#aksha

And we’re ending off the week with a rakshasa immortal, those rakshasas that have ascended through their cycle of reincarnation to become minor demigods in their own right... wait, no…

Rakshasa immortals are the greatest among their kind, earthbound avatars representing the greatest evils so that evil may be defined… huh?

Ah, well, it seems that at the time of writing, rakshasas are undergoing a bit of a face lift with the advent of the revisions to Second Edition with the Remastered books.

Originally, rakshasas cleaved a little closer to their D&D counterparts what with being reincarnating evils, but Pathfinder actually gave them lore as to why.

Essentially, Rakshasa represent thoroughly evil souls that, through dark ritual or absolute refusal to move on, become twisted into monsters that reincarnate by forcing a fledgling soul out of a newborn and taking over their future, awakening as a rakshasa into adulthood and transforming into whatever monstrous form their current incarnation happened to be. Such fiends are defined by an act of cruelty and theft every time they reincarnate, and depending on the events of their past life, may move up or down in power level and form.

The whole “stealing newborn bodies from the rightful soul” actually lines up with how rakshasa are described in Islam, however, in the original Hindu, rakshasa are akin to demons or fey in that they are earthbound inhuman creatures of great magic and viciousness (though good rakshasa that fight alongside the goodly gods are also mentioned).

I believe that it is the Hindu version that Pathfinder is now trying to emulate with this new lore for the monster group, but the lore for them leaves a little to be desired in depth and interest. “Born to be living examples of evil with no capacity to change or grow (and therefore, no longer able to shift positions on the hierarchy between incarnations). It’s just… lackluster. A creature born to do evil acts over and over again with no variation or free will is just an automaton, and kinda brings into question why they were necessary when so many other fiendish outsiders exist, some of them arguably even older than these new rakshasa, such as the qlippoth.

But that’s the new lore, which means that rakshasa immortals like Aksha here will probably be heavily rewritten the first chance they get.

With that in mind, I’ll detail her and other such immortals as they were originally, but also include notes on how they might be interpreted later.

And with that, I present, Aksha!

I tried looking for any figures called Aksha in mythology, but the only one was one of the male children of Ravana, who was killed in battle, and seems to have little to do with our Aksha.

In any case, Aksha of the Second Breath is a curious creature because while little is known of here in print, she is described as having been a mortal sorceress who sold her own soul to Mephistopheles himself in order to gain the ability to use hellfire as a weapon in her breath. How exactly a perpetually-reincarnating being sold their soul and somehow keeps reincarnating is a mystery to me. Perhaps she exploited a loophole, or the collection will come later. Or maybe the story is apocryphal or a deliberate deception to conceal how she managed to add hellfire to her arsenal. Hard to say.

If we assume she’ll survive the revisions, her Earthbound Evil version may paint her as a rakshasa of sorcery, deception, and theft, and a successful one as she managed to steal the fires of hell for herself. But that’s just speculation on my part.

Very little of Aksha’s appearance has been described, but she is supposedly a tiger-headed rakshasa with two mouths, one of which is a sibilant and eloquent speaker, while the other breathes hellfire.

Her realm is never given, though it can be assumed to be some fancy estate in Vudra somewhere, likely hidden in plain sight.

It can probably be assumed that Aksha is worshipped by those who seek to learn from her and her mastery of hellfire and other magic, as well as those seeking to emulate her deceptive nature. However, that same nature means that dealing with her even in the role of a supplicant is dangerous indeed.

Her relationships are not known either, but it can be assumed that she allies and schemes against other immortals as she sees fit, and ignores all other divinities until the servants of such beings get in her way.

She is likely served by multitudes of lesser rakshasa, particularly marai given their own interest in magic. Additionally, she likely also has many mortal slaves and servants under her control as well.

What is known for sure is her domains, which include Animal, Evil, Law, and Trickery, with the subdomains of Deception, Fear, Fur, and Tyranny. However, it is worth noting that all rakshasa immortals grant the same domains, reflecting their nature as tyrants, deceivers, and beasts.

No information on her has been given in Second Edition, so we don’t know what she might grant there. Probably for the best since they’re still hashing those details out.

She does grant a lesser obedience though, the one part of her divine kit unique to her. Those that mediate under a scented torch for an hour gain resistance to fiery effects. What’s more, her boons are all spells, allowing the faithful to attack with beams of heat, ward themselves with flame, and call down superheated winds on foes.

No info is given on her in Starfinder either, so it is unknown if she still exists or has been permanently killed by now. If she survives, she is likely in the upper echelons of society, having wormed her way in, and probably has easy access to some academy of arcane learning given her interests.

❁❀✾ DAY 3: Storybook ✾❀❁

the storyteller of time