Shol

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Shol is the God of the Void, and it is his influence that drives the undead. His domains include hunger, consumption, gluttony, cannibalism, emptiness, the undead, and the end of the world. Shol, along with Yolu and Dorrod Muth, formed a triad referred to as the House of the Dead. Sometimes called the God of Teeth, Shol is considered the enemy of every living thing on A'therys.

He is the source of Tooth-magic, also known as Necromancy.

## History

Shol was not always the mindless entity he is today. At the time of the Winnowing, Shol was actually an ambitious god of high intelligence and even higher cunning. He represented his portfolio by raising armies and conquering land, destroying other gods and eating away at the world, though in a more figurative sense. However, as the hunger for conquest continued to grow, unsatiated, it began to turn to something...else. It became something he could not control, something he did not want to control. It consumed him, even as he consumed the land. Over the course of the First Calling and subsequent Age of Balance, he fell prey to his own portfolio. Dorrod Muth and Yolu were able to keep him mostly contained in the Void, restrained as much as they were able, but his rampant consumption only increased in urgency and determination. He would often break free of their confines and run rampant on the surface, consuming everything in his path. The land would simply disappear, left empty by his power, but the mortals were the true unlucky ones. Even Dorrod Muth was unable to protect their souls after being devoured by Shol, and they would be lost forever to the Void. Their bodies would walk A'therys as empty, starving husks, touched by his dark hunger. By the time of the Second Calling, Shol as he was once known was completely gone, in his place a mindless monster who knew nothing but consumption and destruction.

## Appearance

There are none in modern times who have seen Shol and lived to explain his appearance, and all records recounting his likeness from his early years have been lost. Therefore, only the tales of his followers, the dark Tooth-Wizards, are able to provide any insight. If they are to be believed, the source of their necromantic powers retains some sort of physical form, but it no longer resembles anything mortal. A writhing mass of teeth and grasping hands, his form serves only as a function of his eternal hunger. Whether he retains the mask he once wore or not is not known, but in any case it would serve no purpose; the necromancers of Shol have no interest in communing with him directly, and any who could stand before him would be devoured before they could discern any finer details about him.

## The Binding of Shol

Both Yolu and Dorrod Muth knew that without their constant vigilance, Shol would consume the world and possibly everything beyond. Yolu, ever-caring, was convinced that their combined power could destroy him, or lock him away forever, but to Dorrod Muth it was an unnecessary action unwarranted by Llyrrh. Unlike Yolu, the Patriarch of the House of the Dead did not care for the souls he protected, only that he continued to uphold his penance as tasked during the First Calling. This frustrated Yolu endlessly, but she had no power to convince him.

When the Second Calling came to pass, and the gods were relieved of their duties to the mortal plane, Dorrod Muth left without a question or care. Yolu knew that she was the mortals’ only defense against Shol at this point, and so she took up her spear and went to confront him in the Void. Their battle was long and furious, and Yolu was deathly injured during it. She eventually succeeded in pinning Shol with her spear to the boundary between the Void and the mortal plane, utterly and immovably. But the toll on Yolu had been too much, and her powers were drained. Unable to return to the Cosmic Mesh even if she had desired it, she remained with her beloved mortals in A'therys.

*Originally written by OccidentalAnvil for the more official A'therys wiki*