Trishna

Original art by KyuYong Eom.

## History

Trish was born in a different world, yet when her world stagnated, her patron's minions transported her to Etera. Once in Etera, she found herself in the midst of a rebellion; the perfect grounds to spread her fiendish influences. Wasting no time, Trish quickly assembled a small gathering of devoted followers and from there, a humble base of operations.

While initially skeptical of getting involved directly, Trish found many benefits to be had in helping the rebels; chief among these being the resources put in her disposal for services rendered. She has occasionally found herself in the service of less reputable employers, but the rebellion has had benefited from her more than the rest.

## Grandmother's Visit

While her (profitable) contributions to the rebellion were ongoing, Trish made preparation to perform a ritual in hopes of attracting the Demon Mother's attention. Her dedication paid off, as she was finally visited by her patron in one of her dreams. During this encounter, Trish was blessed with two gifts: she came one step closer to becoming a demon of Lamashtu and in addition, she was left with an offspring.

The visit was only the beginning of her new-found abilities, as slowly, the spark of divinity began to light up within her, however small it was.

## Meeting Darkness

During a seemingly routine mission to investigate disturbances near a decrepit temple, Trish and her group encountered a newly awakened entity - the Darkness. It craved to fully understand other creatures, whisking away the party to its own dimension towards this end. The entity probed the minds of the group, presenting them with harrowing scenes tailored to each, all sourced from their biggest fears. While her own experience nearly shook her faith and trust in her grandmother, she ultimately prevailed, having her beliefs reforged and stronger than ever.

## House Delvorde

In an attempt to realize her ambitions, Trish used the instability brought on by the collapse of the empire to her advantage; she had found a widowed noblewoman, who had recently re-opened her doors to the outside world after a period of mourning and isolation: Duchess Maria Delvorde. Trish sneaked herself into one of the duchess' parties, under the guise of a noblewoman herself. During their initial meeting, she introduced herself as one of Maria's admirers, making her intentions clear from the beginning.

At the celebrations, Trish mingled with the widow's acquaintances and friends, including her son and daughter, learning as much as she could. She spent the remainder of her time at the party as well as the days that followed, building up her trust with the family. A friend of the family and a paladin, Ariadne, nearly proved to be a hindrance to her plans, but her weakness towards the duchess' daughter quickly neutralized her as a threat and gave Trish a measure of control over her. As Trish's leverage over the family grew, she made arrangements to be wed to Maria, eventually replacing her as the head of the ducal family.

## Time Tower

After several run-ins with a gang of foxes whom had access to Time Knight equipment, including one encounter to lift their siege on the city of Behemoth, their leader was finally found to have gone to the Time Tower. Making the perilous journey to the tower, whose surrounding time had been warped by it, Trish and her group finally entered the ancient structure. After solving a convoluted puzzle, the group gained proper access to the tower's higher levels, whereupon they met its keeper; they found out that the leader of the band of foxes, Dingo, was in actuality, a powerful protean on an unfocused quest to catastrophically tamper with time. The hunt was on, and time was limited now.

Ascending higher, Trish crossed paths with Dingo's minions, all of them from several different timelines, now an army of duplicates. Before the two groups could clash, the Time Knights appeared, leading an immediate skirmish against the army of time clones, while the adventurers headed farther still. Finally, they found Dingo himself, sitting in anticipation of the group; there he explained his motives, his dissatisfaction with the world and of his attempt at finding excitement via apocalyptic tampering with time. With the protean unable to be reasoned with, the party clashed with him and the few minions he had with himself; the fabric of time was freely toyed with in that fight, being bent and twisted in ways it was never meant to, but finally, Dingo was on the throes of defeat.

With his imminent demise at hand, the protean transformed, shedding its mortal shell and revealing its true nature to the group, that of a demigod. In a last ditch offensive, the Time Knights rushed in, giving the party access to one of their automatons, to chase after and fight the protean, which took them beyond the boundaries of Chronus itself. After a blazing display of power, the protean was banished, with Trish and her companions having emerged victorious; the celebrations were short-lived, as one in the group, a self-proclaimed devil, greedily hogged the spoils of their battle, betraying his closest allies. Deciding against conflict, Trish shunned him, swearing to never associate with him or his kin again.

## Adventures

### The Rage of Kanaloa

The Duchess was sitting in the foyer, a glass of wine in her hand as she spoke with her wife. The last few days were rather quiet, and a fair bit boring, but the presence of her family (as well as a special guest) had kept Trish occupied. While she appreciated the normalcy, she craved for some manner of excitement; an excuse to go out adventuring. Her salvation came quickly; she began hearing faint whispers, several at the same time. She suddenly grinned, something which Maria quickly picked up on. "What happened, my love?" Trish took a sip from her glass, her smile still evident. "Stirrings in Lalotai, my dear; apparently, there's an attack on it." Maria pouted at her, looking a little disappointed. "Do you have to leave now?" The Duchess slowly got up from her seat, embracing her wife and kissing her forehead. "Yes, but I will be back soon, my dear." Maria nodded as she sighed, hugging her back. With that, Trish rushed to her quarters to get prepared, sending a simple telepathic message to her various agents and minions: "Meet me in Lalotai; you have three days."

Trish had gathered a nearly two dozen of her most accomplished followers to advance first with her; her group was comprised of various demons (disguised and clad in enough armor so as to not scare the locals) as well as many monstrous humanoids, such as minotaurs, to name a few. They were cutting through the seas on their ship, as a mage controlled the winds, making sure it propelled their vessel as fast as possible. "We'll be landing on a nearby beach. Half of you will secure the landing spot as the others arrive. If it becomes too dangerous, attempt to re-locate to a safer spot; I'd prefer if none of you died unnecessarily." Trish quirked an eyebrow, as she directed the others via telepathy; the gusts of wind proving to be too loud otherwise. "The people of Lalotai are scared, and in need of saviors." She grinned as she pointed to herself and the others. "Simply a *fantastic* time, wouldn't you agree? As I've told you, our goal is to protect them *and* spread my faith within them; if we succeed, they will see us as heroes and be indebted to us, and of course, some will begin to see me as their true goddess, as they should." The Duchess' grin grew slightly sinister as those on the ship nodded along to her words, before raising their arms in a cheer.

The landing was successful, with the ship having managed to be halted and secured within acceptable distance. The air however, was filled with brimstone and ash to a degree. It took some time for Trish and her group to acclimate, their cloth masks expediting the process. She wasted no time in directing her followers, at first thoroughly securing the coast they had landed on, before quickly assembling a small, makeshift supply depot. She turned to the group who were to be left behind. "You all know what to do; if trouble comes, inform me and your superiors and we will think of a situation. Do *not* do anything idiotic." The Duchess warned as she confidently began moving towards the town of Lalotai. She smiled throughout the journey; if this endeavor of hers, if successful, would prove to be quite beneficial, both to her and the people of Lalotai. Faiths and beliefs tended to shift with time, and who better than her for them to shift towards?

### Striking the Behemoth

Trish gave a deep sigh as her caravan gradually moved towards the city of Meita. Her mood had soured, ever since she had heard of Behemoth's transgressions; villages burned to the ground, men, women, and children abducted and the Duchess could not figure out why her old acquaintance had become so reckless. While her knowledge of the Tyrant had been limited, due to his aloof nature, he had managed to catch her attention with his fighting prowess during the time Trish had helped save the city so long ago; clearly, the time she had spent watching him had been insufficient, as she only found out too late of his raids.

The road had been calm for the caravan. She sighed again, as necessity had once more demanded that the Duchess rally her followers behind her; she needed to personally see this through, both to understand the sudden shift in Athrakki's behavior and to prevent his untimely death, if at all possible. If it was needed however, and he proved to be too far gone, Trish hoped that she could personally see to his demise, however much she grimaced at this outcome. Whatever outcome, she at least knew that house Delvorde would come out triumphant; whether this triumph was to be at the price of an old ally's head, it remained to be seen.

As Trish looked out her carriage, she saw the fork in the road; a new set of paths, freshly made were leading deeper into the forests on the outskirts of Meita. The farther her caravan traveled, the more crowded the roads become, until eventually, the vast expanse of tents came into view. The Duchess frowned at the sight; the Behemoth raids had attracted an army to deal with the threat they posed to the rest of Etera.

Once she had arrived at a clearing, her followers quickly assembled their own temporary abodes, and within a matter of hours, dozens of tents had sprung up, all flying the red and white Delvorde banner. For a few moments, the Duchess felt proud as the sight made her reminisce of how far she had come in a span of years; the moment of quiet was broken however, as she now needed to direct her soldiers. Her plan had been simple: attacking simultaneously from the air as well as the ground, to overwhelm and scatter the gnoll defenders; with assistance from the other groups, the task should be more than possible. While she preferred to lead, Trish knew that were it necessary, she would have to be one of the many leading the charge.

She was in the central tent drafting attack patterns and strategies with her second in command as the delegate arrived, with whom the Duchess wasted no time in coordinating her efforts. The longer she spent staring at battle maps and seeing all the armed men and women flitting about, the clearer and more resounding the gravity of the situation became; as it previously was during the rebellion, Etera was once again banding together to eliminate a common threat.

## Appearance

At first glance, Trish physically resembles a relatively attractive human female, with raven hair and piercing gray eyes; the resemblance ends there however, for the facade that it is. Her true form bears an eerie resemblance to Lamashtu: that of a humanoid with feathered wings and the head of a jackal.

While Trish prefers to stay in her human form to avoid stirring trouble with the locals, she quickly sheds her disguise when in presence of those she deems worthy and capable of witnessing her true form.

## Personality

While initially Trish saw herself above all, she has softened up, however only slightly; her selfishness and egocentric tendencies are undisputed, yet she has shown a slightly more caring side to those whose relationship she treasures. Despite these however, she sees herself in the forefront of her goals.

In part due to her upbringing and ideals, Trish has developed a certain dislike for civilization; apart from it manifesting as misanthropy, she greatly despises the notion of cities and other gatherings of civilized races as being bulwarks against the wilderness; if Trish had her way, the walls would crumble as all rejoined the wilds.

## Relationships

**Lamashtu:** her grandmother; by far the most significant influence on Trish. She idolizes her forebearer to an almost uncanny degree; she will go through many lengths in hopes of garnering praise from the Demon Mother.

**Salazar:** her father; after her grandmother, Salazar was the biggest influence on her life. While he had died many years ago, a chance encounter with a mysterious creature led to his resurrection and return to Trish's life, much to her joy.

**Esha:** her mother; due in part to her abandoning her at birth, amidst other reasons, Trish has developed an certain hatred towards her own mother; Trish aims to outperform her in every way, including in motherhood.

**Maria Delvorde:** her wife; the former duchess of Delvorde. While their marriage was an act of opportunism by Trish, she's nevertheless protective of her spouse.

**Benjamin Delvorde:** her son-in-law; Maria's only son and somewhat of a mischievous prankster.

**Violet Delvorde:** her daughter-in-law; the former duchess' sole daughter and childhood friend of Ariadne.

**Ariadne:** Violet's closest friend; Trish maintains her leverage over her via her influence over Violet.

**Rhea:** her wife; initially a merfolk whom Trish has developed a kind of fascination with, for better or worse. Since then, the two's relationship has blossomed into something more intimate and deeper, with the merfolk and Trish beginning to start a family together.

**Elyn:** one of Trish's favorite crafters; after numerous encounters and gifts, Trish considers her a friend.

**Mhorina:** one of Trish's newest friends, greatly respects her after a series of adventures together.

**Jovra:** Trish's go-to purveyor of magical items; currently missing.

**Morty:** one of Trish's newer friends and preferred tattoo artist; currently missing.

**Nikita:** another of Trish's newest acquaintances, whom she greatly admires the temperament of; currently missing.

**Magnus:** once considered a valuable ally, his recent actions have permanently soured relations between the two, with their alliance being completely dissolved; currently missing.

## Aspirations

Above all, Trish seeks to prove herself to her forebearer, in hopes of one day stepping foot in the vast expanse Kurnugia. Additionally, she constantly plots for more power, in whatever way she can get away with.