Narstes

(a.k.a. The Spider King)

"Whispers in your ear, it is all you hear. You have entered the land of the deep, the land of the dark. The land where Narstes rule is stark. Steal, plunder, loot from your kin, it's simply part of our grand plan to win. To win a war where we will rise to hurt, to destroy what's above and sink it into the dirt."
-Kekaleis Derenymth, priest of Narstes and part-time slam poet

Narstes is the god of the Underdark and darkness. He is a god of spiders and nightmares wishing for the domination of the surface world by the deep dwellers. While Aenoa can be considered a more neutral god of thieves, Narstes represents the scum of society, those thieves who kill and steal from just about anybody. He can appear as either a giant spider, a half-spider half-@drow, or a full on eight-limbed Drow. All of his followers are those who mainly reside underground but sometimes come to the surface to kill, steal, and spread the word of Narstes, they are taught that merciless betrayal and corruption are how the unworthy get filtered out of society.

Divine Domains

The domains of Narstes are greed, laziness, nightmares, darkness, spiders, power, insects, the deep, narcissism, government corruption, lies, and deception. Narstes is a god of hatred and self-sightedness. He represents the nightmares which hide in the dark, the terrors seen only by the now insane. Take all for yourself, assassinate, kill, plunder, steal, all that matters is that you come out on top.

Holy Books & Codes

Narstes has no book and no code, he expects his followers to memorize every inch of his greatness and for them to pass down his word themselves. Narstes dislikes having to do work maintaining his power so instead of writing some kind of bible he simply lays the metaphorical blanket of his rule over all throughout the under dark.

Divine Symbols & Sigils

The divine symbol of Narstes is a swollen black mushroom with six massive openings pouring out spiders. It is based off of the Deathhood mushroom, while it is not technically deadly to ingest it gains its name from the hundreds of extremely poisonous Deathhood spiders which dwell within the cap of the mushroom. Every priest of Narstes must eat a Deathhood mushroom and pray that if Narstes is on their side they will survive, usually they don't.

Tenets of Faith

The rules of Narstes are:
-The deep lands must not stay stagnant, bring conflict to the world and do not settle for peace.
-Do not treat the bite of any insect, of any spider, of any fly, let their venom flow.
-Stay underground, do not rise to the surface unless given permission or you shall feel the wrath of the deep yourself.
-No high priest of mine shall be a male, you will grovel at the feet of women.

Holidays

The holiday of Narstes is called Landmourn, a week where each follower of Narstes must go up to the surface, kill some sort of creature or surface dweller there, and bring it back deep underground to finally sacrifice it. Of course as you would expect, thousands of stories exist of followers of Narstes kidnapping sentient people to sacrifice to Narstes them in the Underdark.

Divine Goals & Aspirations

The goal of Narstes is for the dwellers of the Underdark to eventually rise up to the surface and in one fell swoop wipe out the entirety of the surface world, making all dwellers of the world followers of Narsta. Plunging cities, forests, lakes, rivers, and oceans under ground as the world itself shifts by the power of millions of sacrifices.

Physical Description

Body Features

Narstes is shown as having four grey arms covered in black spikes running down them and four long grey legs with feet covered in sharp blades. His torso is slim except for his giant bulging back striped with black and red though his is smooth skin is mostly brown, grey, and black in a mottled pattern. His fingers end with long sharp claws, though his middle claw on each hand is much longer since he usually plunges it into the necks of enemies to slay them. Though Narstes can also appear as a drider with his top half staying and lower half turning into a spider body, or simply just appear as a giant spider. While Narstes shows himself in a more masculine as opposed to feminine form most of the time, he does occasionally present in a female form instead.

Facial Features

His face is very long with a narrow chin and large forehead. Also he has eight thin eyes, two where normal eyes would be, two right above that, two right above near the bridge of the nose, and two half way between the ears and the nose. In his mouth are two massive fangs reaching out all the way below his chin. His long hair flows with threads of grey and black intertwining with occasional strands of white in a long braid. He also has the pointed ears of a Drow. When Narstes appears or transforms into a giant spider the two long canines reaching out of his mouth turn into the large fangs of the spider.

Identifying Characteristics

The most identifying feature of Narstes is most likely the massive budging growth on his back and his massive fangs. Also possibly the fact that he has eight limbs in his Drow form and can literally turn into a colossal spider at will. Another identifying feature could be the eight menacing eyes he has in Drow form though even more so than the other gods, Narstes is quite an identifiable figure.

Divine Classification

God

Alignment

Neutral Evil/ Chaotic Evil

Current Location

Cerceri

Species

The gods

Realm

Cerceri

Church/Cult

The Infernal Denomination

Eyes

Near black purply-blown with red flecks

Hair

Long grey and black messy hair

The Church of Narstes

The church of Narstes is part of The Infernal Denomination, they are mainly at odds with the church of Mornada. While Mornada represents victory in strength, Narstes represents the use of underhanded tactics and deception to reach the top. Churches of Narstes themselves are usually grand stone palaces with giant staircases which Narstes orders his followers to painstakingly construct. These great structures double as a place of worship for worshipping Narstes as well as a massive mansion for the high priest. Smaller churches occupied by a lower status priest are usually still quite large but are often built into walls or outcroppings of stone. The worship chamber itself is usually a large circular room with a raised dais in the center, the priest stands on the dais making sacrifices, preaching and the like while the other disciples must grovel on the cold stone floor. If one is seen looking up from their position for even a moment they will instantly be executed by the priest or those around them for the sin.

The Followers of Narstes

The followers of Narstes almost exclusively are residents of the under dark. The most common worshippers of her are Drow, Dürgar, and some of the more evil Svurfnibliyn of the deep. They kill anybody who they please, take whatever they want, control governments, destroy communities, assassinate leaders, and bring everything to the dust. In the hierarchy of power for followers of Narstes, women are much more powerful than men, the reason for this is unsure but it's said Narstes values the female cunning and potential brutality of all women.