OC Spotlight: Hel'wusah (aka. Trickster aka. Shamassah) // sfw

First of all the gods were Hayat, of life and war, and Wufat, of death and peace. Together, they created Time Itself, by shaping the gods of night and day on the divine potter's wheel.

The ruler of the endless ocean that is the night sky is called Daiva. She is the one who sees everything, who watches, and who knows. Her hand guides the mortals, her voice speaks fate and fortune, and sometimes she lends her Sight to the worthy.

The master of the fiery domain of the sun was originally known as Shamassah. He had a radiant heart and a vibrant soul, and only Mezfirah outdid his love for all living things. He was a warrior dressed in gold, with weapons of gleaming bronze; but also a trickster, armed with a cunning mind and a quick tongue. He would rather lift his shield to protect than raise his sword to strike, but better still he'd use his voice to make peace.

Wherever Shamassah went he shone his light and shared his joy, happy to give of his warmth. He had a contagious smile and an unbreakable spirit, always in a good mood and the first to care when another's heart needed to be lifted. From his solar palace his light gifted the land, the animals, and the people with life and warmth. Shamassah was adored by all mortals, ranging from farmers who thanked the sun for its life-giving properties to warriors, who worshipped him for his martial prowess and his ability to determine when to fight, when to protect, and when to negotiate. He was like a divine brother to all, always willing to listen to their problems and help in any way he could. Not all gods listen to prayer, but people said that Shamassah never left a mortal unheard, especially not those who had to whisper.

Fire, warmth, and golden light were his elements, and out of all creatures the gods had created, felines were closely connected to the sun god. He created the first sphinxes, blessed by his sister with the gifts of truth-seeing and truth-telling. Most canines belong to her realm, but tricksters like foxes and coyotes are associated with Shamassah. These overlaps reflect the bond between the siblings, because Daiva was always his best friend and confidant. In fact there were few other gods he didn’t get along with, whether they liked it or not. He even put the cranky god of murder to a test of character, after which he rewarded khuthlya by dipping some of his draconic children into the fires of the sun, thus creating the first golden dragons.

But something was rotten in the divine realms. None of the gods saw the Gatekeeper's betrayal coming.

The guardian of the gates between the realms had become obsessed with watching over all living things. As they saw the mortals suffer in their imperfect societies, the Gatekeeper became increasingly displeased with the work of the other gods, and decided to take matter into their own hands. After millennia of quiet observation, they concluded that free will was a fair price to pay for a perfectly ordered world, where every soul knew its place, like a cog in a machine or an ant in a hill, obeying its queen and serving the community with no distracting thoughts of its own self. It would be for their own good. To make such a world come into being, the Gatekeeper needed to know all things, and to know all things they needed to see everything.

On what would become known as the day of the Blinding, the Gatekeeper stole an eye from every other god -- except one.

Most of all they coveted one of Daiva's eyes, since she is the goddess of Sight. But when Shamassah realised what was happening, the god of cunning tricked the Gatekeeper into stealing both of his eyes, instead of taking one from his sister. And so Daiva is the only god who still has two eyes, while her brother has none. This was his first willing sacrifice, for the sake of his sister. From that day on he became the Blind God. Now more than ever it was his heart that guided him through the world, rather than his eyes.

The Gatekeeper’s obsession with rearranging the world into a smoothly running machine soon resulted in a war between them and all other gods. Shamassah, the sun warrior, fought valiantly for the freedom of all living things. He and the other gods each created an astra, a powerful weapon or tool made with the heart of an ancient vhul'a mother. The heat of Shamassah's astra was so scorching that it burned the land into a desert, and the force of the divine weapons combined made the very world quake. It was then that the mortal cities sank into the earth, into vast cavernous hollows below the surface that they had once inhabited. 

But still, it wasn't enough to defeat their foe. Shamassah realised that if they couldn’t beat the Gatekeeper and their forces in battle, they would have to defeat them with wits.

And so he devised a plan, but told nobody, to keep the other gods from trying to stop him. Shamassah knew he would have to pay a terrible personal price for their victory, but he hesitated only once, when he hugged his sister for the last time. Daiva knew what he was planning to do, as she knows all things. But she let him leave, both their hearts heavy as lead but in unspoken agreement that it had to be done. 

Once again, Shamassah tricked the Gatekeeper.

Under the pretense of switching sides, saying he would join the Gatekeeper in the fight against their fellow gods, he convinced the foe to visit his realm -- the sun itself. Once the Gatekeeper had entered, Shamassah sealed his realm from outside, imprisoning the enemy in the depths of the sun.

Without the Gatekeeper’s leadership, their forces were destroyed or scattered to the winds. The war was won.

But when he lost his realm, Shamassah also lost his mind. A god’s realm is a reflection of their core essence. As the sun became the enemy’s prison, Shamassah was overcome by madness, his divine soul unmoored and unanchored and adrift in the waters of insanity. This was his second willing sacrifice, for the sake of the world.

When the sun god went mad, so did many beings touched by the its light. The golden dragons burned with flames that were too strong, too hot, and too bright. The sphinxes turned their claws on the mortals they had set out to guide and teach. Daiva's werewolves banded together to keep the sphinxes in check, which was the birth of long-lived animosity between the two. Most sun spirits felt the loss of their home shake them to the very core, causing them to unleash their confusion and grief and anger wherever they may.

During the Gatekeeper war, the world had sunk into darkness. Shadow soon became the new normal, something familiar and safe -- while light, and in particular that of the sun, became something foreign, dangerous, and scary. Liquid sunlight, once a powerful medicine, turned into a poisonous drug that could corrupt the minds and bodies of people, in twisted mimicry of Shamassah’s sacrifice. The sun itself became a terrifying place, where the most vile among mortals would wake up after their death, to suffer eternity in the Gatekeeper’s prison.

And Shamassah turned into Hel'wusah.

Gone was the vibrant and joyful god, the warrior who would rather protect than attack, the caring brother, the life-giving sun. Instead, madness turned him unpredictable and erratic, rays of light changing into smoke and mist. Unselfish altruism was replaced by fickle chaos, since his choices now seem based on his own amusement or simply stirring the pot for little apparent reason. Much of his behaviour became inexplicable and may have troubling consequences that would have once deeply concerned him, but that now seem to cause him little thought.

For millennia since, people have lived in the underworld. Most mortals never see the sun with their own eyes, and if they ever venture to the surface it’s usually a terrifying experience. In everyday life, sunlight is primarily known as a light source used in lamps, and as a devastating drug. Thanks to Daiva and her werewolves, the sphinxes eventually regained their sanity -- but at the loss of their spiritual immortality. Out of desire to redeem themselves from the terrible things they had done under the influence of insanity, the sphinxes vowed to guide and teach and help the mortals and their societies. Some other sun spirits also managed to shake off the shackles of madness, but as many remained insane (including Roshan, the first golden dragon). The sun knights, once created in Shamassah’s image, turned into experts at dealing with dangerous light beings, and their sunlight-coated weapons are a terrifying sight to behold.

Now, most people -- including himself -- have forgotten that Hel'wusah was once Shamassah. Only the sun knights, the sphinxes, and a few others still remember him as he once was.

To everyone else, Hel'wusah is a god of illusions, deception, madness, mirages, cunning, and trickery. He is worshipped by a variety of individuals and professions who have reason to appreciate his cunning and unpredictability. These include thieves and other criminals, spies and agents, con artists and magicians, politicians and liars, gamblers and thrillseekers.

He’s the god of the mirages in the deserts, of seeings things and hearing noises that aren’t there, of remembering events that didn’t happen or forgetting things that did occur. Enigmas, mysteries, and paradoxes are his domain, in reflection of his own self. He is both a masterful criminal and an excellent sleuth; a madman blinded by his own delusions, yet capable of seeing through the madness of it all; a trickster whose actions range from harmless pranks to devastating sabotage; an escape artist trapped by his own mind and an escapist who can’t run from himself. He's an actor who takes his job so seriously you can't tell where real life ends and artistry begins; he’s the diva who worships himself and he’s the critical artist who regularly sets his own paintings ablaze.

Hel’wusah enjoys messing with both gods, spirits, and mortals, causing trouble for little apparent reason or simply because he's bored. Amongst other things he likes getting into discussions, debates, and arguments, getting people to think by playing the role of devil's advocate or using the Socratic method to make them argue against themselves. When he interacts with mortals someone usually ends up put through a test of wit and cunning, or sent on a quest that might as well be a fool’s errand, a path to success, or a series of comedic events, staged for Hel’wusah’s own amusement. He’s neither benevolent nor malevolent, but rather is ruled by his fickle moods, prone to quick change. That said he tends to favour daring and clever mortals, no matter their walk of life.

It should be noted that sometimes there seems to be method to his madness. Actions, choices, and instructions that at first appear absolutely absurd may end up leading people to exactly where they need to be, or exactly what they need to find. The twisting road that leads there is often so unpredictably convoluted that it’s either the work of a mad genius or an absolute fool’s luck, but there’s no point in asking Hel’wusah about his intentions. He’ll never tell if he helped someone by design, or if it was pure coincidence.

Out of all the gods, Hel’wusah is the one who spends the most time in the mortal realm, only rarely visiting the homes of other deities. Having no realm of his own he roams the earth unchecked, which might explain the prevalence of self-interested deceit and trickery amongst mortals. He disguises himself as a regular person or spirit, taking many different forms and names, changing from one to the other so fluidly that he sometimes appears to be at several places at once. The only constant of his many avatars is the cloudy, unseeing eyes.  

One city may know him as a witty but eccentric store owner, others as a raving lunatic who somehow survives in the dunes of the desert. Some think he’s a coyote spirit disguised as a man, while others suspect he’s a spy or thief. At the imperial court, they think he’s a peculiar dignitary; in the scoundrel headquarters, they assume he’s some kind of Trickster. No place is closed off to him; wit and cunning finds its way into the depths of the slum and the highest spires of the imperial palace alike. Anyone who interacts with him for a longer period of time usually concludes that he's got to be some kind of sun spirit, judging by his madness, his magic, and his knowledge of things that are beyond most mortals.

Hel’wusah is also associated with alcohol, drugs, and other substances that alter the mind and/or the perception of reality. It's customary for bars and taverns to have a little shrine to Hel'wusah, where patrons can begin a night of revelry by pouring libations. For reasons that most people can’t remember he’s also a god of adaptability and flexibility, of being one step ahead of your opponents, and of the fine art of making shit up as you go. But for those who still remember his entire story, and how he was before the mortal world was burned into a desert and sunk below the earth, Hel’wusah is also a god of unselfish sacrifice. His madness has never been harmless, but it is better than what would have happened to the world, had the Gatekeeper won the war.

On rare occasions, Hel’wusah has moments of lucidity -- particularly when in Daiva’s presence. It pains her so to catch glimpses of her brother, briefly waking up from his slumber underneath the thick blanket of madness. For a few short moments he remembers who he once was, what he stood for, what he cared about -- and then it all slips through his fingers again.

One day, in the very distant future, a mourning god will bring the universe to the brink of destruction. Only then will Hel'wusah finally return to his realm. Inside sits the Gatekeeper, who -- after thousands of years -- have realised that absolute order is not the solution to suffering. The watchful god who once wanted to imprison the world in perfection ends up becoming its salvation. The universe is reborn from the ashes of two divine lovers, and in that moment,  Hel’wusah once again becomes Shamassah.

-----

another lore-focused OC spotlight! i’ve wanted to tell Shamassah’s story for quite a while, especially since i’ve hinted at it in several other spotlights. i hope you enjoyed the read and if you have any questions, just comment below <3

// art + shamassah © me; daiva © kubi.