Gestal

Gestal, the Possessive, is a part of an ancient who was split off from the rest of his collective hivemind after the Arklight shattered. Desperate to reunite with the rest of the hivemind from which he originated, he is now burdened with the curse of consciousness and seeks to emulate his old life by enthralling other beings into a new hivemind.

## Lore

### Backstory

Long before even the Blessed Children graced the planet of Aefex with their presence, there was life. This distant time period, simply refered to as the 0th Age, was the catalyst for all life as we know now. Ancient life born during this period was bizzare, chaotic, and foreign to our modern sensibilities. Whilst many would evolve into the forms we are most comfortable with now, such as humans, elves, dragons, and demons: most of these primative beings would die out over time. Being actively hunted down, outclassed by other emerging beings or simply evolving into more capable forms kept the natural balance in check. But one such being had no need to change, only to grow and spread its influence.

A fungi-like lifeform, known as the Grand Gestalivan Cordrycepp, is a massive hive mind network of fungi all across the planet, but most predomenantly found deep within the Faerin caverns. Not much is known on this creature to this day being regarded as simply non-sentient by many researchers, but one thing is certain: its primary objective is to grow and constantly spread its influence. All under a collective consciousness, they continued their objective far into the second age. Undisturbed in their end goal of simply growing and spreading their influence. Surely a being as time tested as this was immune to the reality shattering altertations of the Arklight's failure. When the dust settled, this seemed to truly be the case. Damaged for sure, but otherwise unharmed, the fungi still continued to spread and grow.

Unfortunately, this immunity to the largest event to ever happen in the history of ever was a lie. One singular individual part of the grand hive mind was seperated from the rest thanks to the Arklight. Alone and afraid, seperated from the shared consciousness it had known all its life, burdened with its own thoughts that became rushing into its head. This lone individual desperately tried to merge back with its progenitor, to be assimilated back into the grand consciousness and to lose all these thoughts of its own, but to no avail.

Desiring to return to the previous mode of existence it once knew, away from all the chaos that came with isolation, this piece of the whole began enthralling other creatures into a new hive mind. Enslaving and possessing others into a new hive mind, to achieve the same peace and tranquality that had been stolen from it.

### Recent Events

Amidst the Faerin islands, Gestal recently had noticed an interesting pair begin exploring the various temples. Interested in the pair, specifically the purple haired one, whose magic radiated a unique aura unlike anything else Gestal had ever seen before.

## Personality

Gestal holds an extremely devious and selfish personality. Often schemeing and lying, Gestal does do things entirely for his own gain. Possessive by nature due to their deep desire to return to their collective state, Gestal is often shown growing very attached to things quickly. During their encounters Gestal often would comment on how "I want this", "I need this", and "You will be mine" frequently to Melolia and Eyre, showing his demanding possessive personality. These were not uttered with a shred of romantic intention behind them, but more in the material sense of getting attached.

## Trivia

* Gestal's original fungus hivemind is one of the oldest beings still alive to this time, coming into evolution early on in the 0th age.
* Gestel does not have the capability to actually speak due to not having a mouth, instead communicating to others telepathically.
	+ Due to not having a conventional mouth, Gestel's species are saprotropic creatures, feeding externally by secreting decomposing chemicals and absorbing nutrients from the decayed matter.

## Development Notes

* Gestel's original concept came back from the original Magic Quest board game concept. This version of the character, which would be developed into Gestel, was named Shroons.
	+ During early development, Gestel was given the name Shroons and this was intended to be the final name of the character, before it was changed to Gestel.
* The name Gestel is a play on gestalt intelligence, which is the term given to the science fiction trope of a group intelligence or hive mind.
	+ The name Gestel's etymology can also be related to gestation, the process of developing life: alluding to Gestel's unique process of developing into its own seperate lifeform.
	+ According to the initial writers of Gestel, when sounded out: Gestel also sounds loosely like the words vessel and guest, two more words which add to the character's backstory.