that despite their mutability, each has a specific nature. But little of this is revealed by those who know.
As for their headquarters, their meeting place is called Aparagrand and is the counterpart of Paragrand. It is difficult to determine their sphere of operation on Grand, yet it is safe to say that one or more of the Zilath reside in Xalgon, one is active in the southernmost West, and one Zilath has a permanent presence in Garion. Here, however, he is counterbalanced by the forces of the Order and one of the Unborn who eternally guards the gates of the Garion Citadel.
