“Life is change, chaos, filth and suffering. Death is peace, order, everlasting beauty.”- Karsus Ta'szass, Zulkir of Necromancy, Regent of Netheril
Princess of Ruin
Name: Valindra The Weaver Of Dreams, Mistress of Fate, Night Mother/Black Mother, Banshee Queen, Goddess of Undeath
Domain: Pestilence, Lichdom, Undeath, Fate, Eternity
Description: Valindra possess a cold, malignant intelligence, and speaks almost always in a cold yet soft high whisper. She is always alert, said to never sleep, and is never surprised. She is never known to lose her temper or be anything other than coldly amused when a mortal succeeds in avoiding her directives or chosen fate. Her influence in Andarra is imposed through fear, primarily fear of death, and ones own mortality, and she is a master of making mortals terrified of her (and death itself) through her words and deeds.
At times, just to remain unpredictable, she appears affectionate, kind and caring, showing warm motherly love towards mortals she wishes to corrupt, even priding herself on the achievements of her followers, gifting those rare few worthy enough with powers over the dead. A even rarer and more cherished gift is that of unlife itself, where the Dark Mother grants her child the power to escape the cold embrace of the grave itself. Thus she is often called the Mother of Vampires, though she birthed the ghouls and introduced lichdom to mortals. Though she is the creator of every infection and epidemic to have ever swept through Anadara, Valindra is not a morose purveyor of despair and gloom, but a vibrant goddess of life and laughter. In death, there is life. In death there is beauty.
Her deathlike eyes are known in nightmares all over Andarra, and she is the one deity that almost all human mortals can picture clearly. Valindra takes care that all mortals think of her often - she is even known to materialize an aspect of herself beside open graves, eyes weeping tears of blood, a dark rose in hand, just to gaze around at the gathering mourners for a few silent seconds before fading away, in order to remind everyone that she was waiting for them all. Her great ploy is to deceive all mortals in believing that death itself will cause their souls to fall into her merciless hands. All this she does to lure souls in despair into her embrace.
Valindra often appears as a young maiden of dark raven black hair, possessing deep icy blue eyes, her skin tanned a healthy glow. Dressed in a beautifully adorned black dress fit for a queen, with a white trim lines scattered across it which often gleams like bones. A discerning eye may make out their design pattern is oddly and frighteningly reminiscent of bony skeletal bodies. The figures in the dress always seem to be in constant motion. Other times however, she reveals her most true appearance in a misty like form with vague and flowing features. Her skin becoming emaciated to the point of being leathery and necrotic, color fading to bleach white and seeming to be in a state of decoy. Her face will thus look twisted and asymmetric with a hook-nose and pop-eyes.
She sometimes flashes between the state of life and death almost mocking the two extremes. Her aura makes trees and brushes wither in her mere proximity. Valindra appears always however (regardless of physical appearance) as a translucent ghostlike image. Though she can effect material objects at will, or simply pass through them.
The Realm
Name: Necropolis
Description:
Necropolis itself is a dark and foreboding place by any measure. The plane of Necropolis is one of inhospitable locales, including vast deserts of black sand and huge plains of dark granite. There is no clean water to be found anywhere on the plane, and no sunlight fills the blood-red sky. The center of the great plane of blankness however is the Dread moors, a huge murky swamp of decoy and disease. Instead of water however, the pools and rivers are actually bodies of boiling blood and pus. Corpses hang freely from trees (or are apart of them) and skeletal remains of all kinds of creatures are abundant throughout the realm, either buried under sand or partly submerged in disgusting pools of crimson within the moors. Worse of all, from the moors and dead plains great geysers spew forth terrible clouds of affliction of every pox, blight and pestilence imaginable and is foetid with the stench of rot.
The atmosphere is not a vacuum but cannot be used by winged creatures for propulsion(though magical flight is possible), nor can it sustain any short of true life, yet torches and lanterns will burn for a short while before being extinguished. Magical light sources work as usual but visibility is extremely limited. These characteristics are the result of the planes energy-sucking nature that greedily devours any life-giving energies. In practical terms, without protection from the realms raw pestilence, the negative energy that eats away life force and elimination of the need to breathe, death is only a few minutes away at best for any being unfortunate enough to find their way into this home of the dead. Small globes of green fire are also scattered throughout the great swamp, providing an eerie kind of illumination and the only light within this desolated plane.
Last but not least, the greatest geographical (and only) free standing structure of Necropolis is the Throne of Blood. This seat of power for the Night Mother herself is befitting it's name. The fortress is a large standing Citadel forged of stone and dead flesh, great bones serve as it's entrance and drawbridge. Circling the fortress is great moat of blood mixed with sickly fluids. The castle is as ominous as the realm it resides in. Flying overhead at all times are flocks of dracolich's and it is patrolled by huge shadowy titans called nightwalkers. However, as daunting as the landscape is outside the Blood Throne, its inside is truly a surprise to any who enter from without. For within the fortress are fashionable pieces of furniture, with beautiful tapestries and works of art hang form the walls, and great red rugs cover most of the flagstone. Like the Queen of the plane itself, the Blood Throne appears deceivingly beautiful. Though a closer look reveals all the artwork is that of dead or decoying figures, rotting away in real time, the walls often bleed blood, and the moaning wails of the dead hang heavy and echo frequently in that cold accursed place...
Denizens:
Wild creatures-
The Necropolis plane is so inimical to life that the only creatures that have actually live in the plane were the inscrutable creatures, the xeg-yi (often called bodaks). Which are small shadowy creatures of roughly humanoid appearance that have been destroyed by the touch of pure black undeath, such as that of a nightwalker. Undead creatures devoid of personality or a soul, bodaks were cruel and relentless hunters, either of their own volition or at the behest of the Black Mother herself, or prehaps the nightwalker that created them.
Then there are the "energy vultures" known as trillochs, which sweep down from above to devour anything to slow to escape them, when a living being with the proper protection enters the realm, every trilloch in a five mile radius is aware of them and will often hunt them down. Aside from the shadow creatures of Necropolis, one should not be surprised to learn undead creatures can survive here and that powerful undead, such as vampires, liches, wraiths, wights, and specters make this plane their home base. And where undead are found, necromancers are seldom far behind, and it is not unheard of for a powerful mortal mages to enter the Necropolis properly protected from it's harsh environment to make dark pacts with the Night Mother herself.
Legions of the Banshee Queen-
The great hordes of the Banshee Queen are vast indeed, however they do not wonder the plane of Necropolis openly. They instead reside underneath the great fortress in the Dread moors, the Throne of Blood. Far below the fortress lies the great catacombs of the dead legions. Ready to rise from their timeless slumber at the behest of their beloved mother and queen. Cold and calculating, as it is in her nature, Valindra keeps the full might of her strength hidden. Trusting in the bleakness of her home and her own unblinking gaze to safeguard Necropolis.
(greater detail can be given upon request, will work on it over time)
