Sheol

Sheol
Shedim and Aoide are imprisoned within the body of Sheol.
Location	Elsewhere
Distinction	The Prison World of Shedim
Leader	Aoide
Population	Varies
Races	98% Shedim, 1% Sin'drael, 1% Others
Languages	Sheolian, High Bran Vaalar, Sindralar
Imports	Mortals
Exports	Shedim service, Sheolian steel, forbidden grimoires
Shedim Order	Iblis
Uses	World

Behold Sheol, great daughter of the Rau'n of Sorcery (to those still faithful). Born from Aoide’s womb, mind, and heart, Sheol is the rau’n’s most grand creation, a dream realized. As such, Sheol is full of beauty, although she too suffers from the curse placed by the Mother which takes its many forms.

A Dream within the Dream

As Aoide’s hatred for Nimue grew, and the suggestions of the Unshaped persisted, the Rau’n of Sorcery’s illusionary world became a reality. Sired by Eos, the Rau’n of Creation, Sheol was amongst Aoide’s first and most powerful children, the Iblis. Though purposed for greatness, Sheol’s beauty was also corrupted by the Mother’s curse. Sheol’s beauty waned, and soon she became exhausted fighting the curse the Mother had set upon her and her siblings. The conflict with the denizens of the Cocoon too exhausted the Shedim, and tainted her further. In her most restless of times, the once beautiful daughter of Aoide became dark.

The day would come when Aoide’s war with the Mother would end. This day of days marked a change for Sheol greater than any other Shedim. While the Shedim and their mother were banished Elsewhere, Sheol was repurposed from being Aoide’s world to her prison. After forcefully being pulled through the Dream, her entity was pierced with weaving chains of lyr forged by the Mother herself. The Shedim, once free and lively, was bound, and her woe ever worsened. For time immeasurable outside the Cocoon, Sheol wept, and her tears flowed across her plains and mountains. At times, she too found herself angered, and in her rage thrashed to free herself from the chains. In her struggle, she tore her being against the chains, and soon was torn and bled at all ends. Her body was worn in the futile rebellion. Aoide’s efforts to comfort her daughter had all but succeeded. Her daughter was on the path to self destruction, and soon Aoide found herself with but one choice.

Having lost nothing more than a title, Aoide’s powers were still superior to all others within Elsewhere, even the massive Sheol. The mother of all Shedim granted her daughter lasting peace at the cost of her active mind. Sheol was plunged into a deep sleep. The ground no longer ripped asunder, nor did the seas ripple and swell. Sheol was left to rest, while her body served as the vessel for her siblings and mother to dwell within.

In time, sweet things emerged from the darkness. The barren ground, flooded or split apart, began to flourish with life again. Sheol had begun to recover, and it reflected heavily in her appearance. Hate and scorn still left its marks, scars too deep to ever heal, but her condition would not be so cruel much longer. In her sleep, Sheol perhaps dreamed. Things never seen before sprang to life within her bounds, all connected, nothing which could ever leave her. And with her dreams came nightmares, such that her world did darken on such occasions. Still, Aoide stayed beside Sheol, and comforted her daughter’s every suffering the best she could.

My Body be Yours

Sheol, although massive, does not compare to the vastness of the Cocoon. While smaller in comparison, she is no less beautiful in her brightest moments. Sheol’s body encompasses all, her body flowing from the ground around to the sky, merging at the zenith where Bran Sinai floats on high. She is the earth, the air, the water, and wind. The rocks and trees all spawn from her. The molten earth is her blood, and the water her tears. Her every breath changes the wind, and each shudder shakes her. The only disturbances to her beauty – albeit cursed beauty – are the lyr chains placed upon her by the Mother long ago. These bounds weave through her fissures and spaces in the most colorful of forms. In the darkened clouds of thought, the lyr weaves and pierces Sheol in long belts and brief points. Where there are no stars to compliment Bran Sinai, the chains present themselves with equal beauty. Anchors are logged within Sheol’s flesh as well, forming spouts of lyr leaking in from the Dream itself, yet controlled and purposed upon arrival.

With Sheol’s many changing moods, her appearance takes on different levels. Although there are generally divisions amongst the Orders, Sheol’s landscapes are still interconnected, flowing, and seamless. Their ever shifting appearances are caused by Sheol herself as her mind floats in her sleep, restful and restless together, dreams and nightmares.

At the heart of Sheol, her mind takes form. Sheol’s body is tall and thin, though rigid from her past struggles. Efforts to escape the Mother’s chains have left holes in her, great networks in some places. Sheol’s body raises high above any other ripple in her appearance.

Sheol’s Faces

Sheol in her resplendence.

Her heavenward face tells of triumph and determination. In creating Sheol, Aoide was fueled by her drive to create her own world, and she succeeded. Though her eyes are closed, her lips still speak of a grin that boasts her victory. Her arms spread high and wide into the sky, beckoning her sister Bran Sinai to join her in celebration, the chains dangling in the air, though attached.

Glancing away from Bran Vaal’s origins, her second face shows sorrow and regret. The failures of her siblings lead to her suffering. Part of her wishes there was more to have been done, that this was not the end. Sheol blames herself for many things and mourns her lack of action. The Mother’s chains also give Sheol reason to be sad. Her pain manifests in flowing tears that leak from her saddened eyes, wrinkled nose, and frowning lips. Here, her arms cross her bosom in an effort to comfort herself, the chains pulled tight across her chest.

Looking into the abyss of the Dream, her third face displays compassion and inspiration. A trait mostly inherited from her mother, Sheol finds sublime thoughts in her existence. She has love for her mother for bringing her to life, and to her siblings who seek to comfort her in the worst of times. The boundless Dream is a boundless beacon of hope that a day might come when the chains will be removed, if not broken. Sheol’s face is content, yet hopeful, a vague smile crossing her visage which bears a calm appearance. Her fingers lace together in prayer to Aoide, and are held to her bosom with the most heartfelt thoughts.

Glaring across the Dream towards Bran Vaal, Sheol’s fourth and final face harbors vengeance and wrath. Still a Shedim by birth, Sheol holds every bit of hatred and resentment for the Mother and her creations as any other. Sheol used to look across the Dream towards the Cocoon while thinking the darkest things she could intend to. Fueled by the suffering of her siblings, their curses manifesting in forms abhorrent and monstrous, Sheol learned the meaning of hatred and the thirst for vengeance. Her fury reached out from her chains with the cruelest intentions. Her mouth, though no longer held wide open with vicious teeth bore, still holds the appearance of disgust. Her nose and eyes are wrinkled with anger. Her hands are held high, her finger contorted in rage as if to invoke destructive sorcery upon the Mother and her creation. The chains shred through this face worst of all, and is thus where she bleeds the most, her hot spit leaking upon the world as well.

The Spire

It was through these faces that Sheol once looked out upon the world and into the Dream. Now she lay dormant, her body overseeing her mother’s world. Her body stands as a spire over all the rest. There are several entrances at the base, and torn open caverns in the mountain side created in Sheol’s struggling. Some are dead ends, while others ascend through Sheol’s bowels to the pinnacle. It is here that Aoide resides and seeks to comfort her daughter. However, Aoide’s negative emotions can just as well feed Sheol’s nightmares as they do Bran Sinai’s fading glow. The peak of Sheol also serves as the only gate from the ground to Bran Sinai, a heavily guarded one at that. While strong fliers can skip over the gate and attempt to reach Bran Sinai themselves, Aoide has placed several other guards and obstacles in their way. Through Sheol they must pass, and under the grace of the Mother Aoide may they enter.

Deep within Sheol’s erect body, her heart beats. Though the thumping gives away its location, no one can ever seem to find it. Aoide knows the most direct way to her daughter’s heart when she seeks to calm Sheol, however. It is a beat to which all of Sheol hears to. It is the beating that keeps the tempo for Sheol’s music. When she is excited, the speed increases, and vice versa. Strangely enough, only those who know of her heart can hear Sheol’s chest pounding. The Shedim are always aware of the faint pulsation even on the furthest rims and heed the warning should the earth begin to tear apart. Those new to Sheol may not hear the beating until they know Sheol. She is more than a world.

To All Ends

Even Sheol in her greatness is bound and limited. To describe her body on a large scale would relate directly to her conception. As if the majority of her body was Aoide’s womb and her physical given form a representation of Eos, her appearance would speak of the creation of life. Outward from the Spire the depths of Sheol extend downward at first. It is a steep drop, plugged up by the Spire, now joined as one whole being. All liquid eventually flows here forming a sea only vaguely lit by Bran Sinai’s light. The mixture is composed of fluids from Sheol’s over conception and birth, as well as her own tears, spit, and blood. Tender and smooth slopes rise up and begin to form ridges as they plateau, forming the levels of the Orders. They are smallest at the bottom, and steep steps separate each level from the next. About mid way, the levels begin to thicken in notable comparison, and the steps upward lessen in height. This trend continues to the most outward ridge, the bounds of Sheol.

Eluding the Grand Design

Sheol was never part of the Mother’s plans for the Cocoon, and thus certain laws do not apply here. Only sorcery governs how Sheol is to be, and her own will. With that said, there are anomalies in Sheol that might not exist elsewhere. Water will flow upward and sideways. The land will be made of flesh that bleeds when cut. Pillars of sand will form structures they never could before. One without wings might even fly. Sheol is a diverse world, and its true lack of order creates more difficulty for outsiders than most expect. The strangeness of the land easily comes across as something hideous when the light strikes it right, the red glint of Bran Sinai. Thought Sheol is a land many from the Cocoon might fantasize to explore, the fact remains that it is a prison for all Shedim, including Sheol herself.