Xem, The Pestilent King

Xem in his base form

> *"Fear not child, for the rot shall make us one and the same."*
>
> **— Xem**

## **Overview**

Xem, the Pestilent King, Lord of Rot, and Exarch of Decay is the current ruler of the corruption domain. Which itself deals with the induction and propagation of physical rot, decay, and pestilence in organic entities, along with the subtle but inevitable collapse of reality itself as it is ground to a bloat ridden halt.

## **Domain**

Corruption. The slow rot and decay of living things into their primordial bases, the spreading of virulent pestilence and withering disease, and the slow destruction of physical reality. All of these fall within Xem's domain. Souls however, or other immaterial concepts such as morality and ethics, do not. Because of this Xem is unable to affect them. Xem is able to affect inorganic objects and materials with his decay however, albeit at a much slower rate in comparison to organic matter. Finally, regardless of form, Xem can induce corruption and decay in the environment around him. While his true form does this near-instantaneously, his base form must remain in an area for several hours if the rot is to truly take hold.

## **Myth**

*Pits bubble and hiss!*

Pots boil and churn!

Flesh turns to a sickly crimson mist!

For the King watches man as he is quartered and burned!

It was said that Xem came into being as a consequence of the Apocalypse, but the truth is that he just seemed to appear out of thin air one day, hungry to unleash a never-ending tempest of decay and rot upon the broken world. As such any other goals the Pestilent King might have, if he truly possesses any, remain a complete and utter mystery to mortals and gods alike. This has put him at odds with practically every other member of the pantheon, as you might expect. Although he does maintain a somewhat amicable relationship with the goddess of death as well as the deities of war, due in no small part to the overlaps between their domains.

For just as war gives way to rot, so too does rot give way to death.

## **Base Form**

Xem appears as a towering humanoid figure with a jackal's skull for a face and tattered yellow rags for clothes. His fingers are claws and his feet worm-riddled hooves, while tentacles burst forth from his chest to poke and prod at the air around him, hungry for prey they may drag into the god's gaping chest based maw. Xem's skin too is as sickly as his robes, being rendered yellow from jaundice; foul-smelling, and sickeningly pliable from rot. Lastly, the series of spikes jutting forth from his skull are his crown, verily the mark of his abhorrent royalty.

## **True Form**

In his true form Xem is a massive beast dripping with rotten flesh, corpses, bile, and puss. He is flanked at all times by endless swarms of flies who infect those that draw too close with maggots and worms. Eyes line this form from head-to-toe also, with each looking progressively more jaundiced and infested than the last, while sacs filled with the organs of many sway to and fro as he walks. Finally, a sickly yellow smog billows forth from his many mouths, and it is rumored that mortals who breathe in these fumes will be liquified from the inside out.

## **Realm**

Pestis is a horrid place, only tethered to the mortal plane by virtue of a small cave embedded in the lowest valley of the mountain range that surrounds the Wellspring and the Divine City, as well as the gods who live above, within, or around it. Mortals who venture here do not last long, succumbing to the unnaturally potent forces of decay that permeate the realm within a matter of seconds. Gods on the other hand, while possibly finding the plane rather unpleasant, would be no worse for wear than a human if they were to stand around a pit of excrement exposed to the open air. In any case Xem's realm is quite unremarkable at first glance, being nothing more than a seemingly endless expanse of bile-filed swampland, although this illusion is quickly shattered upon closer inspection. For if one were to look at his realm with a more scrutinizing eye, they would realize its shape is very similar to that of Galbar, or what's left of it anyway. Mirrored down to the smallest of details as a matter of fact, albeit utterly devoid of any architecture and life, natural or otherwise, save for those rare collections of ruins that manage to rear their heads above the brackish mire and any roaming servants Xem himself has made.

## **Notable Actions (Summary Section)**

### The Age of Fire

* **Turn 0 - The Age of Fire:** *Xem is born from one of the last pockets of pestilence and disease left over from the Forgotten World, the magical energies arcing through the atmosphere facilitating his existence. Awakening with a strong hunger to induce decay, the lord of rot elects to survey the surrounding land instead. Finding it not to his liking, for one cannot decay a world that does not exist, Xem sets out to help the other gods appearing in the northern lands, riding to aid them on the back of a thick miasma. Although along the way he finds himself unable to ignore the churning sky above and pauses, directing all of his energy towards shaping it to a more stable state. Thus is a battle between god and nature begun, though it is only a matter of time until god's will is done.*

* **Turn 0 - The Age of Fire:** *Xem's battle to restore the heavens to a viable state continues, although the creation of a storm in the north by the goddess Paratiri has thrown a wrinkle into his divine plan. Not one to be deterred, he redoubles his efforts, attempting to crush the anomaly through sheer force of will. In doing so however, Xem's focus becomes tunneled and centers on that single point in space, to the severe detriment of the rest of the magic ravaged sky.*

* **Turn 0 - The Age of Fire:** *Thanks to the unexpected intervention of the Explorer and the jettisoning of magical energies from the air, Xem finds his efforts to fix the sky largely successful, with the only two shortcomings being the anomaly created by Paratiri and the large snow-flecked thunderstorm that was driven into the depths of the northern sea as a result of the atmospheric change. Taking brief note of this new arrival - which he surmised was a fellow god - and declaring it just another future casualty of his own hunger, the god of corruption is quickly on his way, riding to the mountain at the very heart of the floating continent. Carried upon the back of yet another noxious miasma, his goal to find some means of ending the near-constant earthquakes so the landmass doesn't tear itself apart.*

* **Turn 0 - The Age of Fire:** *Xem finally arrives at Mons Divinus, taking note of several other events along the way; the arrival of An-Clastaphon, the clearing of the wellspring, and the great magical rift in the far east just to name a few. Floating up to the mountain's peak, he introduces himself to his fellow gods.*

* **Turn 0 - The Age of Fire:** *Xem, taking his leave of the gods at the top of the mount, descends to its base. Working the stone and surrounding terrain, he reshapes it and Pestis is made.*

* **Turn 0 - The Age of Fire:** *Xem, having just made Pestis, is relaxing in the depths of his realm when Lonn pays him a none too friendly visit. Words are exchanged and the two fall to combat, over the course of which the Pestilent King fashions the Exarch's Bane and curses his opponent, inducing a permanent atrophy of sorts into his left arm. Following this Lonn gains the upper hand, being the better close-range fighter, and pummels Xem into his throne before cutting off his head and consuming his heart. After absorbing the dead god's divinity Lonn departs, leaving Xem's head behind to spew out the occasional plague from the sealed bowels of Pestis.*

***Notable Creations**
---------------------**### Exarch's Bane*A wicked sword fashioned from a singular rib plucked by the Pestilent King during his flight from the Red God Lonn, this curving blade bears an appearance similar in nature to that of the Khopesh in addition to a small fraction of its creator's original power, and is capable of blackening and blistering flesh. Rotting it more and more the longer contact is held. Inorganic objects too are subject to the same manner of rot, albeit in a more acidic fashion. While it can take upwards of several hours to melt through a wooden beam or stone wall, it can take no more than a handful of minutes for armor, and mere seconds for bare muscle, flesh, and bone. Finally, although no one is quite certain as to how, this blade has a tendency to appear in out of the way places where mortal travel is still frequent enough that someone will stumble across it. From here it will usually try to tempt its prey into wielding it, a process most often described as a tugging at the back of one's mind or the periphery of one's thoughts. For it carries the spirit of Xem's original hunger to bring decay and rot filled stagnation upon the world, and desires users who seek the same, for it is only through them that it can properly achieve its ruinous end.