Kluex

Kluex is the god worshiped in the sole organized Avian religion, Kluexism. This religion holds that, at the dawn of time, the Avian people were immortal and lived in the Aether with their god, Kluex. In this realm they had wings and could fly. However, they grew bored of their perfect lives and became jealous of the pleasures experienced by the mortal beings they saw in the realm below, and crossed into that realm seeking new pleasures. For this original sin, Kluex stripped the Avians of their wings and banished Avos to the mortal realm.

Kluexism also holds that Avians may regain their wings and their admittance to the Aether by achieving absolution through worship of Kluex. This worship includes prayer and ritual sacrifices of defeated adversaries, led by the supreme priests of Kluex, the Stargazers. Worship culminates in voluntary ritual suicide, wherein the most devout Avians leap from their village's Celestial Stairway in the belief that their souls shed their mortal bodies and return, winged, to the Aether and the loving embrace of Kluex.

Players may find Avian temples scattered across the universe. Most Avian NPCs appear to believe in Kluex to some extent, but some do not. These non-believing Avians are collectively referred to as the "Grounded", and they have renounced Kluexism on the basis that they do not believe that Kluex exists. Necessarily, this results in tensions between the Stargazers and the Grounded.

The lore entry The Gift implies that Kluex is the god-like entity otherwise known as the Cultivator. Alternative theories put forth hold that ancient Avian priests mistook the Cultivator for Kluex, or that the Cultivator was the inspiration for the Kluex myth.

Beta Lore

Beta-Release Canon The following material was introduced in the Beta and has since been removed or altered. As such, it is no longer considered to be a part of Starbound canon.

In the beta lore, Kluex was one god among many, collectively known as the Sunborn. According to the lore, the Sunborn stopped communing with Avians, and many were believed to have gone to sleep indefinitely in hidden tombs. Kluex, then a mortal Avian, flew up to the sanctuary of the Sunborn, a space station in orbit above Avos, and underwent apotheosis, becoming the last of the Sunborn. Subsequently, Kluex commanded most Avians to clip their wings, allowing only the Stargazers to retain theirs. As such, the Stargazers provided the only means for Avian society to commune with Kluex.

With the 1.0 rewrite of the lore, all of the references to Kluex's mortal origin, and nearly all of the references to other Avian gods, were removed.