| Biton | |
| Deity Fictional Work | |
| Religion: | Elabonian pantheon (appropriated from indigenous northland tradition) |
| God of: | Prophecy |
| Type of Appearance: | Direct appearances throughout |
| Parents: | Dyaus (father); Darza (stepmother) (parentage disputed) |
| Relatives: | Baivers, Mavrix (alleged half-brothers) |
Biton was an ancient god native to the northlands. He was represented in art as a wooden pillar with a long phallus. When the Elabonian Empire conquered the northlands, they declared Biton to be a son of Dyaus, much to Biton's annoyance.
A god of prophecy, Biton gave cryptic advice in rhymed verse through the Sibyl of Ikos to any who come to pay him homage. Though his prophecy was usually impartial, he was a special protector of King Gerin the Fox.
Literary comment[]
Biton is very closely modeled on the Greco-Roman god Apollo. His function in the story is analogous to the holographic recordings left by Hari Seldon in the Time Vault on Terminus in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, on which the Elabon series is broadly based. The analogy is not perfect: Biton's messages are delivered while a crisis is ongoing (though often they are so cryptic that their meaning can only be understood in hindsight) while Seldon's recordings are much clearer and more explicit, and are generally only delivered after a crisis has been resolved.
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