"Gentle"
“The Gentle” waits. She lingers in the darkness, her presence silent yet suffocating, her countless spindly arms unfurling like a nest of pale serpents. At the center of her shifting mass, a bald, expressionless head tilts and watches… unblinking. Her movements are slow, deliberate, patient, until she strikes. Then, there is only silence.
Once known as Takinom, goddess of Ambush, she thrived in deception and sudden devastation, granting her followers divine gifts to strike unseen and disappear before a counterattack could be made. Her armies of assassins were feared across Baltharos, until the Kleuzia Empire exterminated every last one of them, severing her godhood. Stripped of divinity and reason, her body became a grotesque mass of limbs and sinew, her hunger now insatiable.
Now called “The Gentle,” she stalks the battlefields and ruins where her followers were slaughtered, a shadow in the periphery of all who dare cross her lands. She does not speak, save for a faint whisper, an imitation of a mother soothing a child, just before she attacks. Her victims disappear silently into the dark, their bodies never found.
Formerly known as Takinom, goddess of Ambush.
Divine Symbols & Sigils
Once symbolized by a crescent dagger hidden behind a hand. Now, travelers mark three parallel scratches into trees or rocks as warnings of her hunting grounds.
Holidays
None. Her name is whispered only as a warning among travelers—“Be gentle, or The Gentle will find you.”
Divine Goals & Aspirations
To eradicate every remnant of the Kleuzia Empire and turn their lands into hunting grounds, while feeding her endless hunger on any who trespass.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Once a cunning and revered goddess of ambush and covert warfare, Takinom’s influence spread through deadly assassins and shadow operatives. When her entire network was eradicated by the Kleuzia Empire, her divinity withered. Twisted into the being now called “The Gentle,” she roams the ruins of her followers’ graves, seeking vengeance and sustenance alike.
Intellectual Characteristics
Patient, predatory, cunning, calculating, silent, unnervingly deliberate.
Morality & Philosophy
Prey exists only to feed the predator. Fear is the greatest weapon, and silence is its blade. All who walk her cursed lands are prey until proven otherwise.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
To avenge the slaughter of her followers by sowing terror and death in the Kleuzia Empire and beyond. Her hunger drives her to feed constantly, but her hatred focuses her hunts on those she associates with her downfall.
Likes & Dislikes
Likes shadows, silence, lingering fear in her prey, and the smell of fresh blood.
Dislikes bright light, loud noise, and prey that fights back with courage rather than panic.
Virtues & Personality perks
Her patience and silence make her the ultimate predator; she can phase between shadows, her multitude of limbs allowing her to strike from angles no mortal can predict. Even as an Exiled god, her hunting instincts make her one of the deadliest creatures in Baltharos.
Vices & Personality flaws
Her hunger overrides strategy when prey is near, sometimes making her reckless. Her fixation on vengeance blinds her to opportunities beyond revenge. She cannot stand prolonged exposure to light, which limits her hunting grounds.
Personality Quirks
Her limbs constantly writhe and coil even when still, producing faint scraping sounds. She hums faint, haunting lullabies before striking, a mockery of her name. Her head never blinks.
Divine Classification
Old god
Children
Quotes & Catchphrases
"Hush now… the dark keeps you safe… until I don’t."
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