The Marred

A common depiction of the Marred

## Overview

The Marred is one of the primary deities of the Turin faith of Toria, though she is not actively worshipped. She is seen as the malevolent opposer to the Five Prime deities, and is the deity of storms, of destruction, of deceit and the inverse of positive emotion. Despite this, she is still recognised as a creator being and the mother of the other members of the Steel Pantheon.

## Appearance and Symbols

The Marred is often depicted as tall, thin woman with long hair and furious eyes. Like all Turin deities, the Marred has metallic skin underneath clothing of fluid metal, no mouth, and fine lines of glowing energy spread all across her body.

Unlike the other deities, the Marred's skin is blacker than midnight, like burnt iron. Her eyes leak a red metal that stains her face and clothing. The blue energy lines that spread across her body are far more chaotic and random than any other Turin deity.

The Marred has few common symbols used for worship. However, some do use a stylized blood drop or a dark inverse of the Ore's five sided gemstone to represent her.

## Worshippers

The Marred has almost no active worshippers, but she is used as a curse by faithful Torians when unfairness and disaster strikes their lives.

However, the Marred is used as a form of punishment for those that do not strive to do good; those that commit heinous or selfish acts that harm others. Those that go too far are seen as ones that have been touched by, or have chosen to follow, the Marred.

## History

### Mythology

The Marred, alongside her husband the Ore, are seen as the creator deities in the Turin faith. They formed the world of Verramar from the Unseen Flame Uuraia, along with the seas, the skies, the plants and animals. At this time, they viewed this creation as a thing of beauty, and they would often compete with each other to see who could make the best tree, animal, fish or mountain.

After a time, they created their four children, The Delver, The Smith, The Artisan and The Guard. These bore new aspects of creation; concepts of reform, of mixing together raw materials in new and interesting ways. The Ore was happy with these children, but the Marred secretly wished they'd been less talented. She grew jealous of the ease they they took to creation.

After these children gave the gift of life to some of the beasts of the land, creating the sentient races, the Marred's jealousy reached it's peak. She used her powers of creation to form the Cursed Ones, and sent them to destroy all that her family had built. They rushed across the world faster then the Ore and their children could stop, killing and corrupting those they passed. In doing so, the Marred created and spread the first negative emotions in Verramar's history.

To protect their creation, her family stood against her. Her children crafted weapons of Dark Purium, the same substance as her skin and the only things that could hurt her. With the Ore at their back, they were able to cage her in the sky, trapping her vast power within the void that surrounded the planet. The Marred lashed out, her strength manifesting as the first night, but going no further than the sky.

The Ore and his children then gifted the people of Verramar the strength and power to survive, inversing the destructive emotions with their positive counterparts. They also imbued an individual with a great amount of magic; the Brightwalker. With them at the head of the army, The Cursed Ones were pushed back and banished forever.

The Marred still screams and thrashes against her prison, directing the forces of destruction with the hope of corrupting her once loved creation. Her cries echo in the storms, her thrashing shakes the earth and her power sometimes touches those whose eyes are filled with vile thoughts.

### Archaeologically

The Marred is one of Toria's oldest dieties, aside from the Smith, with aspects of her dating back to the early tribes that roamed the nation. The connection between her and the Ore far predates modern Torian belief as well. It is unknown if she was always the ancient Smith's wife, or merely someone who opposed him.