Nykara's Tear Item in A Shattered Empire - Vardania | World Anvil
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Nykara's Tear

I wouldn't try and touch it if I were you. Her grief still echoes from within. It can drive even the strongest man insane.
— Aureos Garon, Guardian of the Great Temple
  Throughout the world, many artefacts are claimed to be of divine origin. Be it touched by gods, created by the gods or even be used to slay a god, people will outdo themselves with outlandish tales. Prove if available is at best of dubious nature. Then there is Nykara's Tear.   Not made by a god, touched by it but once part of the sky goddess herself. Divine grief and wrath crystalized in scarlet red.  

Divine Object

  A shard of blood red crystal, half as long as a man's hand. In the middle, it is about as thick as a thumb and thins out towards the tips. From within light emanates, illuminating everything around it in an eerie red glow. This is only one of its unusual properties.   The tear is floating. A good bit above a hand made from stone, smaller shards of the same material hovering around it, moving about in chaotic patterns. During the Apostasy, cultists tried to destroy it. However, no force they could conjure up was enough to even damage it. Fire, steel, explosives, the surrounding room was demolished. The Tear not even scratched.  

A tromented Goddess

  Nykara, goddess of the skies, ruler over wind, rain and lightning and one of the most worshipped deities in the world. Her tales are full of tragedy and loss. Her husband Gefrin betrayed and imprisoned within the Hall of Souls, damned to rule the realm of the dead. Her daughter Amara, goddess of Calidan, tricked, abducted and tortured by a Heronian savage. And her son Makaris, god of the hunt, broken by the treachery of other deities.     Those are only the greatest of tales, there exist a hundred more each detailing her struggles and pains. Finally, she couldn't bear it anymore. In a single night, she unleashed all her anguish upon the world.   Forests, mountains, seas and nations wiped away in the blink of an eye. Some claim that she burned the western continent, creating HHarenara the endless desert. Others that she brought about the Oblivion Hour.   The Tear is said to be a shard of her tears, found near the sea known as Nykara's Grief. It is her anguish concentrated and whoever touches it will at once be assaulted by the goddesses combined hate, grief and despair. No one touching it has survived, their minds ripped apart by the sheer weight of emotion contained within.
Current Location
Rarity
Legendary
Weight
Unknown
Doma Deora   The Doma Deora or House of God is the centre of the Vardanian religion. It houses the high priesthood as well as hundreds of artefacts and scriptures. Among them is Nykara's Tear. How it was brought there is unknown. Some believe that the goddess herself allowed it. After all the temple is directly above what many Vardanians belief to be the Gates of Gefrin.   This way Nykara or at least a part of her, can be close to her beloved husband.  

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Cover image: by roh42

Comments

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Jul 10, 2019 01:38

A good read and an equally good reminder that I need to make artefacts in my world.   I like that it's simple yet vague enough for wiggle room to leave more to the imagination and the furthering of the plot.   That said, a good choice in pictures, but I would reconsider the cover image. It's a bit too tall, and the stretch in quality really doesn't lend itself well. I would either put the picture somewhere else in the article and replace the cover or find a better size/quality to put in the cover, maybe even crop it so it's not so tall.   Still, very well written.

Jul 11, 2019 15:27 by Éric Almeida Taborda

Curious to know about the other god's artefacts.

Jul 13, 2019 02:07 by Grace Gittel Lewis

A nice read!

Not made by a god, touched by it but once part of the sky goddess herself.
I found this sentence a little confusing, is the Tear not touched by the goddess? Here it implies that it is, but the "but" afterwards makes me think it may not have been.
Not made nor touched by a god, but once part of the sky goddess herself.
Something along those lines may make it clearer.

Jul 29, 2019 22:54

I like the effect of your writing. You choose your words well and you are good at evoking a mood. I wonder if you mean to create so many sentence fragments, though. The section called "A Tormented Goddess" starts with a paragraph in which 4 out of 5 sentences are fragments because the subject doesn't have a proper verb. That kind of phrasing can be evocative when used with discretion but too much makes things lose coherence.