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Tamasvi/Thana

Vengeance Incarnate, The Vengeful One

Statues of warriors in obsidian armor line the simple stone steps that lead to the entrance of a modest shrine. Within the shrine, a goddess sleeps. All is silent. Yet in a small, distant village, a mother cries out for vengeance against her son’s murderer. A mourning lover wails in agony as she finds her beloved’s grave ransacked, desecrated. A soldier watches their blood spill forth and, with their final breath, offers one final prayer. The obsidian statues snap to attention, stepping from their pedestals in orderly rank. In her sleep, Thana hears the cries, wails, and prayers of those who beseech her. Yet, when she rises – flanked by her Obsidian Company – Thana is gone… only Tamasvi, Vengeance Incarnate, remains.

Tamasvi was an embodiment of violent death, the physical embodiment of retribution and vengeance, and the avenger of those desecrated. As Vengeance Incarnate, she was a masked warrior, often depicted in a full suit of Obsidian armor with ominous, glowing eyes. Formal depictions of Tamasvi were rare beyond the Earthen Drow controlled Stonelands. Images of Thana, however, were abundant and she was commonly depicted as a muscular, gray-skinned woman often asleep with her head resting on the lap of Malachor, the Death Scribe. While those who sought vengeance beseeched Tamasvi, those who had recently lost loved ones prayed to Thana to guard their resting place. For so long as the dead are left to their rest, Thana remains asleep and Tamasvi’s wrath is merely a distant nightmare.


   

A Dual Goddess

 
An ancient tale holds that Tamasvi once rallied the angry, the heartbroken, and the defiant to her personal pursuit of vengeance. Tamasvi led a slaughter of the Angels that lived in the Western Stonelands. Yet the hole in Tamasvi's heart remained; her agony persisted even as blood spilled. This "March of Vengeance" lasted for decades until Tamasvi alone fell upon a group of Angels. It was Malachor who stayed Tamasvi's hand; it was Malachor who showed Tamasvi that her vengeance had surged beyond those who had wronged her; it was Malachor who removed the cracked obsidian helmet, his divine blood falling to the ground. It was Malachor who validated Tamasvi's rage and who offered a respite. And so it is believed that Thana sleeps at the Gates of Malachor, soothed by the presence of the Death Scribe.

 
The name Thana emerged in the aftermath of the March of Vengeance. A faction of Tamasvi's people sought to craft a more peaceful image for their goddess. And thus, her persona was divided into two: one of vengeance and one of a "death-like" rest. However, as much as many wished it to be, Thana's rest was never eternal. The desperate, angry, and driven called for Tamasvi; beseeched her for the power to seek the vengeance they so craved. For centuries, the cycle continued: peace and violence, calm and wrath, rest and wakefulness.


   

Fall to Corruption

 
For a time, a stable cycle persisted whereby Tamasvi would wake to bring death to those deserving of her wrath, then tend to those that had been left unburied as her anger cooled and her eyes grew heavy, and then finally return to her shrine and then to Malachor to sleep as Thana. After The Barrier, hostilities on the Jalasaran continent boiled and bubbled until anger, strife, and war plagued the continent. Over centuries, the balance of the delicate cycle of rest and wakefulness shifted; Tamasvi was awake more and more as mortals screamed and demanded her retribution be swiftly delivered. Anger, rage, and anguish were her constant companions. Rest alluded her.

 
With every act of vengeance carried out, hundreds of innocents were left unburied. Hundreds more were desecrated as mortals became desperate. Once devoted to pursuing only deserved, righteous and targeted retribution, the lines between perpetrator and victim began to blur. Yet still, Tamasvi persisted with only her Obsidian Company by her side… their numbers slowly dwindling as her people once did long ago.

 
Soon, distant conflicts drifted into the Stonelands. Once more, Tamasvi watched her people – her Gravesingers and her Obsidian Company – fall in defense of those they cared for. And there was no time to avenge them, to bury them, to honor them. And where was Malachor in her time of need? The end of Tamasvi’s resolve came in the form of Malachor’s negligence. The Death Scribe became infused by sloth and became neglectful of the affairs of his people. Conflict over control of Tamasvi led the Drow to destroy one another. Alone and surrounded by wrath and anger, Tamasvi was consumed by it. If she cannot comb through the crops to find the weeds, she will raze the field to the ground. And Tamasvi’s corruption consumed her.


Divine Domains

Dead, Souls, Destruction, Vengeance, Violent Death, Protector of the Desecrated

Divine Symbols & Sigils

The Black Onyx Gemstone, a skull or obsidian mask with glowing eyes (red, green, or violet)

Tenets of Faith

Vengeance, a Hollow Pursuit – An act of vengeance, of righteous retribution, may bring catharsis and may bring peace to those who have been wronged. Take caution, for vengeance should not be wielded with reckless abandon. Too quickly does it become all-consuming, taking the hope and light within… and making one empty and hollow. The single-minded, desperate pursuit of vengeance will not cure the wounds that not even time can mend.

Honored be the Dead – While the soul may no longer linger, the body should be left to its rightful rest. Leave the grave untouched, disturbed not with gift nor slight. Should a spirit be roused, the pain must be eased with a song – a grave-touched lullaby – to lull the spirit back to its earthen bed. For all will find rest one day, but until that day comes, the living belong to life… and the dead belong to death.

 
The Necessary Destruction – In times of great need, the innocents may cry and beseech the Vengeful One. In such times, the Gravesingers must cease their lulling song and those hollow souls of Obsidian must rise. For Thana’s sleep is not eternal and Tamasvi’s wrath unavoidable. But peace will prevail when the weed is ripped up by the root.


 

Divine Classification
Spirit of the Land
Current Status
Corrupted
Current Location
Children
Pronouns
She/Her
Aligned Organization
Ruled Locations
 

Concepts

 


   

Thana & Malachor

 


 

The Domain of Death

  The realm of dying, the dead, and souls was once managed by 4 death gods on Jalasar and 1 on Dremora. Ah'Shal was, originally, the Gatekeeper meant to watch over all Unclaimed Souls. With the corruption of Jalasar, Ah’Shal inherited the role of all Jalasaran death gods, but particularly Malachor, the Death Scribe. Malachor was responsible for keeping records of all the dead and sorting them to their respective Courts. Eresh oversaw the natural cycle of death and decay that existed in the environment. Benon and Tamasvi were escort spirits, bringing souls from the site of peaceful or violent death, respectively, to the gates of Malachor along the path dictated by Eresh.    

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