Kluex

Kluex is the god worshiped in the sole organized Avian religion. This religion holds that, at the dawn of time, the Avian people were immortal and lived upon their home world of Avos in the Aether with their god Kluex, the creator of the all. 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 them and Avos to the mortal realm.

The belief system 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. For an honored few, worship may culminate in voluntary ritual suicide, wherein an Avian is chosen to become an Ascendant, and is celebrated until they are guided by the Stargazers to 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.

Kluex is a being of many abstract forms, but may be more commonly represented as a bird head suspended between two upward-reaching wings, as seen on the Kluex Winged Statue, Kluex Gift Mural, and the Kluex Avatar. Other representations may include depictions of serpent-like forms, an Avian with wings, or even a simple bird design which may represent him as a newborn Avian. It may be most likely that Kluex is believed to be more of an all-surrounding force than a singular physical being, as it is said that every star and Avolite crystal is an eye of Kluex.

In terms of character, Kluex is an all seeing god of uncompromising will, but is caring and generous; all that is good in life is because of Kluex, while all of the bad is entirely your fault. Kluex is a god of battle, but also of life, death, the seasons and harvest. He is the All God. He can be appeased by blood sacrifice, particularly that of worthy foes captured in war. Kluex loves the Avians just as they love him, and his eternal happiness is ensured when the essences of the sacrificed rejoin him, whether willingly or not. Many believe that other races are not allowed to be at Kluex’s side in the aether, while others believe that all may see absolution and be brought to the Avian afterlife. According to Tonauac, Kluex enjoys ceremonial masks, and can be credited with building structures such as the Great Sovereign Temple. He is believed to speak to his most devout followers through “Star Dreams”, which he may use to tell Stargazers which of his followers is to become the next Ascendant.

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 the faith on the basis that they do not believe that Kluex exists. This of course results in tensions between the devout and the Grounded, and it would seem that much of the blood spilled in Kluex's name is of the Grounded, who generally lack the ability to fight back against their overwhelmingly brutal tactics.

Many clues throughout the game hint at Kluex's true identity actually being the god-like entity otherwise known as the Cultivator. After the Cultivator appeared before the Avians to give them their Artifact, it would seem that the witnesses passed down stories of this event, which later became the inspiration for the Stargazers' Kluex myths. The Artifact, known to an informed few as the Wheel of Kluex, would be remembered as The Gift, an item of great wonder handed to Avians at the dawn of the universe.

There are references to lesser Avian gods in the scan descriptions of the Solar System Models, but this may just be an accidental left over from before the Cheerful Giraffe lore rewrite. They include gods of agriculture, the underworld, and multiple sky gods. However, Tonauac at one point says "Only caretakers and almighty deities beyond this point", which could suggest that multiple deities may still be canon.

The Avoscript

The Avoscript is the Avians' holy book that contains the Kluex creation myth. It is depicted as a green, ornately designed book, with some copies being gilded with gold. As with many other devout Avians, Tonauac carries a copy of the Avoscript everywhere he goes.

Verse	Contents
1:1:1	Avos was once tethered beyond the stars - This much is known. There was no beginning, for the Avian kind have lived eternally beyond the mortal realm. In the Aether they dwelt within the embrace of Kluex, the winged one above all. Kluex gifted them with true wings, and they worshipped in kind.
23:4:27	Deep within the heart of the Avians, a single spark of jealousy ignited. The flame grew until there burned the raging fires of greed, and so it was that the Avians crossed into the mortal realm, so that they may walk among beings of flesh and blood. But upon turning their backs on the heavens, all Avians were forever stripped of their ethereal wings, and must walk in darkness until they achieve true absolution in the light of Kluex.
81:1:6	Those who follow in the footsteps of Kluex are just better than other people.
Unknown	And Kluex said, 'Let there be boons upon my warriors!

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. Followers of Kluex were known as the Flightless, a term that is now only mistakenly remains in a scan description for the Stone Altar.

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