Sheoldred
The Wretched; Jorogumo-Hime; The Crawling Sensation; Regent of Fear
Sheoldred is the Duskscape Regent of horror, anxiety and nightmares. God-Queen of the Qlippoth, she is a sadistic and capricious being, just as happy to stalk and torment Duskscape natives as she is to haunt the dreaming souls of Materians. She is opposed but also complimented by the Regent of Dreams and Lord of the Spharai, Auron Surai.
Her world-lair in the Near Umbra is called Apprehensia.
Sheoldred's alignment is Chaotic Evil.Appearance & Heraldry
See also: Sheoldred Image Gallery (External)Despite her association with the morphic Qlippoth and swarms, Sheoldred seems fond of humanoid and generally feminine-gendered forms, albeit always different in ways that are disturbing and uncanny. This leads occult scholars to surmise she was likely a demon of some Near Umbral province before reaching godhood. That said, she also enjoys experimenting with shapes that stretch the limits of Waking sanity without losing her prey to complete catatonia.
Worship
Though most undoubtedly find horror to be an unpleasant sensation, it possesses an inexplicable hold on the Waking psyche and cults of Sheoldred have been surprisingly common in history. Varyingly called the Crawling Sensation, the Dread Whisperers and the Maws of Xhat’inareth (the latter being an official order among the drow of Nireau and later Nibelheim), they view Sheoldred as a giving deity, relatively generous with her intoxicating power so long as its use is sufficiently creative.Allhallows
In fact cults of the Crawling Sensation have been common enough in Material history that they've left substantial marks on Waking civilization. One example is the popular set of festivals and observances known as Allhallows, in which communities perform various rites to warn away creatures of night and shadow, and bring about a year of good dreams. Sheoldred is said to despise ginger; as such it's common on Allhallows to hang sprigs of ginger above doorways or around one's neck. A popular custom is to make baked goods of ginger to hand out to local children, to strengthen their souls against nightmares.Domains
Sheoldred's primary Domain is Nightmares. Her secondary domains are Abomination, Swarms, Pain, Sorrow and Change.Favoured Weapon
The Wretched's favoured weapon is the scorpion whip. Her Relic scorpion whip is Meekculler.History
There is a persistent rumour is that The Wretched was once a united being with Auron Surai, named Auron Sheoldrai. Why the being split into two is unknown, assuming this story is even true.Politics
The Wretched has no discernible politics with other Cenobites, and indeed seems to be just as much a nuisance to other Regents as Rom's Valkyries or Waking Baneslayers. She finds the various Near-Umbral, demonic city-states like Epitaph, Sarkoldu'un-Imathratep and Kloster Storkenfels to be particularly enjoyable playgrounds, forcing their Demon Lords to sometimes intervene directly and fight her off. Battles between Sheoldred and Epitaph's enigmatic "Mayor", John Leng, are the stuff of whispered awe.
Illus. Yoshitaka Amano
Sheoldred
Godhood
Duskscape Regent Alignment
CE Domains
Nightmares, Abomination, Swarms, Pain, Sorrow, Change, Darkness Favoured Weapon
Scorpion Whip Relic Weapon
Meekculler
Children
Comments