Veles

The tale of Veles

If Perun rules the top of the world tree, Veles rules its roots. He is the old Slavic god of the underworld, called Nav, a misty green land of meadows and waters where the souls of the dead go, and of everything that comes from below: cattle and wealth, the harvest, magic, music and the cunning words of oaths. Shepherds prayed to him for their herds, merchants for their profits and poets for their songs.

Veles is a shape-changer. In the stories he appears as a great serpent or dragon coiled at the foot of the oak, as a bear, or as a wolf. Sometimes he is a horned, shaggy old man wrapped in a fur cloak, carrying a staff.

The eternal enemy

Veles and Perun are bound together by an ancient quarrel. Again and again Veles climbs the world tree to the realm of the Thunderer and steals from him: his cattle, his wife, sometimes his son. Perun follows with his lightning, and Veles flees through the world, hiding in trees, rocks, animals and people. Every thunderstorm is that chase. At last Perun strikes him and drives him back down into the water and the earth, and the rain falls on the fields.

But it is not a story of good against evil. Without Veles there is no wealth from the earth, no grass for the herds, no road for the dead. Each spring the serpent climbs again, and the wheel of the world turns. As Veles says in the game: thunder is loud, but the grave is patient.

Oaths of gold

When the princes of Kyiv made peace treaties with Byzantium in the 10th century, the old chronicle says they swore by two gods: by Perun, god of their warriors, and by Veles, god of cattle (and of wealth). Those who broke their oath would be "yellow as gold" and cut down by their own weapons. Long after the old gods were forgotten, Veles lived on in folk belief, and in the Christian saint Blaise, protector of livestock, who took over many of his duties.

Veles in Battle of Myths

Veles is a cost 5 Slavic guardian and mage. His ability, Lord of Nav, wraps him in a shield and opens the underworld around him: every enemy nearby takes magic damage and is hexed and wounded. With the Slavic heroes he shares the Cycle of Morana: the first time he falls, he rises again as a spectral spirit.

Did you know?

• Place names across the Slavic world still carry his name, such as Veles in North Macedonia and Velestovo in Montenegro.
• In some tales the old Slavic hero-poet Boyan is called "Veles's grandson", because songs and poetry were his gift.