Lore: Malevolent Gods

Malevolence – These gods do not recognize a leader among themselves, nor a common law. They reject the commitment of the benevolent gods to act only through human servants. Rather, they intercede directly in the world whenever they may do so without suffering the wrath of the Pantheon. They are generally hostile to mortals, and many of them hold apocalyptic intentions.

Physical Representation – The gods are fundamentally immaterial beings. They have no true physical form. There are, however, some typical depictions. On the rare occasion a god appears to mortals, with the intention to be recognized, that god takes on the physical form that their audience would anticipate.

Kaglios, the Destroyer

Lore – Kaglios is repulsed by the pathetic efforts of mortals to control and shape their world. With every act, they fail to recognize their weakness. They deceive themselves into thinking they are strong. Overcome with contempt, she unleashes plagues of monsters to cleanse Thindul of mortal arrogance. Her adherents, few in number, roam the land in search of those who consider themselves strong, that they may bring them low. Often those who worship Kaglios likewise venerate Ylaru.

Symbol – An orb cloaked in lighting.

Physical Representation – Worshipers of Kaglios are iconoclasts, and do not sully her image with mortal scribbling.

Realm – Kaglios resides in Eternis, where she moves stars to prove her strength to herself.

Nerophet, the Sea Maw

Lore – Nerophet rules Diluvium and is Diluvium. It existed in the oblivion of the void before the first stars awoke. Its servants are the nyxians and urnäkki, immortals creatures that dwell in the tranquility of Nerophet's being, until disgorged violently into the mortal world. Nerophet inhabits the deep seas, devouring the souls of the drowned, gaining power until It is able to rise from the depths. Then It will consume gods and mortals alike, bringing about an eternal silence. The cultists of Nerophet work in secret to make this apocalypse a reality, wishing they too could know the perfect darkness of Diluvium.

Symbol – An eye within a maw.

Physical Representation – Nerophet is sculpted by the Thulgrähbar as a thousand eyes and a thousand mouths. Those who have not comprehended the mind of Nerophet perceive these depictions as a chaos of tentacles and random body parts, flowing and unstable.

Realm – Nerophet is within itself, in Diluvium. Perceived from within, Diluvium is a world of infinite black water. Seen from Thindul, it appears as a shadow moving across the sea. Few mariners who lay eyes on the shadow return to speak of it.

Qoth, the Jealous

Lore – Qoth is Lord of the Moon. Once he was the right hand of Geledron, but Skalla whispered to him and Qoth grew jealous of his master, obsessed with mortal worship. He raised an army of Qothori and fallen angels to overmaster the world. The benevolent pantheon confronted him in battle, and Qoth absorbed the power of the rising sun, causing a day of blackness. He maimed Ostic before being forced to flee to his citadel within the moon, where he now resides. His fallen servants tempt mortals into malign bargains, and if the signatory fails to deliver their part, their soul is forfeit to serve Qoth eternally.

Symbols – A winged and horned figure, a hand holding the sun

Physical Representation – He was portrayed as winged figure with the legs of a goat and the horns of a gazelle, often beautiful. Since his fall, Qoth has been depicted as a horned and flaming skeleton.

Realm – Qoth rests, ever-burning, on a vast throne in the center of the Moon's cavernous void.

Skalla, the Cruel

Lore – Amoral and sadistic, Skalla is amused to sow the seeds of conflict among both gods and mortals. It is said that Skalla whispered to Qoth, tempting him to rebel against the Pantheon. His adherents serve him by subtly instigating bitter disputes, so that their master can watch Thindul suffer. His divine laughter is justification enough.

Symbols – A golden figure bent double laughing, a smiling spider.

Physical Representation – Skalla is usually shown as a gaunt, spindly humanoid. Six-armed, he has a cluster of eyes and a spider-like posture.

Realm – Skalla walks upon Thindul in a thousand guises, observing and deceiving.

Ultur, the Spellmonger

Lore – When mortals are desperate and need power, any power, to survive, Ultur may appear to them. He believes he is testing mortals when he teaches them dark magic. But none have ever passed the test. His power corrupts them, and he watches them suffer the consequences with satisfaction, knowing the unworthy are being punished for abusing his gifts.

Symbol – An eye grasped by three clawed fingers.

Physical Representation – A figure of blinding light.

Realm – Ultur resides in Briharis, a world of glass, a realm of his own making.

Xogoth, the Corrupted

Lore – Xogoth was once a nature deity, and the god of peace-through-strength. But he was captured and tortured by the servants of Nerophet, then fed to the crocodile spirit OshmOsh. Xogoth's mind was warped. In his madness, he now seeks to reorder nature, to make the world strong and brutal, so it can withstand the pain that he could not. In the process, he would destroy whatever is weak or sentimental. He opposes Nerophet and other apocalyptic gods, but he believes the best way to do this is to eliminate all gentleness from the world. He has cursed or mutated many creatures and peoples in his quest to reforge Thindul. Many of the deadly horrors that wander the land are creations of his priests.

Symbols – An armored figure with a mouth in its abdomen, (formerly) a shield blazoned with a mountain.

Physical Representation – Before his corruption, he was depicted as a warrior bearing a shield, atop his head an armored crown of horns. Those who still worship Xogoth now show him as a figure reforging the world on an anvil, not with a forge-hammer but with an axe.

Realm – Xogoth remains bound in the stomach of OshmOsh, which is a cosmos unto its own, though his spirit extends its influence to Thindul.

Ylaru, the Beautiful

Lore – Ylaru disdained the filth and malformity of the material world. So, he created more perfect beings within the threads of flame, wind, stone, and water. In places where there is a great concentration of a single element, as within a wildfire or upon the sea, these elemental spirits may break forth into the world and wreak destruction before vanishing. Like Kaglios, Ylaru has few mortal servants, but often those who worship one worship the other. It is common for adherents of Ylaru to scar and maim themselves.

Symbol – A prostrate figure.

Physical Representation – Worshipers of Ylaru are iconoclasts, and do not sully his image with mortal scribbling.

Realm – Ylaru forged for himself a boundless cathedral wrought of starlight, whose walls sing with heavenly music.