St. Alderecorín

Saint Alderecorín, High King and Filiarch, is a central figure in the Filian faith who became the first Filiarch of the Church. The last High King of the Elvish First Empire, he persecuted the prophet Filius and his followers, the nascent Children of God, with passion. Though Alderecorín before his conversion ruthlessly persecuted the prophet and his followers, he is generally portrayed sympathetically in accounts of his life as a noble and just ruler apart from this, and the Chant notes that he was conflicted at various occasions about what the elders of the Elvish people asked him to do. History, insofar as it exists apart from the accounts given in the Chant, generally agrees that Alderecorín was a good ruler, and that his conversion might have ended the First Empire but brought more unity to the continent as a whole.

According to both the Chant and history, Alderecorín chased Filius to what was to become the Holy Mountain, where he killed the prophet Filius by running him through with his sword. Seeing what he had done, the High King converted, remaining weeping over the body of the prophet as his army took flight when the Holy Mountain thrust up. After the prophet's miraculous resurrection, he cast down his crown at his feet. In response, Filius crowned Alderecorín, making him the first Filiarch. After Filius returned to the Ever-Created, the Filiarch was left behind to organise the Church. After many years, the saint met his end after he was run through with a sword by elven rebels.

Alderecorín lies buried beneath the dome of the Holy Panhagion. The Crown of St. Alderecorín is also kept at the Panhagion, and has since been used to crown the emperors of the various empires which have held sway over all Ereacia in its history. The last to wear the Holy Crown, Emperor Maginar Laralingi of the Third Empire, laid the crown at the feet of the Filiarch once more at the start of the Third Interregnum, and it is once again held at the Holy Mountain in a reliquary beneath the Filiarch's high altar.

Alderecorín is depicted in the vestments of the Filiarch, holding out a sword point-down or horizontally in front of him. He is sometimes portrayed kneeling, in which case he has laid down the sword at his feet. The Crown of Saint Alderecorín lies at his feet, cast away, or is placed on his head. Sometimes, he holds a copy of the chant in his other hand.