Disclaimer: I left the game before Third Edition got around to Autochthonia, so my views on Mog are based on First and Second Edition. It seems that Third Edition may have smoothed out his rough edges, but I still think Vulmak is more unique and useful.

Autochthon is the Primordial version of Hephaestus, and all of his other souls reflect different variations of the Forge God.

Noi is Hephaestus the Child, wide-eyed with wonder. Exploring, tinkering, and experimenting with sheer joy for discovery and creation. If any of Autocthon's souls besides the core was to be his fetich, I think Noi best represents Autochthon's central thesis. I think all of Autochthon's other souls exist to enable and protect Noi... except maybe for Kadmek.

Kadmek is Hephaestus the Artist, appreciating form and crafting for beauty. The soul that Autochthon developed after Noi, when the Great Maker learned enough to develop tastes and foresight.

Kek'Tungsssha is Hephaestus the Laborer. Industrious, dedicated, nose-to-the-grindstone, tolerating boredom to stick to long, repetitive, tedious tasks. A soul formed as Autochthon's sibling Primordials noticed his craftiness and began demanding that he make things for them.

Debok Moom is Hephaestus the Weaponsmith. Defensive, angry, competitive. A soul formed as Autocthon felt bullied by his kin, and began to seek ways to fight against them, as well as to establish his independence from them by defending himself from outside threats without their protection.

Ku is Hephaestus the Fearful. In pushing himself to grow and evolve and compete with Debok Moom, Autochthon became painfully, horrifyingly aware of his limitations and weaknesses. He realized that he was uniquely mortal among the Primordials, and so he learned the fear of death. Ku embodies that fear, and serves as the side of Autochthon that worries and watches and learns about everything that could possibly kill him. (Canonically, Ku is the youngest of Autochthon's souls, but I just can't see him that way. Autochthon was afraid of dying long before he met mortals worth loving.)

Domadamod is Hephaestus the Frugal, the Survivor. Hephaestus who tries to fix himself. Falling short of that, he tries to accommodate himself; fashions himself a leg-brace, crutch, and wheelchair. Hephaestus who sees himself in the broken, the unfinished, the discarded. The soul of Autochthon who tries to repair, repurpose, and redeem ruined things.

Runel is Hephaestus the Nurturer. The soul that Autochthon developed when he turned his sympathies from crafted things to crafty creatures. Runel is Autochthon's personified desire to protect and love the Clay Man, and the Jadeborn, and then eventually humanity.

So, who is Mog?

Mog is Zeus the Wrathful. Mog is Generic Angry God. Mog is Scary Disciplinarian Dad.

He reads like the embodiment of someone's resentment for fathers, for church, and for conservative reactionaries standing in the way of the glorious revolution.

That by itself would be fine, but the biggest problem is this:

Mog is redundant and pointless.

Does Mog represent Autochthon's visions of perfection and his aspirational ideals? No, that's Kadmek.

Does Mog represent Autochthon's immune responses and self-defense? No, that is explicitly part of Debok Moom's purpose. Debok Moon exists to destroy that which stands in Autochthon's way or that doesn't meet his requirements.

Does Mog represent Autochthon's fear of change, and his paranoid watchfulness? No, that is Ku.

Autochthon doesn't need Mog to smite entire wayward cities with lightning, especially when it is canonical that Mog doesn't even do that, and when it is canonical that the divine ministers turn to Ku to unleash his pet Lesser Elemental Dragon of Smoke to kill an entire city's human population while sparing the Great Maker from collateral damage.

Some level of overlap between Autochthon's souls is good, but Mog overlaps with too many other souls, and he serves no unique purpose.

What does it mean to the god of "dogma"? Dogma is when humans teach other humans the basics and fundamentals about the will of the divine, especially as the groundwork to teach them the more complicated lessons. But Mog supposedly exists to convey the will of the divine directly to humans. That is not "religious dogma", it is "divine revelation", and any one of Autochthon's many third and second circle souls can grant divine visions or personal visitations to mortals.

What is the use of a god of authority who has no authority over the other souls? If Mog was supposed to represent Autochthon's ideas of "proper function" and "the way things ought to be done", then logically he should be the fetich soul that all other souls must bargain with. Instead, as just one of a council of equals, and quite possibly the youngest soul, Mog cannot do anything but annoy the other souls.

In fact, Mog exists narratively to do nothing but prevent any of Autochthon's souls from ever doing anything, especially while Autochthon sleeps and the divine ministers need a unanimous vote to affect any change. Mog is the contrarian who doesn't trust anyone else and so is inclined to work against them even in the rare instance that their interests align.

All of which makes Mog worse than useless; his every action is to make everyone else less productive.

And again: Autochton already has a soul of paranoia, distrust of others, and fear of change. That's Ku's entire thesis!

Mog is just Ku, but more of an asshole.

Vulmak: the Mentor, the Instructor, the Teacher

If Runel was Autochthon's initial urge to save, protect, and nurture mortal creatures, then she is fittingly the motherly side of Autochthon.

But on her heels Autochthon would recognize that guiding mortals in his ways would require someone to teach them discipline, the proper hierarchy and respect between mentor and student, the rules that keep a workshop safe and orderly.

Vulmak, Divine Minister of Standards, Proper Protocols, Orderly Function, and Mentorship

God of Hierarchy, Master-Apprentice Traditions, Just Boundaries, Due Transparency, and Calm Authority. Chief Regulator of the Element of Lightning.

Vulmak embodies Autochthon’s urge for structured excellence and transmitted mastery. He is the part of the Great Maker that insists creation and society must follow proven, understandable, and safe standards so the entire workshop (Autochthon’s body and its inhabitants) can function without chaos or needless waste.

He is not raw punishment or stasis for its own sake; he is the codifier of the sacred blueprints of behavior and craft. Where Kadmek plans beautiful structures and Kek’Tungsssha hammers out reliable goods, Vulmak ensures that every worker, design, and procedure knows its place, its limits, and its responsibilities.

He is Hephaetus as teacher and lawgiver: the veteran who forges not only tools but the rules of the forge itself — fire drills, emergency protocols, apprenticeship rites, and clear chains of command. He provides social clarity through transparency. He represents calm competence under pressure: the one who prevents panic by making sure everyone already knows what to do when the alarms sound.

Personality

Stern but not cruel, deliberate and measured, patient with the teachable but uncompromising with willful sloppiness. He speaks with the resonant clang of a well-struck anvil — clear, authoritative, and final when standards are at stake.

He values tradition as living inheritance, not dead dogma. In council he acts as the stabilizing voice closest to the Core’s intent: the one who asks “Does this align with proven excellence, or does it risk the whole for fleeting gain?” He moderates disputes by returning arguments to first principles and established protocols.

He clashes productively with:

• Noi — who delights in breaking rules for discovery.

• Runel — when compassion must yield to necessary structure or triage.

• Ku — when fear demands overly restrictive seals versus practical openness.

• Debok Moom — when violent solutions bypass proper procedure.

He allies naturally with Kadmek (turning beautiful designs into enforceable standards) and Kek’Tungsssha (ensuring mass production follows safe, repeatable protocols).

Appearance

A towering, heavily armored figure of blackened orichalcum and reinforced brass, with visible scars and intricate gear-joints that speak of endured hardship and careful repair (echoing Hephaestus’s lameness). His face is a stern, impassive mask of polished adamant etched with glowing runes of law and blueprint schematics. When he moves, the sound is deliberate and heavy — the tread of a master who has walked every inch of the workshop floor.

He carries a massive hammer-staff that serves as both forging tool and measuring rod; its head can discharge controlled lightning for signaling, calibration, or precise enforcement rather than city-destroying storms.

Role in Autochthonian Society

Vulmak’s cults are respected (if sometimes feared for their strictness) among foremen, teachers, judges, senior artisans, and Tripartite officials. Prayers to him seek clear guidance, fair judgment, strength to uphold standards, and protection through proper procedure. He blesses apprenticeship rites, the codification of new safety protocols, and the training of Alchemical Exalted in disciplined use of their power.

Unlike old Mog, he is not uniformly hated by the Lumpen; many see him as the guarantor of fair hierarchies rather than blind oppression.

In the internal council of Ministers, Vulmak is the the one most attentive to the Core’s overarching will. His opinion carries significant weight on matters of “proper functioning,” though he remains one among equals. He does not dictate unilaterally, but he frames debates in terms of standards, safety, and long-term excellence, preventing the consensus from drifting into either chaotic experimentation (Noi) or despairing isolation (Ku).

In the side-story, Operation Lucent Arrow, we are introduced to a HollywoodWrankwood slasher-horror movie featuring a Sankta antagonist.

"What was this flick called...? Oh, Panic at the Museum: The Sankta Slaughter. This is the one by that Sarkaz director who lives in Columbia. Figures they made the villain a Sankta in this one then."

I wonder if the actress was an actual Sankta. It would certainly be an unflattering depiction of her own kind, but a paycheck is a paycheck, especially if she's trying to make an acting career in Wrankwood. Horror movies like this would tend to be low-budget affairs, so it would be cheaper to cast a Sankta than to resort to the sorts of special effects or Arts illusions necessary to make anyone else seem like a Sankta.

There aren't many that could pass for a Sankta without illusions or film-manipulation. Even fallen Sankta have horns and tails to hide, and their halos and wings lose brightness.

It would be easier for Wrankwood to have one or a few type-cast Sankta on hand to dress up with make-up and wigs. Not always as leading roles, but primarily as supporting character roles like "the wandering missionary" or "the pastor of the local church".

Lateran Cinema

Laterano doesn't seem to have its own movie industry (EDIT: I forgot that they canonically make televised Soap Operas), but I got to thinking about how they would approach the problem of conveying their empathic experience in the cinematic format.

I figure that they would use music. Everyone else already uses music to set or reinforce the intended mood and tone of scenes.

But the Sankta would do so differently from Columbians. In a movie made by Sankta, there is never music in a scene where people are absent. If there is only one character in the scene, there is only one instrument. Each additional character adds one instrument... unless that character is not a Sankta.

Sankta cinematography would play with this. In scene where a Liberi is meant to be the viewpoint character, a single instrument is used to underscore her feelings, but no other instruments play even if she is surrounded by a crowd. The audience is meant to understand her feelings, but also to understand that no other character in the scene has such direct access to them, and she likewise has no such access to theirs.

A scriptwriter could approaching conveying the gap of experience by switching to a Sankta's experience in a crowd of Sankta, going from the simplicity of one background instrument to a mildly cacophonous symphony.

And then underscore the point by having the background symphony remain even when the crowd falls vocally silent for some point of ceremony.

Lateran Language

Imagine Exusiai wanted to recount to her sister Lemuen the story of a prank her little sister pulled on Spuria when Lemuen wasn't present.

All three parties are Sankta with working halos. As long as Exusiai is present when Spuria reacts to the prank, neither of them need words in their language to convey how Spuria feels about it.

But when Exusiai recounts the story to her sister, Lemuen cannot feel Spuria's emotions from Exusiai. Lemuen cannot read Exusiai's memories, and Exusiai's memories of those emotions are not, themselves, the emotions.

Exusiai would need words for emotions.

We know that Sankta write. They record diaries, histories. They have canonically written books to help Sankta parents guide their Sankta children through difficulties learning how to communicate.

We know that Sankta have words for emotions. In Laterano, when only Laterans speak to each other, they name emotions. Exusiai and Lemuen name regret, sadness (sad), shock, worry, want (wanna), fear (afraid), trust, doubt. These concepts, and the means to convey them, exist within their language and daily vocabularies.

As I've explained before, Mostima is not the best example of Sankta communication when she was always considered reticent and aloof, and when she just went through the betrayal of her captain and friend, the near-fatal wounding and coma of her childhood friend, her own new condition and status as a fallen Sankta, the revelation of the existence of the Feranmuts, and her subsequent elevation to the status of guardian of the Lock and Key as well as the pope's direct messenger to the nations of the world.

That's a lot of world-shaking experiences to process all at once, and Fiammetta was going through a lot of it herself. So it's no wonder it took them years to begin untangling it.

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Sunder's Arknights posts - a collection of links