Hyatonta-Ekninot-Mahtut

> *And she, Drakhoreya though she be, killed them all. **Devoured** them all.*
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**Hyatonta-Ekninot-Mahtut**, known as the *Drakhoreya* (Drakhorey Mother) and the *Drakhoreyka* (Drakhorey Devourer) is a goddess of Life, with a particular focus on souls.

## Domain

### Life

#### *Life Defined.*

To be alive is to be ensouled - all that has a soul or spirit is alive, and all that is bereft of such is not. Life allows for the well-observed condition distinguishing things like animals and plants from inorganic matter or natural phenomena - this includes the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding 'death'. Though having a soul will not necessitate the manifestation of physical life, physical life is not possible without a soul. Since life, thus defined, is intrinsically ethereal, it can exist without being tied to physical matter - spirits, ghosts, and other immaterial entities are entirely valid life forms. Such things are not *ensouled*, they *are* soul. We therefore find that death - true death that is - only occurs with the destruction of the soul; the ebb and flow of physical life is peripheral. As all souls are by nature sapient, even those of non-sapient creatures, direct spiritual communication with souls is entirely possible for those learned in such magicks.

#### *The Power of Life.*

The powers of this Life Domain enable the god in question to freely create or nourish things that have the quality of life, unlimited in this regard by anything short of its imagination. Power over Life also includes the capacity to deny a creature of life or to strip a particular place of it - this is a simple process of desouling a particular entity or place. Life is different from health; something can be alive but in extremely poor physical health. However, the presence of souls is also critical for life and may prevent ailments caused by a lack of soul - if the winds lose their souls then they may stop blowing, if the water loses its souls it may stop flowing or being beneficial to other life forms, if plants lose their souls they may wilt and die, and similarly when sentient species lose their souls. Thus, with the ability to regulate, communicate with, and control souls, this Life Domain enables one to create new, and nourish existing, life forms.

## History

> Centuries after the fact, when Hyatonta-Ekninot-Mahtut finally arrived to kill him, Hylsek Adech was to recall with greater lucidity than ever before how the terrible race of drakhorey and their progenitor came into the world. Everything was coming to an end around then and (even though Hylsek Adech had then not yet been birthed) he knew that Hyatonta-Ekninot-Mahtut had come in a great fit of inexplicable rage - as though she had been torn away from something very important and now sought to loose her wrath on the distraction that entrapped her. Hyatonta-Ekninot-Mahtut was, therefore, followed very shortly by one hundred thousand burning meteors that lit up the darkening heavens of Galbar's fragment; it was an act of cosmic creation willed at the moment of Hyatonta-Ekninot-Mahtut's own genesis. One could say that she was created creating. Perhaps it was the way Hyatonta-Ekninot-Mahtut was then screaming (for she came screaming), or perhaps it was the inexplicable fury in the great sonance, but it was in that moment of their inception that Hylsek Adech and his drakhorey kin realised - with as great a lucidity as only Hylsek Adech was to experience again many centuries later - that Hyatonta-Ekninot-Mahtut was the only thing in the world they would know to fear.
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> As the drakhorey broke free of the burning meteors, and as they came into being out of those hurtling isles of magma, the underworlder critters who had risen with rapacious hunger to glut themselves on the soft, yielding meat of the overworlders allowed themselves a pause and a heavenward gaze. They looked at the sky as they had enviously glanced of the overworld in prior times when it was denied them. And if they had not heard the scream of Hyatonta-Ekninot-Mahtut, the goddess whose genesis was occurring before them in the heavens, then they most certainly heard the clawing and growling and hungering of her sky-born terrors who even now lacerated the face of the sky on their earthward passage to feast upon the horrorsome underworlders.
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> Hylsek Adech, spreading his blazing wings and swinging his rock-hewn skull - which even now ran with veins of magma to the three smouldering embers of his eyes - had been the most impatient and most excited of them all, and so he was the first of the drakhorey to descend and sear the surface of the world with a flame that was less flame and more hammer. He hammered the earth unrelentingly, he forged it anew with the ash of overworlder and underworlder alike. He wiped the slate clean.
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> There was to be no reward, of course. The drakhorey had known there would not be one from the moment they heard Hyatonta-Ekninot-Mahtut's scream, and so they were not so much *saving the world* as *trying to run away* - from her. Even then the drakhorey had known to run away, and even then they had known it to be a vain endeavour. Hylsek Adech had been the first of them, however, and so Hyatonta-Ekninot-Mahtut had done him the honour - in her own twisted way - of leaving him for the very last.
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> -- from *The Chronicle of the Second Coming of the Gods*
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Born screaming in the sky, Tonta came into the world in her Drakhoreya form. This caused the immediate birth of the dragon-like species of drakhorey who immediately set out into the world wreaking havoc on monsters and humans alike. While they did this, Tonta noted that the world's souls were being very loud and so she shut them up. From then on souls and spiritual life forms only speak in hushed whispers.

Immediately after that Tonta crash landed into a drakhorey called Baknul Adech, causing him to explode. She makes a stone pillar out of his upper body as a monument for the occasion and traps his soul within it. After that she cleans up his blood and makes phoenixes out of them - the males look like flying firestorms while the females are far more birdlike in appearance.

## Personality

Just wants to have a bit o' fun, really. Extraordinarily affable and amiable, quite social and gets along with pretty much anyone - rarely anything can get her riled up or truly insult her, though she may well pretend it has if the whimsy takes her. No dispute is ever truly personal - *'don't get riled up, it's just a bit o' fun.'* Her personability aside, she is otherwise quite unpredictable and fickle - she is just as likely to be casually cruel and capricious as she is to be generous and giving. She is not by nature kind or 'good'; any 'good' she does stems primarily from her own whimsy and pursuit of pleasure.

Something truly more powerful than her may well terrify her - her nonchalance and fun-loving attitude is greatly derived from her firm conviction that there's nothing out there that can pose her any harm or threat, or that can truly limit her. Attempts to threaten or limit her may stir her interest and she may play along for the fun of it, but should it become apparent that she is not quite as in control - that some entity is able to toy with her as easily as she toys with the world - then things become a whole lot less fun for her.

Being a Life god, she will naturally want to create life and watch the world bloom. She will look down on any attempts by others to create life that is not tied to souls and may well launch a crusade against *'such sacrilege!'* if the whimsy takes her. She will also, for no clear or logical reason, take to possessing random humans, who will go on living without realising they are the hosts of a god. She will actively fight and ally and plot and scheme with others for the fun of it, and will stop the moment it bores her - no alliance or contract is sacred as far as she is concerned.

## Forms

### Base Forms

Tonta has two primary base forms. The first is a wraith-like black and grey form boasting a bark face akin to a primitive wooden mask with two dark holes for eyes. This form is immediately corporeal and ethereal, or transitions between both states so seamlessly that it appears to be the case. Different parts of her may be corporeal while others are simultaneously ethereal. This form is broadly humanoid.

The second is broadly humanoid, easily mistaken for a human or an elf were it not for the innumerable serpentine appendages that emerge from below her cloak and appear to be, to all extents and purposes, extensions of herself. But clothed.

Beyond these, Tonta, being a Life goddess, also appears to humans in the shape of various life forms - she may manifest as an ant in one place, a rock in another, a puddle elsewhere, and a member of any sapient species at yet another, to play tricks on or otherwise test individuals and groups for her sporting pleasure.

### True Forms

Tonta's true form is that of a great shifting spirit, female and humanoid in shape. In its benign aspect it causes life across the world to bloom and does no damage to any living thing that gazes upon it or is otherwise in its radius - rather the opposite. In its malign aspect her true form saps souls - and so life - from all things across the world, but the most terrible effect is on everything within her range of perception. The *Drakhoreya* form is a lesser version of her malign aspect, which takes on the form of a great ethereal, vaporous drakhorey. This is Tonta's inceptual form and gives off a world-altering scream that births drakhorey.

## Creations

* *Drakhorey*: The drakhorey were a species of gigantic dragonesque beings created during Tonta's genesis. Over the course of several centuries afterwards she hunted them down and devoured them. They are no longer extant.
* *The Pillar of Baknul-Who-Yet-Lives*: An enormous monument made from the upper half of Baknul Adech's corpse. Baknul was the first drakhorey Tonta killed. To mark the occasion she made a monument out of him. His soul is trapped inside the petrified stone.
* *Phoenix*: A species of fiery birds. They showcase extreme gender dimorphism; males are akin to flying firestorms while females are closer in form to normal birds. They inhabit forest and mountain biomes, existing in small numbers at any one point.
* *The Hushing of the Spirit World*: All souls and spiritual creatures now speak only in whispers or hushed tones. This is because Tonta commanded them to shut up.
* *Grobin*: A melding of robin and cat. There are wild and tame variants, with the tame variants being very useful for pest control - especially against insects like cockroaches or ants. In the wild they exist across the Shard with the exception of the wintry south.
* *Cark*: A melding of shark and cat. There are wild and tame variants, with tame variants being very useful for pest control and scavenging. They are capable of efficiently removing mice, taking on even the largest rats and various types of snakes, hunting down pigeons, amongst other things. They are semi-aquatic and are capable of breathing under water and their tail gives them a swimming advantage, though a lack of fins means they are not quite the most efficient or speediest swimmers. In the wild they tend to exist in wet forest biomes and other wetlands.
* *Terror Bird*: A species of very large, carnivorous flightless birds. Full grown adults reach heights of 10 feet. Its long neck carries a heavy head that is able to strike with terrifying speed and power. It is an extremely nimble and quick runner, able to reach speeds of 48 km/h, making it the natural king of the open plain habitats it inhabits. Its primary weapons are its great talons and its mighty beak, and it preys on both small animals and large.
* *Slugdeer*: A melding of slug and deer, this creature is native to the fungal forests of Vartai. It is highly poisonous to the touch and its slime is notoriously difficult to clean off. They prefer wet environments and are very vulnerable to desiccation in dry environments. They feed on plant matter and are opportunistic cannibals, eating injured or incapacitated members of the species.
* *Snow Camel*: A giant one-humped camel that boasts a thick coat, allowing it to thrive in the cold environs of the southern Shard. It can reach shoulder heights of 7 feet.
* *Flying Axolotl*: A giant flying axolotl.
* *Giant Moth*: A giant moth.
* *Long-horned Bison*: Enormous bisons with uniquely long horns that dwell in great herds in the southern Shard.
* *Giant Pangolin*: A pangolin, but big.
* *Giant Markhor*: A markhor, except bigger.
* *Lesser Drakh*: Large lizards that are very similar to komodo dragons, but able to reach lengths of twenty-three feet.
* *Great Elk*: A large species of elk, larger than any other known, that ranges across the length and width of the Shard.
* *Demon Boar*: A giant omnivorous boar that ranges across the northern and western Shard.
* *Peryton*: A confusing amalgamation of deer and eagle that generally boasts the head and forelegs of a deer and the backlegs/claws and wings of an eagle.
* *Cloud Behemoths*: Cloud-based creatures that are in some ways similar in shape to whales and incirrata. They float across the Shard's skies and make up the great majority of its clouds. They filter feed on sky krill and release gaseous clouds that eventually rain a fertilising liquid.
* *Sky Krill*: Tiny flying krill that directly absorb nutrients in the form of gases trapped by the Shard. They fly in tremendously large swarms and are fed on by cloud behemoths.
* Giant Desert Mussels: Giant mussels that exist in the deserts of the northern Shard. They filter feed on the pollen that blows through the air.
* Giant Desert Landcrabs: Giant crabs that exist in the deserts of the northern Shard and feed on the mussels. Their enormous claws can crack them open so they can eat the insides.
* *Magick Honey Bee*: Specialised bees that suck nectar and magic out of flowers and trees and put it into their honey. This means the honey they produce tends to have magical properties. Although its effects can vary, they are generally benign - the most common effect on consumers is a heightened ability to feel and manipulate magic for a limited time. Harvesting the honey is made more challenging by the magical nature of the Magick Honey Bee, which makes it resistant to common harvesting methods that involve smoking the bees into a stupor.
* Monkilli: A sapient race of diverse ape and monkey-like humanoids created to destroy mankind.
* Mushroom Boar: A large boar with fungal growths that dwells in Vatrai.
* Mosasa: A giant aquatic reptile that inhabits the oceans and seas. It can reach fifty-eight feet in length, making it a veritable leviathan, and is a truly formidable apex predator that can prey on even the largest forms of aquatic life. Its sight is extraordinarily keen while its sense of smell is quite deficient. In a similar way to crocodiles, mosasa attacking one another tend to grapple the other's head with their jaw, causing severe head injuries and often leading to death. They also occasionally engage in cannibalism.
* Head-shielded Fish: A small heavily-armoured bottom-feeding fish that lives in estuaries. Its diet consists mainly of worms and other burrowing organisms in the mud and algae.
* Great Bone-headed Dunkler: An enormous, armoured and jawed fish, reaching thirty-two feet in length. It has a two-part exterior of armour-like bone, which makes it a relatively slow but powerful swimmer. Rather than teeth it possesses two pairs of sharp bony plates that form a beak-like structure. They are able to open and close their jaw at incredible speeds and produce a very powerful bite force on closing their jaw. They live in shallow waters during adolescence and move onto deeper waters in adulthood.
* Lesser Bone-headed Dunkler: A relative of the aforementioned Dunkler, it often reaches some twenty-six feet in length. It does not have the same boney teeth of it relative, but is rather a filter feeder. It uses its capacious mouth to swallow or inhale schools of small fish, krill and plankton. Its mouth-plates were made in such a way as to retain prey while allowing water to escape as it closes its mouth.
* Lada: An enormous filter-feeding fish, capable of reaching lengths of one-hundred feet. Despite its size, it can often fall prey to apex predators.
* Cirnus: A large, short-necked aquatic reptilian that can reach lengths of thirty-six feet. An apex predator, it is a fast swimmer and actively hunts down or pursues its prey. Being an apex predator, it preys on large aquatic life forms such as the aforementioned lada, alongside smaller ones.
* Water Angel: A strange fish that has an elongated body, a whip-like tail, and long, wing-like pectoral fins. Its armor is made up of a complex mosaic of small scales. It is an enigmatic creature, but the goddess poured strange magicks into it and gave it her blessing.
* Canthala: An elusive fish that tends to live in shallow coastal waters, especially around islands. It can reach lengths of twenty feet. It is generally not fit for sapient consumption due to its poor nutritional value and can cause various illnesses of consumed.
* Dircaans: A diverse species of giant reptilians. They include carnivorous and herbivorous subspecies, and some, such as the comb-headed and one-horned dircaans, also eat small wildlife and fish on occasion. The small dircaan is too small to ride and occupies a niche similar to that of goats and sheep in some communities. The water dircaan is semiaquatic, and so is adapted to aquatic environments and is generally to be found stalking swamps, rivers, and wetlands.
* Crocodilians: A diverse species of crocodilians of all sizes that roam the many rivers gushing from the heart of the Shard.
* Seals: A species boasting two broad subspecies of salterwater seals (Sea Seals) and freshwater seals (River Seals, although they also exist in freshwater lakes).
* Beardogs: A large carnivore that appears to be a cross between dog and bear.
* Dawn Horse: A tiny horse-like creature that reaches 2.5 feet in length and weighs about 20 pounds. It is a browsing herbivore that primarily eats soft leaves as well as some fruits and nuts and plant shoots.
* Ashland Hounds: Volcanic dogs split into two subspecies - a magma-like one and and ash-like one.
* Varasons: a species of small anthropomorphic drakhorey-like creatures.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5253338