Almdrid Sunkiller
Demipower of Night, Cold, Love [He/Him] / NE
Realm: Quasi-Elemental Plane of Ash/Sparkling Vast/Starfall
Area of Control: Night, Cold, Love
Alignment: NE
Worshippers’ Alignment: Any evil
Symbol: A solar disk with a jagged hole in the centre.
The twin brother to a minor sun god, Almdrid was overloved by his mother and spoilt by it. Almdrid is a power of the night who loves everybody: He hungers for the love of the sun. He leeches love and incidentally heat as well.
First off, ye can’t talk about Almdrid without talkin’ about his sun-shinin’ brother. A bit of a family drama, that is. Imagine growin’ up as the other twin to a cutter who’s basically a burnin’ ball of light. Takes sibling rivalry to new heights, don’t it? But unlike some petty powers who’d be green as Arborea with jealousy, cold Almdrid just yearned for that sun-kissed warmth. And when a power yearns too strongly, dangerous things happen.
Now, his realm is something the graybeards call a ‘neutron star’, cutter. Cold as the abyss, lifeless as a modron’s chat-up lines. If your not familiar with physics—prime or planar—think of it as a sun that’s given up, collapsed under the weight of its own misery. Talk ’bout manifestin’ your own inner demons, eh? So, you’d best keep your distance from Starfall unless ye have some proper magical protection or a death wish. Even then, the intense gravity might mash you into a pulp.
But the dark whispers go that Starfall is all that is left of Almdrid’s nameless brother now. His love was too intense, too overwhelmingly crushing, and burned out the young demipower. Almdrid was banished to the Sparkling Vast by his mother, and since he could not let go of his brother, what is left of him is now Almdrid’s realm of Starfall.
Almdrid’s proxies are ethereal creates called nightshades, terrible sods made even more terrifyin’ by Almdrid’s caress. Imagine ’em looking at you with eyes like dyin’ embers, making your blood run colder than a white dragon’s breath. You know nightshades are basically made of negative energy, direct from the Nothing? Well, Almdrid’s nightshades are a special vintage. When they look at you with those mournful eyes and sing their heartbreaking songs about their yearning love for you, you won’t know whether to run away or burst into tears. They’ll kill you, aye, but they’ll make you feel bloody sentimental while they do it.
Almdrid’s story reminds me of those ancient Greek tragedies, plus a touch of Noh theatre, full of unrequited love, the juxtaposition of opposites, all that philosophical claptrap that you mortals seem to swoon over. But whatever ya think of him, don’t mistake Almdrid’s hunger for love as weakness. It’s what makes him dangerous, it’s his strength and his curse. After all, isn’t love one of the most devastatin’ powers in the multiverse, cutter?
Source: Rip van Wormer and Jon Winter-Holt, mimir.net
