Name:
Kyoru, the Queen of Denial
Oft referred to as the Queen of Whores by dissenters and admirers alike.

Age:
132

Gender:
Female

Story:
Awaken!

If this city were a man, he would be stricken with disease, incurable and terrible. If it were a man, he would devote the remainder of his miserable days to prayer and the pursuit for atonement, for he has failed his lord in all the tasks once set before him. Sodom and Gomorrah, the twin cities built in a realm of nothingness with the purpose of filling the void with goodness and righteousness and the word of the LORD. But it was not good, for God had tolerated a single flaw in his grand design: that it was to be populated by Man. In a design so perfectly pure, a single blemish would shatter everything, for it was destined to be equally, perfectly fragile. The embodiment of all that is good and holy, the LORD had forgiven mankind for his transgressions, had filled them with new hopes and dreams, had set them upon a fresh path and a clean slate, for he dreamed with them of a bright future. Yet all the dreams in the world, be they of gods or men, could not keep the darkness away forever. Had the LORD hoped that by engulfing Man in his own light, in a realm void of anything else, he could purify them of their disease that festered in their tarnished hearts? What disappointment he must have felt when he saw what he had wrought. For the brighter the flame, the deeper shadows fall.

Few would know more about the shadows than Kyoru, a lowborn woman in a world of men. Destined to live in poverty and servitude to those more privileged than her, she was all but overlooked by the world at large. In a world so poised to look upwards and to strive towards greatness, few would pause to look down at the quiet, unseen forces at work beyond what we normally perceive. For Kyoru was a slave like her parents before her, and it was the destiny of slaves to stand in the shadows of greater men. This was the LORD’s plan, and he saw that it was good.

Perhaps they were wrong. Pride and ignorance would be their downfall, for had they ever looked into the dark where Kyoru dwelt and toiled, they would have seen the venomous hatred that grew inside her like a son. Hatred for the LORD, hatred for his apostles, hatred for the self-righteous, hatred for the inevitable. The very concept of destiny and predetermination caused revolt and disgust in her, and gave birth to the concept of the grand denial. Denial of the LORD and everything he stood for, denial of all the things that he had set forth and decreed. Kyoru rejected the life she had been given, and yearned for a way to break the chains of fate that bound her.

It was at this time that the winged emissaries of God, the holiest of creatures, descended upon the twin cities with intentions impure and misguided. Once possessed of unequal purity of body and spirit, these angels found things in the dark reaches of creation that had driven them from the path of God, had inspired in them a savage side that was so very reminiscent of another creature: Man. And much like man, these angels began to feel previously unfelt desires; cravings normally reserved for the wingless. When they beheld the daughters of man, those pitiful creatures bound to the unclean earth, they were overcome by a great want for their bodies and warmth. Having strayed from the LORD’s word, they shed the last vestiges of divinity from their angelic forms and lay with them as they pleased. More than that, they mingled with the society of Man and introduced him, woeful, ignorant creature that he was, to wonders of technology and mysticism. Secrets were revealed to them that would have never become known were it not for the aid of these misguided messengers, who now felt more kinship with the mortal flock than they did with their creator. This was a time of great change and great things. A time of innovation and prosperity. A time of opportunity.

Do you remember how it all began?

While men cast their eyes towards the stars and towards their newfound gods – deified angels and false idols of gold – the fallen ones combed the deep shadows of the twin cities, finding lost treasures within the unlight. Baraqel, the Father of Lies and Watcher in the Dark, found a very special flower growing in the darkness, one that fed on tears and shunned the light. It was small and shriveled and tangled in weeds, and when he asked for its name, it called itself Kyoru. The little thing told him that it was the queen of flowers, and that one day it would outgrow the dungeon it had been planted in, grow to such magnificence that all would prostrate and worship it. So intrigued was the fallen angel by her that he indulged her fantasies and promised to help her grow – if only she would indulge his. Thus, hidden away from prying eyes, the two consumed their infernal union, and one thing was exchanged for another.

Up above, enlightenment turned to decadence, and from decadence spawned violence and decay. The twin cities collapsed in on themselves after years of infighting between groups gathered around petty, self-proclaimed lords who would seek to use the secrets of the angels against their next of kin to further their own agenda. Fat, uncaring men gorged themselves on wine and fruit whilst looking down from their gilded towers onto the burning streets of Sodom and Gomorrah, where lesser men butchered one another to appease them. Idolatry became rampant, the idea of the LORD all but a distant memory. The natural order of sex was entirely discarded in favor of aggressive experimentation; nothing was sacred. And above all else, the darkened silhouettes of titanic giants loomed across the horizon, where they could be seen pillaging and annihilating less fortunate places. Not many knew where they had come from, but everyone knew that they were the bringers of the end.

They were called the Nephilim, and they were the unholy offspring of a union between an angel and a woman – a union as unspeakable as the abominations they have spawned. Kyoru should know, for she bore her very own loathsome Nephilim. Most mothers of such monsters either died at birth or committed suicide out of horror upon seeing the disfigured body which had crawled from their womb, yet Kyoru not only survived the birth of her child, but seemed entirely ignorant of its repulsive appearance. While others saw only a monstrosity lying in her arms, her bewitched eyes saw a child more beautiful than anything she had ever beheld. Such was Baraqel’s gift unto her: she had the power to bend reality and turn things into their opposite, though it was all deceit, for she had no power over the true nature of things.

While her child-beast grew into maturity, Kyoru used her newfound powers to sway the hearts and minds of men throughout the entire city. Always altering her shape to appeal to the simple minds of men, she promised them the world, and made them love her and believe in her cause. First she gathered the warriors, so that she might be safe in a city that was further descending into chaos, violence and madness every day. Then she gathered the women, so that they too might be safe, and that they might please the men, thus fulfilling part of Kyoru’s grand promises. Wherever she and her apostles went, they welcomed the steadfast and the hopeless alike into their seductive embrace, and great numbers flocked towards her court, for it was easy to like a sovereign who offered pleasure, riches and peace over tyranny and slavery.

Henceforth, her name was praised through the streets of the twin cities, and she would become known as the Queen of Denial – or, as competing rulers would have it, the Queen of Whores, for it was truly descriptive of her court. Over time, the number of these opposing lords diminished, as the weak were devoured by the strong, and before long Sodom and Gomorrah were ruled by only a handful of despots. Given more time, perhaps she could have ruled all of the twin cities, but such thoughts are idle fancies now.

This was the time when the LORD returned and beheld what mankind – and his angels – had wrought. Few remember what happened hereafter, for few survived the cataclysm that tore the twin cities asunder. Those that did – the angels, the Nephilim, and the greatest of human sinners – were imprisoned in the darkness beneath the blasted surface, where they were locked away to await the end of the world. The rest was never heard from again, and thus concludes the account of Kyoru and the twin cities.

Appearance:
Kyoru is a woman of many faces, and most accounts of her vary wildly from one another. Sometimes she is described as tall, other times as short; one man claims she had long, golden hair, another affirms he had seen her with raven hair cut short. To most, she appears as a young woman, seductive as she is beautiful, but some would claim she was much older than the former would admit, appearing mature and experienced. As if she were but a collectively experienced dream, Kyoru seems to change the details of her appearance at will, always succeeding in appealing to the beholder. At the very least, everyone could agree that she was, in fact, a woman, and her behavior also remained consistent enough to define.

Sin:

• Lust, sexual depravity


• Envy


• Pride


• Conducting of and permitting sorcery


• Consorting with an angel


• Above all else: Denial of god, heresy

Affiliation:
Illusionist by the grace of Baraqel

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Awaken!
For the first time in eternity, light falls into this forgotten chamber, deep beneath the surface. The flicker of torchlight reflects against the oddly metallic floor inside, barbed with millions of finger-length spikes, like grass made of metal. From the poisoned, iron soil rise gnarled, silvery trees that stood the test of time, unchanged from when they were first warped into their deformed shape. In the center of the circular garden stands an enormous iron tree, its metal roots digging deeply into the ground while its myriad branches carve holes into the ceiling. Only dimly illuminated by the torches from this distance, one can see a person hanging from the tree, held in place by thorned vines made from iron. The ancient nails dig into her flesh, and lines of crusted blood are painted all across her emaciated body. This woman’s lifeless body hangs motionlessly from its unyielding prison, this Iron Garden to which she had been sentenced a long time ago. And by all rights, she should have remained there to rot for all eternity, but everything changed when it penetrated her prison…