Thaargat
Matron of None, Mother of Stones, The Spider, She Who Scattered Us. CE demipower of danger, herbalism, poisons, jungle crafts (She/Her)
Pantheon: Orcish
Symbol: A stone spiderwebbed with radiating cracks
Realm: Carceri / Cathrys / Venomous Ravine
Jungle orc epithets for Thaargat are myriad and never friendly, and other orcs know her as a boogeyman figure. Originally, Thaargat was a tribal matron whose warchief wanted to settle in the heart of a vast jungle. Thaargat protested that their tribe did not know the ways of this new and dangerous place, and that enemies could easily take advantage in the dense and uncompromising jungle. Insulted at being challenged and convinced that the jungle concealed great wealth, the warchief forced Thaargat and their children into the jungle ahead of the rest of the tribe, to learn of its dangers firsthand—the hard way. The children died, but Thaargat endured, seeing their pain and what had ended their lives and envisioning it all raining down on the head of the warchief. She returned and made a show of teaching the dangers of the jungle, which included poisoning the warchief with a spider’s venom. While his captains wanted to strike her down, Thaargat pointed out to them that they had already entered the jungle and that only she knew its secrets. To each one she told a small fragment of what she knew, and then split them apart to go out into the jungle with their smaller bands, for none were certain that she had not lied about something.
The few who returned had seen the suffering she did, and begged her forgiveness and teachings, for they were now hopelessly lost in the jungle. Thaargat promised to ensure that all who entered the jungle would learn of its ways – one way or another. Her warning stones became sites of pilgrimage and veneration for the jungle orcs, markers that familiarised them with their new and perilous land. When she passed, the first generation of jungle warchiefs took up her name as a warning for the perils of the jungle, and Thaargat was renewed as a demigoddess of danger, herbalism, poisons, and jungle crafts. Her shamans are near-universally female at her insistence. Thaargat is depicted as an ancient crone with thick vines for hair. Some fear that she is a reflection of, puppet of, or disguise for the drow goddess Lolth, but others contend that this would be unlikely. Thaargat has never been seen in her divine realm, but few people go to Cathrys, second layer of Carceri, in the first place, and her Venomous Ravine is particularly unwelcoming even for that place.
Source: Afroakuma
