Beshaba
The Maid of Misfortune, Lady Doom, Black Bess
Beshaba is an oddity in the Avandran pantheon as she is its only actively evil member. She is a force of misfortune, bad luck, and accidents, despite preparation. She represents the chaotic nature of the universe and the fact that bad things can happen at any time to anyone. Her followers preach that to keep misfortune at bay one must prepare for the worst circumstances and then pray for a better outcome. Fear and hysteria are often tools of her priesthood and most communities will not tolerate more than a small shrine to Beshaba in any Avandran temple.
Beshaba's Role
Within the Retinue of Change Beshaba serves as the incarnation of bad luck. She is the one that drives those circumstances of seemingly cosmic misfortune when everything that can go wrong does go wrong. Many are the mortal events that have been attributed to her. In reality, she is rarely directly responsible for these cases of bad luck, she is much more likely to hold bad luck at bay than to actively force it onto a mortal. She understands that all things happen in their time, deferred bad luck comes due eventually and is often worse for the wait. She also understands that luck is a subjective viewpoint and that preparation and action can swing it in any direction.Beshaba's Followers
Beshaba's cult is unique among the Avandran exarchs due to its numerous sects and beliefs. The Maid of Misfortune almost never communicates directly with her followers and therefore there is a great deal of dissension among them as to what her core tenets actually are. Many of her followers work in secret, taking actions that will push circumstances toward ever larger displays of bad luck. Perhaps the strangest and most dangerous of her cultists are those that believe that even the gods cannot divert bad luck forever. These mortals consider the Living Gate itself to be a giant time bomb waiting for an event or action to activate its countdown. The gods have managed to hold the Far Realm at bay for untold eons, but this cannot last forever and when they do eventually fail the whole cosmos will suffer for it. Followers of this view are often considered alienists as they actively try to alleviate the pressure of the situation by creating minor (relatively speaking) Far Realm incursions and disasters.Divine Domains
Chaos, Luck, Misfortune
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
In appearance, Beshaba is said to be a deathly pale older woman, usually dressed as a peasant or beggar, with bone-white hair and a wide, almost maniacal grin. It is said that she never speaks to those she appears to in the flesh, only cackles wildly and watches with glee as some misfortune inevitably befalls them.
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