Khydar the Unnatural
God of Undeath
Born of Astus and Jopha's disastrous attempt to create the perfect divine being, Khydar is referred to the Unnatural, and that moniker certainly fits, but he is also a mass of contradictions. Though often blamed for unleashing the undead on an unsuspecting Valine, Khydar, in truth, did as much as any of the gods to control their spread across the world. His dominion over the undead quite naturally gives him an interest in the expansion of their numbers, but this is not at the expense of the living, at least in the eyes of those that follow Khydar. Without the living to die (and, yes, to feed upon) the undead will eventually fade away.
Khydar, however, wants to advance the undead, and that is difficult to do with just a host of mindless zombies. This has led to the ongoing conflict over souls that lies between Khydar and Astus. In fact it is Astus's surrogate, Hunia, that comes in more direct conflict with Khydar. Hunia hunts the souls rejected from the afterlife, but Khydar harvests them. By the time Astus and Hunia realized what had been happening, hundreds of thousands of salvageable souls had been lost to undeath. When Astus discovered that Khydar had also been harvesting souls before they reached him for judgment, a permanent barrier was built between them. The other gods keep the two from open warfare with one another, but at best, the battle over souls could be called an uneasy ceasefire.
In the midst of this ceasefire, Khydar created the race of clonns in his own image. Rejected by the other sentient species of Valine at first, the clonns withdrew from the rest of the world, separated themselves from open worship of Khydar and developed as a species. Khydar feels the loss of the connection with his creation keenly, with the grief of an abandoned parent. His bitterness over the whole affair lingers, and a harvested clonnic soul can expect to be returned as an undead abomination of particular horror to Valine, deliberately modeled both to cause destruction and to be killed by the living, destroying the soul permanently.
Khydar's clerics teach undeath as an alternative to death and loss, showing that undeath does not necessarily mean an existence as a brain hungry rotting corpse, but can return to their loved one as a functioning, intelligent being. This is not a promise that can be practically delivered upon in many cases, but the promise of extending the stay on Valine of a loved one, at least in spirit, is a powerful one.
Divine Domains
- Undeath
Holidays
- 1st of Asmir: Divine First of the Pantheon
- 1st of Undhar: Divine First of Khydar
Physical Description
Body Features
Three sets of intertwining horns and elongated feet.
Facial Features
Half of Khydar's face is rotted away and infested with maggots. They cover this part up with an eyepatch and white makeup.
Identifying Characteristics
Apparel & Accessories
Brightly colored clothing and comically oversized items are the style in which Khydar is depicted. Their bone scythe, Soul Render, that severs and stores souls is Khydar's signature possession.
Mental characteristics
Accomplishments & Achievements
Created the race of clonns .
Social
Relationships
Khydar the Unnatural, God of Undeath
Holy Symbol of Khydar
Divine Classification
God
Religions
Spouses
Siblings
Children
Gender
Neutral
Comments