Kost

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# Description & Personality

Most art of Kost gives him an almost unassuming visage: he does not emanate a field of raw malice like his siblings or his mother.  Most art of Kost depicts him of average build and height (making him look positively puny compared to the rest of his extended family); he also is not depicted as wearing the magnificent or cruel armor most of his immediate relations do, often wearing the plain clothes of civilians.

Behind that modest visage, however, is a cruel and intelligent mind; it is said that Kost possesses a vast understanding of physical anatomy and the mind; therefore, he knows how to break both more efficiently.  He does not approve of the perverse pleasure of mutilating and destroying for its own sake; pain for pain’s sake is not his portfolio.  Instead, he empowers those who use torture and pain as a medium to get what they want, without excess.  He abhors sadism; he finds it barbaric.

In the Assembly of Souls, Kost is very pleased with his current position; he has found the thing he excels in the most, and is more than willing to serve his mother in her plans.  While her other children may outshine him in terms of spectacle or deeds, few can match his utter loyalty.  As such, he will always have a place by Idona’s side.

Kost’s deep understanding of torture allows him to inflict both overwhelming physical pain, as well as psychological warfare as well.  One more than one occasion Kost has allowed a prisoner to “escape”, trapping them in the shifting halls of his realm, allowing their minds to be broken down by the omnipresent screams of other victims.

# Possessions

Kost has occasionally blessed his most devout servants with cruel and unusual weapons to continue their work.   One such item was *Marrowscour*, a nasty knife carved out of the femur of a giant he tortured.  It was built to dive into flesh as if it was hot butter, providing long lasting damage that never quite healed.  Another is the whip known as the *Scarlet Ribbon*, which was said to become more painful the more it was soaked in the blood of the target.  These and other items have now become both highly venerated and dangerous, spreading out from their initial wielders to cause pain and suffering on a much wider scale.

# Divine Realm

Kost rules the Cellar of Broken Glass; said to be a massive, sterile dungeon deep beneath the ground of Tyranny.  The smell of blood commingled with that of harsh solvents wafts in the air, complimented by the choir of hundreds of screams.  Within the halls and rooms of the Cellar are every single implement of torture devised by mortal hands, divine hands, and the dreams of both.

Once firmly within the Cellar’s confines, regardless of how powerful you are, you *will* break.  Kost and his servants will see to that personally.

# Activities

Kost, unlike other members of the Assembly of Souls, holds very little ambition for further advancement.  He has fully settled into his role as a torturer, and as such his only goal is to further the “art” to it's finest point.  On a plane of existence where everyone is trying to bend the rules in their favor to get a leg up, Kost has settled (comfortably) into the background.

# Relationships

As delineated throughout this document, Kost is on good terms with his immediate family.  While not the recipient of glory like his other siblings, his role is crucial in Idona’s hierarchy.  Idona relies on him to the utmost degree.

Kost is also on very good terms with his half-brother, Gelzah.  As the general of Idona’s forces, Gelzah relies on Kost as much as Idona relies on him.

# History

Kost’s parentage has long been lost to the history books; Kost himself does not really care, and few are brave enough to ask Idona herself.  Regardless, it is generally held that Kost’s father was a mortal man of the Zhavam Imperium who impressed Idona herself with his service to the Absolute Monarch.  Either Idona manifested physically for a night or, near the end of his life, the man was permitted to enter Tyranny physically.  Regardless, Idona became pregnant, and nine months later, Kost was born.

Kost was a very unassuming child.  In the plane of Tyranny, which is defined by power and your ability to subjugate everything else around you, Kost was seen as an odd duckling (and definitely would have been tossed away, if not for the fact he was the child of one of the Champions).  As he grew older, however, it seems that his father’s profession and his mother’s godly nature synthesized quite nicely; he cut his teeth on Infernals captured from Corruption and Ruin, making them spill their secrets with very little effort.

Kost’s growing skill with torture had reverberations in Convergence; much like his various cousins, Kost would start reaching out to torturers of all races and nationalities, inspiring them further.  This would lead to them worshipping the whisper they heard in their heads; a reciprocal relationship that eventually led to Kost fully ascending to godhood, with toture as his portfolio.