Shilah (3.5e Deity)
Shilah
| Intermediate Deity | |
|---|---|
| Symbol: | Red Crescent |
| Home Plane: | Nervesnap |
| Alignment: | Chaotic Evil |
| Portfolio: | Vampire, Intelligence, Magic, Torture |
| Clergy Alignments: | Any alignment that is not Lawful Good or Lawful Neutral |
| Domains: | Knowledge, Magic, Darkness, Torture, Outlaw |
| Favored Weapon: | A wand or a shortsword |
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Once a powerful spellcaster with unmatched gift of magic, Shilah was brought up in a family of famous wizards. But her crave for power soon took her through a search for longevity. She killed her family, took their books, and abducted powers from an elder vampire. After becoming a vampire herself, she had entered into plotting and developing armies of powerful undeads to fight the countries on the continent. In a march of terrorizing massacre, many churches have joined force to take apart her force and kill her. After the defeat of her army she escaped to a segregated layer to heal her damage, and there she has discovered a method to turn herself into a deity.
Even after gaining the status of a deity and knowledge of innumerable spells and rituals, she has continued her study in magic and curses to gain more power. She gathers followers on the Material Plane, some to continue her attempts of anarchy, others to spread pain and misery among crusading paladins. She also promotes gaining of knowledge and study of spells. Many sadistic individuals might also fall under her followers.
She is very closely tied with spiders. Some spiders and beings related to spiders worship Shilah in place of other arachnid deity.
Dogmas
Knowledge will polish the mind as if a blade sharp and swift, and can strike at foes even mightier than a sword.
Where there is life there is pain, pain is the language of life. Let it be known to all and none shall be left behind.
Clergy and Temples
She has clergies and temples in different manners according to their alignment, but all clergy of Shilah are people with high intellect.
Evil clergies captivate innocent people and treat them with physical and emotional pain, in their temple that are made with collections of torturing devices. Chaotic clergies will make plot to rage wars against countries governed by kings, democrats, and even tyrants. Their temple is more like a war school to train minions. Lawful clergies hunts down crusaders and clergies of other churches, often meeting in their temples to derive with plans. Good and neutral clergies are people who study magics, trying to develop ways to manipulate enigmatic forces and gain knowledge of lost information. Their temples are built like a large sturdy libraries and laboratories.
Appearance
A young-looking lady of pale skin, silver hairs, and eyes that never open. Clothed with rags as black as the night, and a cape that is is covered with spider web patterns. From her neck hangs her symbol, and she holds a short sword glowing with souls that it has drained from those who stood in her way. She also has great crimson wings, that spreads clouds of nightmare every time it flaps. She is usually shown with a book containing ancient dark runes.
In her alternate form, she is a horrifying monster that resembles an enormous spider composed of humanoid body parts. From where eyes are supposed to be, arms extend from the sockets. The legs are also equipped with hands that claws at the ground. Its mandibles each has its own mouth, equipped with many sharp, bloodthirsty fangs. On its abdomens is another mouth, almost as big as the the abdomen itself. From this mouth, a tongue reaches out and branches out into many smaller sections like a tree.
Realm
Somewhere in the Negative Energy Realm is located Shilah's realm of Nervesnap. This is a finite layer of swirling dark cloud, covered with numerous eyes, mouths, and tentacles. It moves through the many layers within the Negative Energy Realm, observing everything it encounters and possibly reporting what it sees to Shilah. Contrary to what it looks like, this layer provides a firm ground as long as you can withstand the horrid image of yourself being consumed by it.
In the center of the Nervesnap is her castle, which has no light in the interior. It has rooms filled with books, potions, oils, and needles and chains that scream and wriggle at the sight of living creatures. Inhabitants mainly consist of newly-born vampires, golems made of unnnatural materials, and the souls who are doomed to suffer endless pain. Her followers, who has made great contributions, have a chance to visit her castle where they gain a promotion to become vampires, or gain some ancient artifact.
Goals
One of Shilah's goal is to end all crusades against evil. Even during her life on the material realm, she has fought forces of good, and in the process has lost her eyes to the clergy of the sun. After her eyes burned out, it never regenerated while she was on the material realm, and even after her ascension to godhood her eyes are closed tight. Even among vampires, her dislike of the sun is great.
Shilah likes to travel, so she crafted her realm to be a massive ship that travels through the Negative Energy Plane. But her cloudy ship of nightmare is not only for a nice holiday vacation. She is off to exploring other realms, unraveling mysteries and uncovering histories lost even to many divine beings.
She, like other deities, gain power through increase in the number of worshipers. But she has other ways to become more powerful. Inventions and discoveries by her followers directly results in her gaining of those knowledge. When non-followers express their pain suffered from the blow of her followers, their extreme emotion causes a fulfilling sensation similar to when a vampire gets a good meal of blood. Anarchy does not directly relate to Shilah gaining power, but a successful demolishing of governments is a sure sign that her influence is great in that world.
Despite of some of goals that make her dangerous to other deities, she spends so much time and effort into smaller, personal deals that she is not really considered a threat when compared to other evil deities. However, the amount of effort she puts into them are so great that it actually drains a vast amount of power. She is considered an intermediate deity even with such constraints, so other deities are always on watch and they ready themselves so they are prepared when one day she becomes serious in spreading evil through the multiverse.
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