[ Archomentals ] [ Air | Earth | Fire | Metal | Para-Elemental | Quasi-Elemental | Water | Wood ]
Archomentals of Water
Out there in the Endless Ocean of Water, the water lords shape the seas as much with their temperaments as with their power. Ben-Hadar, the Valorous Tempest, rules his bright coral palace and thinks first of beauty, comfort, and defending “his” clear seas, even if his vanity and provincial streak grate on the other archomentals. Istishia, the King of the Waves, is more distant and impersonal, embodying water in its pure, ever‑shifting state. Lysianassa, the Empress of the Torrent, tends the cycles of currents and tides in her Boundless Sea, patiently nursing fouled waters back to health, and offering solace to cutters who must learn to flow with change rather than drown in it.
But water also has a darker side—it can sweep away, inundate and drown. Olhydra, the Rain Queen, delights in floods, storms, and the erasure of mortal works. She commands a vast host of cruel sea‑folk and monstrosities in her dream of a drowned world. Kelizandri, the Brackish Emperor, rules drowning and the crushing depths down in the murk of Brack, exalting the ocean’s power to swallow empires and draw strength from every life it takes. Beyond these archomentals, ancient sea titans like Shax and Solkara linger as vestiges or imprisoned primordials—reminders that water’s nature is shifting and unruly.
| Name | Status | Alignment | Portfolio | Realm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ben-Hadar | Archomental | NG | Benevolent seas | Deep Water / Ssesurgass |
| Istishia | Primordial greater power | N | Water | Water / Sea of Timelessness |
| Kelizandri † | Archomental | NE | Drowning | Water / Brack / Kelizandrika |
| Lysianassa † | Primordial archomental (freed) | NG | Tides | Water / Boundless Sea |
| Olhydra | Primordial archomental | NE | Rainstorms, flooding, tsunamis | Water / Deep Water / Indigo Canyon |
| Shax | Dead-booked | — | — | |
| Solkara | Primordial archomental (bound) | NE | Seamonsters | Elemental Chaos / Glacier of the Drowned God |
Ben-Hadar
The Valorous Tempest, Squallbringer. NG Archomental of Water [he/him]
Realm: Water / Deep Water / Ssesurgass
Ben-Hadar is the Benevolent Prince of Water, a proud, if boorish archomental who rules the purest tracts of the elemental plane of Water. He appears as a tall, muscular humanoid of living, sparkling water, crowned in foam and trailed by schools of glittering fish. Philosophically, Ben-Hadar cares deeply for beauty, security, and comfort within “his” seas, but he shows little concern for events beyond his domain. This causes some cutters to question just how selfless his goodness truly is—and isn’t helped by his checkered history in the Dawn War, where he briefly switched sides after the death of Bristia Pel. Ben-Hadar wages war on evil in the water, particularly his nemesis Olhydra, but he also feuds with Chan and Zaaman Rul, mainly over his arrogance and provincialism. His realm is a hidden palace-fortress in the reef of Ssesurgass, a labyrinth of living coral, gentle currents, and filtered light somewhere in the Deep Water. There he commands hosts of loyal water elementals, merfolk, undines, and other aquatic beings, mustering the good armies of water when the tides of the multiverse demand it.
Source: Dragon Magazine #347 p39; #353 p43-45 full entry and stats); Inner Planes [2e] p55-56; Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. III [2e] 9,17,20-21 (stats and entry); Fiendish Codex I [3e] p113; Manual of the Planes [5e] p147
Istishia
The Water Lord, King of the Water, Ri’dea’shia. N Primordial greater power of Water [He/Him]
Realm: Water / Sea of Timelessness
Istishia [iss-TISH-eea] is a primordial power of elemental water, embodying the pure clarity of water itself rather than any particular sea, river, lake, or storm. He’s dynamic and mutable, representing the paradox of constant swirling currents within a substance which is itself pure. In appearance he can manifest as anything from a droplet, to a regal humanoid made from water, to a colossal wave, but most often appears as a towering column of water, moving with the sound of crashing waves. Whatever his form, his voice reminds listeners of the gentle sounds of rain, the rush of a river, and the pounding crash of surf.
Like many archomentals, Istishia’s personality is distant, enigmatic, and largely indifferent, even to his own worshippers. Mortals find his motives incomprehensible; he grants a vital resource to all life yet cares little how that gift is used. Philosophically, his dogma teaches that everything is interconnected and cyclical, and that water ultimately triumphs over the other elements: rocks are worn away by water, fire is quenched, air gives way to clouds and rain, metal corrodes, while wood dies without water. He sees himself and his element as the great equaliser and leveller of the Inner Planes.
Istishia’s realm is the Sea of Timelessness in the elemental plane of Water, which is regarded by many followers as the true heart of all water. Some of his more extreme faithful even believe the entire plane is simply a manifestation of his body, and any body of water on any plane marks a place where his blood has been spilled or his tears have fallen. He’s worshipped by sailors, pirates, water elementals, water genasi, aquatic elves, and others who feel a bond with the ocean’s power. At the deep heart of the Sea of Timelessness, Istishia’s fluid palace of Cresting Spires is an ever-changing place, more a maze of currents than a structure.
Source: Dragon Magazine #347 p29; Inner Planes [2e] p54,56; Manual of the Planes [5e] p147; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p53,181; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide p32
Kelizandri
The Brackish Emperor. NE Archomental of Drowning [he/him] †
Realm: Water / Brack / Kelizandrika †
Kelizandri [kelly-ZAN-dree] the Brackish Emperor, is a wicked archomental who rules the depths of the sea, dangerous waves, and drowning. He claims to be the spawn of a brine dragon and a minor power, and usually takes the form of an immense aquatic dragon‑like creature with blue-green metal scales, and claws of clear crystal.
In temperament he alternates between bouts of frenzied activity and long stretches of brooding torpor, like a sea that shifts from storm to flat calm without warning. His philosophy exalts the merciless power of the ocean: he draws power from those who drown and revels in the way the deep ocean crushes, corrodes, and swallows all things, especially ancient mortal civilisations. He notoriously destroyed the last marid Saline Padishah Niloufar the Great and the capital city of Arzanib in the early Age of Darkness, leaving the marids leaderless and scattered.
Kelizandri’s realm, Kelizandrika, is located in the Brack, an area of cloudy, dirty water near the planes of Earth and Salt. Kelizandrika is a shadowy trench‑realm adjacent to divided sahuagin kingdoms with which his brine dragon minions are in frequent, bloody conflict. At the bottom of the darkest trench is his lair, the Palace of Salt and Bones.
Source: Rage of Elements [PF2e] p170; Divine Mysteries p190,306; Archives of Nethys
Lysianassa
Empress of the Torrent. NG Primordial archomental of Water [she/her] †
Realm: Water / Boundless Sea †
Recently freed from imprisonment within the awful confines of the Gasping Pearl, the archomental Lysianassa [lie-SEA-uh-nassa] has reclaimed the Boundless Sea of the plane of Water as her realm once again. It’s said that every current created by the flick of her mighty tail here is felt throughout the plane of Water, but she’s been weakened by her long confinement and will not recover her full health for a long time, maybe never.
Lysianassa is a benevolent archomental lord of currents, tides, and water, and long-time rival of the brutal Brackish Emperor Kelizandri. She most often manifests as a powerful sailfish or similar sea‑creature as she races through the endless ocean, her passage creating a powerful wake and tidal surge. She is patient, compassionate, and resolute. She tends the cycles of life and renewal in the Plane of Water, working to keep its seas fresh, moving, and life‑giving. She actively labours to revitalise seas that Kelizandri has left stagnant or fouled.
Philosophically, Lysianassa embodies fluid change: she offers comfort to those overwhelmed by life’s torrents while teaching that events are always in motion, and that a cutter must learn to flow with events rather than be drowned by them. You’d think she’d be a natural ally of Ben-Hadar but the two don’t see eye to eye. Ben-Hadar seems almost annoyed at her new-found freedom, and for her part Lysianassa is still stinging that she was imprisoned for aeons without him lifting a flipper to help.
Source: Rage of Elements [PF2e] p171; Divine Mysteries p191.306; Archives of Nethys
Olhydra
The Rain Queen. NE Primordial archomental of Water [she/her]
Realm: Water / Deep Water / Indigo Canyon ‡
Olhydra [oll-HI-dra] is the princess of wicked water creatures, and often counted as one of the Princes of Elemental Evil. In her natural state she appears as a massive, cresting wave—a frothing, crashing wall of water. When she’s in a better mood you might find her as a shapeless watery mass with two pearl‑like eyes hinting at a face. She delights in creating dangerous manifestations of water—maelstroms, floods, and crushing waves—and can surge forth tirelessly and relentlessly.
Her personality is patient, cruel, and intensely destructive. Unlike some of her fellow princes, she shows a keen interest in mortals, plotting ways to tempt pirates, cultists, and ambitious sea‑folk with promises of plunder in exchange for serving her apocalyptic designs. Olhydra takes her greatest joy in destroying mortal works, from ships to entire coastal cities. Philosophically, she exalts the ocean’s power to engulf and erase, favouring erosion and drowning. She is patient enough to weaken foes, withdraw, and then return another day—like an inexorable tide. Talking of foes, her greatest enemy is Imix, one of the archomentals of fire. She obsesses about ways to extinguish him, even though he’s several planes away and far more obvious rivals—like Ben-Hadar or Lysianassa—are both plotting against her and far closer to home.
Olhydra’s realm Indigo Canyon is a ruined black‑coral fortress in Deep Water, the drowned remnant of a once world‑spanning empire she personally destroyed and then claimed as her lair. The citadel lies submerged in a great purple lake, laden with sunken treasures and heavily guarded. She’s served by storm titans, evil water elementals, water weirds, grues, mephits, sea hags (notably the merged Blue Coven), kapoacinths, corrupted demons, and many aquatic monstrosities such as aboleths and krakens. Among the elemental cults Olhydra commands one of the largest followings, particularly of with sahuagin and scrags who dream of a world remade as her endless, storm‑ruled ocean.
Source: Dragon Magazine #347 p30,34,36-39,41; #353 p45,50; Inner Planes [2e] p46,54-56; Manual of the Planes [5e] p148; Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. III [2e] p9,16-18,20; Monster Manual IV [3e] p7,13-14; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p53
Shax
The Devastator, the Destructor, the Sea Sister. Primordial of the Sea [she/her]. Dead-booked, now a vestige
Shax [shacks] is a sea‑born titan daughter of Annam, shaped from his flesh and steeped in the deep ocean’s storms. Hidden from Annam’s sight by a weird storm, she quietly subverted the storm giants, pushing them to reject the Ordning and massacre their giant-kin in the name of the Sea Sister. Annam, blind to her exact role but enraged by the bloodshed, sent Thrym to stop her; their titanic battle ended with Thrym cleanly beheading Shax, a deed still sung as one of his greatest triumphs.
Because of the same anomaly that once hid her, Shax’s soul could not pass into the Astral or Annam’s realm. Instead, her spirit congealed in the brine‑soaked stone where her severed head came to rest, becoming a vestige—neither truly dead nor properly divine. Summoners must inscribe her seal within sight of water; she manifests as a storm in the shape of a disembodied head. Her hair twists into tentacles that can lift and turn the head so her piercing eyes can study the binder defiantly.
Warlock berks who successfully bind Shax are said to gain a neck‑scar that makes it look like their own head has been reattached. In return they’re granted powers to slip restraints, immunity to electricity, masterful skill at swimming, and the ability to channel the strength of a storm into a weapon. Her influence nudges them toward possessiveness, hatred of the Ordning, and rebellion against any kind of order.
Sources: Heroes of the Elemental Chaos [4e] p33 (mention only); the rest is homebrew based on this tale
Solkara
The Crushing Wave. CE Primordial of Water [she/her]. Bound
Prison: Elemental Chaos / Glacier of the Drowned God ‡
Solkara [sol-CAR-uh] the Crushing Wave is a primordial embodying the fury of tsunamis and the impossible weight of the abyssal depths. She harbours a raging torrent of cold vengeance against all dry‑land pretensions. Her truly monstrous form features a scaled tail, reptilian legs supporting two humanoid torsos fused at the shoulders with three multi-jointed arms, which are topped by two sinuous necks that merging into a single ferocious deep‑sea predator head. She is imprisoned within a divinely forged glacier as wide as a continent, deep in the Elemental Chaos. Even through miles of ice her enormous dark shape is faintly visible. Her barmy worshippers labour ceaselessly to melt the ice and free their Crushing Queen.
Before the Dawn War, Solkara dominated mortal seas as the Tyrant of Tides, and is the real reason the seas on most Prime world are so unruly, for she taught the seas to rise and fall. She clashed repeatedly with sea‑goddesses like Melora over control of waves and shores. Her dual torsos allowed her to crush one enemy in an embrace while drowning others with her arms. Less a cunning schemer than a raging natural force, Solkara fell late in the Dawn War to Melora, aided by her exarch Sekolah, the storm lord Kord, and Sehanine wielding lunar tides. Unable to slay the primordial, the gods stripped much of her power and sealed her in the Glacier of the Drowned God, a continent‑sized iceberg they cast into the Elemental Chaos. The prison inflicts her own crushing might back at her, with divine anchors made from petrified leviathans pin her torsos down. However, signs of resurgence abound: there have been recent sightings of her emissary Xixecal the Living Glacier who claims to speak for Solkara—much to the chagrin of the Cult of the Crushing Wave, led by the barmy storm titan Mirmakur, who seek to melt the glacier and free their beloved seamonster.
Source: Manual of the Planes [4e] p71 (mention only); the Plane Below [4e] p152; Heroes of the Elemental Chaos [4e] p33 (mention only)
Source: Jon Winter-Holt. The longlist of Primordials was inspired by the work of Mentat55 (on enworld) and Medivh (on the RPGnet forum). † From Pathfinder lore; ‡ homebrew.