Taharial the Basalt Lady
This land is a hellscape. The southren Lumian Expanse is a wretched place by all acounts a rocky arid land strewn with hard sharp rocks, oozing flows of molten stone, hissing steam vents and ember flecked ash that falls from the sky. The smell is opressive, a reek of sulpher and noxious fumes that leaves a poisonous taste in your mouth.
Amid this hellish abyss there twists an old path that leads to a horseshoe shapped yellow lake that reeks of salt and sulphur and the slightest wind that blows across its surface makes your eyes water and sting. Coming here may have been worth the cost of the goggles, breathing mask and even magical protection because this noxious lake flanks what may be considred a wonder of the world.
She is nearly ten feet in height and carved from gleaming black basalt. She is achingly beautiful her naked from too perfect in its preportions the feathered wings that spread from her back are magnificent and the saddness etched upon her face deep and profound. The true miracle though is that the statue weeps and her tears are said to be magic. Yet they say that this place is a hunting ground for abyssal beasts and worshipers of the god of destruction and that even if they do not trouble you that nightmares of sorrow and personal revelation await any who remain close to the statue for too long.
Purpose / Function
The Basalt Lady is said to be a reminder of the fallibility of the righteous and that good people must be wary for the path to evil is never far. Though for the cult of the god of destruction it is an unholy place and a symbol of their dread gods power and lastly for a few brave souls the Basalt Lady is a source of Angels Tears a powerful substance used in alchemy, medicine and magical crafts.
Alterations
None. The statue defies any and all damage delt to it reforming even after utter disintigration.
Architecture
This monument is a flawless beauty and she was not built by any mortal hand nor cut from stone.
Defenses
The cult of the god of destruction patrol the statue and the area surrounding it treating it as a holy site, the statue itself is seemingly indestructable as the will of a god empowers it and its renewl from harm.
History
The Basalt Ladies story starts long, long ago with a powerful angel named Taharial. Taharial was one of the most powerful of her kind and a sworn destroyer of evil. Her flaming sword and bright burning gaze had spelled the doom for countless unholy monsters and mortal sinners alike. It was said she was merciful and kind hearted once but as her war against evil continued in an endless series of conflicts she became bitter and jaded.
Taharial soon came to care less and less about justice and redemption and would become a symbol of punishment. No one was spared who might be tainted by evil and death became her answer to evil for she had given up on redemption after too many eons of battle against evil.
On the world of Syann in an age when the second generation of gods were young and walked its surface Taharial would take it upon herself to slay would be evil deities while they were young and weak. She and her host of warrior spirits would select Sal'Zen the (at this time) Demi-god of destruction as the first in a long list of evil beings to execute.
Taharial and her legion of hard bitten holy spirits would wage war on Sal'Zen and found even as a young god that Sal'Zen was not to be trifled with. His ever burning black axe reeved angelic warriors in twain by the dozens and each foe that attacked him out of a need to destroy him simply for existing seemed to make him grow stronger. When Taharial herself finally tracked him down she would issue a challenge for him to face her in battle in a blasted land near a great lake of Sulphur and salt least he be labeled a coward for denying her battle. Sal'Zen was all to happy to oblige the arch angel.
Even as a fledging Demi-god Sal'Zen was a hulking powerfully built being, his black axe glowed with fire and smoked with noxious black fumes and he wore the skulls of all who had tried to kill him on his belt. Each of his steps caused the earth to tremble and volcanos to roar, storms churned as he breathed and fires followed in his wake.
"I will end you before your divine spark matures! Evil such as yours shall not infect this world nor the multiverse!"
cried out the warrior arch angel her blazing sword igniting ready for the fight. To her surprise the seemingly brutish demi-god laughed and put down his axe and replied to her in an amused tone.
"You come to prevent my evil? That is amusing for I know of you and your servants, I know that you have spread more hate and fostered more evil in your wake then I ever will in ten eons. You are a blind bitch Taharial and the reason you target me is because i remind you of who you have chosen to become!"
Sal'Zen then laughed at her, a fledging god of hate and destruction dared to laugh at and insult an archangel and her fury blossomed into reckless rage. Taharial dove at the godling ready to strike him down with her blazing sword and end him once and for all. In a flash she was upon him and her sword drove at his heart and in that same flash she was stopped dead in her tracks the bare hands of Sal'Zen clapped on the flat of her blade holding her back as if she was a mere child. She snarled and locked eyes with Sal'Zen and he continued to speak to her saying
"Look how far you have fallen, look how much you have become what you hated. Each act of blind rage, each thoughtless murder of a sinner or destruction of some demon or devil just because they exist has changed you my blind beautiful Taharial, face the fires of your own hatred and witness the truth as I lay ruin to the falsehoods and lies you shield yourself with!"
Sal'Zen would take a deep breath and blow black fire across Taharial a fire that was fueled by her hate and burned away the lies she had told herself for Sal'Zen was a destroyer of all things even an Arch Angels hypocrisy. As Taharial was consumed by the black flames she staggered back dropping her burning sword and crying out in pain for she was for the first time in eons forced to see herself as she truly was. She was fallen she was an agent of hate and no better then the monsters she slew.
Unable to stand what she had become she begged for death but Sal'Zen is not nor ever was a merciful being. He demanded she become his bride and stand by his side or face eternal suffering. Taharial spat a curse at Sal'Zen and refused to continue upon the path of evil and stood resolute in spite of the weeping agony of body and spirit that consumed her. With a casual shrug Sal'Zen accepted her refusal and turned away stating to her "So be it, then you shall suffer in torment as a basalt statue here in this place of sulphur and salt, your spirit trapped in a body of unbreakable stone forever burning from your own hate until you decide to be my bride and your sword I shall have kept for you or another who is worthy of the flaming blade of a hateful angel"
And so Taharial became the Basalt Lady forever weeping angelic tears and enduring ages of suffering refusing to let herself fall again. Her flaming sword lost somewhere in the burning lands of southern Lumia.
As for the statue itself it has only been recently discovered, less then a few decades ago it was thought of only as a myth until a group of adventruers exploring the Southren Dry Expanse happened upon it. Now it has become an holy site protected by the cult of Sal'Zen yet its beauty, magical tears and potential ties to a hidden Arch Angels sword draw many to Taharial the Basalt Lady.
Tourism
Pilgrams and more often adventruers make their way to the Basalt Lady marveling at her beauty and seeking her Angels Tears. The landscape, viscious beasts and murderous cultists of Sal'Zen however make tourism a difficult prospect at the best of times. Still some brave or mad few risk this for her tears and their healing properties and a few to pay respects to her. Some come hoping there is a clue to her sword somewhere near the statue or in the case of a few they seek to free Taharial from her stoney prison.
RUINED STRUCTURE
Unknown
Unknown
Founding Date
Unknown
Alternative Names
The Basalt Bitch, The Fallen Flame. The Sorched Seraph
Type
Statue
Parent Location
Owner
Comments