Osveril

Osveril is a demigod of Purity and the Void, who appeared on Galbar some years after the Blinding Purge. It was created by Jvan following her discovery of a void-dwelling Other entity in a section of the Gap she had emptied of its contents. Seeing that the entity was hostile to creation, Jvan was about to destroy it, but decided against it, and offered it a vessel fashioned out of her own flesh and fragments of the Tounic shard lodged within her body to inhabit. The fusion of the Other being with the shell's divine essences resulted in the formation of a new intelligence, which took on the name of Osveril and a personality affected by those coursing through its form.

After being released by Jvan, Osveril swore to eradicate all irregularities from the universe and build a pure cosmos over its remains. To that end, it has begun to create invasive living species to scour the surface of Galbar, first among which are the Dust Crawlers.

## Appearance

Osveril's physical form is reminiscent of those of most humanoid beings, having two arms, an equal number of legs and a head protruding from a central body, but that is where similarities with many of them end. Standing taller than most humans and perfectly symmetrical in all of its parts, it appears as though formed out of angular, three-dimensional geometric forms. Its torso and abdomen are many-faceted polyhedrons, one larger than the other; its limbs rectangular cuboids joined by segmented articulations; its feet truncates pyramids; its hands prisms in the shape of long, sharp claws. The Absolute's head takes the form of a trapezoidal prism, on whose front, despite its featurelessness, there seems to be a triangular mask flanked by two rows of small, circular holes on its two sides.

The whole is fashioned out of a dull grey material, which, despite visually resembling metal, seems strangely organic and skin-like to the touch. All its surfaces are smooth and flawless, and even adhesive substances cannot cling to it. It is unclear whether this is Osveril's true body or a suit of armour, but the Absolute is never seen in any other guise, lending credence to the former.

## Domain and Portfolios

### Purity

Though often viewed as a trait in its own right, purity is, at its core, a negation. Indeed, one would struggle to even describe it in terms of assertion. Purity is freedom from taint and corruption, or, more broadly, anything extraneous to a being. It is the absence of alteration. One who achieves its ideal is, strictly speaking, not so much pure as devoid of impurity, a condition paradoxically (purity must, after all, normally be attributed to something, as it cannot exist independently) more difficult to define than the concept itself. It is often unclear where purity ends and mutilation begins. Transformations and modifications can affect something to such an extent that they cease to be external influences and become part of it, and a victim of extensive corruption or mutation may, at some point, become an altogether different being, for whom they are not as abnormal. Furthermore, the question presents itself whether change and new creation, perhaps the greatest aberration of all, are to be considered impure; and therefore of whether purity is something barren and sterile, born only of suppression and destruction.

These and other uncertainties plague something which appears at first glance unsoiled by ambiguity and confusion. The duty of the Hollow Absolute includes finding answers to them, just as it does enforcing purity upon the world. Within itself, Osveril carries an archetype of the concept, which constantly shifts and evolves as the demigod observes the universe and reaches new conclusions about how it should be. The Absolute has the power to measure all that it perceives against this internal value, determining how close it is to the ideal of purity, and transforming objects, living beings and even environments to reflect it. Changes affecting especially vast or enduring subjects may manifest as a gradual twisting and withering rather than an instantaneous transfiguration.

### Void

The greatest tool at the Hollow Absolute's disposal, as well as the most stable and basic constant it can rely upon, is complete emptiness. Nothing is as pure as the void, which is an absence not only of change and corruption, but of potential for them as well, and, indeed, nothing other than the void is absolutely pure. Interestingly, in its lack of everything, the void embodies that very barrenness that seems to shackle the concept of purity, binding the quest for the true ideal in place. However, Osveril sees in it not a forced stasis, but a path to be followed to achieve flawlessness in all its possible and impossible forms.

## Personality

As incongruous as its domain, Osveril is mainly defined by its unwavering, dogmatic devotion to a fickle and inconstant principle. Thorough and systematic in all things, the Absolute balances correcting and guiding the transformations of its internal standards and mercilessly judging everything it encounters. It does not think of itself as an individual, but as a force existing with the sole aim of bringing about a cosmic restoration of sorts. Osveril is almost physically incapable of considering the universe and its inhabitants as anything else than a chaos of impurities and imperfections which must be purged and healed, and devotes itself with utmost zeal to what it is convinced is its sacred duty before its own existence. Purity is both its own authority and its own reward; and any obstacle in its way is, by definition, corrupt.

As it could be expected, such a mindset tends to bring about frequent conflicts with those who would rather not submit to Osveril's cleansing. The Absolute does not even regard their opposition as misguided or malicious, as it does not consider the thoughts and actions of other entities to be on a level comparable to its own. Rather, those are mere flaws of the mind, which can and must be removed as expeditely as those of the body. Nonetheless, when dealing with beings capable of rational thought, Osveril prefers not to resort to violence unless it is inevitable. It attempts instead to persuade them of the mistaken nature of their views, as it finds the notion of an intelligence, however inferior, accepting purity by its own choice supremely intriguing. In such interactions, the Absolute's ineptitude in reasoning in conventional terms becomes clear. It appears obtuse and arrogant, refusing to consider even for a moment that its position might not be the only acceptable one in spite of any argument against it. Should these attempts fail, as they are wont to do, it has no qualms about forcefully distorting unwilling subjects into its own image of perfection.

For all its blind adherence to its self-imposed calling, Osveril is remarkably creative as concerns purity itself. Fully conscious that any image it has of it as yet is incomplete and flawed, it delights in experimenting with physical and abstract objects and entities, warping or contaminating them with partial non-existence. While it rationalises this as progress towards discovering the true ideal, it secretly relishes in satisfying its creative urges - perhaps an unconscious reaction to the stigma of sterility, perhaps the only aspect of its being not subordinate to all-assimilating obligation.

## Description

Osveril is a strange being, seeking to bring purity to the world despite being fully aware of it own imperfect nature. For all its internal contradictions, however, it is a rather substantial danger to most things it sets its eyeless sight upon. Its cleansing quest is for most the brutal imposition of an alien will upon their reality; despite its sincere desire for improvement, or perhaps because of it, only desolation and sinister anomalies remain in its wake. While it is not entirely impossible to reason with it, inducing the Absolute to reconsider anything is incredibly difficult. All things considered, it is not vicious or cruel. It is not hostile towards beings mortal or divine, even when they interfere with its work - after all, any mind can be tainted, and its task is to heal, not to destroy. And yet, it remains oblivious to the pain and horror it may cause, reasoning that any who find issue with its doing must be imperfect. The Void That Is is a perilous presence, for, like its namesake, it has no regard or respect for anything, and threatens to consume all in is unthinking progress.