Ishtar (Polesia)
Ishtar is a Fallen Angel formerly in the service of the fate goddess Ashthra and is the twin sister of Zeta the Angel. Ishtar, having fallen from her services as a fledgling Astral Deva, became, due to the conditional nature of Angelic existence, a dark and twisted form. Ishtar's particular corruption took the form of a succubus demon.
Character Appearance[edit]
Tall, statuesque, and beautiful in an almost impossible sense, Ishtar appears to be a woman with a long curtain of hair like black silk, and light skin that looks like it could have been carved from polished white marble. Like a house cat, her sky blue eyes appraise you all, casually and uncaringly, not bothering to meet the eyes of anyone.
She is wearing, of all things, a crisp and fitted Lattanis military uniform, deep red and brown, and fringed with gold accents, and a short cape thrown over one shoulder. On her fingers, around her neck, and up her arms, are items of golden or black onyx jewelry. The only things on her person not speaking toward the opulence and majesty of lattanis, are a well tooled leather belt, a pair of metal bracers on her wrists, and the fact that she seems to be wearing no shoes. At her hip is a long military-issue Lattaneran spear.
One odd thing about her, is that the shadows of the environment around her don't seem to apply to her. The shadows were deeper than they should have been, and perhaps lighter in other places than should have been.
Character Abilities[edit]
Ishtar, as a formerly angelic creature, is particularly strong and hardy. While her ruthless combat style is considerable, her greatest strength lies in her ability to manipulate. A first-rate liar and a skilled diplomat, Ishtar's honeyed tongue is frequently partnered with equally manipulative magic.
The ethereal membrane that would, in her home astral plane, pass for her skin, becomes, in the material realm, a variable surface which can assume virtually any humanoid shape.
Ishtar has been known to drain the life force from her foes by inciting acts of passion. Her demonic nature allows her to take this life force into her own form, increasing her own hardiness.
Character History[edit]
Angels are not what most mortals believe them to be. Angels are creatures much like any creature in existence. They are not gods, nor are they avatars of gods, nor are they the supernal right hand of a god. They do, however, almost all without exception, operate directly under the banner of a god. This is because the dreamy astral creatures that mortals refer to as Angels are deeply invested in the concept of moral and ethical alignment. Most are lawful. So lawful, in fact, that they crave the structure of more powerful beings. For this reason, the Angelic Heirarchy exists. All Angels have another, more superior angel to whom they answer. These Angels, in turn, answer to even more powerful Angels. At the top of this are, supposedly, the greatest and highest Angels who determine, by careful examination of the flow of astral powers, what orders to pass down. Ishtar was one of these Angels. She operated under the banner of Ashthra, and has since her existence was formed out of the astral wells alongside her twin sister, Zeta. When she developed enough to be capable of protecting herself from adverse forces, she was sent to the material plane in order to both learn to control the considerable powers which are her birthright, and to further the cause of Ashthra on the lower plane.
However, the sorts of missions undergone by those in service to the goddess of fate are often difficult to understand. While it may be second nature to battle a demon on earth, or to heal the sick, it is sometimes difficult to understand why orders might come down that command an angel to destroy one's sole possessions, or to keep two lovers from meeting, or to let someone die, when the power to heal is easily at hand for any angel. It is advised, for this very reason, that angels maintain objectivity when dealing with lower creatures. Unfortunately, such advice did not resonate with Ishtar. Ishtar was an angel who loved mortals, and was inspired by their trifling ways. This was dangerous thinking for an angel, befriending mortals in such a way. When the time came to tend to the fates of mortals she loved, she could not bring herself to quell their prosperity, or deny them things that they wanted. Her decision was to forsake the hierarchy in favor of the simple mortals.
This led to the fall of Ishtar. The subjective nature so inherent in Angels has a balance. And that balance is the falling process. Her form became twisted by her decision. The radiance of her being drained away and was replaced with nothing but a mockery of what she once was. The pure and supernal energies that surrounded her astral angelic form instead became a ragged and twisted and malleable force that now defined her existence.
Ishtar no longer follows the Angelic Hierarchy. She is cut off from it. Many angels, cut off from their system and twisted in morals like Ishtar has now become would turn to darker forces. Their craving for structure and leadership would often lead them to fall in with demons, and become a member of a hellish kingdom. Some others would go insane without their connection to the hierarchy, and become monstrous destroyers, killing indiscriminately. No doubt these things had all occurred to Ishtar. But the one thing she retained of her goodness that was never stripped away since it was the sin itself that caused her to fall, was her fascination with the mortals. She remained on the material plane, quenching her thirst for stucture and leadership from among the mortals. She survived by becoming involved in the structure of mortal life. She managed to enlist in the Lattaneran military, one of the most structured mortal organizations in Polesia.
While the vile temperament and dark energies of a fallen angel still perseveres in her, Ishtar has, for now, found a place to survive amongst the mortals.
