Name: Del Sombra roughly translates to “Of Unknown Origin”. Other Names: The Black Cat, Dungeon Master, The Silent One, The Conspirerer, Goddess of the Unknown
Domain: Conspiracy, Secrets, Crime, Violence, Answers, lies, riddles, and truth. Personality: Del Sombra is a creature of secrets And behaves as such. She’s only capable of speech when telling a secret. She will not speak under any other circumstance, not even to the other gods.
She is a goddess whom keeps a keen eye on the world below. Observing, and following those that have taken her interest. She shows no care if she is seen or not by her quarry, and will continue to follow them no matter where they go, or the condition of their well being. Mortals have often found this behavior unsettling, and a tale tale sign of an omen head.
Along with this she has a curious and nosey nature. Often stepping through walls, or floors to peak at what’s behind them. Slipping her head into jars, boxes, books, and inside a mortal’s body. Tipping over books, chairs, loose furniture. Knocking down apples, leaves, and even as far as sitting on a human’s chest and watching them sleep.
She takes a surprising delight in watching organized crime. And will often reward impressive feats with boons of her own choosing. From secrets, to small pieces of her powers.
And she takes great care in watching adventurer's progress. She's often the architect of many dungeons, and ruins below. Allowing them to be used as hide aways for cultist, liches, or what have you. Even secrets, and sometimes vaults designated to hide and protect equipment for some fabled hero. Her whiskers twitch in amusement with every trap stumbled upon, or difficult encounter. But she certainly is not a sadistic mistress. With difficulty comes reward, and she purrs with pride as every dungeon she creates has been completed and plundered for it's secrets below.
Influence: Her influence might not be the most directly impressive, but holds a large influence over the hearts of man. She is what allows men to conspire, to lie, to meet in secret. And as a consequence, to murder, to steal, to betray, to trust.
And sometimes, the only boundary between full blown war and peace, is a king and his general conspiring against another kingdom.
Should you ever feel that you trust someone, or paranoid of someone planning to slip a knife in your back... it's likely her doing.
Religious Influence: Her influence spans a wide variety of mortals, with an equally massive diversity in characters. She’s primarily praised by cultist, assassins, and guild thieves. But has also found her way into warship by Politics, Generals, investigators, and secretive guilds. And even the occasional prayer will slip her way by those whom build tombs and dungeons.
Powers:
Her powers revolve heavily around information. And she has an unparalleled since of omnipotence. However, she can not read minds, and treats a private thought as a sacred boundary that should not be crossed.
Along with many gods, she’s capable of giving blessings onto her champions or those whom have earned her grace.
One of her blessings is on a global scale, a reward for all forms of life being capable of conspiracy. Every mortal has the ability to request information from a cat for a price. For instance;
A secret requires a secret, and only by the definition that Sombra has applied. A secret must be truthful information known by only a small number of –relative- count. And there must exist a faction in which its acquisition is beneficial. The feline may also decide whether or not it will share information, and will not share what they were told if the price was not met.
The cost of a hint or directions is dependent on the feline at the time. Which may be absolutely anything that the feline desires.
A feline will not whisper to a mortal until the cost is satisfied.
Many people will often call it just a myth. But there was a legend of a philosopher that once requested a cat to tell him the meaning of life. The feline's responce was a small cryptic whisper with a distant look, "This question isn't wrong."
Vulnerabilities: Bronze appears to have a unique property that it blocks and even repells Del Sombra’s powers. While Sombra is able to bypass a thin sheet of bronze. A significantly dense and thick enough object composed of Bronze will completely negate her abilities. A long time ago, a paranoid noble asked a cat how to block The Black Cat’s gaze, and she had told him to encase his secrets in bronze so thick, that a knock is hardly a whisper.
That being said, Bronze does have the ability to create a barrier against Sombra’s omnipotence. And even can be used to harm her, as a dense piece of bronze will ignore her incorporeal form. Even though this can’t be confirmed very well, this did not stop mortals from attempting to hide secrets with the use of bronze.
This activity and demand, had actually caused bronze to be jacked up in price, bordering the value of gem stones for half a pound of bronze. Oddly enough, the prices for copper and tin have only changed a small amount. There are a number of reasons for this cause.
Apperance:
Del Sombra normally and often takes her spiritual form in the shape of a small feline. The cat’s eyes constantly emit an aura of wispy smoke, and it’s body seems to shimmer between corporal and incorporeal. However, this can often change to whatever is convenient for her at the time. She seems to be incapable of representing a normal human, and will often be similar to a Rakshasa or one of his demi-human creatures. And though Sombra is actually genderless, she can shift between genders at will, and seems to take precedence as a female.
Her body is almost completely incorporeal. Allowing her to easily step through walls, barriers, and magic without harm or damaging the obstruction. Any influence she places on the corporeal world is an act of unnatural physical force. Along with this property, her body disappears with light, and reappears in the shadows and the dark, her influence on the world is effected by this as well. She can not move or touch anything that is in direct light, unless she prods at its shaded side.
When she takes the form of a mortal, she assumes the form of a female catfolk monk resembling an Ocelot. Though she's not what one would call the pinnacle of beauty. Instead, she remains somewhat inconspicuous. She has small breasts, and a slender and sturdy frame. She stands only at five feet tall. She wears a pair of baggy white canvas pants, and a purple sash that is tied to her hips in a fashion to form a curtain on both of her thighs. She wears no shirt, or jacket. Her chest is only wrapped tightly in strips of cloth, as are her hands.
Her eyes have the same effect as that of her spiritual form. So the remain hidden behind a thick wrapping of cloth forming a blindfold.
On her neck, arms, and waist are sets of prayer beads. And completing her appearance, is a collar with a tag with a rune that displays that the monk had taken a vow of silence.
Creations: Displacer Beast: A terrifying six legged beast the size of a bear and as nasty as a dragon formed with a lawfully evil mindset. These creatures have two long snake like appendages rising from it’s back, and have the ability of displacement. This ability allows the displacer beast to appear in a location that it is not. They are both solitary, and pack based creatures. That is some will prefer to stay in packs, and some would rather to be on it's own.
These nasty buggers are often seen as a display of the goddess's sadism, as they've developed a twisted sense of enjoyment about eatting their pray alive.
These beasts are incredibly dangerous and territorial to adventurers, and seem to have a level of intelligence about them. However, it is not uncommon to see these beasts become “domesticated”. And But domesticated in terms of an established contract. It is not uncommon to see them guarding shops, keeping watch at a thieve's hideout, or... and for those whom are as daft as they come... as a mount.
Sergals : A form of Demi-Human, and her first fully sentient creation. They are lanky creatures, resembling some sort of raptor with a mostly mammalian body. Their language is needlessly complex, and after many generations of existence has not grown much better. The Sergalian language is absurdly context sensitive with a mass scale of grammar rules making it obscenely difficult for non-native speakers to correctly translate, and as consequence, many of the intricacies of speech is difficult for a Sergal to comprehend, like sarcasm.
Their written language is not much better, as the meanings of their characters can change depending on the previous markings and sentences.
There's been a long running civil war between two different sub-species. Northern and Southern.
Their culture is fairly inspired by hunting and military proficiencies. As they hold a large military power that is also made into a civil architecture. Their civil leader is the General, and it's law enforcement are soldiers. That is not saying the race is not cultured. They do have an appreciation for arts and crafts.
Females tend to be much larger than males. There is a common joke about a high bisexuality/homosexuality rating due to how terrifying they can be.
Interestingly enough, even though she created them, she left the sergals to be free to choose who they wish to warship.
Cryptics: Passive Spirits that look like cloaked figures with heads of bizzare and complex ornamental runes. These creatures can not be seen by the mortal's eye, or any sort of magic. However, artist may accidentally reveal these strange creatures when doing paintings or drawings from life. Even though the artist can't see them, they will paint them into their work. These strange creatures appear near areas of interest. Secret lairs, near the entrances of cultist hide outs, occasionally inside a thieve's guild hideout (usually a good sign), etc.
Orbweaver-Horse: Part spider, part horse, and equally as terrifying all around. You’ll probably get a crazy look for wanting to tame one. But at least you’ll be able to scale mountains no problem. Needless to say, Del Sombra probably was either bored, or was curious to see this combination. In truth, she was testing to see what she -could- do, when she first started off. This was her first creation, which caused her some dismay in how the beast turned out.
Cats: Del Sombra has created all species of cats, and values them like her own children. They gossip and share secrets among each other. But they also have the ability to comprehend and use all languages of the world, both written and spoken. However, there's only certain conditions when they will openly speak with any none feline.
Sphinx: Another of Del Sombra's precious children. Large riddling felines whom often serve as guardians to some structure. Their size and appearances can vary widely among them. Those who fail to answer a riddle correctly may suffer a horrible fate. Some, though, do not resort to the use of Riddles. There's a legend of a Sphinx named "Erudite" whom built a massive dungeon and challenges adventurers to best it in the hopes of a reward.
Cat Folk: The last sentient race Del Sombra has created. These are humanoid creatures whom heavily resemble cats. They lack the sleuthing abilities of their predecessors. Their language shares similarities with Sergals, but is much simpler, as it dealt away with a majority of the syntax and grammatical rules that it previously had, and flows at a much more rhythmic and quicker pace. It is possible to start with the Cat Folk's language, and use it as a base to learn the Sergal's language.
Their culture is more freeform, and tends to adopt that of their surroundings.
Like the Sergals, the Catfolk are free to choose who they warship. But many still pay their respects to her by refering to her as "mother".
In many locations, the Catfolk had created monasteries where they train Monks in some sort of skill. The skill depends on the focus of the monastery. Some teach swordplay, some teach unarmed combat, Some assassination, some teach just art. Reguardless of the skill, the monks train to master it.
In fact, the monks are often feared well enough, that stories had cropped up about a single monk from "The Monestary of the Solid Fist" had felled and army of barbarians, unarmed and unarmored. This is likely just a story. But their ferocity is definitely not.
These monasteries will also often select a god to pray to for enlightenment, but do not force the practice.
Tales:
This story tells the tale of a Multi-leveled dungeon, and a thief named Dar’Haro.
The Forgotten rock was a dungeon carved inside of a stray mountain, with only a single entrance and a single exit. Del Sombra was it’s creator, and for many generations the dungeon had claimed the lives whom had thought that they could best it. Feeling disappointed, and a bit angry at herself for creating something so difficult, the goddess had struck it off of the maps of the world, and moved the entire mountain into a new location in hopes of it being forgotten.
However, years later, the dungeon had been rediscovered. And it was once again put into action. The mortals quickly discovered it’s past history and employed the forsaken dungeon as a prison. Those who entered were expunged of their sins, their crimes, and their blasphemies… and were free to go as they please. But they must reach the end of the dungeon to reclaim their lives.
The story then talks of a thief, whom’s luck had ran dry. Betrayed by his crew in the middle of a heist, he was caught by a group of paladins and brought before the king for his capital sentence. The thief had escaped the death penalty many times, and had a history of allowing himself to be caught to break others out. So the king showed no mercy, and sent him to the Forgotten Rock.
They had tossed him down the pit of an entrance, and left him to his fate. Where he clawed and fought his way through monsters, through puzzles, and through traps on that day. Days and nights had past before Sombra’s attention had been piqued. She watched this thief struggle his way below the mountain’s peak.
Finally near the end, where the augur was left to be told, the thief had collapsed from exhaustion and watched as the bringer of his death stepped closer to him.
Time grew distorted when the goddess appeared before him. She continued to stare at him, silently saying nothing as the thief continued to question why she was here. The thief eventually broke down, nearly loosing the grips of his mind, where he expunged every secret he knew… as a means to confess his sins.
And while she wasn’t the right god for such a confession, they were secrets none the less.
“The price has been met, and well beyond . If you wish to keep your life, then heed my words carefully.” The story after this often has many forms. Some says that the thief had became a “Shadow Dancer”. Other’s say that he gained some powerful weapon, or ability.
But they all lead to the same ending.
When the King who sentenced the thief spoke to a cat, and shared the secret of his passage ways, he asked it what were his enemies planning. The cat spoke in a hushed whisper.
“Mmmm… what a delightful secret a costly one though. But I’m afraid you’re not going to like what I have to say. He has no plans, but it seems that you will die tonight. Kiss your children goodnight, tell your wife you love her, make amends, and find a quiet place to lay in wait. Regardless of what you do, this is a fate that you can not abate.”
There was a philosopher, praised for his accomplishment, who sat at a desk. The rings under his eyes were as dark as the ink that stained his fingers. His gaze had not once left the sight of his window. He stared endlessly, seeing everything at once, and still nothing at all.
His cat, a tabby of seven pounds, and ten cycles, crawled into his lap and purred softly in amusement. “Solaris, you’re quite the actor. Any longer and birds would assume you a statue and will shit on your head. What troubles you?”
“A question that trembles the brain of many men, and spawns scorpions to lay waste to what little thoughts they have.”
“Oh? Do go on”
“We exist, we pray, we build, we destroy, we create, we take, we debate, we die...correct?” the philosopher known as Solaris chanted.
“Indeed you do, as any other man or creature.”
“We study, we decipher, we aspire, we deceive, we kill, we achieve, we ascend…correct?” The man slowly keeled over, as if he was to wheep on the desk. Only a hand gently scratched at his companions ears.
“Indeed you do,” the feline mused in a humored tone, “Just as any other creature can.”
“We sail, we discover, we adventure, we breath, we’re free, and we fail… correct?”
“Indeed you do,” the feline yawned softly. She shook her head and then replied. “Just as any other creature.”
“And yet we’re incapable of one thing… a question that no man can ever answer, and only the gods know themselves.”
“And now we arrive to the point,” The cat hummed, now licking her paw.
“So I make a request, out of the selfishness of an old mans heart. The thirst for knowledge of all men. Answer me this one question, oh wise cat.”
“Very well… what is the question?” Now washing her face with her paw.
“What is the meaning of life?”
The feline stopped. Frozen in place. She remained like this for a mere minute, then set her paw done. Her gaze turned to the man, but not quite on him. Instead she stared off to the distance as if she knew something that was above her station.
“This question is not wrong,” she whispered.
Getting closer to her completion! She also has her answer to Sleipnir
@Tangletail Hmm...in a way Ashevelen and your God are friends , more or less.
They both have the guild thieves as their place of worship. Is that ok ?
+ nice God ! We really needed a God like yours , my opinion :)
Of course it's ok!
XD But just a quick note. That price for a secret is harsher than you think :P, it takes some thought to see what's really happening the moment a secret is traded.
@dragonmancer I'm confused by something in your first OOC post. It says the Silence lasted for five hundred years. I thought it was only a hundred? I think you told me in an earlier post it was two hundred years for the Cataclsym and one hundred for the Silence. I took that to mean that the last 300 years have basically been a nightmare on Gaea. Can you clarify this when you have a second?
@Tangletail Don't forget to get those kobolds off your sheet :)
Someone made them already? XD EDIT: WAIT! Found it.
Did someone take cats too?
Anways, I am noticing opinions and relationships among the gods. I hadn't gotten too far into the OOC.
So I am assuming yall discuss the relationships between them?
Name: Del Sombra roughly translates to “Of Unknown Origin”. Goddess of the Unknown Domain: Conspiracy, Secrets, Crime, Violence, Answers, lies, riddles Personality: Del Sombra is a creature of secrets And behaves as such. She’s only capable of speech when telling a secret. She will not speak under any other circumstance, not even to the other gods.
She is a goddess whom keeps a keen eye on the world below. Observing, and following those that have taken her interest. She shows no care if she is seen or not by her quarry, and will continue to follow them no matter where they go, or the condition of their well being. Mortals have often found this behavior unsettling, and a tale tale sign of an omen head.
Along with this she has a curious and nosey nature. Often stepping through walls, or floors to peak at what’s behind them. Slipping her head into jars, boxes, books, and inside a mortal’s body. Tipping over books, chairs, loose furniture. Knocking down apples, leaves, and even as far as sitting on a human’s chest and watching them sleep.
She takes a surprising delight in watching organized crime. And will often reward impressive feats with boons of her own choosing. From secrets, to small pieces of her powers.
Influence: Her influence spans a wide variety of mortals, with an equally massive diversity in characters. She’s primarily praised by cultist, assassins, and guild thieves. But has also found her way into warship by Politics, investigators, and secretive guilds. And even the occasional prayer will slip her way by those whom build tombs and dungeons.
Powers: Along with many gods, she’s capable of giving blessings onto her champions or those whom have earned her grace.
One of her blessings is on a global scale, a reward for all forms of life being capable of conspiracy. Every mortal has the ability to request information from a cat for a price. For instance;
A secret requires a secret, and only by the definition that Sombra has applied. A secret must be truthful information known by only a small number of –relative- count. And there must exist a faction in which its acquisition is beneficial. The feline may also decide whether or not it will share information, and will not share what they were told if the price was not met.
The cost of a hint or directions is dependent on the feline at the time. Which may be absolutely anything that the feline desires.
A feline will not whisper to a mortal until the cost is satisfied.
Many people will often call it just a myth. But there was a legend of a philosopher that once requested a cat to tell him the meaning of life. The feline's responce was a small cryptic whisper with a distant look, "This question isn't wrong."
Apperance:
Del Sombra normally and often takes her form in the shape of a small feline. The cat’s eyes constantly emit an aura of wispy smoke, and it’s body seems to shimmer between corporal and incorporeal. However, this can often change to whatever is convenient for her at the time. She seems to be incapable of representing a normal human, and will often be similar to a Rakshasa or one of his demi-human creatures. And though Sombra is actually genderless, she can shift between genders at will, and seems to take precedence as a female.
Her body is almost completely incorporeal. Allowing her to easily step through walls, barriers, and magic without harm or damaging the obstruction. Any influence she places on the corporeal world is an act of unnatural physical force. Along with this property, her body disappears with light, and reappears in the shadows and the dark, her influence on the world is effected by this as well. She can not move or touch anything that is in direct light, unless she prods at its shaded side.
Creations: Displacer Beast: A terrifying six legged beast formed with a lawfully evil mindset. These creatures have two long snake like appendages rising from it’s back, and have the ability of displacement. This ability allows the displacer beast to appear in a location that it is not.
These beasts are incredibly dangerous and territorial to adventurers, and seem to have a level of intelligence about them. However, it is not uncommon to see these beasts become “domesticated”. And But domesticated in terms of an established contract.
Sergals : A form of Demi-Human, and her first fully sentient creation. They are lanky creatures, resembling some sort of raptor with a mostly mammalian body. Their language is needlessly complex, and after many generations of existence has not grown much better. The Sergalian language is absurdly context sensitive with a mass scale of grammar rules making it obscenely difficult for non-native speakers to correctly translate, and as consequence, many of the intricacies of speech is difficult for a Sergal to comprehend, like sarcasm.
Their written language is not much better, as the meanings of their characters can change depending on the previous markings and sentences.
There's been a long running civil war between two different sub-species. Northern and Southern.
Their culture is fairly inspired by hunting and military proficiencies. As they hold a large military power that is also made into a civil architecture. Their civil leader is the General, and it's law enforcement are soldiers. That is not saying the race is not cultured. They do have an appreciation for arts and crafts.
Females tend to be much larger than males. There is a common joke about a high bisexuality/homosexuality rating due to how terrifying they can be.
Orb-Horse: Part spider, part horse, and equally as terrifying all around. You’ll probably get a crazy look for wanting to tame one. But at least you’ll be able to scale mountains no problem. Needless to say, Del Sombra probably was either bored, or was curious to see this combination.
Cats: Del Sombra has created all species of cats, and values them like her own children. They gossip and share secrets among each other. But they also have the ability to comprehend and use all languages of the world, both written and spoken. However, there's only certain conditions when they will openly speak with any none feline.
Sphinx: Another of Del Sombra's precious children. Large riddling felines whom often serve as guardians to some structure. Their size and appearances can vary widely among them. Some often do not resort to the use of Riddles. There's a legend of a Sphinx named "Erudite" whom built a massive dungeon and challenges adventurers to best it in the hopes of a reward.
Cat Folk: The last sentient race Del Sombra has created. These are humanoid creatures whom heavily resemble cats. They lack the sleuthing abilities of their predecessors. Their language shares similarities with Sergals, but is much simpler, as it dealt away with a majority of the syntax and grammatical rules that it previously had, and flows at a much more rhythmic and quicker pace. It is possible to start with the Cat Folk's language, and use it as a base to learn the Sergal's language.
Their culture is more freeform, and tends to adopt that of their surroundings.
A few quick changes. I'll clean it up and fix a few things after my CS classes.
Well it is a draft, suspect to heavy changes as I read each character and fully understand what's already there and what isn't.
Right now, she's technically not even named. "Del Sombra" means "Of the Shadow" which implies she was created unknowingly. It's also used to infer "Of Unknown Origin" or "Secret"
