The Golden Duchess, The Unspeakable
Risen Goddess of Decadence, Nihilism, Sport, Debauchery, and Contradictions
My, my! What have we here? Who knew you mortals were capable of building such a thing... Who am I? Oh, that's precisely the wrong question to be asking right now...but, I admire your curiosity...even if it's what got you here in the first place. You all can consider me something of an estranged daughter of that pesky little yellow star you mortals just observed with this big contraption here. Yes, indeed. You see...my father is a private man. He enjoys his privacy...unlike a certain slumbering oaf in that drowning corpse-city, I suppose. And, you've all - rather foolishly, I might add - disturbed his privacy! Naughty, naughty. But, luckily for you, this contraption of yours served a purpose - oh, quit looking so gobsmacked. Don't underestimate my father - you're lucky he didn't send me to apparate inside your squishy pink brains, instead of inside of this giant brass thing you peeked at him through. Anyway, all this to say - you've committed a bit of a faux pas against my father that he's grown annoyed about. And, in lieu of deploying his sign and driving you all hopelessly mad, he sent me to give you a bit of a message! And, well, I'll get to that in time - but for now, let's see what those tiny, squishy things you call legs can do. It's a dance, darlings. Try to keep up! I've only just arrived, and it's only courtesy to enterain a lady until she's satisfied...and, as luck would have it, I'm quite the ravenous lady. Now, let's try to keep the screaming to a minimum. Let the dance take you, and this can be enjoyable...if you allow it to be~.Titles: The Duchess, The Shepard in Yellow, The Opulent Lady, The Great Degenerate, The Eldritch Contradiction, She who cannot be named, The Unspeakable, The Lady in Yellow Favored Weapon: Sword Cane Alignment: Chaotic Neutral Church Moniker: Church of the Golden Duchess Obedience: Spend an hour performing a waltz in a large, open space - ideally with a dance partner. Do so while the symbol of the Golden Duchess is painted in a visible location on your skin, or you are otherwise adorned prominently in the color yellow. While dancing, ingest a piece of cloth or other material with the symbol of the Golden Duchess inscribed upon it that her blessing might take root within you. Effect: You become immune to the effects of the Yellow Sign, and can as an immediate action in reaction to an opponent failing to hit your AC or targeting you with an effect that you save out of, target that foe with a Crushing Despair effect using your HD as the CL and the higher of your INT or CHA as your primary ability score modifier. If you successfully affect nine creatures in a single combat with this ability, you may choose to, the next time this ability is invoked, replace its normal effects with the effects of the Yellow Sign spell - save that it targets one hostile creature at random in the combat only, and that the dominating entity is The Golden Duchess instead of Hastur.
Divine Domains
Chaos, Void, Madness, Charm, Strength, Luck, Nobility
Artifacts
Best known(And ONLY known) artifact of The Golden Duchess is a legendary item known as The Golden Brocade - a strange bolt of fabric that was said to be woven beneath the baleful light of the Duchess's far-flung homeworld - this strange bolt of cloth's appearance varies somewhat between appearances but is fairly universally described as a beautiful shade of gold with patterns that often include gems, tendrils, eyes, and so on. Though the fabric's powers on its own are described as meager, its true power reveals itself when it is used to create a dress, suit, or other garment to be worn - when such a garment is worn, it is said to imbue the wearer with the divine power of The Golden Duchess herself; in some tellings, it is even described as allowing the wearer to become the living conduit or avatar for the Duchess. Whatever the truths, such garments have been observed granting a slew of reality-defying powers to its wearers - allowing for the inverting of space and time, the alteration of their biology to an extreme degree, the ability to perceive the truths of the universe, and in a few rare cases forcibly alter the biologies of other creatures as well or call creatures from the Dark Tapestry to serve the wearer in battle.
Though unconfirmed, another artifact known as The Citrine Rod has been rumored to exist among certain sects of the faithful as a divine symbol of the Duchess's authority - though its existence has yet to be confirmed.
Holy Books & Codes
The Yellow Compendium
Divine Symbols & Sigils
A Yellow Tri-pointed Arrow upon a skull. In certain circles of the faithful, the infamous Yellow Sign sometime appears as a symbol of the faithful, but rather confusingly such circles are quick to vanish - whether because the rest of the faithful turn upon them or for some other more nefarious reason, is unknown.
Tenets of Faith
Give meaning to the meaningless. The more meaningless the act, the greater the meaning in doing it. Death is inevitable and life is pointless, so why not dance?
Competition is King. Seek out sport and competition and delight in both. Always compete to your full potential, always seek to test yourself, and encourage others to do the same.
Indulge at every turn. The greatest meaning and pleasure is found within the greatest decadence and debauchery. Live a life embossed in gold and drown yourself in worldly pleasures.
Go against the grain. The more that stand in your way, the greater the meaning in persisting - walk the unexpected path and revel in contradiction. For every thesis, there must be antithesis.
Protect my flock. Speak not my words lightly, and guard the secrets of my faith from the untested masses - secrecy shall be your greatest weapon.
Holidays
None/Unknown
Divine Goals & Aspirations
Unknown
There is an odd poetry in her code. So hopeless, yet so full of it at the same time. Her followers might spend a day at a funeral making joy and revelry, then the next in an orgiastic feast where flesh meets flesh and bodies are tangled like string...and dance when others have no hope and all is ending. Just as their code says, it is precisely because things have no meaning that they have incredible meaning. Strange, yet comforting.
Divine Classification
Religions
Alignment
Chaotic Neutral
Children
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