Kaasma Thara

Art by Stormrider

> *"Coz we saw what's on the other side. The inevitability of it all. The Cosmic Terror that comes for us. We're giving you a kindness. We're sparing your mind!"*
>
>
> *"Murder isn't kindness, idiots!"*
>
>
>
> *"It is for what's coming."*
>
>

> - Barmong Erron and Vezika Larksin discussing Kaasma Thara's arrival on Io
>
>

**Kaasma Thara** is one of the unborn triplets of the dead god Kaasma. During the Jupiter Incident, Kaasma created three offspring to uphold its divine retribution against its enemies, the Aurorans and the Astari. The Dead God's secondborn, Kaasma Thara, was commanded to oversee the punishment of the souls of the Astari, forcibly rend from their bodies and shifted into the Shadow Veil. As their jailor, Thara would remain in the Shadow with them for over 2500 years, spreading madness within that prison of darkness to torture and twist them beyond recognition. A Memory of Lagos, The Emissary of the End, found in the depths of a Dreamscape, promised Kaasma Thara would one day break free of the Shadow to lay waste to Io.

Some 500 years after the Shattering of Io, Kaasma Thara was found by Orlox, Vampyr Eternia, a powerful and ambitious Lord of Shadow. Seeking to further their own agenda, Orlox and his army captured the terrible infant to weaponize it against Io and their fellow Devil Lords. With their kidnapper's aid, Kaasma Thara emerged kicking and streaming from the Shadow's Breach and onto the Ruined Ark of Asmodia, just as the Memory of Lagos had promised. Bringing madness and destruction with it, Kaasma Thara's presence on Io is one of the greatest threats to the Shattered Planet's survival.

## Description

### Appearance

Kaasma Thara takes the appearance of a gargantuan malformed fetus with sickly green ulcerous skin. Several gaping holes are scattered across its body, with one very prominent one over where its right eye would be. Some of these holes resemble mouths with yellowed teeth and emitting white smoke. They are missing their left leg, while the right is bowed and covered in ulcers. Long greyish green tendrils resembling umbilical cords emerge from the top of its head and out of its mouth and the wound in its face. A single beady black eye looks out from its deformed humanoid face, from which it can launch deadly projectiles at its foes.

### Personality

Kaasma Thara's personality, much like their appearance, seems to follow the same simplistic behaviors of a normal baby. For the most part, they wail and cry incoherently and seem to have little desire for anything outside food and sleep. They do not appear to be able to communicate effectively and expends their energy via violent thrashings and screams to convey their unending discontent. They show a frightening predilection to violence as well, lashing out with all their unrestrained might at the novice Shadowhunters the moment they exited the Breach, only ceasing after they tired themselves out from the attempt.

However, as the child of a dead god, Kaasma Thara displays rather unnatural behaviors that suggest a greater intelligence. As decreed by Kaasma, Thara instills fear and madness in the denizens of the Shadow and their targeting of Marius and Michail's hunting party imply this is a deliberate choice. In both cases, the undead infant attempted to overhaul the minds of the two Shadowhunters, driving them insane and forcing them to serve. The fate of Michail and his party would also infer a further act of malevolence on Thara's part, as all their souls became tied together after their encounter with Thara, something unlikely to have been done passively. Despite this, Kaasma Thara still demonstrated helplessness when captured by Orlox for his own purpose, possibly owed to their childlike tendencies.

## History

### Birth

Kaasma Thara was born of the Dead God Kaasma in the wake of the Jupiter Incident, some 500 years before the Repopulation of Io. Long before the war between the Aurorans and the Astari, Kaasma was sealed away in the gas giant Jupiter by the ancestors of the Astari, earning their eternal enmity. Kaasma's imprisonment, however, was eventually ended when the Dead God reached out to an Astari clone by the name of Lagos, who served in the Auroran Navy. Kaasma informed Lagos of his true nature as a clone and how the Auroran Federation was using them as a weapon against the Astari. Outraged by this revelation, Lagos swore vengeance on both his creators and his original self's people. Travelling to Jupiter, Lagos followed Kaasma's instructions and unleashed the Dead God from their prison in a catastrophic event that caused Jupiter to ignite as a new star and lay waste to the Auroran Fleet and the planet of Io both.

Following their calamitous release, Kaasma wasted no time in enacting their judgement upon both parties and proclaimed three Divine Decrees to be upheld for eternity. The first Decree was that the Astari would have their bodies cast into the nascent Astral Veil to exist as husks of their former selves. The second Decree concerned the Astari's souls, which were to be trapped in a newly formed Veil known as the Shadow where they would be forever tormented. The third and final Decree was directed at the Auroran interlopers, dictating that they would be forever barren so that their kind would die out and never stain the universe with their presence again. To ensure these Decrees would be maintained, Kaasma thus gave birth to a set of divine triplets to carry out their will: Kaasma Khara, Kaasma Thara and Kaasma Phar. Kaasma Thara was the second born of this trio, and theirs was the responsibility of upholding the second Decree. With the birth of their offspring and the completion of their revenge, Kaasma became dormant and their decapitated corpse languished in orbit around Io for centuries to come.

### Trapped in Shadow

As the new jailor of the Astari souls, Kaasma Thara was forcibly cast into the Shadow shortly after their birth. Though still an infant, Kaasma was more than equipped to torture the imprisoned spirits as their very presence caused madness to fester in those around them. Over time, the spirits of the Astari would become unrecognizable, twisted into shadowy beings driven insane by the influence of Thara. However, just as the Veil was being warped, Kaasma Thara was ultimately warped in return, becoming as deformed and insane as its prisoners. For the next 1000 years, as Io recovered and a new people flourished, Kaasma Thara remained within the Shadow Veil, continuing carrying out its purpose and casting a looming shadow over a already dark place.

## Phase 2 Story

### Memory of Vengeance

> *As Io's Astari denizens, their physical forms shifted off to the Astral Veil. But their spirts, their souls became twisted and insane, shifted in its own prison of Io's making, the Shadow Veil. Unfortunately for them, that was not the only thing that was taken away to the Shadow that day. As Kaasma's second child, Kaasma Thara was torn inside and torn asunder, sent into the Veil.*
>
>

> - Lagos, Emissary of the End
>
>

Approximately 1000 years after the Jupiter Incident, Lagos, the Emissary of the End, arrived at a prosperous but oppressive city in the Nova Hellscape known as the City of the Horn. He approached its Minotaur leaders to offer them the power of the Black Star, a cosmic phenomena he had discovered, with the intent of manipulating their power-hungry nature for his own ends. While the Grand Seer was successfully tempted, another Minotaur seer named Ewah was suspicious of the Azure Astari for undermining their traditions. A skilled manipulator of dreams, Ewah managed to steal a Memory from the Emissary to uncover his true purpose. The seer then stored the Memory deep within his Dreamscape, a mental labyrinth that could be only be reached by a specific ritual.

However, Ewah ran afoul of a tribe of wandering nomads who manipulated him in turn. Discovering a book containing the ritual, the tribe entered into the Dreamscape and found their way into the stolen Memory. A manifestation of the Emissary appeared before them, reenacting the events leading up to the Jupiter Incident and Kaasma Thara's birth. The Memory of Lagos engaged them in combat, during which it summoned the projections of Kaasma and its offspring to aid him. Kaasma Thara was summoned second, with the Memory of Lagos retelling the tale of its creation and divine purpose. By invoking Kaasma Thara in this manner, the Memory was able to mentally assail the members of the tribe and inflict the same madness upon them as the souls of the Astari. However, the tribe triumphed over the Memory of Lagos and the image of Kaasma Thara faded away with it.

### Reunion

Shortly after his machinations were complete in the Hellscape, the Emissary became aware of a deadly ritual occurring on the continent of Sharlamon on Io. Teleporting to the ruined Kingdom of Asmodia, he came face to face with the soul of his father, which had joined with the body of a mortal prince to become a new being. This Devil, now calling himself Asmodeus, had created a great breach to allow his kind to escape the Shadow and take vessels from the fallen Asmodians to become Devils like him. By this grisly act, he intended to reclaim Io for his people, thereby directly flouting the punishment inflicted upon him by Kaasma. Lagos, intent on Io's annihilation, noted his success in escaping the bond of Kaasma Thara, but predicted that he would be defeated and returned to the Shadow. With this proclamation, Lagos left Asmodeus to his crusade, taking Thara's parent along with him.

Just as Lagos predicted, Asmodeus's war did not end in victory as heroes from across Io rose up in defiance against his rule. Cumulating in a battle between the Lord of All Shadows and a band of pirates, immortal heroes and a goblin, Asmodeus and his forces were defeated and banished back into the grasp of Kaasma Thara. Though the War of Shadows was a victory for mortality, Asmodia remained tainted by the Shadow, and the great tear to that dark Veil remained open for centuries to come.

## Phase 2 Epilogue

### A New Shadow

The War of Shadows, though ultimately a failure, caused major changes in the Shadow Veil. The creation of the Devil race from the union of twisted souls and the bodies of fallen Asmodians was the advent for a new society to form within their prison, ruled by the Lords of Shadow. These eight individuals, including Asmodeus himself, carved out domains and amassed followers to their side, fundamentally changing the landscape and inhabitants of the Veil. With these developments, Kaasma Thara's hold over its subjects grew weaker and weaker. Though it could still inflict madness and destruction upon them, the physical forms of the Devils granted them a passive resistance to the Shadow's influence, while their new rulers offered protection through raw power and unity. Even with the disappearance of Asmodeus, the threat of Kaasma Thara began to wane over the next millennium, leaving Devils to thrive with a vigor it had once completely suppressed.

## Etymology

"Kaasma" appears to be an original name created for the World of Io setting. It is possibly is a corruption of the word "cosmic". which describes anything relating to the universe or cosmos, especially as distinct from the earth.

"Thara" is probably an original name created for the Ioverse setting. It may have roots in the name "Tara", which is a given name found in multiple cultures with different meanings. The Irish name "Tara" is derived from the Hill of Tara, the traditional seat of the *Ard Rí* (High King). Meanwhile, in South East Asian cultures, the name "Tara" comes from the Sanskrit word for "star".

## Trivia

* Kaasma Thara was first mentioned in the finale of *Nova Hellscape*, where it was invoked by a Memory of Lagos, the Emissary of the End. Its first in-person appearance was in the Season 1 finale of *Into the Shadow's Breach*.
* Kaasma Thara and its siblings bear resemblances to the Atropal monster in classic Dungeons and Dragons in both lore and appearance, going so far as to use the official artwork in Phase 2.
* Kaasma Thara appears on the Season 2 title screen for *Into the Shadow's Breach*, befitting its status as the central threat of that campaign.

## Images

### Official art

An illusion of Kaasma Thara manifested by the Memory of Lagos, Emissary of the End in the Dreamscape.Kaasma Thara as they appeared in Phase 2 (Art of 5e's version of an Atropal).Kaasma Thara as they appeared in Phase 3 (Art by Stormrider).Kaasma Thara as they appear on the Season 2 title screen of Into the Shadow's Breach (Art by TomBag).