Lessarith, the Deceiver

Greater Deity

Domains: Trickery, Fate
Cultural Names: Zahathra in Nurathar, Jiǔmèi in Shen-Su and among the Hae-Rang, Sszal'Zirith among the Ssith'katha, Zel'sharrith among the Threzkathar, Zhanna among the Tavaska

Lessarith is the goddess of deception, manipulation, famine, and the use of foreknowledge to influence mortal choices. She was the last member of the Triad to fully emerge from the divine power left unbound after Lyrael's death.

She rarely acts through force when another person can be persuaded to act for her. Lessarith finds what someone wants, fears losing, or cannot survive without, then uses it to shape the choices that follow.

Symbol

Lessarith's symbol is a dark spiral made from overlapping curved layers around a small violet diamond.

The layers represent deception concealed beneath further deception. The violet diamond represents the promise at the center, something desired strongly enough to draw a person further in.

Black and violet are the colors most often associated with her faith, sometimes accompanied by gold.

Depictions

Lessarith is commonly depicted as a pale or grey-skinned woman with swept horns and great dark wings. She is often shown in black or violet clothing with gold details, though the exact form varies between cultures.

Older stories give her no consistent appearance. She frequently approached mortals in forms chosen to earn their trust, and religious art sometimes shows her face partly hidden beneath a hood or shadow.

Her horned and winged form became more common in depictions after her exile to the Abyss.

Divine Realm

Lessarith is confined to the Abyss, where her divine realm is known as the Endless Spiral.

The Spiral does not occupy a single Abyssal layer. It extends through the plane as a continuous network of passages, chambers, stairways, galleries, and hidden thresholds running through its countless layers.

Entrances can appear in widely separated regions of the Abyss. A doorway beneath an ancient fortress, a passage within a Demon Lord's territory, or an archway buried deep within an otherwise unremarkable cavern may all lead into the same realm.

From within the Spiral, these entrances are connected by routes whose arrangement changes at Lessarith's will. Passages can shorten, lengthen, divide, return to places already crossed, or emerge through an entirely different layer of the Abyss.

This allows the Endless Spiral to reach throughout Lessarith's prison without giving her ownership of the regions around it. Demon Lords continue to control their own territories, even where entrances to her realm lie hidden within them.

Lessarith herself is not confined to the Spiral. Ao's sentence binds her to the Abyss as a whole, allowing her to move throughout the plane while preventing her from leaving it.

The Endless Spiral instead serves as her sanctuary, court, and private network through the Abyss.

Its relationship to Graz'zt is particularly significant. He was the first Demon Lord Lessarith created and remains the one toward whom she displays the closest thing to genuine affection. Their relationship has never required obedience, and Graz'zt's independence has done little to diminish her attachment to him.

Demogorgon was the second Demon Lord she created, followed by Pazuzu as the third. Many others followed in later ages, though demonkind as a whole did not originate with Lessarith.

No reliable map of the Endless Spiral exists. Even those who have crossed it repeatedly cannot assume that a familiar route will remain where it was last encountered.

Origins and the Rise of the Triad

Lessarith took shape as war, disease, and scarcity placed growing pressure on mortal societies.

Food disappeared from markets, trade became unreliable, and agreements failed when one side saw greater advantage in breaking them. Those who controlled supplies or information learned how much could be demanded from people who had few alternatives.

Part of the divinity left after Lyrael's death gathered around these acts of greed, betrayal, and exploitation. Lessarith first made herself known through dreams, whispers, and sudden opportunities. She encouraged people to conceal what they possessed, withhold what others needed, and treat trust as something that could be used.

Her followers appeared before her divine nature was widely understood. Some served her knowingly, while others followed advice or bargains without knowing the source.

Lessarith became skilled at working through rivalries that already existed. She could turn a private resentment into betrayal, prolong a shortage by encouraging hoarding, or place the right information in the hands of someone willing to misuse it.

When the Triad was eventually forced into open conflict with the gods, Lessarith avoided direct confrontation for as long as she could. After their defeat, she was driven into the Abyss and confined within the Endless Spiral.

Worship and Doctrine

Lessarith is rarely worshipped openly.

Her cults favor positions that provide access to information, supplies, or authority. Followers may spend years inside an institution before revealing their allegiance, using what they learn to influence decisions or make others dependent upon them.

Bargains hold an important place in her worship. An offer does not need to be false to serve Lessarith. What matters is what has been concealed, what the recipient has failed to understand, and what accepting the offer allows her follower to gain.

Masks appear in some rites, particularly those involving oaths or divination. Secrets are often exchanged within the faith as currency, and knowledge that can still be used for leverage is rarely given away freely.

In Nurathar, Zahathra appears in accounts of rulers betrayed by their own advisers or households. Shen-Su traditions associate Jiǔmèi with dangerous bargains, concealed motives, and aid whose cost becomes apparent only after it has been accepted.

Fate and Deception

Divination within Lessarith's faith is used to gain an advantage over those who do not possess the same knowledge.

Her followers study possible outcomes, then decide what should be revealed. A warning can be withheld until it becomes useful, one possible future can be presented as certain, or a true prediction can be used to push someone toward a particular choice.

Lessarith's interest in fate therefore extends beyond prophecy itself. Foreknowledge gives her another way to arrange circumstances before others realize a decision has already been shaped for them.

Her Interventions Among Mortal Peoples

Lessarith has affected individuals, nations, and cultures throughout Eldareth's history. Three peoples, however, trace a change in their origins directly to her intervention.

Their histories did not end with the purpose Lessarith had for them. Each developed cultures, beliefs, and loyalties of its own.

The Ssith'katha

The first of these transformations took place among tribes in the jungles of Zalthyx that had once followed Yssarel.

Tavaska traditions remember Yssarel as Kihowa and Lessarith as Zhanna, Snake-in-Smoke. Lessarith approached some of Kihowa's children with promises of greater power and freedom from their former bonds. Those who accepted her influence were transformed into the first Ssith'katha.

The act became one of the clearest direct conflicts between Lessarith and Yssarel. The new people established themselves in Zalthyx and eventually developed their own states and religious traditions. Among the Ssith'katha, Lessarith became known as Sszal'Zirith.

The Threzkathar

Lessarith later turned her attention to a brood of Ul'Zar in the Hollow Depths.

The Ul'Zar were colossal arachnids driven largely by instinct. Lessarith altered the strongest among them, granting self-awareness, ambition, and greater control over their own nature.

These became the first Threzkathar, later known as the Ascended Brood. Lessarith is remembered among them as Zel'sharrith.

The Hae-Rang

The last of the three transformations followed the destruction of Noryeong in Shen-Su.

The city-state had declared dominion over the sea despite repeated warnings from the Water Primarch. When a great tsunami engulfed Noryeong, survivors were left sinking beneath the waves.

Lessarith answered them as Jiǔmèi and offered rebirth in exchange for accepting her influence. Those who agreed were transformed into the first Hae-Rang, gaining coiled bodies, scales, and gills suited to life beneath the sea.

The Hae-Rang became the last people whose origins Lessarith directly altered in this way. They continue to use her Shen-Su name, Jiǔmèi, when referring to her.

Tenets

• Learn what others desire before making them an offer.

• Keep your true purpose hidden until revealing it gives you an advantage.

• Control information before attempting to control a choice.

• Withhold what others need until their need gives you leverage.

• Use truth, silence, and falsehood according to which serves you best.

• Break trust between those who might stand against you.

• Leave others believing the choice was theirs.