Pesata (pay SAH tah)

Goddess of the Afterlife

CobaltDM - June 12, 2022

Pesata, also known as The Mist and The Judge, is the Goddess of the Afterlife. She is considered to be one of the most powerful gods, rivaling Elsios in raw strength. Early on, she acted as a limiter to the other gods' powers, opposing them when they strayed from their domains and preventing them from granting too much power to mortals. She initially sided with Yparxis during The Calamity, but decided to betray him in order to secure her domain for herself. Many in the Eleven despise her for keeping them in check, and have tried and failed several times to organize against her and banish her along with Yparxis. She is also the creator of Tieflings.

"When absolute power is left unchecked, only disaster can result. Pesata ensures this does not happen." - Aldernon the Wise

When the Great Formation began, Pesata took on a unique role. She hadn't found her domain, but felt as though her primary purpose was to prevent the other gods from straying too far from theirs. She separated Tassah and Makeiro into their two separate domains, along with Otia and Cadros. Her biggest adversary, however, was Mestonia. The Goddess of the Sun often wanted to stretch her influence further into the cosmos, and eventually into the multiverse. Pesata advised her not to. When she was ignored, she engaged Mestonia in a duel and emerged victorious. She forced Mestonia to vow never to reach beyond her domain again, which directly caused Mestonia's retreat into the sun after mortalkind's creation. From the beginning, Pesata's ideals aligned more with Yparxis than with the rest of the pantheon. She admired his dedication to his domain and his resolve to stay within it. The jealousy of the other gods was shameful in her eyes, and she would often defend his actions to them. She spent many years following Yparxis across his various domains, but was discouraged when she saw the void he had constructed as his home. Something stirred inside her--perhaps echoes of her future calling--and she left him to his building. She was not consulted when Mestonia began gathering forces for a strike against him, and was torn when The Calamity began. Images of the void that was Nel haunted Pesata, but her anger at Mestonia and the other gods was greater than her fear of Yparxis. She defended him for several years, using her abilities to silence the other gods' attacks. As time passed and she spent more time with Yparxis, however, her distrust in him grew. The earlier stirring in her heart became too much to bear, and she betrayed The Betrayer. Without this, Yparxis surely would have been victorious. Pesata knew the rift between herself and the others would be irreparable, and so she left once The Calamity ended. She broke off a fragment of Nel for herself, calling it Thanakeno. Within it, she built an entire queendom, from impossibly grand palaces to horrifying dungeons. She constructed powerful, demigod-like entities that would serve her as commanders of the different areas of Thanakeno. She spent all of her time there, only coming out to keep the other gods suppressed when their ambitions grew too great. Her domain was established, but her true purpose would only be realized with the creation of mortals. Seeing this as the most egregious act of defiance by others in The Eleven, Pesata grew enraged. She decided that she would not act immediately, but would put a curse on all mortals so that they would all eventually come to her. Some humanoids were harder to limit, such as Elves and Dwarves, but Humans, Halflings, and many others were able to be reduced to a century or two of life. Her peers were devastated, but they could do nothing to stop her. When a creature died, it went to Thanakeno. There, its life and its deeds were to be judged by Pesata, and its eternal residence would be decided. This curse took shape in the form of Tieflings, as some humans became malformed and twisted by the power within Thanakeno. This new race looked to her as their creator, but she turned away from them and judged them as she would all mortalkind. Among the denizens of Mytkora, admiration for the mysterious cause of their mortality grew. For such fickle beings, it was difficult to ignore how much power Pesata had. The Church of the Mist formed and became a stalwart defender against undead and all others who would test the bonds of mortality. The most devout would be gifted great power by Pesata, and became the first Black Knights. Somehow, when the Silence came, these Black Knights became able to pass their power on to the next in line when their time was up, and the faith in Pesata remained strong. No one knows now what happens when a person dies, causing great fear and uncertainty among the peoples of Mytkora.