The Fool

### Portfolio

comedy, illusion, transfiguration, practical jokes, riddles, omens, acrobatics, juggling

### Worshipers

madmen, entertainers, anarchists, thieves, historians

### Domains

Trickery, Chaos, Charm, Nobility, Madness, Luck

### Subdomains

whimsy, innuendo, insanity, deception, captivation, imagination, hubris, chance

### Favored Weapon

Blade Boot

The Fool is the god of trickery; the god of chaos; the god of madness. Finding it more comedic and chaotic to let things happen of their own volition, it is the god of many things, but the commander of none. Nothing is more important to it than a genuine laugh, be it from itself or others, and there are no lengths to which it won't go to pry one's primal mirth to the surface. While this may make it sound like a fun-loving, jovial god, which is admittedly mostly true, there is a root of darkness to all trickery, a root which The Fool is often not afraid to unearth.

Worship of The Fool is very free form, as its devotion to chaos means an aversion to rigid structures. Followers aren't restricted in any capacity other than that they must be agents of chaos, and The Mad Jester rarely, if ever, shows preferential treatment. Still, though, certain traditions have emerged among them, such as wearing jester hats, sometimes jester's shoes, and terrible puns are ever popular.

## History

In a time before the Empire of Sitrane's mighty borders spread across the mainland, before the Tsar ruled what is now Helgrad; in a time before written history, there were still nations and there were still kingdoms. As legends go, names have been forgotten and details eroded as the passage of time wears them away. Yet every kingdom has a king, and every king, has a jester.

In a tiny faraway land, on a small island, there existed a majestic kingdom. It's homes, libraries, even the infrastructure were kept pristine and gleaming with a glow of splendor. The people operated with efficiency without bickering. Businesses operated with speed without charging. The air and wind, too, seemed perfectly synchronized into this machine-like society.

However, in that kingdom, there lived a king whose power dwarfed the grandeur of his empire. Rooted within this man of a dwarfish stature was the power of complete control: the dark root to the kingdom's success. The minds of his subjects were no match for his overpowering ego, allowing him absolute control over their every action. Even the waters surrounding his kingdom would bend to his will, making any attempt at invasion nigh impossible. Only an ego of equal stature, with a mind equally fractured, held an inch of a chance to stand up to such a menace.

Though these were rare characteristics to have, indeed, it was no one's surprise that they would be found in one of Utharia's most famed jesters. A master of comedy with a mischievous mind, tales of its fabulous performances had reached the king, prompting him to immediately send a party to invite said jester to perform in his court. This new fool's antics did indeed prove quite amusing to the tyrant king, filling his halls with the kind of laughter he hadn't experienced in many years since his climb to power. He showered The Fool in gifts and in wealth, hoping to persuade it to stay in his court. Such a skilled jester, however, was a traveler at heart, feeling it unfair not to share the gift of laughter with all of Utharia.

So, it rejected the king's offer to stay within his court and serve as his own personal jester, instead requesting to leave the kingdom and return to greater Utharia. The king, however, could not allow this to pass. Finding another jester to bring him the same kind of joy and entertainment was a sure impossibility, so he instead opted, as he had done countless times before, to dominate its mind with his own. Though this may have successfully rendered The Fool under the king's control, the king would soon find the act caused it to lose its comedic charm. These forced performances felt dull, unexciting. The jokes did not connect; the displays did not dazzle. He knew, deep down, that he was the cause of this.

True comedy requires creative freedom, and this despot was stripping the jester of even the most base freedom: freedom of thought. He could not expect such a shell of a formerly legendary performer to actually make him laugh. Performance after performance of dull, unexciting nonsense drove the king mad, trying desperately to find a way to bring back the joy. Eventually, he would finally admit to himself that there was only one way: to free the jester's mind. And with a wave of his hand, that is exactly what he did, breaking the powerful enchantment over it.

The Fool was now free, but not without cost. It was not as if waking from a deep sleep, or even rousing from a dream-like state, but more like finally being free from shackles of imprisonment, keeping The Fool as a prisoner in its own body. Every moment of the last several years of control, it had to live through, fully conscious and aware. While anyone will tell you jesters in general are at least a little unbalanced, this prolonged trauma drove The Fool off of a very dark, treacherous ledge.

A split had formed in its psyche. On one side it was the same fun-loving, jovial master of comedy as before. On the other side, however, now lived a devious, scheming personality, consumed by dark influence. What made this other side especially dangerous, however, was that it could perfectly replicate the jester's normal outward behavior while simultaneously scheming plots behind the scenes. And scheme away it did. Plan after devious plan it cooked up inside The Fool's mind for years of mental imprisonment, and now that it was free, the time for action had finally come.

Though now able to freely control his body, the now mentally fractured jester chose instead to fake an almost catatonic state, responding to the king's commands in a zombie-like way, devoid of emotion or signs of thought. This dismayed the tyrant, figuring that such a long exposure to his focused power had eternally fried the mind of the only fool able to bring him joy. His mind went to think of the other thousands under his control. Could he ever free them without them suffering the same, if not a worse fate. Would he ever be able to have an actual, consensual conversation again? Overcome with dread, he wept begrudging tears, as he began to fully grasp the empty, dismal road he had laid out for the path forward in his life. Never laughing, never having camaraderie with others, never able to have a true family. The king, needing to mourn in solitude, withdrew into his quarters.

Now being free not only from mental control, but physical surveillance as well, The Fool took the opportunity to slip off, exploring the halls and chambers of the castle, looking for anything that could aid in its quest for revenge. Room after room, however, the jester would cautiously return to check on the king's status, making sure he was still away in his chambers as to not notice its absence. With such a large castle to explore, this process was by no means a fast one, but the mad fool pressed on.

Over the course of several days, the king would of course come out now and then to perform tasks or get food, but the jester was vigilant in returning to its original place, lest it be found out. Every so often, the king would even request another performance from his fool, only to be greeted with another dismal, catatonic performance, each time entrenching the king further and further into his hopeless state. Eventually, while exploring the depths of the castle basement, The Fool finally stumbled upon something it could actually use: a strange, mirror-shaped artifact. Activating the artifact, an exact duplicate of the jester appeared wherever the mirror was pointing. This duplicate took every action The Fool did, speaking as it, moving as it, and even appearing to breathe as it. This would be the perfect piece to complete the mad fool's plan.

Hiding outside a castle window, The Fool used the mirror to project its mirror self onto the castle floor, in front of the king's throne. The king, eventually coming back from his duties, again requested a performance from his jester, expecting the same miserable one as before. Instead, however, it sprung to life, finally addressing the king in a life-like, free-thinking manner. He was elated, positively jumping from the throne as waves of joy washed over him. Finally his jester had returned to him, and finally he may once again laugh.

Surely, the performance that followed was quite grand. The jester has not lost its touch after so many years. Every joke stuck and every skit landed, resulting in resounding, booming laughs from the king. And then, in the peak of his elation, the jester shifted:

> "And now, my king, for my final trick: you! You fell right into my ruse, my feign of brokenness. I have made you cry, made you laugh, and now, made you steaming mad! It's ironic, a king with so much control that can't even control himself. I may be your jester, but you are my fool."
>
>

In a fit of rage, the tyrant king lashed out at the jester, screaming indignation as he commanded the very castle walls, flinging torrents of stone towards the vision before him. Keeping up the illusion, the hiding fool would tilt the mirror, moving the projection out of the way of the projectiles, as if it was adeptly dodging each one. This only served to further infuriate the king, as he hurled more and more stone towards the agile target. Structure after structure he flung: stairways, doors, even pillars would be instantly destroyed. By the time the despot stopped to realize what he was doing, it was too late; the damage had already been done. A tsunami of stone wiped out everything within the walls as the castle collapsed in on itself, taking the tyrant king with it.

With the king's death came a massive, overpowering wave of psychic energy, freeing the command of the island's inhabitants. An entire kingdom full of once controlled minds now simultaneously freed, society quickly erupted into chaos. Many, overcome with fear or malice, began ransacking the kingdom, taking whatever wasn't bolted down, trampling others along the way. Others had suffered the very fate the jester had only feigned, losing their minds entirely to a prolonged history of mental servitude.

The Fool stood at the foot of the castle, addressing the rioting populous. Putting on a splendorous show, it conveyed, through comedy, the story of its defeat of their former oppressor. The crowd, amazed at such a feat, sung its praises into the heavens, enshrining The Fool's place in Utharian history. The Mad Jester, however, cared not for the long process ahead of restructuring a kingdom, using the mirror once again to fool the crowd, allowing it to make a hasty departure back to spread laughter to the world.

## Home

A traveler at heart, The Fool knows no true "home", choosing instead to wander Utharia under several mundane guises, as to not reveal its identity. However, at the several fairs and circuses it frequents, it will often treat those as its temporary home as it takes the form of a performer or carny. When feeling especially in need of a place of solitude, though, The Fool's hat serves as a form of portable refuge, containing a grand labyrinth inside of The Mad Jester's own design. Make no mistake, such a maze is no place for a mortal, being filled with powerful beasts, deadly traps, and ancient magics, but to The Fool, its the closest place it has to a real home.

## Relationships

Though The Fool may be a mischievous trickster, it is no idiot. It realizes the other Ascended, especially a particular few, command powers that rival or surpass its own. As a result, it works to maintain amicable relations with the other gods of Utharia, working in just as many pranks and jokes as their respective personalities will allow. However, with a few of the Ascended, The Fool has a particular relationship:

### The Architect

Though polar opposites as alignment goes, The Fool does not actually have a problem with The Architect. Quite the contrary, in fact. Too whimsical and spontaneous in nature to establish something lasting by itself, it quite enjoys when The Architect will visit with blueprints needing the kind of imagination only The Mad Jester itself can provide. Additionally, it has found that she is generally a playful sort, not overly angered by the occasional practical joke, and this makes her preferable company to the other Ascended.

### The Fated

One example of a hostile polar opposite, The Fool is a great rival of The Fated, as opposed to his relationship with The Architect. It knows The Fated is obsessed with proper order, and maintaining balance of fate, and therefore goes to great lengths to get him to make mistakes. Whether this be tempting The Fated to direct intervention by destroying his followers, or be it by constructing elaborate schemes to waste his time and misdirect him, it is constantly finding ways to bring down the law.

### The Serpent

Not in The Fool's nature to maintain burning hatreds, it instead maintains a general disposition of caution around The Serpent, due to her known anger towards all chaotic beings. However, this does not stop it from interfering in her plans, and whenever it gets the chance, The Mad Jester will enact grand shenanigans on the wicked snake.

### The Shepherd

While The Fool realizes The Shepherd is a necessary part of life and death, this does not mean it has to like that fact. Hence, it will pull minor pranks here and there to make her life a little more chaotic.

### The Outsider

Though it has almost no concrete information on The Outsider, as the two have never met, The Fool maintains a unique respect for him. Being a god of Chaos and Madness, after all, it appreciates the mysterious nature of The Outsider, and the vast wealth of forbidden knowledge he has accrued.

### The Reveler

They may not interact much, but The Fool very much enjoys The Reveler's way of life. A god of chaos focused on freedom and revelry? Something about that just sits right with this jester. However, when it does come out, The Fool's darker side does not care too much for The Reveler's goody two-shoes nature, preferring a more self-serving attitude.

## Appearance

Outwardly, The Fool appears as a very high class, wealthy court jester, with gold adornments and expensive dyes used in its outfit, which never lacks its signature jester's hat. Additionally, it is always seen wearing a porcelain or metallic mask over its face, most often integrated with the rest of the clothing. Lavishness is no stranger to the jester, either, as it can frequently be seen surrounding itself with goods and valuables, such as peacock feather tissues and jewel-encrusted eggs. The most notable example of said lavishness is the highly valued, highly powerful jester's cane it carries. Solid gold, and covered in magically charged jewels, the cane not only looks splendorous, it also holds the powers of several magical artifacts The Fool has put into said jewels.

While these facts alone are usually enough to distinguish it from a crowd, The Fool's most iconic aspect is its dark half. The split in its personality visually manifests itself as a monochrome, washed out version of itself over half of its body and outfit, no matter what it is wearing. The brightest colors and even shining lights are all nullified by this disturbing effect.

Inwardly, no one knows the appearance of The Mad Jester. No pictures, portraits, or even written descriptions exist of The Fool outside its mask or outfit. Attempts have been made by daring mortals, and even some other deities, to learn the nature of the being under the mask, but all have resulted in failure, with often gruesome consequences. Some say there's nothing underneath those clothes, insisting the being is simply an animated set of garments. Others speculate The Fool is severely deformed underneath its comical guise. No matter how many theories form, however, none ever get any closer to the truth.

## Symbols

Back in the ancient days of Utharia, when The Fool was still mortal, it had a sort of calling card. A bronze coin with golden inlays depicting a jester's hat, it would leave this token at all the locations it would steal from or perform at. Given that the jester was constantly traveling all around the world, visiting thousands of places, these coins are actually relatively abundant, even though The Fool no longer makes them. However, they are typically buried deep within the ground due to thousands of years burying them underneath ancient soil. Still, the jester holds great sentimental value in the coins, and it is constantly seeking more, so they are highly sought after by its followers.

Another symbol of great relevance to The Mad Jester is that of its powerful jester's cane. Though the actual cane is a slender, golden rod covered in rare, glowing gemstones and topped with a miniature jester's hat, with a feather pommel to boot, depictions are typically much simpler. When drawn by followers, they most often depict cane as a rod with a two-pronged hat on top, much like a floppier version of a king's scepter. This symbol commonly shows up among worshipers asking for power or wealth rather than more humanitarian rewards.

Finally, and most notably, is the symbol of the golden bell. Much like the bells on a jester's hat or shoes, these are used as the "main" holy symbol among The Fool's followers. These things are positively brimming with chaotic energy, ready to be summoned by The Fool's devout at the shake of the bell. Many report hearing voices of madness underneath the piercing ring.