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Tor-eal (1000 years after the Devils win the Blood War)
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<blockquote data-quote="Levistus's_Leviathan" data-source="post: 8121297" data-attributes="member: 7023887"><p><h2>The Vistaesh</h2><p>A strange being dwells in the deep ether of the realms, a faint, spectral entity that snatches the spirits of the dead and pulls them through the Ethereal Plane to the Raven Queen's Fortress of Memories in the Shadowfell. This entity is an invisible, phantasmal conglomerate of the residual spirits of the deities that perished in the Great Sacrifice, who are known as the Sacrificed. The phantom being is called the Vistaesh, and was once the spirits of all the deities that perished in the end of the Catastrophe. It is now part of the cycle of life, whose role is to make sure that the souls of the dying make their way to the Raven Queen for Judgement, as well as filling the role of being the deliverer of souls to newborn creatures that have souls. The Vistaesh also has the ability to create souls using the remnants of its quasi-divine power when a soul is lost or destroyed destroyed, either from being lost permanently to the Punishment, is consumed by a lich's phylactery, manages to avoid passing on to the Afterlife, or any other way a soul is lost or destroyed. </p><p></p><h3>Origin of the Vistaesh</h3><p>When a deity dies in some way in the Forgotten Realms, their soul and body travels to the Astral Plane and it becomes petrified until it regains followers and is reawakened through a powerful act of magic. However, if a deity's spirit cannot make its way to the Astral Plane for some reason (such as when Karsus perished), it instead becomes a remnant of its previous self, called a Vestige. This is exactly what happened when the Great Sacrifice cut off the Inner Planes from the Outer and Astral Planes, as the spirits of the gods that died could not undergo the normal process of the death of a deity. Due to this, all of the hundreds of deities who gave their lives in the Great Sacrifice became vestiges and began to wander the Ethereal Planes without purpose. This left them without the majority of their previous power and stripped them of much of their will and consciousness. These dozens of vestiges did not have a purpose and were mere travelers and observers until the Raven Queen discovered these vestiges. </p><p></p><p>Shortly after the Great Sacrifice, the Raven Queen became overwhelmed with a flood of souls from the millions who perished from the end of the Catastrophe. She nearly was destroyed by this constant stream of souls, as she was in the process of reforming the Afterlife system. She began to try and reach out into the multiverse and find anything that could help her control the overflowing souls, and while doing so she encountered the vestige of one of the Sacrificed. She then realized how she could stop her destruction, and began to gather together all of the vestiges of the Sacrificed, and amalgamated them together into a single entity, combining together their weak, undying yet perpetual energy to cause them to amass this divine energy in a way that could be more easily utilized for her purposes. </p><p></p><p>In this process, she stripped away the lingering identity and twisted portfolios in order to finish this divine homogenization, and gave these combined vestiges into one single being, the Vistaesh. While these vestiges were individual beings, they were extremely limited in power, but with the Raven Queen combining them together into one united entity, their powers were more powerful and useful. She bound this being to herself, causing it to be the multiverse's transporter of spirits, brining the dead souls to her realm for them to the judged, as well as transporting reborn and newborn souls to the bodies of infant creatures that have souls, upon their birth. This eased the burden of the Raven Queen, allowing her to focus her portfolio and divine energy on maintaining the Afterlife system and continuing the Judgement of all those who die. Now, the Vistaesh funnels and snatches the souls, being the psychopomp of Tor-eal. </p><p></p><h3>Features of the Vistaesh</h3><p>The Vistaesh is an enormous incorporeal and invisible entity whose home are the unfathomably deep parts of the Deep Ethereal Plane. Due to it being a conglomeration of dozens of vestigial deities of all personalities and genders, it has no gender, no definable, physical form, and has no motivation or goals. Instead, it is a culmination of the whispy, ephemeral spirits of the Sacrificed ancient gods and goddesses. When one can view the entity, it appears as a colossal, translucent specter formed out of gray, cloud-like ether, only visible by those in the Deep Ethereal Plane who can see invisible creatures. Another way to view part of this quintessence of phantom energy is to be on the Material Plane or another part of the Inner Planes (excluding the Deep Ethereal Plane) and be able to see invisible objects and creatures while also being able to see into the Border Ethereal Plane when a Tendril of the Vistaesh arrives to snatch the creature's spirit.</p><p></p><p>The face of the Vistaesh is nearly featureless, with no nose, ears, eyes, hair, nostrils, lips, or any other defining features. It does have a mouth, but it is instead just a slight depression in its face's phantasmal form and serves no clear purpose. This "mouth" is perpetually twisted into a gruesome moan, that sends stunning pulses of sonic energy to creatures around it. Its "head" is not attached to a neck or body, and is not truly a separate part of its body, and is constantly tilted upwards towards the "sky" of the Ethereal Plane. It has no body, instead having the majority of its form being composed of twisting, ever-changing, impossibly-long, ephemeral tendrils that jut out of the back of the Vistaesh's head. These tendrils are directed by the Vistaesh, sent to snatch the spirits of the deceased. Few have ever seen the being's true form in person, and fewer have survived to describe such an encounter, but the general form of the Vistaesh is relatively well known across Tor-eal. This is due to the scrying sensors of divining mages, who have then recorded and drawn this entity and kept sketches and images of it in museums and libraries of the realms.</p><p></p><p>The Vistaesh is a quasideity with no agenda or personality. Instead of being a typical, sentient demipower that has its own goals, wants, emotions, and necessities, the Vistaesh exists in and of itself. It has no goals other than those "programmed" into its nature by the Raven Queen's reformation of its vestiges. It has no wants, other than to fulfill its purpose in the multiverse, also bestowed upon it by the Raven Queen. Unlike most deities and demigods, it has no need for worshippers to grant it power, even though it does have some followers, priests, paladins, and warlocks. It does not have typical emotions, though it has an innate desire to convey souls across the multiverse, and is driven to do its duty for the Raven Queen. </p><p></p><h3>Purposes of the Vistaesh</h3><p>The primary purpose of the Vistaesh is to transport and deliver spirits and souls throughout nearly all corners of the known multiverse, being the font of new souls when needed, keep the balance of the afterlife system, and catched the renegade spirits who have escaped its grasp. It uses its massive tendrils to do so, absorbing their spirits in order to transport them, creating new souls through an ethereal connection to a newborn creature, and snatch those souls it finds with its tendrils. When a creature that has a soul dies, the Vistaesh immediately detects where its body or remains are upon the time of its death, and immediately sends a tendril to this location to snatch its spirit. The Vistaesh is magically alerted of the precise position of any creature with a soul when it dies due to its quasi-divine energy, but is not omniscient with regards to the location of spirit after it leaves its body. Due to this, it is not impossible for a spirit of an individual to escape the tendril of the Vistaesh that was sent to collect their soul and bring them before the Raven Queen for immediate judgement. </p><p></p><h3>Divinity of the Vistaesh</h3><p>The Vistaesh is a demipower, a quasideity, and a demigod that is a compilation of hundreds of vestiges of the Sacrificed, and has vast and everlasting power over the forces of life and death. Due to this, it is revered and worshipped across the multiverse by multiple faiths and individuals. Followers of the Raven Queen venerate and honor the Vistaesh, seeing it as an essential part and mechanism of the afterlife system, especially followed by Shadar-Kai and Sharbolg of the Shadowfell. Other faiths that follow the Vistaesh are the Cult of Terror (cultists who worship the Abomination of the Punishment, filled with Conquest and Oathbreaker Paladins, Darkness Domain Clerics, Hexblade and Undead Warlocks, Phantom Magic Wizards, Whispers Bards, Berserker Barbarians and others), the Yikkan Contingent, and many other religious systems in the multiverse. </p><p></p><p>Those who worship or follow the Vistaesh are typically Clerics of the Life or Grave Domain, Oath of Souls Paladins, Circle of Midnight Druids, Long Death Monks, Phantom Rogues, Shadow Sorcerers, Undying Warlocks, and others who respect the balance of the afterlife and inevitability of death. Though there are some who honor or even worship the Vistaesh, at least as many, or possibly even more of those living in the Inner Planes are scared of and wish to avoid the Vistaesh. This is due to the widespread knowledge of the Punishment, which has been viewed through divination magic and taught of by proselytizing followers of the Raven Queen for centuries. Thus, nearly all of those who live on Tor-eal and the rest of the Inner Planes know of what will happen if they die, causing many of them, especially evildoers, to fear and attempt to avoid death. </p><p></p><h3>Aversion of the Vistaesh</h3><p>Due to the harshness of the Afterlife for those who manage to make their way into the Punishment due to being evil, many people seek to find a way to escape death or escape the Vistaesh, as they know what their punishment will be if they get snatched by the Vistaesh and judged by the Raven Queen. This gives evildoers much more of an incentive for attempting to avoid death than they did before the Catastrophe, especially as the Punishment grows worse and worse throughout the years as more people die. This has lead to a higher demand for spells and other types of magic that can extend the life of an individual (such as a <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/potion-of-longevity" target="_blank">potion of longevity</a>) or trap their soul in another vessel so that the Vistaesh can't snatch them (such as a phylactery, soul gem, <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/magic-jar" target="_blank">magic jar</a>, or <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/ring-of-mind-shielding" target="_blank">ring of mind shielding</a>), or turn them into a free-willed undead creature (such as a <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/vampire" target="_blank">vampire</a>). This fear of death is what drove Zilya Brightstring (now known as Saint Zilya Darkcord) to betray her people and reincarnate Vecna, and is the same fear that drives the Vezyi, Fehntüm, Negpae, and other followers of Vecna and necromancy to seek out longer lifetimes. </p><p></p><p>Vecna is the nemesis of the Raven Queen, and his demipower known as Kossyeth is the archenemy of the Vistaesh. Kossyeth is an archallip that dwells in the Underfell and channels the souls of those who perish in the Underfell to Vecan and his phylactery and serves as his secret-keeper. This causes endless battles in the Shadowfell, between the Nemrav, Shadar-Kai, and Sharbolg of the surface of the Shadowfell and the Vezyi, Fehntüm, and Negpae of the Underfell. Though the Vistaesh has access to the spirits of every portion of the multiverse accessible through the Ethereal Plane, the Underfell is the sole exception to this. When Vecna returned and carved out his domain in the Underfell, he performed an epic ritual that cut off the Vistaesh's access to the Underfell. This prevents the Vistaesh from being able to snatch the souls of anyone in the Shadowfell, and instead allows Kossyeth to serve as the psychopomp of Vecna's realm. This causes some who wish to avoid the Punishment to make a deal with Vecna, becoming allowed to live in the Underfell as long as they do something in return for this god of undeath. </p><p></p><h3>Escaping the Vistaesh's Tendrils</h3><p>Though the vast majority the souls of those who perish are snatched by the Vistaesh and delivered to the Raven Queen's Fortress of Memories, it is possible to escape the tendril that is sent to capture your spirit. This is due to the fact that the Vistaesh is aware of where your body is when you die, but not your spirit. When you die, your spirit is stuck inside your body until the Vistaesh arrives to snatch it, or until your body manages to escape the body through one of the ways listed below. If you die and are wearing a <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/ring-of-mind-shielding" target="_blank">ring of mind shielding</a>, or have another item that would suck or trap your soul</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The destruction of your body (through the <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/disintegrate" target="_blank">disintegrate</a> spell, incineration, and so on) releases your spirit.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The casting of the <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/freedom-of-movement" target="_blank">freedom of movement</a> spell on your corpse, or that was active on you when you died, frees your spirit. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The casting of the <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/718120-release-spirit" target="_blank">release spirit</a> spell releases your spirit.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The casting of the <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/banishment" target="_blank">banishment</a> spell on your corpse or being killed by an attack that had the <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/banishing-smite" target="_blank">banishing smite</a> spell traps your spirit in a harmless demiplane until the spell ends, and your spirit is freed when the spell ends. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">As an action on your turn while you are dead and stuck inside your body, you may make a DC 12 Dexterity (Mobility*) check. If you succeed on this check for the third time, your spirit is freed from your body. </li> </ul><p>Otherwise, your spirit remains in your body for 1 minute or until the Tendril of the Vistaesh snatches your spirit from your body. When your spirit escapes, you gain a flying speed equal to the walking speed you had before you died, and the only action you can take is the Dash action. You are incorporeal, invisible, immune to all damage dealt my corporeal creatures, and appear inside the Border Ethereal. You can still be targeted by spells and other effects that target creatures, but are immune to the grappled, prone, and petrified conditions. Your spirit appears as you did when you died, with the same equipment and clothing, but you cannot damage any corporeal creature. </p><p></p><p>Upon the death of a creature that has a soul, roll 1d20. The Vistaesh sends a tendril to snatch the spirit of this creature after an amount of rounds equal to this roll, arriving at initiative count 0 of this round, appearing in the Border Ethereal Plane. If the spirit of this creature is still inside its body when this tendril arrives, the Tendril snatches it and leaves one round later with the spirit. If the spirit of this creature is no longer inside their body when the Vistaesh arrives, it searches 100 feet in every direction, snatching any spirit it comes across. It searches another 100 feet in every direction this way for 1 minute, snatching any and all spirits it encounters during this time. This Tendril is not a creature, does not take turns, cannot be attacked or targeted in any way, and has no senses, except for being able to sense and snatch any spirit it runs into. </p><p></p><p>The spirit of a creature that escapes their body must outrun the Tendril of the Vistaesh, moving a total of at least 1,000 feet away from where their body was when they died over the course of 1 minute after the Tendril of the Vistaesh arrives. An escaped spirit can travel through the Ethereal Plane until it makes a deal with Vecna, a lich, or another undead/necromantic creature, are snatched by a Tendril of the Vistaesh, are killed, or transformed into an incorporeal undead (such as a <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/ghost" target="_blank">ghost</a>, <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/specter" target="_blank">specter</a>, <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/wraith" target="_blank">wraith</a>, and so on). </p><p></p><h3>Resurrection and the Vistaesh</h3><p>If a creature is resurrected before the arrival of the Tendril of Vistaesh, by means of the <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/revivify" target="_blank">revivify</a> or other magic, the Tendril of the Vistaesh does not arrive to snatch its spirit, but instead grabs the spirit and resurrects it. If the body is undergoing the process of being resurrected through a <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/raise-dead" target="_blank">raise dead</a> spell or similar magic, the Vistaesh learns the position of its spirit, snatches it, and delivers it to its body to resurrect the creature. </p><p></p><p>Okay, that's the Vistaesh. I would love to hear your thoughts on it. It is quite a unique being. I can't think of anything like it in other D&D worlds or fantasy worlds. Thanks for reading, and I'll get more up on this world either tomorrow or later tonight!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Levistus's_Leviathan, post: 8121297, member: 7023887"] [HEADING=1]The Vistaesh[/HEADING] A strange being dwells in the deep ether of the realms, a faint, spectral entity that snatches the spirits of the dead and pulls them through the Ethereal Plane to the Raven Queen's Fortress of Memories in the Shadowfell. This entity is an invisible, phantasmal conglomerate of the residual spirits of the deities that perished in the Great Sacrifice, who are known as the Sacrificed. The phantom being is called the Vistaesh, and was once the spirits of all the deities that perished in the end of the Catastrophe. It is now part of the cycle of life, whose role is to make sure that the souls of the dying make their way to the Raven Queen for Judgement, as well as filling the role of being the deliverer of souls to newborn creatures that have souls. The Vistaesh also has the ability to create souls using the remnants of its quasi-divine power when a soul is lost or destroyed destroyed, either from being lost permanently to the Punishment, is consumed by a lich's phylactery, manages to avoid passing on to the Afterlife, or any other way a soul is lost or destroyed. [HEADING=2]Origin of the Vistaesh[/HEADING] When a deity dies in some way in the Forgotten Realms, their soul and body travels to the Astral Plane and it becomes petrified until it regains followers and is reawakened through a powerful act of magic. However, if a deity's spirit cannot make its way to the Astral Plane for some reason (such as when Karsus perished), it instead becomes a remnant of its previous self, called a Vestige. This is exactly what happened when the Great Sacrifice cut off the Inner Planes from the Outer and Astral Planes, as the spirits of the gods that died could not undergo the normal process of the death of a deity. Due to this, all of the hundreds of deities who gave their lives in the Great Sacrifice became vestiges and began to wander the Ethereal Planes without purpose. This left them without the majority of their previous power and stripped them of much of their will and consciousness. These dozens of vestiges did not have a purpose and were mere travelers and observers until the Raven Queen discovered these vestiges. Shortly after the Great Sacrifice, the Raven Queen became overwhelmed with a flood of souls from the millions who perished from the end of the Catastrophe. She nearly was destroyed by this constant stream of souls, as she was in the process of reforming the Afterlife system. She began to try and reach out into the multiverse and find anything that could help her control the overflowing souls, and while doing so she encountered the vestige of one of the Sacrificed. She then realized how she could stop her destruction, and began to gather together all of the vestiges of the Sacrificed, and amalgamated them together into a single entity, combining together their weak, undying yet perpetual energy to cause them to amass this divine energy in a way that could be more easily utilized for her purposes. In this process, she stripped away the lingering identity and twisted portfolios in order to finish this divine homogenization, and gave these combined vestiges into one single being, the Vistaesh. While these vestiges were individual beings, they were extremely limited in power, but with the Raven Queen combining them together into one united entity, their powers were more powerful and useful. She bound this being to herself, causing it to be the multiverse's transporter of spirits, brining the dead souls to her realm for them to the judged, as well as transporting reborn and newborn souls to the bodies of infant creatures that have souls, upon their birth. This eased the burden of the Raven Queen, allowing her to focus her portfolio and divine energy on maintaining the Afterlife system and continuing the Judgement of all those who die. Now, the Vistaesh funnels and snatches the souls, being the psychopomp of Tor-eal. [HEADING=2]Features of the Vistaesh[/HEADING] The Vistaesh is an enormous incorporeal and invisible entity whose home are the unfathomably deep parts of the Deep Ethereal Plane. Due to it being a conglomeration of dozens of vestigial deities of all personalities and genders, it has no gender, no definable, physical form, and has no motivation or goals. Instead, it is a culmination of the whispy, ephemeral spirits of the Sacrificed ancient gods and goddesses. When one can view the entity, it appears as a colossal, translucent specter formed out of gray, cloud-like ether, only visible by those in the Deep Ethereal Plane who can see invisible creatures. Another way to view part of this quintessence of phantom energy is to be on the Material Plane or another part of the Inner Planes (excluding the Deep Ethereal Plane) and be able to see invisible objects and creatures while also being able to see into the Border Ethereal Plane when a Tendril of the Vistaesh arrives to snatch the creature's spirit. The face of the Vistaesh is nearly featureless, with no nose, ears, eyes, hair, nostrils, lips, or any other defining features. It does have a mouth, but it is instead just a slight depression in its face's phantasmal form and serves no clear purpose. This "mouth" is perpetually twisted into a gruesome moan, that sends stunning pulses of sonic energy to creatures around it. Its "head" is not attached to a neck or body, and is not truly a separate part of its body, and is constantly tilted upwards towards the "sky" of the Ethereal Plane. It has no body, instead having the majority of its form being composed of twisting, ever-changing, impossibly-long, ephemeral tendrils that jut out of the back of the Vistaesh's head. These tendrils are directed by the Vistaesh, sent to snatch the spirits of the deceased. Few have ever seen the being's true form in person, and fewer have survived to describe such an encounter, but the general form of the Vistaesh is relatively well known across Tor-eal. This is due to the scrying sensors of divining mages, who have then recorded and drawn this entity and kept sketches and images of it in museums and libraries of the realms. The Vistaesh is a quasideity with no agenda or personality. Instead of being a typical, sentient demipower that has its own goals, wants, emotions, and necessities, the Vistaesh exists in and of itself. It has no goals other than those "programmed" into its nature by the Raven Queen's reformation of its vestiges. It has no wants, other than to fulfill its purpose in the multiverse, also bestowed upon it by the Raven Queen. Unlike most deities and demigods, it has no need for worshippers to grant it power, even though it does have some followers, priests, paladins, and warlocks. It does not have typical emotions, though it has an innate desire to convey souls across the multiverse, and is driven to do its duty for the Raven Queen. [HEADING=2]Purposes of the Vistaesh[/HEADING] The primary purpose of the Vistaesh is to transport and deliver spirits and souls throughout nearly all corners of the known multiverse, being the font of new souls when needed, keep the balance of the afterlife system, and catched the renegade spirits who have escaped its grasp. It uses its massive tendrils to do so, absorbing their spirits in order to transport them, creating new souls through an ethereal connection to a newborn creature, and snatch those souls it finds with its tendrils. When a creature that has a soul dies, the Vistaesh immediately detects where its body or remains are upon the time of its death, and immediately sends a tendril to this location to snatch its spirit. The Vistaesh is magically alerted of the precise position of any creature with a soul when it dies due to its quasi-divine energy, but is not omniscient with regards to the location of spirit after it leaves its body. Due to this, it is not impossible for a spirit of an individual to escape the tendril of the Vistaesh that was sent to collect their soul and bring them before the Raven Queen for immediate judgement. [HEADING=2]Divinity of the Vistaesh[/HEADING] The Vistaesh is a demipower, a quasideity, and a demigod that is a compilation of hundreds of vestiges of the Sacrificed, and has vast and everlasting power over the forces of life and death. Due to this, it is revered and worshipped across the multiverse by multiple faiths and individuals. Followers of the Raven Queen venerate and honor the Vistaesh, seeing it as an essential part and mechanism of the afterlife system, especially followed by Shadar-Kai and Sharbolg of the Shadowfell. Other faiths that follow the Vistaesh are the Cult of Terror (cultists who worship the Abomination of the Punishment, filled with Conquest and Oathbreaker Paladins, Darkness Domain Clerics, Hexblade and Undead Warlocks, Phantom Magic Wizards, Whispers Bards, Berserker Barbarians and others), the Yikkan Contingent, and many other religious systems in the multiverse. Those who worship or follow the Vistaesh are typically Clerics of the Life or Grave Domain, Oath of Souls Paladins, Circle of Midnight Druids, Long Death Monks, Phantom Rogues, Shadow Sorcerers, Undying Warlocks, and others who respect the balance of the afterlife and inevitability of death. Though there are some who honor or even worship the Vistaesh, at least as many, or possibly even more of those living in the Inner Planes are scared of and wish to avoid the Vistaesh. This is due to the widespread knowledge of the Punishment, which has been viewed through divination magic and taught of by proselytizing followers of the Raven Queen for centuries. Thus, nearly all of those who live on Tor-eal and the rest of the Inner Planes know of what will happen if they die, causing many of them, especially evildoers, to fear and attempt to avoid death. [HEADING=2]Aversion of the Vistaesh[/HEADING] Due to the harshness of the Afterlife for those who manage to make their way into the Punishment due to being evil, many people seek to find a way to escape death or escape the Vistaesh, as they know what their punishment will be if they get snatched by the Vistaesh and judged by the Raven Queen. This gives evildoers much more of an incentive for attempting to avoid death than they did before the Catastrophe, especially as the Punishment grows worse and worse throughout the years as more people die. This has lead to a higher demand for spells and other types of magic that can extend the life of an individual (such as a [URL='https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/potion-of-longevity']potion of longevity[/URL]) or trap their soul in another vessel so that the Vistaesh can't snatch them (such as a phylactery, soul gem, [URL='https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/magic-jar']magic jar[/URL], or [URL='https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/ring-of-mind-shielding']ring of mind shielding[/URL]), or turn them into a free-willed undead creature (such as a [URL='https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/vampire']vampire[/URL]). This fear of death is what drove Zilya Brightstring (now known as Saint Zilya Darkcord) to betray her people and reincarnate Vecna, and is the same fear that drives the Vezyi, Fehntüm, Negpae, and other followers of Vecna and necromancy to seek out longer lifetimes. Vecna is the nemesis of the Raven Queen, and his demipower known as Kossyeth is the archenemy of the Vistaesh. Kossyeth is an archallip that dwells in the Underfell and channels the souls of those who perish in the Underfell to Vecan and his phylactery and serves as his secret-keeper. This causes endless battles in the Shadowfell, between the Nemrav, Shadar-Kai, and Sharbolg of the surface of the Shadowfell and the Vezyi, Fehntüm, and Negpae of the Underfell. Though the Vistaesh has access to the spirits of every portion of the multiverse accessible through the Ethereal Plane, the Underfell is the sole exception to this. When Vecna returned and carved out his domain in the Underfell, he performed an epic ritual that cut off the Vistaesh's access to the Underfell. This prevents the Vistaesh from being able to snatch the souls of anyone in the Shadowfell, and instead allows Kossyeth to serve as the psychopomp of Vecna's realm. This causes some who wish to avoid the Punishment to make a deal with Vecna, becoming allowed to live in the Underfell as long as they do something in return for this god of undeath. [HEADING=2]Escaping the Vistaesh's Tendrils[/HEADING] Though the vast majority the souls of those who perish are snatched by the Vistaesh and delivered to the Raven Queen's Fortress of Memories, it is possible to escape the tendril that is sent to capture your spirit. This is due to the fact that the Vistaesh is aware of where your body is when you die, but not your spirit. When you die, your spirit is stuck inside your body until the Vistaesh arrives to snatch it, or until your body manages to escape the body through one of the ways listed below. If you die and are wearing a [URL='https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/ring-of-mind-shielding']ring of mind shielding[/URL], or have another item that would suck or trap your soul [LIST] [*]The destruction of your body (through the [URL='https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/disintegrate']disintegrate[/URL] spell, incineration, and so on) releases your spirit. [*]The casting of the [URL='https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/freedom-of-movement']freedom of movement[/URL] spell on your corpse, or that was active on you when you died, frees your spirit. [*]The casting of the [URL='https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/718120-release-spirit']release spirit[/URL] spell releases your spirit. [*]The casting of the [URL='https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/banishment']banishment[/URL] spell on your corpse or being killed by an attack that had the [URL='https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/banishing-smite']banishing smite[/URL] spell traps your spirit in a harmless demiplane until the spell ends, and your spirit is freed when the spell ends. [*]As an action on your turn while you are dead and stuck inside your body, you may make a DC 12 Dexterity (Mobility*) check. If you succeed on this check for the third time, your spirit is freed from your body. [/LIST] Otherwise, your spirit remains in your body for 1 minute or until the Tendril of the Vistaesh snatches your spirit from your body. When your spirit escapes, you gain a flying speed equal to the walking speed you had before you died, and the only action you can take is the Dash action. You are incorporeal, invisible, immune to all damage dealt my corporeal creatures, and appear inside the Border Ethereal. You can still be targeted by spells and other effects that target creatures, but are immune to the grappled, prone, and petrified conditions. Your spirit appears as you did when you died, with the same equipment and clothing, but you cannot damage any corporeal creature. Upon the death of a creature that has a soul, roll 1d20. The Vistaesh sends a tendril to snatch the spirit of this creature after an amount of rounds equal to this roll, arriving at initiative count 0 of this round, appearing in the Border Ethereal Plane. If the spirit of this creature is still inside its body when this tendril arrives, the Tendril snatches it and leaves one round later with the spirit. If the spirit of this creature is no longer inside their body when the Vistaesh arrives, it searches 100 feet in every direction, snatching any spirit it comes across. It searches another 100 feet in every direction this way for 1 minute, snatching any and all spirits it encounters during this time. This Tendril is not a creature, does not take turns, cannot be attacked or targeted in any way, and has no senses, except for being able to sense and snatch any spirit it runs into. The spirit of a creature that escapes their body must outrun the Tendril of the Vistaesh, moving a total of at least 1,000 feet away from where their body was when they died over the course of 1 minute after the Tendril of the Vistaesh arrives. An escaped spirit can travel through the Ethereal Plane until it makes a deal with Vecna, a lich, or another undead/necromantic creature, are snatched by a Tendril of the Vistaesh, are killed, or transformed into an incorporeal undead (such as a [URL='https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/ghost']ghost[/URL], [URL='https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/specter']specter[/URL], [URL='https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/wraith']wraith[/URL], and so on). [HEADING=2]Resurrection and the Vistaesh[/HEADING] If a creature is resurrected before the arrival of the Tendril of Vistaesh, by means of the [URL='https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/revivify']revivify[/URL] or other magic, the Tendril of the Vistaesh does not arrive to snatch its spirit, but instead grabs the spirit and resurrects it. If the body is undergoing the process of being resurrected through a [URL='https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/raise-dead']raise dead[/URL] spell or similar magic, the Vistaesh learns the position of its spirit, snatches it, and delivers it to its body to resurrect the creature. Okay, that's the Vistaesh. I would love to hear your thoughts on it. It is quite a unique being. I can't think of anything like it in other D&D worlds or fantasy worlds. Thanks for reading, and I'll get more up on this world either tomorrow or later tonight! [/QUOTE]
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Tor-eal (1000 years after the Devils win the Blood War)
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