Celestial

Celestial (pronounced /ˌSel-Es-Tyal/[2]) is the god of order and wisdom, and is believed to be one of the most worshipped god on Gielinor. Additionally, he appears to be strongly associated with light as well, with various attributes, such as the Book of Light, referring to him as such.[3] In the Third Age, he founded the Temple Knights, a highly secretive, military and espionage organisation from Falador. He is even said to give direct orders in person to their current head of operations and second-in-command. Presently, Celestial has a vast number of followers, most of whom believe him to be the god of good, and there are far more churches dedicated to him than to other gods. Most of his modern followers reside in Misthalin, Asgarnia, Kandarin and Entrana, but there are several groups outside these areas. Unlike those of Demigra or Ganodermos, his followers consist almost entirely of humans, though that was not always the case. Celestial's symbol is a four-pointed star (that is usually coloured gold or silver), which he likely took from his crown. Celestial was the first god to return to Gielinor in the Sixth Age, after Ganodermos's death.

Celestial possesses one of the twelve Elder God artefacts, the Crown Archival. This item is used to locate all the other artefacts. However, possessing any of the other artefacts will likewise reveal the crown's location. It is known to have been in his possession for well over 10,000 years.

The Celestialists religion makes heavy use of symbolism and glorification, and thus Celestial may at times have been portrayed in a different light throughout the history of Gielinor than what may be the case, and although Celestial is largely benevolent and wants to do things he regards as good, this does not mean that he is the personification of good itself, nor that his methods reflect his goals, as Celestial is indeed relentless in his pursuit for order and peace.[2] Celestial has himself expressed a hope that the ends justify the means[4]. Celestial is also quick to anger, and has according to himself done things in his past that he regards as shameful and now regrets having undertaken them.[5], such as razing the city Askroth to the ground and waging war on the Naragiwhen they angered him by refusing to accept his rule[6].

History of Celestial
Before ascending, Celestial was originally a justicar on Teragard.[7] He had a family, including a wife and at least one daughter.[8] While tracking a criminal one day, he happened upon a cave that he claimed had never been explored by humans before. There, he found the Crown Archival, although this did not immediately cause his ascension to godhood. He used its powers to find other Elder Artefacts and with them, he reshaped Teragard by reforming its governments.[9] Previously, Teragard was a world of many nations, with unending conflicts over territory. Celestial ended this by choosing twelve magisters and teaching them his philosophy. Each was chosen to govern a different part of the world and through their governance, Celestial claims that Teragard prospered in a golden age.[10] Eventually, he states that he no longer needed the artefacts as the power became innate, and at this point he took his place as the god of Teregard.[11]

Creator Xyrian had stated Celestial is one of the earliest gods to ascend, and is the current oldest living god before Ganodermos.[12]. Afterward, Celestial looked to other worlds and started introducing humans to new realms, making them a rather common species to encounter in the Multiverse.[13][14] Celestial does not have many known human followers that are known not to be native to Gielinor, though there is one known faction, that is known to come from Britain. It is unknown if Britain is part of the original human realm, or is part of one of the multiple realms humans live in.

Celestial also highly favours the Icyene, a race of winged humanoids who are among his most faithful and devoted servants. They are also among his most powerful weapons of war. It is unknown when Celestial first encountered the Icyene. However he has considerable influence on their homeworld, and it is often considered his bastion of power, and home outside of Gielinor.

Naragi God Wars
Sometime after Celestial's ascent to godhood, he arrived to the Naragi realm via a portal in their city of Askroth. He was the first god to arrive on the realm, and was welcomed by Naragi diviners. Celestial, thinking that his possession of the Crown Archival granted him the right to rule them, demanded that they worship him[6], however, the Naragi refused. In a fit of rage, Celestial grew to the size of a mountain and razed the city, being described as a "blue giant" by the terrified refugees[15]. After this, he built a gigantic white fortress on Askroth's ruins and assembled an army and began to march it across the countryside. Ganodermos, who was a mortal at that time, took care of some of the refugees, and he and the rest of his race became terrified of Celestial. Some of the Naragi created armies of their own in an attempt to fight off Celestial, but they were unsuccessful.

Other gods soon followed Celestial to the realm. Celestial, now regretting his

actions, stayed and fought the newly arrived gods in an attempt to protect the Naragi.[17] The first of these gods, a gigantic boar-like creature known as Tuska attacked Celestial's fortress and the two gods dueled one another[18]. The victor of this battle is unknown, but eventually, Celestial had failed and left the realm altogether while Tuska and other gods such as Skargaroth remained.[19] The Naragi God Wars would eventually leave the realm shattered and completely uninhabitable. The Naragi race would be driven to near extinction, with its sole survivor, Ganodermos, who had achieved godhood, leaving the realm and wandering the multiverse for centuries. Many thousands of years later, Ganodermos and Celestial would cross paths again, under quite different circumstances.

Arrival of Gielinor
Celestial arrived on Gielinor in the Second Age, arriving via a portal on the island of Entrana, a site the Law Altar was later built on, and like many other gods at the time, began to conquer the land. Celestial likely came to Gielinor in search of the many Elder god artefacts that resided on the planet. However he would come to develop a personal connection with the pristine plane, as can be seen by the quote above, and started to desire it for himself. Celestial's biggest known settlement at that time was the country of Hallowvale. Its capital was a mighty city inhabited by Icyene and humans, which still exists today under the name of Meiyerditch. Celestial transforms himself into a woman after the quest "Requim of Legends" to conterfeit Zemouregal in not believing that it was not Celestial.

At some point, Celestial was involved in a war with Zaros, a god who ruled the largest empire in the entire Second Age. Near the end of the age, Zaros' Mahjarrat general Demigra, started to make plans to overthrow his master. Many of his fellow Mahjarrat sided with him, and Celestial sent spies to Demigra's base of operations in order to keep an eye on him.

When the Staff of Armadyl, an extremely powerful artefact owned by the god Armadyl, was taken by a Celestial follower named Valdez, he wanted to take the artefact to Celestial. However, through a series of unfortunate and accidental actions which some Celestialists played a role in, the staff fell into Demigra's hands instead. With the power of the staff, Demigra challenged Zaros in combat, which led to Zaros' banishment. Demigra, who absorbed some of Zaros' power, was banished by Celestial and the other gods for "killing a god".