God of Plagues, God of Rot
Flies, rot, decay, growth, pestilence, stagnation, the circle of life and death, rebirth, decomposition, fungus, bacteria, viruses, diseases, plagues, entropy, corruption, feces, and resilience.
Her associated colors are green, dark green, forest green, sickly green, sickly yellow, black, rust, and brown
Nergalzeb is an odd god. She is a god who wishes for the propagation and continuation of life. She loves to watch life grow, die, survive, and evolve. Something that leads to her often wishing to accelerate the cycle of life and death in order to accelerate the process of evolution and strengthening of life. Despite her emphasis and connection to life she is also heavily connected to death because of the fact that she sees life and death as one and the same, as one continuous cycle. For death cannot occur in things without life and it is the destiny of all that lives to one day die. To live is to eternally rot and slowly march towards death. Life and death define each other and are part of one greater whole, they are but spokes on a wheel. It is simply that mortals and gods alike tend to separate things based on arbitrary factors. Because of this Nergalzeb wishes to bestow a gift upon mortals, and some gods. The gift of life and death, health and disease, growth and stagnation. The gift of knowing that death is nothing to fear and is as sacred and beautiful as life itself. Due to this the fly god almost never shutters at the death of others, even that of their own followers, for it can’t be avoided and death itself is a continuation of their life. Plus, death is something that feeds life. From a dead decaying corpse countless organisms have life breathed into them. From the vultures feasting on their flesh, to the bacteria multiplying within them, to the mold sprouting from their skin, and yes even to the maggots that wriggle beneath said skin before sprouting and taking flight. Many would find a god who appears to care not about whether they live or die to be disconcerting but to the devoted followers of the fly god they are often brought piece of mind and are taught to grapple with and embrace their mortality. Nergalzeb also sees all life forms as equal. The life of a mage or omnia holds just as much sway as the life of a single bacteria. When forced to choose between saving lives or killing Nergalzeb will always go with whatever will create the most life in the end. If the death of a single mortal gives birth to countless fungi, worms, and bacteria then so be it. The irony is that despite how often Nergalzeb is associated with deadly diseases and how often she might come off as heartless she only wishes to bring as much life as she can into the world.
She believes it is the destiny of all things to rot and as such we should all accept our fates.
Nergalzeb passionately and fervently wishes to serve Mora and Shia. She believes them to actually both be gods of life that also exert reign over death, something she believes is proven by the fact that both gods have the ability to create undead that are subservient to them with their own versions of the Revive spell. Which shows that they both have mastery of life and death. To Nergalzeb, truly mastering life is the same as mastering death and vice versa. Nergalzeb often treats Mora and Shia as 2 parts of 1 entity known as “Moria” or “Shimora.” The name often depends on which god she is referring to or talking about. Nergalzeb serves Mora and Shia without question and can sometimes be seen collecting Death's Bloom flowers when she comes across them. She views the fights that occur between Shia and Mora as a way for the two gods to practice and keep each other strong(like sharpening a knife) and a metaphorical representation of the cycle of life and death and the struggle that leads to life evolving overtime.
Nergalzeb is a part of a group of four gods who have been dubbed as the 4 horsemen of Shia. As the name suggests, they are loyal to Shia and can sometimes be seen riding magical horses in Shia’s honor. They often help Shia gather up the souls of the dead, especially when shi is very busy. Nergalzeb is known for particularly going out of her way to round up the souls of those who have died from disease for Shia. This has caused her to become associated with death caused through disease.
Sometimes she will go out of her way to inflict those who she feels have wronged her, Shia, or Mora with disgusting diseases.
Interestingly, she is a microbiologist and was apparently put in charge of overseeing many different microscopic organisms at one point. Whether Mora actually did this or she simply self-appointed herself to the task is often debated. Either way, this led to Nergalzeb being heavily associated with microbiology. She often brews new diseases and plagues within her body or with a specialized cauldron via magic. She sees all the diseases and the sick as her children, and often refers to them as such.
Nergalzeb appears to often pity those who disrupt the natural cycle of life and death by finding a way to get Shia or Mora to revive their loved ones as undead, for they disrupt the cycle. However, she does not have a problem with the undead themselves and even seems to respect them as people who have experienced the joys of both life and death in its fullness.
Nergalzeb’s name comes from Nergal(a Mesopotamian god primarily associated with war, death, and disease, and an entity that has been called a "god of inflicted death") and Beelzebub(A demon from Christian faith that was one of the 7 rulers of hell and referred to as “Lord of the Flies.”) Nergalzeb is very old and when she first appeared some humans believed her to be a plague or the wrath of god while others believed her to be a demon like Satan. Over time the nicknames of “Beelzebub” and “Nergal” were used to refer to her before becoming interchangeable and slowly combined.
Physical Description
She typically takes on the form of a centaur or satyr. However, all her mortal forms are notably disgusting and rotting. Being a constantly rotting and sickly green with yellow pustules. She is known to smell absolutely terrible with exception to those who are sick or infected with certain parasites, they will smell something sickly sweet instead. She is missing her bottom jaw, as if it was ripped off, and in its place she has mandibles. Due to missing a bottom jaw her tongue constantly hangs out of her mouth and can be seen quivering and shaking when she talks. A disgusting sugary yellowish drool also often pours out of her mouth, which appears to attract flies and other insects. A buzzing can usually be heard coming from her body as flies subsist off of and live within it. Likewise, maggots can often be seen crawling through her flesh. What may look like hair from a distance is actually a variety of mold and fungi. Many describe her appearance to be like that of a disgusting undead walking corpse that is constantly rotting away, and zombie-like in appearance. Her state seems to be similar to that of Shia and, similar to Shia’s body, her body appears to move through some form of Death and/or Life magic. Each of her forms has compound eyes but the individual eyes that make them up look like that of sentient mortal beings such as mages and vampires. She has an extra pair of more insectoid arms and fly wings on her back that allow for flight. It is said that Nergalzeb's true form is that of bacteria or maggots. Even in her mortal form Nergalzeb eats like a fly by regurgitating stomach acid onto a meal and slurping up the resulting liquid. Apparently, this liquid makes amazing fertilizer. Her chest appears to be torn open. Displaying a rib cage and two hearts on the left and right side of her chest. The left heart beats and the right one remains still and dead. Her fingers resemble that of the legs of a fly.
Her propensity to take the form of a centaur or satyr most likely relates to the fact that Shia and Mora both have hooved forms. This is supported by the fact that Nergalzeb’s front legs resemble that of some sort of deer’s while her back legs resemble some sort of horse’s when in her centaur form.
She has a mark of Shia on their left hand and a Mark of Mora on her right hand.
Her divine form is that of a swarm of monstrous disgusting flies. Each fly carries their own special strain of terrible and disgusting diseases and many of them can render one sick just from their contact. The flies can also quickly burrow into one’s skin and infect them with diseases or eat them from the inside out. Each fly appears fuzzy due to being covered in mold and each fly can release a potent stomach acid that burns through flesh with ease while also causing metal rust.
Nergalzeb is a master of both life and death magic. She often uses this to create or enhance all manner of diseases, and sickness by enhancing the potency of bacteria and viruses via invigorating them with overflowing life magic or weakening those infected with death magic. Her magic is known to often have corruptive effects or drawbacks, especially on mortals. While powerful it often leaves them with some sort of sickness or rotten appearance. Many of those directly affected by her magic also lose their ability to feel physical pain and some may be trapped in an odd state of comfort and / or bliss, no longer fearing much of anything as they have come to terms with the death. So powerful is her life magic that they can give the illusion of creating life from nothing by enhancing the growth and multiplication of bacteria and other microscopic organisms to create living gelatinous globs or bushes of fungi. She can also save people from even the most mortal of wounds and diseases(but they cannot bring what is already dead back to life). She also has the capacity to accelerate the speed at which something rots and/or decays. She can grant targets an inhuman level of durability and resistance by vastly increasing the speed at which their body heals and regenerates.
Nergalzeb is also a master of water and wind magic, and often uses them to aid in the spread or festering of diseases and other lifeforms, she can even exhale airborne illnesses which makes even being near her a potential biohazard for unfortunate victims. She can also wield powerful earth magic, typically to manipulate many kinds of dirt, muck, and grime that festers with diseased life life.
She can brew diseases, and has a large degree of control over their potential effects and targets. She often spends time in her swamp brewing a cauldron that gives birth to noxious diseases or life forms. She often adds ingredients from around Terra to create different effects, increase the potency of her creations, or enhance its effectiveness against certain targets. Death’s Bloom is known to be one of her favorite ingredients and has always created satisfying results.
She is capable of identifying any disease and its potential symptoms by tasting it.
She is capable of unleashing entire swarms and plagues of flies from her body. There have been records of her releasing enough to blot out the sky in an area about the size of a city. She refers to these flies as her children and she can control them as if they were an extension of her own body.
It is believed by many mortals that Nergalzeb’s power scales with how many people are sick to a degree. It is said that at that when disease ran rampant during the War of Black Ash or when the Plague of 8035 ran rampant she was at her peak and could have easily stood eye to eye with Ferventi in terms of power, but this is not so in the modern day.
She has 360 degree vision in both mortal and divine forms due to her compound eyes.
She is known to have a noticeable weakness towards fire magic. Some believe that this weakness might also explain why she became proficient in water magic(along with the fact that stagnant or dirty water proves great for growing bacteria and diseases). Many suspect that this weakness towards fire comes from the fact that heat is a great way to disinfect things and kill off harmful bacteria, viruses, and parasites.
She cannot feel pain due to the rotting state of her body. Her sense of touch in general is numbed but she can still tell when she is touched and what she is touching. She is unnaturally durable and has enough stamina / endurance to outlast many other gods through a battle of attrition.
She is capable of creating demigods by infecting someone with pieces of herself like a virus would. Rewriting their DNA and making them her biological children.
She carries a small rusted spoon which she uses to taste test things such as her concoctions, diseases, or rotting flesh.
She wields a living scythe meant to mimic the appearance and function of Shia’s tail. It is made of organic material and bone and has a single eye that resembles the eye of a fly. A single cut from its blade will cause said wound to begin to fester and rapidly decay. It is very painful for most gods and basically guarantees the death of a mortal. This scythe is known to sometimes wiggle and move and it can extend its spine-like handle for more reach. Its blade is made up of strange yellowed teeth that probably come from one or more dragons.
A special cauldron sits in the swamp she calls home. With it she can use life and death magic to brew all sorts of strange diseases and life forms.
Sometimes she can be seen wearing a strange dark cloak obscuring her form. This cloak helps stave off fire magic and is flame resistant. It shimmers with an iridescent glistening coat of bacteria and is wet and slimy to the touch. Healthy mortals who touch it directly become deathly sick but those who are already sick seem to suffer no ill affects from touching it.
Sometimes they can be seen riding a strange rotting magical zombie horse with antlers, presumably, in honor of Shia and/or Mora.
Mental characteristics
Nergalzeb is a very old god that first appeared during the War of Black Ash. Like with many of the older gods there are often multiple, sometimes contradictory, myths and stories detailing how the fly god came into existence. The most popular story says that Nergalzeb’s creation was spurred on by the fact that a lot of medicine became unavailable after the collapse of many mortal societies, leaving many to suffer from a countless swathe of diseases. As this happened the death of a god occurred. This was a special moment in that it was apparently the first time a god had ever died. The latent magic of the god fueled a flood of diseases and caused a maggot feasting on the body of this god to ascend to that of a god. Another popular story states that Nergalzeb first appeared when much medicine was made unavailable during the War of Black Ash. Running out of medicine and supplies many people were forced to send people who had fallen ill out into the wilds, usually never to return. However, the diseases continued to spread. The people soon realized there was no medicine to save them anymore and began to revere the sicknesses themselves. One day, someone sick who was sent out to die in the wild returned as Nergalzeb and freed the inhabitants from the pain of disease. However, the god did not actually cure the disease and only eased the suffering of the sick. The final popular story states that Nergalzeb was created as a punishment by Shia and/or Mora. Telling the tale of a town that had disrespected one or both of the gods and so a swarm of flies invigorated with magic flooded over the town to punish them, and with the swarm came never before diseases bolstered by magic. From this swarm and the magic of the god of life and death was Nergalzeb born. Another tale of a similar variety states that Nergalzeb was created when someone tried to trick Shia and Mora, with the fly god being made to consign the person to a slow painful life and death via sickness.
Something that is well documented is that Nergalzeb did indeed rise to power during the War of Black Ash. Her following in the present days pales in comparison to her following in the past. This is because during the war much technology was lost or rendered inoperable in many places, including those of the medicinal variety. Many lost access to the medicine they needed to live. With nowhere to turn they began to pray and follow a god of disease itself. Hoping that with its divine connection to sickness, it could take away sickness just as easily as it could inflict them. Furthermore, the fly began to gain a strong association with resilience and the ability to survive. Many hungry survivors ended up envying and praising the fly’s ability to eat food that had long gone rotten to survive and its ability to let almost nothing go to waste. While this might seem gross to some, the ability to scrounge food out of almost anything was probably a dream come true for someone on the brink of starvation watching their food expire and mold. Some even began to believe that when someone died they would be reborn as the maggots that hatched from their flesh.
At some point Nergalzeb ended up joining with 3 other gods to form the self proclaimed 4 horsemen of Shia. They often go out of their way to aid Shia in the collection of souls, typically when shi is too busy. The fly god is known to prefer to collect the souls of those who have died from sickness and/or parasites.
They have an intense dislike of those who don’t show proper reverence for life(Mora) and death(Shia). For this reason, she is discontent with Soliairs' treatment of Shia and is itching to inflict them with a sickness that will teach them the meaning of respect for life and death.
It is believed by some that Nergalzeb had a major role to play in the Plague of 8035.
She refers to herself with she / her pronouns but doesn’t really seem to care what pronouns others use to refer to her as she considers them meaningless in the end. As eventually we are all one with the earth of Terra and the circle of life anyway. What do pronouns matter in the face of death? Most people refer to Nergalzeb using she / her pronouns.
????. She loves all lifeforms equally.
Personality Characteristics
She has an immense reverence for Shia and Mora and does what they say without question. She loves observing the cycle of life and death and loves life equally in all its forms. Part of the reason she enjoys brewing new diseases is out of love for creating new life.
She dislikes actions of disrespect towards Shia and/or Mora or the proper cycle of life and death. While being burned by fire doesn’t cause her physical pain she does find it uncomfortable. She claims she can hear the screams of her children(diseases, flies, and parasites) as fire burns her.
Despite her immense love she comes off as cold and horrific. She only cares about creating as much life as possible, even if it comes at the cost of existing life. She also sees all life as equal, so to her a single bacterium is worth just as much as a fully fledged sentient mortal.
She buzzes her wings while she is talking when not flying. A buzzing can be heard when she talks even if she isn’t flapping her wings.
She has an immense sweet tooth and love for sugary foods as well as over ripe or rotting fruits.
Unfortunately, she carries the stench of death, decay, and rot wherever she goes. It is strong enough to make some mortals vomit and some other gods reel back in displeasure. Often, when walking, things she steps on become invigorated with life magic but also infected with some sort of disease or rot. Causing a disgusting form of growth. It also affects bacteria and viruses, causing them to multiply and grow rapidly.
Ally / Follower (Vital)
Towards Shia, the God of Death
Leader (Important)
Towards Nergalzeb, God of Flies
History
Nergalzeb is one of Shia’s most fervent worshippers and she practically kisses the ground shi walks upon. She does what Shia says without question and sees Shia as a god of life and death along with Mora. Nergalzeb will often refer to Shia as Shimora in order to highlight how they view the god as being connected to both life and death. Nergalzeb takes any slight or disrespect towards Shia from mortals or other minor gods personally. Shia seems to find Nergalzeb loyal and useful but the fly god’s loyalty and love for Mora, the God of Life causes Shia to view the fly god less favorably. However, Nergalzeb rarely causes trouble for Shia unless Mora is involved.
Ally / Follower (Vital)
Towards Mora, The God of Life
Leader (Important)
Towards Nergalzeb, God of Flies
History
Nergalzeb is one of Mora’s most fervent worshippers and she practically kisses the ground they walk upon. She does what Mora says without question and sees them as a god of life and death along with Shia. Nergalzeb will often refer to Shia as Moria in order to highlight how she views the god as being connected to both life and death. Nergalzeb takes any slight or disrespect towards Mora from mortals or other minor gods personally. Mora seems to find Nergalzeb loyal and useful but the fly god’s loyalty towards Shia, the God of Death causes Mora to view the fly god less favorably but Nergalzeb rarely causes trouble for Mora unless Shia is involved. Mora and Nergalzeb have surprisingly compatible and similar philosophies. Mora wishes for life to persist no matter what form it takes and Nergalzeb wishes for life to flourish and generate as much of it as possible. Nergalzeb also sees all life as equal and Mora believes that as long as there is any form of life in the world, be it intelligent or not, then they have succeeded. While some others may see Nergalzeb as brutal or uncaring Mora seems to be one the ones that best understands where the fly god is coming from and usually seems unbothered by their spreading of diseases, mold, and parasites, because at the end of the day life is life. Likewise, Nergalzeb doesn’t mind how brutal Mora can be. From her perspective all life is equal and when Mora kills someone they are doing it so that future life may flourish. It is no different than trimming the branches of a tree or bush.
Ally (Important)
Towards Lapi, The God of Earth
Ally (Important)
Towards Nergalzeb, God of Flies
Relationship Reasoning
Nergalzeb does seem to like Lapi, or at least respect her. From Nergalzeb’s perspective the process of rotting in of itself is the process of becoming one with the earth once again. It is also from the earth and festering dirt that new things grow. The fly god is a member of Lapi’s Cult and this does benefit Nergalzeb as she uses Earth Mana frequently. Nergalzeb sees Lapi as a god reigning over an important part of the cycle of life and death.
Follower (Trivial)
Towards Ryou, the God of Wind
Acquaintance (Vital)
Towards Nergalzeb, God of Flies
Relationship Reasoning
Nergalzeb is a member of Ryou’s cult, most likely due to her reliance on Wind Mana and the fact that Ryou is the god of flying creatures. Ryou just seems to find Nergalzeb disgusting and weird, something that isn’t helped by the fact that the wind god is impeccably clean, spending almost all idle time grooming and preening herself and others nearby, which conflicts with Nergalzeb’s constant filth. Nergalzeb also views cleanliness differently because from her perspective all things will dirt and rot in time anyway. However, Nergalzeb dare not challenge or annoy Ryou and Ryou seems to mostly just find her off putting.
Follower (Trivial)
Towards Nagi, God of Water
Acquaintance (Vital)
Towards Nergalzeb, God of Flies
Relationship Reasoning
Nergalzeb seems to respect the water god due to the idea that life most likely first formed in the oceans of the planet. So this gives Nagi an important connection to the birthplace of life(water). Nergalzeb is a part of Nagi’s cult which is probably due to the fact that she relies heavily on water magic. They don’t seem to interact much, however, due to the fact that Nergalzeb is not usually spending a lot of time swimming through the ocean.
Annoyance (Important)
Towards Yung Pagoni, God of Peacocks
Annoyance (Important)
Towards Nergalzeb, God of Flies
Relationship Reasoning
Yung and Nergalzeb are often seen as opposing forces for 2 main reasons. First Nergalzeb is often associated with things like filth and disease while Yung is extraordinarily clean. From the perspective of the fly god all things will one day decay and return to filth so her view of cleanliness and its value is much different than Yung’s. She sees cleaning most things as a pointless endeavor as all things grow dirty with time. To fight off the filth is like trying to fight off aging or time in most cases. Yung sees Nergalzeb as simply disgusting. Secondly, Yung often interferes with Nergalzeb’s plots and schemes quite frequently and usually forces her to keep their conflicts contained. Which can prove difficult for the fly god as sometimes she has a hard time reigning in her diseases once they have started spreading and mutating. It doesn’t help that sometimes Nergalzeb will sometimes attempt to slight mortals and minor gods alike if she feels they have disrespected Shia, Mora, or the natural order even if Shia or Mora have not said anything or done anything to show they even care about the matter.
Enemy (Important)
Towards Nergalzeb, God of Flies
Relationship Reasoning
Nergalzeb sees Hilathu as a prime example of what happens to those who do not properly respect life, death, and the gods that reign over them. However, strangely, Nergalzeb does not seem to view Hilathu’s fate as an undead serpent as a bad one. From Nergalzeb’s perspective Hilathu also fails to appreciate the gift that Shia gave him since his state of undeath allows him to experience the joys of all of life/death. Hilathu sees Nergalzeb as a disgusting kiss ass and Nergalzeb sees Hilathu as simply ungrateful and sad. The fly god will sometimes rant to the serpent about the beauty of rot, life, and death and sometimes the serpent can do nothing but listen and revolt at the similarities in the decaying appearance both entities share. However, Nergalzeb does not hate Hilathu, she only pities the serpent. However, this pity is coming awfully close to anger ever since he proceeded to upend the natural cycle of life and death during the War of the Moon. Clearly, Hilathu must be taught a lesson that he will feel down to his very soul.
Rival (Important)
Towards Sasakia, God of Butterflies
Rival (Important)
Towards Nergalzeb, God of Flies
Relationship Reasoning
Nergalzeb sees Sasakia as a kindred spirit as they are both gods that watch over decay and rot as well as death rites having to do with the cycle of nature and returning to the earth. To the god of flies Sasakia is one who understands the true beauty and peaceful bliss that comes with rot and death. They get along surprisingly well despite their overlap in domains and nature. However, conflicts have been known to break out between them over territory or whether the death rites of particular individuals should fall to Nergalzeb or Sasakia. Not to mention that while Nergalzeb is a follower of Shia she is in equal parts a follower of Mora which can sometimes put her in conflict with the god of butterflies. While Sasakia understands the truth of death Nergalzeb believes she often lacks the full picture of life and death and the fact that Mora and Shia are two sides of the same coin. This has caused some debates between the followers of the gods. Sasakia also sees the state of Nergalzeb and some of her infected followers as disgusting abominations. However, Sasakia still maintains an air of politeness towards Nergalzeb. The way Nergalzeb sees it Sasakia often teaches an incorrect or incomplete picture about the nature of rot, making her some flavor of ignorant.
Ally/Enemy/Pawn (Important)
Towards Ana, God of Spiders
Ally/Enemy (Important)
Towards Nergalzeb, God of Flies
Relationship Reasoning
Ana and Nancy are the gods presiding over one of the natural predators of flies. However, Nergalzeb doesn’t seem to mind because flies have lots of natural predators anyway and due to her love of the cycle of life and death and she doesn’t mind killing as long as it eventually gives birth to new life. Although the spider gods apparently tricked Nergalzeb once and the fly god has a great distaste of their schemes and how they promise their followers ways to avoid their natural fate. This is because Nergalzeb believes true happiness comes from accepting one’s fate to one day wither and rot.
Ally/Enemy/Pawn (Important)
Towards Nancy, Goddess of Spiders
Ally/Enemy (Important)
Towards Nergalzeb, God of Flies
Relationship Reasoning
Ana and Nancy are the gods presiding over one of the natural predators of flies. However, Nergalzeb doesn’t seem to mind because flies have lots of natural predators anyway and due to her love of the cycle of life and death and she doesn’t mind killing as long as it eventually gives birth to new life. Although the spider gods apparently tricked Nergalzeb once and the fly god has a great distaste of their schemes and how they promise their followers ways to avoid their natural fate. This is because Nergalzeb believes true happiness comes from accepting one’s fate to one day wither and rot.
Enemy (Important)
Towards Nergalzeb, God of Flies
Relationship Reasoning
Nergalzeb doesn’t hate Soliairs, she doesn’t really hate anyone, but she feels he must be taught a lesson for their treatment of Shia and fiddling with the natural order by saving Benjamen Stridde after he had died. Shia need only say the word and Nergalzeb would attempt to release new and horrific plagues upon Soliairs and their cult. To Nergalzeb, Soliairs is young, foolish, and has yet to accept the truth of rot.
Ally who understands the inevitability of darkness (Important)
Towards "Umbra", God of Giant Squid
Ally who understands the inevitability of rot (Important)
Towards Nergalzeb, God of Flies
Relationship Reasoning
They get along surprisingly great as Umbra’s philosophy that one day everything will fade to darkness and Nergalzeb’s belief that all will rot, decay, and die seem to mesh well together. They have their spats and philosophical disagreements and they aren’t friends but their relationship is probably the closest thing Umbra has to a friend. Also, Nergalzeb has a bigger emphasis on the importance of life than Umbra. From Umbra’s perspective, death and darkness will always eventually triumph over life in the end while Nergalzeb sees no real difference between life and death. The distinction of life and death is but an illusion to the fly god.
Comments