Shaeth
Shaeth is the god of destruction and entropy. He is generally depicted as heavily-scarred mer, and occasionally only as a dark, swirling gas.
Lore
Shaeth, alongside his sisters Shar and Selune, is considered a 'Higher God'-- one that was created by Musubi, The Creator, at the beginning of time. These three gods, representing destruction, darkness, and change respectively, reign over the agents needed to birth a universe, and are thought to have been tools for use in Musubi's creation of Aethon Sol, The Prime Phoenix. According to the collective writings of priests of other gods, Shaeth seems to have had a contentious relationship with several of the pantheon's gods. The first known instance of this pattern seems to have occurred during the Age of the Dragons, long before the Dawn of Sentients. According to those aligned with Selune, who claims to have been responsible for sentient life developing at this time, Shaeth was responsible for the destructive event which caused the extinction of dragons. Shaeth was apparently the only god to have protested the ascension of Bahamut and Tiamat during the event, claiming that the dragons were not meant to become sentient, and that Selune made them so through forbidden means. According to a unpublished collection of writings from an ancient chemist named Robert Lopez, Shaeth continued to stir trouble within the Council of Gods, causing escalation into The War of the Gods. With the rest of the council siding with Selune after the dragon's ascension, Shaeth is thought to have initiated a retaliatory plan to destroy something called The Ark, a secret place created by Selune to protect further sentient life from destruction. With the help of Shar, Shaeth was able to coerce Palana, the goddess of death, to kill Randor Sol, Aethon Sol 's son, which resulted in the near destruction of the nearby Ark. Once again, two sentients were saved from this event, ascending to The Astral Plane as Oghma and Mask. Shaeth is said to have become enraged at this decision, claiming that ascension defeats the purpose of godhood. According to Lopez, he raped Paitch, the goddess of renewal, in retaliation against her for reviving Randor Sol after his death. As a result, Paitch died in the production of their child, a new goddess named Wazari. For his actions, Shaeth was forcibly bound to a new watery plane called Shaetheon in orbit around around Randor's twin children, Canthal and Pinayor Sol, where he remains to this day.Teachings
Sheath's teachings boil down to one ideal-- destroy. He does not see this as an evil act, but one of necessity; a stimulant for the development of the universe. Without destruction, he claims, life become stagnant, and therefore meaningless. To Shaeth, the purpose of sentient life is to assist in the ever expanding entropy of the universe. Although the god is most often associated with large-scale destructive forces such as natural disasters and extinctions, he commends destruction even if in not physical form. For example, the destruction of a powerful marriage or dissolution of a government may be just as effective as bombing a city, if done properly.Influence
Faerun
In Faerun, followers of Shaeth are rare outside of those closely associated with the ocean, such as sailors, pirates, and island inhabitants. This is thought to be because of his presence of Shaetheon, the Plane of Water, and fear that his influence-- should it escape binding-- is likely to seep from the only known portal to his plane at the Everswirl of Alaron in the Sword Sea. Shaeth is also thought to control Kraken, mythical sea monsters who are said to prey on inevitable death, though this may be more myth than fact. In any case, many will offer sacrifices to Shaeth before sailing the ocean, especially near the Everswirl. These sacrifices are usually small acts of destruction. For example, pirates may regularly burn rations and supplies, or even captured ships, in hopes that the god may accept it in place of their own misfortune. Although Shaeth's binding technically prevents him from interfering on the Material Plane, many prefer to pay homage to in in case this is not entirely true, or so that they can be in good standings with the god should he ever be unbound.Shaetheon
Shaeth is the primary god of worship among the inhabitants of the Plane of Water. This is likely because Shaeth is less restricted in his power on the plane, and is able to openly retaliate against sentients should they anger him. This has caused a war-like mindset for the majority of sentients on the plane as clans compete to offer the most amount of destruction to the god in hope that he will not destroy them in turn. Because of this, destruction caused in the name of Shaeth is not often seen as a personal attack, and warring clans may commend each other on the magnitude of a competitor's destruction, even if it contributes to the fall of their empire.
Alternative Names:
- God of Destruction
- The Drowned Disaster
- Harbinger of The End
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