THALIAK

Thaliak (pron. Thal-ee-ack, the first syllable rhyming with "shall") is one of the Twelve, and the patron deity of Sharlayan. He is known as the god of wisdom and knowledge, the god of rivers, and the Scholar. (1)

(1) Encyclopaedia Eorzea Vol. 1, p. 16

EARLY HISTORY

Thaliak was the fifth of the Twelve to come into being, and third to emerge from the Whorl. Seeing the still, stagnating lake of Nymeia's tears, He devised rivers to irrigate the rest of the land.

Thaliak's ingenuity, wisdom, and wit captivated Azeyma, daughter of Althyk and Nymeia, and the two young deities soon fell quite in love, and wed. They, too, produced two daughters: Llymlaen and Nophica.

Thaliak continued to craft rivers, even as Llymlaen expanded the oceans and Oschon raised and leveled mountains. Alarmed at the incessant disorder, Nymeia imbued a comet with life--creating Rhalgr--and caused it to destroy much of the new chaos. With Rhalgr there to balance things, creation settled into harmony.

All was peaceful until the Whorl birthed both Byregot and Halone. Byregot, a creator Himself by nature, sought Thaliak's tutelage, which Thaliak gave gladly. (2)

(2) Encyclopaedia Eorzea Vol. 1, p. 18

An artist's depiction of the Heaven of Water

DEPICTION AND WORSHIP

It is written that Thaliak crafted not only the rivers of this world, but also those of the Heaven of Water. Nymeia melted a star, which She poured into His ewer; there, He mingled the celestial water with knowledge, and poured it forth into the heavenly waterway, where scholars, inventors, entrepreneurs, and teachers may bask and imbibe. Not one drop of His wisdom, however, finds its way into the Hell of Water, where drown counterfeiters, deceivers, and false prophets. (3)

A stone bearing the mark of Thaliak can be found at Rathefrost in Mor Dhona. Before the Calamity, however, it seems that this stone was a subterranean crystal pillar.

The Ewer card depicts Thaliak in much the same vein as His statue in Sharlayan Harbor. In the hands of a Sharlayan Astrologian, the card bestows particular power upon those who fire upon their foes from afar.

A statue of Thaliak, seen in Old Sharlayan. He is not here pictured with a staff, but with His ewer, from which He poured out the river of the Heaven of Water.

He is associated with water and the third moon of the calendar; named for Him are the river in the Dravanian Hinterlands, the Scholar Sculpin, and Thaliak's thumb (a healing herb with styptic properties). (1)(4)(5)

(3) Encyclopaedia Eorzea Vol. 1, p. 19
(4) Item tooltip: Scholar Sculpin
(5) Levequest: Bleeding Out

Thaliak is the patron deity of Sharlayan, both of the homeland and of the abandoned colony in Eorzea. He is often depicted in art as a scholar, reserved and somewhat withdrawn, carrying a staff of ash wood. His symbol is a scroll, for obvious reasons. (1)