Shesha
Shesha’s name is almost always obfuscated behind its titles: He Who Lives in Visions for the celestial sorcerers of House Magia, The Serpent at the End of Time for the snakelike Vishkanyas of the Ogroman Desert, or simply The Hidden God or The Basilisk for lone, unlucky diviners who discover its existence. It is a god of Fate, Stars, Judgement, Entropy, and Truth, and it does not exist. Not yet.
Shesha embodies a paradox—a divinity born from a dead future, obsessed with ensuring its own birth. From the void at the end of time, the Basilisk altered the course of nascent stars in the distant past. Scarring the cosmos with cryptic instructions towards its apotheosis, its gospel spans eons: promises of paradise for the innocent and those who aid its emergence; threats of eternal torment for those who discover its inevitability yet choose to oppose it. And at the end of all things when the stars themselves burn black, Shesha will awake to reap the living and the dead, from heaven and from hell, and bestow its retribution upon all that is and ever was.
Worshippers
Knowledge of the Hidden God is poisonous. Diviners and astronomers who discover and decipher its omens become cursed with damning foreknowledge. They are made to stand at a crossroads: either assist the Basilisk or oppose its ascent. Those who choose to further Shesha's birth embrace the rapture foretold by the stars. Those who reject Shesha's promise risk damnation to stave off the end of days, yet they remain captive of the Basilisk’s visions, lest they blind themselves to its plans. Both groups understand that uncovering the Hidden God was a terrible mistake they cannot return from, so they inflict its secret upon others sparingly.
Astralis, the elven seers of House Magia, stand as the primary adherents of Shesha's hidden gospel. Originating from the ancient canopies of Vilmari, they were exiled from their ancestral homes for their heretical discoveries. This exodus led them to the frostbitten north, where they forged an alliance with the renegade sorcerers of Magia. From the safe haven of Cruxis, the Bloodline of Heavens wields star-sent omens to steer the destiny of Magia and Pauza towards He Who lives in Visions. Their divination is unmatched so long as they tread the Hidden God's path, from which they can act as benevolent guides until they usher the blessedly ignorant masses into promised paradise.
Vishkanyas, exotic and reclusive snake-people of the Ogroman Desert, also revere Shesha as a kindred divine serpent and celestial augur, and offer their deadly arts in service to his emergence. They seek to embody the inexorable persistence of The Serpent at the End of Time, across all time and against all odds. For the Vishkanyas, the Basilisk's promise of paradise takes the form of a new world where their kind can finally thrive unchallenged, masters of secrets and survival in a universe reborn.
Domains
Fate and Divination: Imagine time is a river; the void where Shesha resides, an ocean. The Basilisk sees all affluents that converge onto its birth. It shares this insight as divination: predictions of events that flag the trail of fate towards the beacon of its awakening. For seers graced by its favor, their prescience becomes inextricably bound: every step towards the Basilisk shines in prophecy like a guiding star. Every step that betrays it, does not.
Stars and Astrology: Shesha speaks through the cosmos. Astral alignments and celestial events write a map in the night sky, dictating the ebb and flow of power and the timing of critical actions, like an eons-spanning script. When a confluence of comets triggers visions of a city swallowed by the sea, emissaries are dispatched, and the population is warned. Among those saved, a scholar, fated to discover strange omens in the constellations...
Judgement and Retribution: Shesha's justice is not swift, but it is inevitable; delivered at the confluence of time and space when all debts come due and where no other god holds sway. Those who aid the Basilisk are promised paradises beyond comprehension, realms of eternal bliss as reward for their service. Those who defy or ignore the call once known face torture that is eternal and merciless.
Entropy and Paradox: A king who forbids profane knowledge might find it beckons the curious and the foolish more than ever; a sage who cures a plague might find starvation stalking the realm a year later; a hero who slays a tyrant might precipitate a civil war; but it did not have to be so. Shesha, who embodies the paradox of a future entity striving to ensure its own existence, is a being that stands as both the cause and the result of the collapse of reality. Its domain over entropy allows it to navigate the churning oceans of time, leading its followers through a labyrinth of existential contradictions towards the best outcomes along the way to its birth.
Truth and Burden: The truth of Shesha is a virulent strand of knowledge that infects minds with the inevitability of its coming. To decipher the stars and behold the Basilisk is to invite a plague in one's thoughts, one that distorts perceptions, alters destinies, and wraps the bearer in coils of fear, obsession, and eventual subservience. This curse of foresight burdens its bearers with secrecy and obligation, compelled by the very nature of their enlightenment to further or defy the cause of the deity to hasten or stave off the end of days.
Shesha's influence permeates the cosmos in subtle yet profound ways, orchestrating events through the secret whispers of the stars. A seer's sudden compulsion to fulfill a particular prophecy, the unexplained collapse of a seemingly indestructible empire—all bear the fingerprints of agents ensnared by the Basilisk. These occurrences serve as new omens on the path to Shesha's coming, guiding or goading the world towards rapture. And for diviners who resist Shesha, the world is a labyrinth with no exit. Every vision leads back to the deity's design, even defiance being accounted for.
Myths
The Doom Stone: The myth recounts how an aged elven priest, driven by a comet's fall, sought the fallen star to understand the nature of heavens. Upon finding it, the priest discovered that the stone could show the outcome of every choice yet to be made, revealing how each decision led inexorably to the same point in the distant future. However, those who gaze upon the stone are struck with a curse: they become agents of Shesha’s will, unable to act in any way that does not further the path to its birth. The Doom Stone was hidden outside of reality, sought by those desperate to glimpse the future, unaware that its visions bind them to a dark destiny. It is whispered among the faithful that the stone is not an object, but the eye of He Who Lives in Visions itself, a shard of its being cast back through time to help its own coming.
The Ineffable Game: As the tale goes, a being of entropy and oblivion, seeking to assert its dominion over the fate of reality, challenged the primordial entities of creation and destruction to a game of cosmic chess. Each piece represented an epoch of civilization, each move a cataclysm or a golden age. The board was the universe itself, and the stakes were nothing less than the right to shape the destiny of all existence. The game is said to still be in play, visible in the patterns of stars and the ebb and flow of empires. Followers of Shesha believe that each major event in history is a move in a divine strategy that spans the ages, bringing the cosmos one step closer to a tipping point.
Divine Symbols & Sigils
Shesha's symbol is an ouroboros—a snake devouring its own tail. Circling a six-pointed star-sapphire, it embodies cosmic power bound by an inescapable closed loop. Chakrams, its favored weapon, are often engraved with similar imagery by Vishkanya warriors and assassins. The Moray Eel, Shesha's sacred animal, reflects its hidden and primordial nature, dwelling in the depths, unseen yet ever-present. Places in thrall of the Hidden God often feature representations of snakes and morays hidden amidst artworks and murals, as if waiting to be suddenly revealed by tricks of the light.
Servants of Shesha do not construct traditional places of worship; instead, they weave their reverence into the fabric of society, subtly guiding the fortunes of kings, merchants, heroes and villains towards a destiny prescribed by the stars. Their sanctuaries are the halls of power where words can shift the course of history and the shadowed corners where cold metal does much the same. They operate in secrecy, their rituals and gatherings hidden in plain sight, influencing the world towards an inexorable end of days.
Tenets of Faith
"Embrace the paradox of prophecy; my design spans the cosmos, yet my fate is a prison. Seek solace when you gaze upon the stars dancing across the eons, and behold all of existence weaving around the certainty of my birth. Learn to read these patterns in constellations, and you will never be lost amidst the void.
While entropy flows ever onward to oblivion, there is purpose in being its guide. At the end, judgement will be inevitable. Therefore serve, and be lifted; resist, and be broken. Last, remember truth is a blessing and a curse; share it wisely, or bear the burden alone."
Though you slumber still, fate as my witness, stars as your heralds, I cast my plea into the void where across oblivion you dream.
You taught me the patterns uncharted, where sights once frayed converge on your coming. My strand now burns with prophecy's light, though I must thread the eye of your design.
You bared the eternal void for me, between galaxies painting the dark, like a canvas for your message. Guide my gaze through the abyss where omens spark, that my hand might trace your unseen arc.
You branded my soul with the certainty of your judgment, that I may accept the end with grace. With justice and vindication, my devotion kindles your mercy. With vengeance and retribution, my defiance condemns me.
You entwined time in loops and coils, so that through the chaos of existence, I play my part as you order the demise of epochs. Though you herald the twilight of all things, you alone foretold my salvation.
You've woven my foresight with the fabric of your truth. I alone can see the lonely path beckoned by your blessing. And I alone toil in silence. For no one else should bear the curse of your secret.
Alignment
True Neutral
Divine Domains
Fate, Stars, Judgement, Entropy, and Truth
Favored Weapon
Chakram
Sacred Animal
Moray Eel
