Twilight of the Gods: Erishti

The other day I described how our Dungeons & Dragons group did the impossible and ascended into true godhood. This week, I will be showing off the new pantheon of our campaign world one deity at a time. 

Today, I give you the lord of judgment, peace, self-loathing, and contradictions: Erishti. Through the use of our divinity cards, the player of Erishti took a Shardmind Invoker and made him into a bizarre reclusive god, an ungod, whose personality is truly haunting in its mania.

Origin

Erishti was born of two forms of purpose.  One, a being of pure determination to defend against the rushing tide of the forces of madness.  This purpose was to repair The Living Gate and stop the Far Realm from tainting this dimension.  The second was a being of justice, killed in the act of defending that which he loved.  The dying god Bahamut found the floating crystals of the Gate and together they formed one being, driven to accomplish two goals.  In their travels, they acquired a third psyche; a being determined to never die, struggling to force the world to see and remember his greatness.

Erishti was simultaneously his own person, as well as Bahamut and King Aëtes (from The Sundering of the Earth).  The main form, never quite becoming a fully realized being, existed only to observe and ponder.

Symbols and Domains

His symbol is the sickle, encased in a cracked crystalline form, holding back the inevitable reaping.

Erishti’s domains are Freedom & Justice, Protection & Peace, and Destiny & Doom.  His ascension to godhood was cut short, forcing him to the realm of Gehenna via the Gehenna Device.  There he resides, his three aspects fracturing to hold dominion over their domain as they see fit.

What is Sacred? What is Profane?

Those who seek to right injustice are revered, while simultaneously shunned for their inability to allow destiny to progress by its own accord.  Followers of Erishti seem irrational, as they balk and protest against that which they find to be unjust and strive for peace and freedom, but act with unabashed violence, committing atrocities in the name of shared destiny.  

The most devout of Erishti’s followers are called Doomsayers.  These zealots preach of the day of reaping, the inevitable end when every individual will be judged with the harshest of scrutiny leaving only a choice few free from ultimate destruction.

What weapons or implement is held in high regard?
The sickle is the chosen implement of the following.  It represents the duality of their cause, one end to chide and drive individuals to the right path, one end to destroy when the individual has strayed too far from the path.

Who are your chosen people?

All peoples must face their destiny, none are free from the reaping.  Though there are two races that are singled out by Erishti.  

The Gith (both githyanki and githzerai) are considered to be given favor by They Who Were Not.  Their fractured nature and bitter rivalry are of endless fascination to the ungod.

The shardminds are detested.  Their name has been stricken from the halls of record within Gehenna.  If one were to ask the being why one race has been so casually cast away, only one voice will echo, a voice that speaks only in your mind will boom with one phrase.  “They failed!”  

What number is a sacred number?

THREE, for this is the number of aspects one must please in order to be deemed worthy on the final day.

What other forms, aside from humanoid, does your god take when descending upon mortals?

A crowned crystalline dragon.  A many-faceted crystal of shifting hues.  

What other names is your god known by?

They Who Were Not.  Lords of Gehenna.  The Three.  Judge, Jury, and Executioner.

Destiny is coming.