Anxshar

Every mortal being carries within it a shadow self. The less it is embodied in the conscious life of the individual, the blacker and denser it becomes. As the new moon looks down upon the children of my brother and sister know that I am a part of you all. Soon my revenge shall manifest within you to be harvested when ripe through my first blood and most terrifying prince. This I promise.

— The Promise of Mother Night on the New Moon, a prayer to the Dark Twin.

ANXSHAR (NE) Greater Power. Dark Twin, Mother of Fiends, Night Goddess of Secrets, the Moon.

Anxshar along with her twin Nirgaia are two of the oldest gods of the modern era and referred to together as The Twin Sisters. Anxshar, the Dark Twin is depicted as an identical mirror image of her sister; a tall beautiful thin and fit young woman with ashen skin, a noirette with piercing halcyon-grey eyes and wearing flowing black dressings. The first child of creation Anxshar was initially happy believing herself to be an only child with all the heavens as her playground. When it was revealed she was not alone, the King and Queen of the Gods have hidden from her another daughter, her twin, and a son just now emerging. A great battle between the sisters resulted and as her powers diminished further Anxshar created the Great Abyss below and the Moon above. Through the treachery of her brother and sister Mother Night no longer had all the heavens as her own, only those places she coated in shadow and darkness. She would go on to Mother the Titans who would produce Namyr and his race of Giants while her other children, the Annki, would fill the Great Abyss to later be miscalled fiends by later generations. The faithful devoted to the service of Anxshar do not show their faith openly to the outside world. They keep themselves shrouded in secrecy and dark places out of the exposure in the public light and common knowledge. The faithful of the Dark Twin tend only to unite in common cause for mutual benefit and ceremonies of worship which are always a well-guarded secret usually carried out in deep caves or in dungeons below ground having access to the surface where they can honor the new moon with their supplications. Her priesthood is almost totally concerned with leading souls into damnation and the bringing forth of fiends to increase their own power and pervert the lands above. Faithful of the Dark Twin pity those who choose to worship other gods for they clearly have some sort of madness. Since the end of the Godswar her worship has begun to include those upset with the current King of the Gods, viewing the firstborn twin as the true heir to that title. Few in number compared to many of the other faiths what the church of Anxshar lack in numbers they more than compensate for in money, power, and the will to use these things to achieve their goals before any can stop them. Though these priests often flee from direct confrontation, unless they outnumber their opponents or have some sort of advantage, when forced by their enemies they instead seek to bully and intimidate, use hit-and-run tactics, or attack with zeal a single opponent or when forced to protect their own sanctuary or hidden secrets. Her clerics are politically active, although they tend to use underhanded methods if straightforward actions are ineffective. Clerics sacrifice for Anxshar to allow gentle sunlight to their crops and parching heat to the crops of their enemies. Every year, they pamper a perfect young male before sacrificing his heart to their god. They also encourage protection against the uncovering of knowledge by outsiders of the efforts her children's faithful unless not keeping such things in the dark would prove advantageous or profitable in power or influence. Her clerics also share an uneasy alliance with those of Tiamet and Patrang-Ti as she remembers when they were her powerful mother and father Tiamatsu and Apsu and she works in her own dark ways to honor them both whenever she and her followers are able. This has resulted in much of the history of what occurred prior to the Godswar to be hidden in the shadows of time, though a select few guard the truth of it, including Anxshar herself. Her followers also work against the efforts of Nirgaia and the searching eyes of Ishtarranna. Those mortals who please Anxshar soon find themselves with devils and demons to help them in achieving their goals. Those who displease her soon find themselves in the clutches of agents of her son Asdrodeus, pushed into her Abyss, beset upon by the children of her daughter Kalilith, or given Anxshar's own special attention swallowed up by the darkness between the stars.

ANXSHAR (NE) Greater Power. Dark Twin, Mother of Fiends, Night Goddess of Secrets, the Moon.

Type

Religious, Pantheon

Parent Organization

The Gods