Arakaena

Summary/Background
Formerly the uncontested god-queen of the Durau, Arakaena, Queen of Spiders, Mistress of Webs, once ruled her subjects with a wicked and bloodthirsty grip. Sowing chaos, paranoia, betrayal, and abject evil into the hearts and souls of the Durau for uncounted centuries, Arakaena warped the traditions of Ancient Tilath into a twisted and cruel theocracy even before the Schism. Arakaena made one thing perfectly clear to her people - only the strong deserve to survive, and only the strong keep what they have. Prodding the Durau to take what they wanted and kill, subjugate, or devour anything that stood in their way, Arakaena herself was born a Divine Sovereign, and at some point around the Schism became far more than that, a living demon. As Tilath burned, Arakaena led the Durau beneath the Suntouched Lands into the Underworld, and there they festered and spread across most of Seedorus, building their own mighty empire among the horrors of the deep.

Over millennia, Arakaena tormented her own people through her Church as much as she did any other people unfortunate enough to be noted by the Durau. Live humanoid sacrifices were commonplace, and only the very real and indiscriminate threat of divine retribution kept the Durau from rebelling. Isolated by their past, born into a culture of extraordinary cruelty, and unable to trust their own kin, let alone outsiders, the Durau were so thoroughly broken by Arakaena's demonic depredations that for centuries the entire race was assumed to be inherently evil, and the War of the Underworld did little to change those perceptions, as Arakaena gleefully oversaw the genocide of the Lanorai and glutted on the souls of her own people as they died in legions.

It is perhaps a bit of poetic justice, then, that Arakaena's death came not at the hands of other gods or the endless hordes of the Demonic Realms, but those of her own disciples. In 3328 DY, as Arakaena eagerly awaited the completion of The Eternity Gate, six Durau summoned to Arakaena's Realm to stabilize the nascent portal instead turned the incredible magics on the goddess, weakening her enough to allow the six to overpower and kill her. Supposedly, as Arakaena struggled to regenerate lost limbs and heal from her wounds, she was still alive when the Dark Sisters fell upon her, eating her flesh and soul to become goddesses themselves.

Unique Worshiper Options (d20)
Divine Blessing feats are a special category of powerful feats that reflect the unique abilities granted by deities in pursuit of their portfolios and agendas. Only a divine spellcaster or a character with a Paladin or Antipaladin Aura can take a Divine Blessing feat, and they must worship the indicated deity and remain in good standing with their faith in order to use the feat’s benefits. Once a character has obtained a Divine Blessing feat with one deity, they cannot gain a Divine Blessing from any other deity without converting to the new faith. A character who converts to another religion must retrain the feat as normal and does not typically get to replace it otherwise.

Deity Description
Arakaena was, in a word, monstrous, both in body and spirit. Born as a physically alluring Tilathian Elf, Arakaena's inherent power as a Divine Sovereign only fueled her sociopathic tendencies, and she felt no compunction against manipulating and abusing others to get what she wanted, whether it was through magic, sex, lies, torture, or brute force. During her time as a Divine Sovereign of Tilath, Arakaena's power and influence only continued to grow as she turned to forbidden and dangerous demonic magics, heedless of worries about corruption or influence and scoffing at the idea she should be denied anything at all. It's not entirely clear when Arakaena obtained what is widely considered her "true form," that of a many-armed demonic Drider, but the latter form is what most think of when asked to describe her. In this demonic form, Arakaena retains her Elven appearance from the hips up, albeit with a surplus of arms and a mouth concealing a pair of grotesque venomous spikes she could extend or retract at will. Arakaena could shift between these two forms at will, and it's unclear which was the "real" Arakaena by the time of her death.

In personality, Arakaena was as monstrous and twisted as her demonic form. As noted above, Arakaena was completely sociopathic and took her greatest pleasures from ruining and harming others to get whatever she wanted. Despite her cruel and sadistic history, Arakaena was also a talented liar and manipulator who could make one doubt their own experiences with her, and even the Divine Sovereigns were not immune to her charms and machinations. Arakaena cannot be reliably said to have ever loved or liked anyone, but she seemed to hate women slightly less than men, and though she wasn't above treating either sex as disposable she reserved a particular violence towards males that shaped Durau society. Arakaena thoroughly believed that everything in life belonged only to those with the strength to take and keep it, and any sign of weakness was an invitation for the strong to take from them. More than that, Arakaena saw the ruination of others as entertainment, and sometimes spent decades building the strength of a victim only so she could later take it all away from them. Literally no one was spared from this sadistic worldview, and Arakaena even encouraged children to murder each other if they wanted to and could get away with it. This sadism bled into every aspect of Durau life for millennia, and only the most tenuous familial bonds kept her people from murdering each other into extinction.

Relations with the Many Divines
Not surprisingly, Arakaena was not regarded well by the Many Divines. Ranging from outright hatred to pained pity, good-aligned deities almost universally recoil from the abusive and cruel nature of Arakaena and her beliefs. Arakaena herself despised the entirety of the Many Divines, convinced they were all weak but knew she could not overpower them all by herself. Osae and Litheryn reserve a particular disgust for Arakaena, as she attempted to use the former as a weapon against the latter, nearly destroying them both spiritually in the process. Having been fooled by Arakaena into thinking she loved her, Osae's disgust is tinged with pity, as she knows better than anyone that Arakaena's existence is one of self-inflicted loneliness and emptiness that Arakaena would never be able to fill. Litheryn instead feels only cold ire towards Arakaena for what she did to not only him but for the pain she caused Osae.

Relations with the Gray Faiths
Arakaena had few friends or allies among the Gray Faiths, for the same reason she had none among the Many Divines. The few deities of the Gray Faiths willing to consort with Arakaena only did so out of short-lived convenience or accidents, as the more chaotic members of the Gray Faiths were the only ones willing to overlook her long history of betrayals if it suited their whims. These unions never lasted more than a few years, at most, and no one ever seriously considered Arakaena as being likely to form a long-term alliance with anyone or anything else. Toio and Morpheus are the only two deities known to have ever had more than one or two such unions, and always to suit their own immediate needs and interests.

Relations with the Dark Pantheon
Even among other evil deities, Arakaena had few acquaintances and no friends or allies. Arakaena loathed Asmodeus and Naruyxz the most among the Dark Pantheon, as they often thwarted her schemes in the endless struggles between Hell and the Demonic Realms.

Relations with Other Pantheons
When Arakaena first rose to prominence, she was viewed with curiosity by the Fey of the Shadow Court and Night Court. That curiosity soon ended after Arakaena ate several envoys and used others for experiments and games. The Night Court initially saw many similarities between themselves and Arakaena but drew the line at her cannibalism and sadistic torture of Fey. The Shadow Court, on the other hand, saw a kindred spirit, but one best admired from a distance.

Druids of all stripes have nothing in common with Arakaena, and she had little to no use for them in turn. Still, Arakaena's ego demanded none but her be worshiped by the Durau, and so she encouraged pogroms against Druids of both the Old Ways and the newer Paths. This did little to endear Arakaena to the entities at the heart of the Old Ways, and she in turn took only joy from the slaughter of Durau who might revere a power other than her.

It is, perhaps, only in the Demonic Pantheon that Arakaena found anything resembling kindred spirits, not that that stopped her from killing and eating any demon, Demon Prince, or Demon Princess she could ensnare in her webs. Demons of all kinds hated Arakaena, but they undoubtedly respected her as well. Arakaena was incapable of love, but she did admire the Demon Princesses Irimorth and Xuggan. Other Demon Princes and Princesses maintain Arakaena would have short-lived and violent trysts with the two, but Arakaena herself made a point of hunting and creatively butchering any who dared to spread such rumors, as does Irimorth. Xuggan, on the other hand, seems indifferent to the rumors, neither seeking to confirm or deny whether they are true.

Notable Historic Events

 * Winter 3328 - Arakaena is betrayed, murdered, and cannibalized by the mortal Durau who ascend as the Dark Sisters.
 * Spring 3328 - Izan Val renounces his rank and status within the Church of the Many Divines and founds the kingdom of Arkae with the prophecy that the Durau would return, darker and more twisted than ever.  The lack of divine protection causes Durau society to implode and the Eternity Gate falls within a matter of weeks.