Karona

(a.k.a. The Triune Mask, The Great Deceit, The Three-In-One)

Karona is the old god of shadows, secrets, lies, and riddles in the Salchyreon. They are the patron deity of spies, rogues, and assassins, with many older assassin's guilds and spymasters still incorporating their symbol into their iconography and sigils.

Divine Goals & Aspirations

Karona seeks to amass all knowledge in the cosmos while simultaneously working to undermine faith in objective reality. They believe that by fully understanding everything in the universe, they will be able to manipulate reality to suit their whims. Their ultimate goal is destruction of truth throughout the cosmos on a philosophical, societal, and scientific level.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Karona appears as a headless four-armed humanoid figure adorned in black armor with golden filigree over blue-grey robes. Their two right arms clutch a long obsidian pike while the lower left arm holds a wickedly curved, silver dirk. Three helms float above their neck, and they will pluck these helms from orbit and place upon their neck in order to converse. The helm on each head resembles a different creature, each one associated with fables of lies, riddles, or secrets: a snake, a sphinx, and a fox respectively. Each head speaks in a different voice: the fox head is energetic and sharp, the sphinx head is deep and sonorous, and the snake head is high and seductive.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

There is very little known about Karona's creation; as the god of secrets and lies, there are contradicting stories across many cultures as to the nature of the god and their role in the Prime Pantheon.

The Fool King of Darae

The dwarves tell the legend of a dwarven king who summoned three of the most talented mage-smiths in his kingdom of Darae. He called upon them to craft gifts for his daughter's wedding day. The first returned with a magic box that would only open when the secret phrase was uttered. The second brought him a mirror which allowed its user to see into the near future. The third brought him what the smith claimed to be an impossible puzzle that he claimed contained a great prize should the princess solve it. The princess was overjoyed by these gifts and the king bestowed great wealth and prestige on the smiths. The princess spent the following months trying to work out the secret to the puzzle box, until one night she thought to use the magic mirror to help solve the puzzle. As she gazed into the mirror, it reflected an image of the princess in the near future, solving the next step of the puzzle. She repeated what she saw in the mirror and when the clock struck midnight, the princess watched in amazement as the puzzle clicked open. Upon opening, the puzzle began to emit a single phrase: "The shadows will claim what the sun abandons." This triggered the magic box to open, revealing a dark portal that pulled the princess into the box. The prince discovered his wife's abandoned study the next day, puzzle and magic box closed and the princess nowhere to be found. The king commanded his guards to bring the mage-smiths to answer for his daughter's disappearance, but they had fled the kingdom soon after her wedding day. The king, distraught by the loss of his daughter, began failing in his duties as a monarch, his kingdom began to crumble, and Darae faded into legend.

The dwarves believe that the mage-smiths were all Karona, and that the king had displeased the god in some way. Dwarven tradition also holds that Karona took the king's daughter as their wife and that she rules alongside them within their domain.

The Riddle of Karu'rokona

The dragons speak of an ancient sphinx named Karu'rokona who predated the creation of the world. This sphinx believed herself to be smarter than all other creatures, and she would boast that there were no secrets of which she had no knowledge and that no being could solve the riddle of her origin. Challengers would visit the sphinx's sanctum looking to counter her boasts, only to find her welcoming them by name, having already set a table for their meeting. However, her swagger drew the ire of the mighty and prideful Kossuth, the primordial of fire. He visited the sphinx's sanctum and claimed that her creation could not possibly predate the primordials, for all creatures were their creations. He shattered her confidence by imparting the knowledge of other worlds and the true creation myth of Divostra. And finally, he brought her to Pandemonium and showed her the madness of Kai'ossh, a being that transcended the sphinx's ability to conceive it. The sphinx's mind broke and she fled back to her sanctum, humbled by the primordial of fire. From that day on, there was no more confident boasting from the sphinx, replaced by fearful whispers of a humbled ancient who was careful not to speak so loud, lest she catch the ear of prideful deities.

The dragons believe this sphinx became Karona and that she, while still being an entity of immense power and knowledge, was afraid of the other gods. Thus, she became the deity of shadows, secrets, and riddles, as nothing she could say could ever be straightforward, lest she draw the ire of her kin.

"What is truth but ideology by another name, one which will inevitably buckle under the weight of its own contradictions?"

Alignment

Neutral Evil

Honorary & Occupational Titles

Karu'rokona (Draconic: lit. 'great deceit')
Neldië (Primordial: lit. 'the triune mask')
Thré-andlit (Dwarvish: lit. 'three-in-one')

Pronouns

They/Them/She/Her

Aligned Organization

Prime Pantheon