Y'shendra
Contents
Introduction
Among all the Corrupted Gods, Y'shendra is the most reviled. The people of Atharen regard her with a primitive disdain, casting her off as a blight upon the world, a rot even within a sea of it: too mangled even for Bel. Many believe this is the result of a feeling of pain, even betrayal - a rage born of tragedy at what the Goddess used to be. Most hated now, but formerly, most loved.
History
Y'shendra was previously the Goddess of Life, Fertility and Faith. She was viewed as the mother of all life, and all races, and the scion of the Path, or the church of the Living Gods. She was the wife of Malek, their union endearing the concept of lifelong partnership to mortals. This balance between life and death, made by love rather than some antagonistic duality, offered an optimistic view of what life and death were: intricately entangled, cycles meant to be explored together, rather than feared.
Y'shendra was, also, the mother of the Elven race. She created the first Hyr'norai, modeling them after Venadak, who she viewed as a brother of hers and something to aspire to.
These accomplishments, only a few among many, were her legacy. Yet, to most, they are too far away; they exist outside of the realm of memory, overshadowed easily by what seems like nothing but untold cruelty by the Y'shendra of today.
The Days After
The Bleeding confined Y'shendra to Bel, as with all of the Corrupted Gods. This, perhaps more than the physical corruption of her form, slowly drove her mad. For a creature defined by what she perceived as her motherhood to be only capable of observing the eradication of hundreds of millions of her children, the near-total annihilation of the Elves and the downfall of the peace and civilization once thought attained, her pain became melded with an overbearing chorus of self-doubt. Y'shendra believed the Bleeding to be her fault. Worst of all, many of the mortals who once adored her seemed to concur, spiting her and her kin for creating the Bleeding; for showing themselves fallible, without the expected foresight of the Gods.
In her mind, these critiques were right. Y'shendra, always kind and congenial, thought to harden herself from within her prison of rot. She believed that had she been harsher and more decisive, she could have stopped the Unbroken Draedan from revolting in the first place. Who were her children if not the very literal children of the Gods, the ones who conspired against them and sundered Venadak to begin with? First, she realized, she had failed them. Then, by extension, the world.
These thoughts were made with an addled mind. The influence of Bel's corruption drove her thoughts darker - a desire to become fiercer and more resolute turned into a disciplinary creed; her self-image, that of a benevolent matron, altered over time. She began to view punishment as the correct path forward, lashings for the disobedient, atonement and desperate forgiveness. She found the tortured souls of the Draedan who had caused the Bleeding, who all lied still within Bel, and did not allow them to rest. Instead - as their 'mother' - she committed them to a sort of purgatory, an eternity in her service. From these trials of manipulating the mortal and immortal soul, Y'shendra learned how to twist life into undeath. The taboo Malek had always despised, that of infinitely prolonging the soul's ability to sustain the body, no longer interfered with her thoughts. Y'shendra knew why Malek had confined mortals to a limited life: so that he, and the other Gods, could consume their souls as batteries from within Muid.
She decided she would deprive them of that, for the Living Gods had failed to do anything at all; they were the cowardly who did not stand for Venadak, who were content to allow their brother and leader to die. Instead, Y'shendra would gain power through souls in a different way: by condemning them to her service for as long as their bodies could still dare to move.
Her first terrifying creations, the Night Wraiths - or the undead Draedan who once conspired against the Gods - became the first of many nightmarish births. Y'shendra learned to master undeath, a concept originally touched by ancient Necromancy, yet without going far enough. She found a way to manipulate the soul with a disease made for it. She practiced on mortals in the form of the Kohrun, then Dragons, then all other life. By the end of the Fifth Age, in the continent of Icheron, Y'shendra built a horde; an army unlike any ever seen.
Unlike the other Gods, Y'shendra moved forward from the Bleeding with no desire for minimal interference. Wherever she could, she staked her claws into the world and expanded her influence. She sought new children, more obedient, and fashioned herself a crown of bones. It is not purely understood by the people of Atharen just how foul and wide-spread her influence has become, ignorant of the affairs of the eastern continent, which has gone wholly dark.
The few aware of Y'shendra's games, however, know of the depth of her threat: one in danger of consuming the mortal realms.
Depiction
Y'shendra's symbol was - before her corruption - a tree with a golden sphere within its core, surrounded by thick branches. The tree and sphere represented all three of her domains: life, fertility, and faith, the orb's nature that of a soul, both the nexus of mortal life and the clearest binding tying the mortal races to the Living Gods. Since then, her symbol has not changed considerably, merely being given a shift in tone. The golden sphere now exists within a complex, darkly colored bramble, stretching outward in all directions from the interlocked core. This icon is known as the Umbral Heart, a fascinating emblem given its direct significance to her physical form.
Y'shendra has always held this glowing, golden orb within her own body. Those who have seen her - both fellow Adac and mortal men - have spoken of its brilliance, the way it pulses within her as if a font of life. Even now, fully corrupted, it maintains its brilliance, perhaps an anchor to the hopeful ideals she once held. The remainder of her form has not been spared by corruption, and by her foray into undeath. Her skin has turned grey, corpse-like and shriven. Her features remain beautiful if somewhat sagged, her eyes perpetually displaying a deep, drooping frankness. Y'shendra is said to be as tall as a tree, surrounded by thick, darkly-colored branches, rotting at the edges of her form. Her legs appear to be wooden themselves, shaped like mortal appendages but covered in thick black bark. Overall, her visage is one said to be both awe-inspiring, and one that invokes a true, deep terror.
In statues and other depictions, Y'shendra's old appearance often remains: that of a gilded matron, often surrounded by young, both animals and mortal-kind. She wears long, flowing robes, and carries a single baby in her arms. Depictions of her created in the present day are typically outlawed, but tend towards sinister themes; a mother butchering her child, branches impaling the glowing, Umbral Heart, the Goddess' face appearing to contort with a strange, reluctant ecstasy.
Domains
Y'shendra is one of the few Corrupted who faced a total overhaul of her domains, her abilities twisting in the face of the overwhelming corruption plaguing her body. Once the Adac of Life, Fertility and Faith, her last two domains have shifted to that of Undeath and Malice. Life and Undeath essentially merge into that of one domain: Unlife, Y'shendra gaining true mastery over the undead craft. Called the Great Necromancer, Y'shendra is capable of transforming any and all life near to her to an undead state, save for other fully-fledged Adac. Most impressively, she can assert total control over any undead with this frightening ability, rapidly expanding her dominion. Her army of undead Orkhai within Bel has grown immensely over recent decades, with multiple other Corrupted forging temporary alliances to quell her threat. Even their children, the Draedan, appear vulnerable to her corruption, flooded with malice and directed against their fathers and mothers.
Malice, itself, is a new and unique domain of Y'shendra's: it allows her to redirect great scores of negative emotion, channeling it into fury, often used to turn the primitive hunger within her undead into a violent lashing out. Y'shendra's domains allow her mastery over others in a way even other Gods cannot easily surmount, forcing others to act in unity against her darkly aspirations.
The religious significance of Y'shendra's domains greatly vary, with a plethora of associated perceptions and feelings around her. Life, today, is largely seen as a reminder of her past self, as she rarely seems to foster the domain. Y'shendra herself believes that undeath is the zenith of life, considering the undead live forever. In this way, she creates 'life' everlasting, therefore still fulfilling her ancient domain. Undeath itself is viewed as a new, superior state of being, the perfect duality between life and death that she was once seen as a 'half' of, to Malek's other. No longer viewing this dualistic relationship with Malek necessary, she finds her new domain the essential crux of her vision, and purpose.
Influence
Y'shendra's influence is more extensive than most Gods, especially those locked within Bel. She has forged an effective and powerful network of followers on the surface, largely led by a Blight of her creation, the Blacksworn. The Necromancer believes it is her duty to create order and prosperity within Atharen, and to allow mortals the full bounty of eternal life. For this reason, she has distributed undeath on an industrial scale in the last century, nearly converting the entire continent of Icheron into an undead mass. Much of her influence, and what she would like to enact upon to the world, is shrouded in mystery however, as information regarding the theology and affairs of the eastern continent has vanished into obscurity as her influence upon it has become total. While some in continental Atharen are aware of her threat, none truly understand its scope.
Dogma
Corrupted, Y'shendra has little 'dogma' to speak of. She does not view herself as a herald of any particular ideology, value or belief system, but rather as an arbiter of stability and as the key to superior mortality. She has taken it upon herself, and her followers, to infinitely prolong the mortal life and to create a united order beneath her perfect, impartial rule. Rather than losing her cognitive stability as with some of the other Corrupted, Y'shendra has perhaps become more clear-minded than ever, and this is easily understood by any who seek to clarify her present objectives.
Notable Religious Factions
The Blacksworn
Little is known about the Blacksworn to those on the Greater Continent of Atharen, but those on the continent of Icheron -- conversely -- have had vast and considerable interaction with them, their progeny, and their ambitions. The Blacksworn, under the auspices of Y'shendra, have conquered the majority of surface Icheron, forging an undead Empire in scale and number unlike nearly any Empire before it. Serving as her Generals, the Blacksworn are the model of her Undead perfection: life-like, even fully 'living', while defying the potential for death and decay, preserved in a youthful and painless state. Great Necromancers in the more traditional sense, these Warrior-Apostles serve as the hands and eyes of the Umbral Empress, fulfilling her will onto Icheron, and seeking to expand her dominion to the continental main.
The Umber Wilds
A great forest of rot, a twisted malformation, mirroring Y'shendra's mind. The Umber Wilds are reminiscent of the old forests of Sil-Elaine; the trees sing old Elven songs, the haunting chords escaping their throatless voices, hushing as one draws near. The sky is eternally mired in an eclipse, a manifestation of the Empress' perfect convergence of Life, and Undeath. And, most strangely, the thicket is filled with the endless marching of harrowed, mind-addled undead, appearing to tread endlessly towards the source of the song that feels as near as it is distant, unreachable even if one were to trudge forward for all of measurable time.
Unlike many of her peers, Y'shendra is very active within her Realm, her breath shaking the trees, her eyes upon stragglers being felt through the curious lurching of the beasts that hang from them. The Corrupted always desires to be in control, observing each and every interaction, one way or another. Any who dwell within the Umber Wilds do so at her grace, the consequence of conspiracy or insubordination utterly dire.
Throughout Y'shendra's Realm, there are dilapidated Elven ruins, both small in scale - such as abandoned Fort towers - or even colossi resembling entire cities, laid to waste. These ruinous structures exist as reminders of times long ago; memories of perhaps better times, the maternal guide to the young Norai who revered her as their beloved creator. It appears to any visitor of her Realm that she longs again for those brighter days; the songs and ruins gnarled and wretched in their manifestation, but clear in purpose. The Umber Wilds exist as a place of sorrow, regret and humility for the Corrupted Goddess, a brewing resentment burrowing beneath it all.
Demigods
Y'shendra has had very few Draedan, despite her providence over life. The sterile nature of Adac amongst one another has caused no small amount of sorrow between her and Malek in the past, and neither considered reproduction with mortals for a long time, despite the imperative of the Gods to expand their own species. As a result, all of Y'shendra's children from before the Bleeding came as the result of divine or miraculous conception, as 'gifts' to loyal followers, or simply methods of implanting her influence within specific regions.
Silas
Silas is one of the oldest Draedan of Y'shendra's that is still alive, and is one of the most influential Draedan on Atharen. The Duke of Vendígad's Wildlands, he was born and awakened long before Y'shendra's fall. A virtuous, honorable man, the Draedan serves as a reminder of the benevolent deity his mother once was, the Goddess once fostering his good nature herself. A Druid, Silas is said to be the practitioner of a lost, ancient magic, and it is largely through his influence that the Elven God Lachrann has survived since the Bleeding, and therefore Vendígad itself.
Born before the genocide and corruption of the old Norai, Silas appears to be similar to ancient Ald'Norai depictions, some perceiving him to be the last 'pure' Elf, free of the diminishment of their natural traits. He is an impressive and powerful man, and has long fought to keep the last vestiges of the Elven world alive.
Silas' relationship with Y'shendra has waned to the point of unfamiliarity, since the Bleeding. Though she called on him to join her side within Bel, he did not answer her call, and has only disappointedly looked on upon the Adac's recent activities.
