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Kakasbal
Trigger warning — this sahkil is concerned with the fear of intrusive thoughts, so if you have concerns about content like that, I suggest you give this one a miss
K’áak’as Ba’al, The Grasping Shadow, the Lord of Ego, the Ultimate Individual (planar sahkil tormentor [he/him] / NE) ‡
Portfolio: Selfishness, betrayal, treason
Realm: Ethereal / Xibalba / the Highest Hand
Alignment: Neutral Evil
The sahkil tormentor known as the Grasping Shadow—Kakasbal [ka-AK-as-ba-AHL]—is a creature of selfishness, betrayal, and treason. His name in Mayan (K’áak’as Ba’al) means ‘the twice bad thing’, and the arrogant sod styles himself as the Ultimate Individual, and acts like he owns, well, everything. Kakasbal sees relations with other beings not as something pleasurable, shared or mutually beneficial, but as an form of conquest. Why is he a sahkil then, rather than a tanar’ri? That is because his philosophy is driven by fear that to trust others is to show weakness. He embodies the feeling that someone close to is about to betray you, so you should get in there first and turn the tables. Whether or not they really were plotting against you does not matter as much as the fact is that none actually best you. The ultimate narcissist, Kakasbal believes that the only time anyone else is honest is when they are caught in the act of betrayal, and everything leading up to that moment is fakery. He insists that every bond of friendship is really a leash, and every loyalty is a humiliation waiting to be inflicted. He’s like an ego gone carnivorous, a fiend who teaches that the purest and most important freedom is the right to use everyone else—and assumes the worst in others because really he’s holding up a black mirror to his own thoughts. How much easier it is to assume everyone is out to get, you rather than admitting that the corruption is coming from inside your own house? In this way, Kakasbal embodies the fear of admitting your own dark nature, to yourself.
Kakasbal is known for whispering dark suggestions to mortals, confusing them into believing his sinister temptations are their own internal thoughts. If you’ve ever had intrusive thoughts of treachery that seem to spring from nowhere, watch out—you might have fallen under Kakasbal’s eye. He delights in suggesting uncharacteristic acts of greed, violence, madness, and ambition. His aim is that a cutter becomes so accustomed to these intrusive thoughts, and fear the repercussions of telling others about them, that they start to believe they are actually their own. His aura of treachery isolates companions from one another. With enough patience, the mortal’s narcissism is kindled and then fanned aflame, and Kakasbal’s work is done. He can sit back and feast upon the evil thoughts that his victim is thinking all by themselves—this is his favourite meal. His favoured tactic when he is finished with a victim is to leave behind one last poisonous lie when he departs, ensuring that there’s always a seed of suspicion ripe to bloom into a future betrayal. Either that, our just to eat them,
Kakasbal can take any shape he wishes, but his natural form appears as a grotesque, horned hairy humanoid with far too many arms. Each hand has a glaring eyeball in the palm—all the better for watching his many rivals—he even has eyes in his shoulders. His leering face has burning red eyes, the tail of a snake, and his foul breath kills and animals and plants around him. Chant goes his body is made from the organs of dozens of different animals that all hate each other. He has the power to transform into any living being to deceive his prey, although he also likes to take the form of a barely-visible insect.
His realm in Xibalba, the Highest Hand is a treacherous court of mirrors and living shadows, where the souls he has stolen are transfixed with flattering visions of their supremacy. He spends little time there, however, preferring to wander the Prime at night, destroying plants or turning them poisonous, causing animals to drop dead, seeking to satisfy his insatiable appetite by devouring men and drinking the blood of children. The only things that he hates more than sunlight, are dogs—their mere presence causes him to become hesitant and confused.
His worshipers include people who betray their loved ones or country while blinded by ambition, psychics and mesmerists who dominate others for their personal gain, and anyone who mistakes their own narcissism for liberty. He habitually turns followers against each other. He grants them real fellowship, only temporary usefulness, because even his worshipers are valued chiefly as future rivals to humiliate, possess, or discard. He has no allies in the true sense, only minions and competitors, though he accords grudging respect to powerful exemplars of selfishness such as Mammon or Caracalla precisely because they embody the kind of predatory selfhood he admires and intends one day to surpass.
Edicts: Proclaim your superiority; exploit loyalty for personal gain; claim credit wherever you can; betray any bond that limits your ambition
Anathema: Sacrifice your ambitions for another, uphold loyalty when betrayal would benefit you, share authority as an equal, allow sentiment to outweigh self-interest
Source: Jon Winter-Holt, adapted from the Creature Codex blog [PF1e]