Vyshareth, the Goddess of Corruption (VISH-ah-reth)

Vyshareth, the Goddess of Death, Decay, Corruption, and Cruelty, is, likely, the most innately evil of any of the gods. Malavach is primal, fueled by raw rage and emotion, distinctly evil and violent but almost in a bestial sense. Vyshareth, however, is a rational, clever goddess that deliberately chooses to cause suffering for suffering's sake. She is malicious, spiteful, cruel, and hateful beyond mortal comprehension.   Vyshareth's desires are straightforward: It is fairly common knowledge that Vyshareth's primary motivation is Vash'aguul, the Old God. She desires the complete oblivion of all living things because she has a twisted obsession with the original god, believing herself in love with Vash'aguul. In order to be reunited with the old god, she seeks to bring all things to their end, so that they might be absorbed back into Vash'aguul, and seeks to torment them for the "transgression" of living and depriving the old god of part of itself.   However, despite her motives being commonly understood, how she goes about achieving them is less obvious. She is crafty and mysterious, but it is also a safe assumption that whenever Vyshareth's influence is involved, nothing but evil and tragedy will follow. Vyshareth delights in the suffering of mortals, feasting upon their pain and fear, and all of her followers and creations embody this completely.   When the gods first entered the Emergent Plane, it is said that Vyshareth was not invited. In fact, it is commonly believed Vyshareth was meant to stay locked out of the Emergent Plane for eternity. But, as the other gods created more and more races, pulling more and more of Vash'aguul into the planes, Vyshareth's hate festered, and spread, and grew, until it could be felt through the Emergent Plane. The lore of the history of Vyshareth claims that, early in history, when the first mortal murdered another, Vyshareth took hold. A death brought forth by hate and cruelty created a tether, inviting her into the Emergent Plane and bringing with her all her spite and despair. As Vyshareth passed through the vessel of the fallen mortal, it rose again, tearing the murderer to pieces.   And thus, the first Undead was created.   Vyshareth's entrance spread her entrance over the land, corrupting everything around it, killing all living things and converting the landscape into a dead, desecrated bog, all its inhabitants succumbing to horrifying plagues until all living things because her Undead. The actual location of this supposed event is long lost to history, but the story lives on, as mortals to this day avoid marshlands and swamps, fearing them as all being the result of Vyshareth. The fear of this is so profound that in Torvahl, the region surrounding The Bastion has been dubbed "The Rotlands" in Common, as most see no other explanation for the perpetual siege of Undead than Vyshareth herself. Whether there's any truth to this is a mystery, as people who are willing to attempt to discover the truth of it are very, very few and far between.   While it's not entirely accurate, most curses are attributed to Vyshareth, as the very idea of a curse is fundamentally rooted in the concept of hate so extreme that you wish nothing but suffering. However, all beings are capable of resentment, including the gods, and as a curse is not necessarily automatically the result of Vyshareth. What can be agreed however is the usage of curses is inevitably, to some degree, tied to channeling the concepts that Vyshareth embodies.   One would think that Vampires, some of the most powerful Undead, would be a direct result of Vyshareth. However, asking any sufficiently educated Vampire Hunter would give a far more confusing answer. Vampires are undoubtedly Undead, and thus are clearly tied to Vyshareth, but an Undead retaining enough of themselves that Vampirism is possible would seem to be contrary to Vyshareth's interests. This is because, from a certain perspective, Vampirism is a contract. A Vampire siring another Vampire is essentially establishing a pact, exchanging power and immortality for the mortal's life force and, typically, subjugation as a thrall. This puts Vampirism firmly into Daemaskorn's territory as well, and perhaps this is why Vampires are such powerful, threatening beings: The joint influence of two dark gods grants them power and resilience beyond that of mortals and other Undead. Whether you perceive Vampirism as leaning more toward Vyshareth or Daemaskorn is largely up to personal interpretation, with some viewing Vampirism as a curse inflicted by Vyshareth and others thinking of Vampirism as more of an eternal pact.   Fear of Vyshareth's influence is so prevalent among mortals that the act of burial is fairly universal. Mortals don't particularly find the idea of watching her influence slowly creep over their loved ones until the body is nightmarish and grotesque pleasant, but there is a far more terrifying prospect: Those loved ones returning as Undead. While it's mostly based in superstition, it's a fairly common belief among the less educated that any corpse can succumb to Vyshareth, anywhere. While there is some truth to this fear, the act of burial is largely tradition in the modern day.   Some cultures or individuals are so wary of this possibility that the standard method of disposal is cremation. This is viewed as beseeching Malavach to burn away Vyshareth's corruption and Thaemenar to cleanse the soul of her influence, this being a rare instance of the God of Violence being channelled for a good-willed purpose. While there's no definitive lore that'd lend credibility to these beliefs, fire certainly is useful in combatting the Undead, so there may be some validity to this perception.   Depictions of Vyshareth are extremely rare, as nobody in their right mind really wants any. The imagery that exists is typically disturbing in any number of ways, being horrifying, disgusting, and unsettling, usually eliciting all manner of unpleasant reactions. She is usually shown as being simultaneously beautiful and revolting, reflecting her nature as a duplicitous goddess that uses both temptation and corruption to achieve her goals. Worship of Vyshareth is criminal in all but the most cruel of societies, as unlike the other gods, it's impossible to put a positive "spin" on the worship of a goddess who embodies malice and cruelty. While one might channel Malavach's fury in a constructive way and Daemaskorn's contracts can be used to achieve good, it is essentially impossible to want to gain Vyshareth's favor without something distinctly vile in mind.   While Vyshareth is commonly viewed as the Goddess of Death, it might be more accurate to describe her as the goddess of dying. Vyshareth is not a deity that guides to the afterlife, her only interest in a mortal soul is to return it to Vash'aguul. She wants to expedite a mortal's death, bringing them to their demise in preferably a horrible way a soon as possible. The deaths of children are nearly always attributed to Vyshareth getting what she wants, and as such the death of a child is viewed as especially tragic in the Emergent Plane. So while she does preside over the moment of death, thus her moniker as "The Last Visage", she is not responsible for souls, only the physical cause of death. Being on your deathbed and witnessing Vyshareth rather than an envoy of Thaemenar or Alleniel, is, basically, just about the most terrifying transition to the afterlife that one can have, as it means complete and total oblivion as your soul slowly rots away in the Void.