Rüla, God of Fear and Madness

## Overview

Nightmares

The Many Minds

## Affiliations

SornaOrder of Many Minds

Wisps

Rüla is the God of Fear and Madness, responsible for all manner of terrors both real and imagined. Rüla has feasted on the fears of mortals for as long as anyone can remember, tainting the beauty of night with fears of what hides in the shadows. Rüla resides in the shadows of the Forest of Many Minds, a land virtually untouched by the influences of other gods. There, Rüla and its followers conspire to infect the Creation with terror.

Rüla has another "half", so to speak: Sorna. Sorna dwells in the nightmarish realm of Multor, invading the minds of mortals through their dreams and devouring the fear within their minds.

## History

As mortals wandered Creation for the first time, they marveled at the beautiful night sky, danced beneath the stars, and possessed great courage that gave them the strength to persevere in the harsh lands that came before them. Fear had not yet gripped mortals. This all changed with the arrival of Rüla, whose entrance into Creation caused the hearts of mortals to pound in terror. Rüla clawed and bit at the greatest peaks and the lowest caverns, carving out hidden places where the most unsettling creatures might reside. It was Rüla that planted the seed of fear in the minds of all mortalkind.

When Patron fell in battle against Vash, his mortal terror became so overwhelmingly temping that a portion of Rüla split off, chasing after the source of such delectable fear. This entity would become known as Sorna. Sorna would go on to chase Patron's body down into a rift, finding itself in Multor, a shadowy plane filled with nightmares, lost souls, and horrors from bygone worlds. It was there that Sorna made its home, while Rüla continued to work in Creation from the Woods of Many Minds. From there, Rüla coordinated the efforts of its wisps, as well as the Order of Many Minds. The Woods were one of the few places unaffected by the Long Winter, although this was of little solace to those who dared settle in its shadow. Entire settlements found themselves driven to insanity, driven off by the Order of Many Minds, or consumed by massive spiders.

## Recent Events

When Nital was released from his prison and into Creation, the Blood God tore a massive hole in the ley-network, allowing the forces of Multor to flood into Creation relatively unhindered. Rüla dined on mortal terror as thousands upon thousands of mortals were devoured by Nital and his forces in the initial slaughters. The wisps from Multor set about causing as much terror as possible in Creation, oftentimes possessing mortals and plunging entire towns into paranoid frenzies.

Working together with Sorna, Rüla orchestrated a massive invasion of Creation, first using mortals' minds as gateways, before attempting a much larger scale incursion by invading the minds of the divine. This opportunity presented itself when Nital, Nyubar, Statute, and Vash all became entangled in a convoluted struggle, resulting in the first three having a bout of temporary madness and the flight of the fourth. This incursion from Multor was less of an organized invasion and more of a force of nature, unleashing countless malevolent beings onto the world. Entire regions were devastated by this, including the previously untouched Amaranthine Empire. While the incursion has stopped due to the stabilizing of the afflicted deities, great damage has been done; and the forces of Rüla now plague the night.