Qhaysh

The galaxy is a harsh place, full of strife and tribulations. Many desire peace, to avoid the violence and suffering and live a tranquil life. Among these were a ship's captain and the ship's navigator, who began receiving visions in their dreams of a world in the far galactic west that was beautiful, bountiful in resources, obscure, and serene. Seeing it as their greatest hope for escaping the galaxy's horrors, they embarked on their journey to the west with little more than their ship and what they could carry with it.

Along the way they gathered a very strong following, almost against their own wishes to preserve secrecy, but miraculously, they were never interrupted in their journey. A sign of providence if there was any. The final leg of the trip saw the pilgrimage fleet passing through an almost impossible number of obstacles to reach their goal, but whenever it seemed disaster was about to strike, a stroke of fortune always managed to right their course and preserve their lives. When the last of the many obstacles were cleared, each and every one of the ships in the fleet was accounted for, with few casualties and no fatalities. A true miracle, and proof that they were being watched over by a higher being.

Then, at last, they arrived at their destination. It was paradise, exactly as the visions had described it. A lush, bountiful world teeming with life, rich in all manner of resources, and without even any dangerous fauna or microbial lifeforms to cause them ill. On arrival, the visions the captain and navigator received changed, telling them to bring the settlers down onto a specific area on the planet. There, they found a great statue of a beautiful elfin woman built of an unearthly material that softly glowed a wondrous white and rainbow light. There, then, all heard a melodic voice speaking into their minds. Its name was Qhaysh, Goddess of Serenity and Harmony. The world, Aethenla, was its world, and it would now share it with them, her chosen people, forever more.

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Qhaysh was a lie. A very carefully constructed, exquisite, utter lie. There was no goddess of Serenity and Harmony. Not yet at least. Farulfr, a lowly miner in some unremarkable planet in the Imperium, was a saint. With nought but a pickaxe, he defeated countless lesser daemons of the Blood God and led a small group of survivors over a hundred leagues through daemon infested landscapes to reach the capitol and escape his planet's destruction. He had tremendous faith in the Emperor, but in addition to that, he had utter serenity. Implacable and calm, his emotions were as water to the daemons' fire. To the Laughing God, it was inspiration.

Under his direction, the eldar would engineer the creation of a god that would hard counter the Blood God in the same way Isha did Nurgle. First, a few telepathic whispers into the minds of some sufficiently gullible mon-keigh to reach their psychically potent maiden world. Along the way, intercept hostiles so the fleet arrives in one piece. Follow up with a very generous amount of preparations, subtle aid, and fate-weaving to get them through the various obstacles they'd face. Finally, once they reach the masterfully-crafted statue set up several years ago, add in a bit more telepathy and you're done. You now have a small but growing population devoted to the worship of a false god, and in doing so create a true god who will eventually cause significant annoyance to one of the Great Gods of Chaos. A god who could banish the most bloodthirsty, violent, implacable daemons with *lullabies*. Oh Cegorach could not *wait* to see the investment pay off. Unfortunately, galactic events meant he had to take his eyes off that particular project and turn his attention elsewhere for a significant amount of time. Not much of an issue, he thought. From what he could tell, the growth of the budding society and religion would be stable, positive, and great, the maiden world's aura and his own constructed defences should keep the god seed protected and hidden, and when the time came to return there'd be an eldar-looking god who'd recognise her benefactor through his race's appearance and language and be willing to help.

Things did not go exactly according to plan. All three of his major predictions did come to pass. The mon-keigh were prosperous, happy, devout, and teeming in number. No warp predators ate the god seed and the god was fully formed. Finally, the god recognised the eldar's part in her birth and was willing to act in thanks for helping bring her into existence. It's in the details that things went just ever so slightly off the rails.

To begin with, it was not as strong as Cegorach had expected it to be, and that was directly related to its nature, which was also not what Cegorach expected it to be. He'd expected a religious god who'd become a part primal god from taking the small and uncontested domains of serenity and harmony. Not particularly strong given the weakness of those domains, but still something. Instead, it was a purely religious god. Apparently, its inherently calm nature led to it taking a look-before-you-leap outlook, and didn't like how becoming partly primal would make it more inhuman. Because it was made by humans, and sane humans - which the humans of Aethenla most definitely were - liked their humanity. Without those unrestricted domains, Qhaysh still directly countered the nature of the Blood God, but was weaker in raw power than she otherwise would've been. Unfortunate, but sanity in an ally is useful in its own way.

Another surprise was what made her willing to wage war against Chaos. Cegorach had originally intended to leverage a primal god's natural desire to expand its own domains to make it act against its nature and participate in conflict. Instead, simply showing her what was going on in the galaxy and having a calm, reasonable discussion with her about it was all that was required. This greatly disappointed the Laughing God. A functional and effective strategy, sure, but very boring, not fun like the irony of a deity following its nature by going against its nature.

The final unexpected aspect of her existence was her powerset. The expected things were there: calming the Warp to facilitate travel, overly calming it to utterly stop all travel, and generally radiating an aura of serenity that makes other creatures less interested in combat. What was not expected was for the god to essentially recreate the Realm of Souls in miniature. Granted, it only extends to her own personal aura of influence, but within that aura, the Warp reverts to its original state, balanced and uncorrupted by the events of the War in Heaven. With her surroundings so malleable and safe to interact with, and with a calm and analytical mind, the god easily learned how to manipulate its harmonious energies to manifest psychic powers. Qhaysh's powers were ultimately very weak compared to what she could do with her domains, but very strong compared to what most mortals were typically capable of, and with significant capacity for growth. Cegorach was very pleasantly surprised at this development and endeavoured to set her up with Eldrad to be properly taught the tricks of the trade. Unfortunately, there wasn't really time for that, because when Cegorach turned his attention back to Qhaysh after so many years it was because the raid against Nurgle was being prepared. The lessons would have to be delayed until later.

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While Qhaysh is a direct counter to the power of Khorne, Khorne and his strongest minions still far outclass her in power and are utterly intolerant to the existence of a god of serenity. She survives only because her homeworld is one of the eldar's Maiden Worlds, and she thus, with permission from the Laughing God, has access to the Webway, which is warded against the Chaos Gods. From there she can exist and grow in power without fear of destruction, and can venture out for short periods before returning to evade the Blood God's axe.

Qhaysh's participation in the raids against Nurgle's domain was one of those short ventures, and her role was primarily one of movement control. By calming the Warp ahead of her and her fellow deities, they could move much more quickly and easily than they otherwise would. By strengthening the effect even further, she could still the flows of the Warp entirely, slowing pursuers, delaying reinforcements, and hampering attacks. Her domain also reduced the enemy's fighting spirit, making them easier opponents for her allies to defeat.

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