sparkle like golden gemstones Beloved seeks only to serve her goddess, doing her lord’s bidding on the Material Plane Beneath her devotion, however, lies a disturbing sadism that colors her actions, even while on a mission for Rahab Relationships: Beloved serves her mistress above all else She cares little for Hob, whom she considers to be, if not a false god, an inattentive one, and she pities her own people The matabiri consider her a heretic but grudgingly allow her in their society, aware she has a powerful master She feels the same contempt toward outsiders as the rest of her people Strategy & Tactics: As Rahab’s emissary, Beloved can draw on considerable magical power in combat, yet she prefers to use spells and hexes that cause pain and agony rather than quick death A sadist, Beloved of Rahab draws out suffering whenever possible DISALA The yaksha not trust Hob and the matabiri (Actually, they really actively dislike the vile smugness of the matabiri.) But there’s so few yaksha, and Hob seems to actually want to help them For now at least, they are embracing the mogwoi’s “generosity” on orders from Disala Disala is a direct descendent of Kubera, the lost yaksha king, and she has taken charge of the yaksha remnants The matabiri think her dead in a massive tunnel collapse, but that was merely a ruse to cover her escape She couldn’t trust her thoughts being around Hob and some of the matabiri, and she just couldn’t find her answers while stuck in the valley The other yaksha have been ordered to abandon all thoughts of escape, embracing the matabiri for now, and shore up their minds—which yaksha are good at—while around Hob She has found some buried ruins, dwellings of yaksha build, off the road to Agartha and is scouring them for answers Characteristics: As she spends more and more time away from the valley of Kalapa, she finds her memories returning and her body responding differently, though in ways that ring true to her newly revealed memories She feels like she is returning to the way she was, the — 44 — way she’s supposed to be Relationships: She is currently exploring the tunnels beyond the valley on the way to Agartha, hoping to find anything that might point her toward answers, especially if it regards Kubera Everything and everyone else is secondary Strategy & Tactics: Disala is doing her best to remain hidden She cannot be useful, be a leader, to them if she is captured or killed But she also can’t let any live that learn she’s still alive, and she kills when she has to with the barest of regrets Bringing back and protecting her people are all that matters ADDING COMPLICATION Complication is the hallmark of the fey They would likely shrivel and die without it The following odds and ends can be used to inspire plotlines for use in your game: ❖❖ One presumes that, for good or for ill, Hob knows the intended outcome of his actions So what if Hob disappears or is somehow imprisoned and kept from attending to his Great Works, causing everything to begin unraveling? Perhaps, he was somehow preventing the whole of the Material Plane from slipping into oblivion and, without him, all of existence is in terrible danger ❖❖ Not all of the matabiri place Hob on the highest of pedestals There are a few in every generation—sometimes more or less, depending on the epoch—that fan the flames of cultural revolution They might simply up and leave their people, or they might stay and work from within Today, there is a greater than customary roiling of angst just below the surface of this society, a nervous, uncertain energy ready to pop But there’s no prevailing mode of thought for them beyond that of tradition They are on a psychical edge, and any one voice or event could the last bit that steers them down one path or another ❖❖ What if that one day has come? Have we now reached the culmination of all of Hob’s secret work—or even just a major turning point? Is this finally the day that ?