#deva vindicta

It would be really bad news for all the Sundered Houses if anyone ever got around to properly following the instructions and forged a Deva Vindicta to target Tansul’s enemies. Because here in the present day? All of the houses would be on the god’s posthumous shitlist. Not just the rebels of Royce, Einfasen, and Cormoray. Hell, it was their ancestors who turned on the god, and they’re long dead. If anyone would be on the vengeance itinerary ahead of them? It’d be Tachonis and Halovar.

Tachonis, for obviously abandoning their duty as psychopomps and making any kind of effort to restore order in the afterlife, the better to bloat the Underworld and their own well of power. Then, because an infinite power supply wasn’t enough, they’re now pulling some cosmic level bullshit via mass slaughter, soul enslavement, and desecrating the places and powers Tansul left to them.

Halovar, for making the leap to pure capitalist parasitism wrapped in a fake religion, abusing one of Tansul’s last angels to siphon him for magic blood to power false miracles. This being the bait to get mortals in the door, crowing about how Tansul was a false god and all they have to do to be saved by the Light is hand over pure obedience and ignorance and, oh yeah, unknowingly sell their souls to the demonic Pit for all eternity upon death.

The houses closest to Tansul, short of House Obridai itself, have not only turned on his memory, but are actively smearing an already horrid history while simultaneously gutting all the gifts he left their families.

But back to the Deva Vindicta itself. Consider the exact words in Tannesar:

"In its right hand shall it wield my scepter, and in its left will it hold aloft the sun. Crowned in glory, it shall be terror to god and mortal alike, and from the earth and heavens shall no foe be suffered to live or die without its terrible command. No passage given, nor to stay from passage suffered without the grim pronouncement of its edict. Woe to the foes of man in the age of the final angel."

Then consider the exchange we saw between Tansul and his ancient priest:

"To make a servant in your image, what will we make it from?"

"Nothing can be made without sacrifice. Nothing can be made that is of worth without my dearest materials."

"What would be a sacrifice worthy of this weapon?"

"Sacrifice that thing which is most precious. And what could be more precious to me," Tansul extends a finger towards the heart of this priest, "than you?"

The same priest who was weeping, denying the thought of a world without Father Tansul, swearing the tools he left them for avenging him would not be needed. A priest who loved the Shaper of the Sun.

Tansul’s tools and recipe were intended to make the final angel in his own image with the foundation of it required to be one of his priests. We saw with Murray’s vision through the spent Candle of Slaughter that Occtis—or any other lucky volunteer for the sacrifice--was never meant to be the real thing. He was a celestial soaring against the night, bringing death alone to the Golden Orchard. An incomplete Deva Vindicta only concerned with killing, not prevention of death as punishment.

(Shall no foe be suffered to live or die without its terrible command.)

Because Tansul wanted his final angel to be in his image and of the same stuff that he granted to his priests of Halovar and Tachonis—Light and Dark, Life and Death, Healing and Rot. And, regardless of the graffiti and magic shortcuts, I don’t think House Tachonis can—or truly wants to—put together the full-scale Deva Vindicta, even if that means only getting half the original design right.

The true Deva Vindicta must not, cannot, come into being.

Must not, because Tachonis and all the other houses are firmly on the Tansul Shitlist for all the rebellion and blasphemy and posthumous backstabbing they’ve been up to. Azgra and his orcs are no longer priority. It’d be all about the traitors of old Obridimia getting set on the chopping block.

Cannot, because it’s possible that none of the family members of Halovar or Tachonis have the finishing ingredient implied by the flashback to Tansul and his priest. Physically, yes, the bodily sacrifice of a priestly descendant and their heart will get something out of it. But the reality is that not a single member of Tachonis or Halovar are true priests of Tansul anymore. They’re all just coasting on heirloom sorcery and angel blood. A ‘true’ priest, cleric, whatever else of Tansul’s, giving themselves for love of the god and vengeance on his betrayers and foes, is not to be found among them or anyplace else.  

…Probably.

Vaelus and her fellow Sisters of Sylandri are still mourning. Back in a little dwarven village, ragged and bunched up close to a view of the Stormwrack, the faithful of Trozhna, Shaper of the Forge, still pray to her and plead for her return. There was at least one war priest of Azgra, the most violent and bloodstained deity in the lot, who refused to give up his loyalty to the god as he demanded a blessing for him with a dying breath; one priest of many to a mad horror of a divinity within the period of his being alive to torment and wage war.

It’s not an impossible thing to imagine a real candidate for Tansul’s wishes exists out there. Someone of faith and vengeance and the right sorcerous roots.  

If I were of the Sundered Houses, I’d pray that such a soul never manages to find their way into Tannesar and put the altar back in its proper pre-Tachonis shape.

Brennan narrated that the sacrificial altar for its creation was inscribed with "Flesh of the world, heart of light." And Occtis saw through the rocks that a Halovar priest was given the instruction to sacrifice their heart to do so.

Now, Heart of Light could just be the celestial piece/calcidion needed for the ritual, and this is all a bunch of nothing.

But, Tachonis were the psychopomps of humans. The sacrificed person's soul needed to make their journey in death to the Golden Gates for the ritual. A psychopomp could help greatly with seeing this journey happen. Occtis said he wasn't worried about death before because his family would know what to do to give him safe passage, not he knew what to do for safe passage (which could be about his training, or could be about everyone needing guidance and not walking a path on their own).

And Halovar was the House of Light. So a Heart of Light could be reasonably believed to be one of theirs.

It's an interesting descriptor for the Deva Vindicta. Because by the sounds of it, this thing should be of equal power to a Shaper, if not potentially greater.

Terror to mortals, sure. Any celestial is, given the feral ones were considered doom for the lands they were in if left to roam unchecked. It probably took armies and/or legendary heroes and/or weapons to fell the feral celestials.

But terror to gods? To people who can also make celestials? A big claim for sure.

I wouldn't be surprised that handing a celestial the weapon/tool of a Shaper would make it stronger than the average celestial. Good equipment makes for a more powerful individual, and the Deva Vindictia is supposed to wield Tansul's scepter. But unless Tansul put a large sum, or all, of his power in the scepter, it shouldn't boost a celestial to godhood on a level equal to the real deal originals, much less greater.

So unless Azgra was also considered a terror to god and mortal alike as a god among equals, Tansul was lying out his ass about just how powerful the Deva Vindicta would be.

Or there's a further trick to it. Some sort of amplification of power that Tansul couldn't perform upon himself to ensure Azgra couldn't kill him, or create the Deva Vindicta with before passing himself.

Given the Deva Vindicta is meant to be a fusion of mortal, something that grows and changes over time, and celestial, a construct basically set in its ways, that's not impossible that the fusion was meant to make something greater than anything that came before.

But the potential power of that fusion doesn't explain why Tansul wouldn't eat the loss of a priest he cared about to save himself from Azgra by making such a Deva before Azgra would kill him. It could be about maintained control over such a celestial. The changing nature of mortals given to entity of such power means it could choose to go on the offensive when Tansul just wanted something to protect him, so making it an avenger works better. (or more canon happenings of the mortals ditch/overthrow Tansul's ass)

Or maybe the trick is that Tansul is sort of part of the sacrifice to create the Deva Vindicta.

That without his death to funnel his essence/powers/whatever into this new creation, it cannot become that greater something to terrorize other gods, particularly Azgra.

And that's why the mortal soul must make the journey into death to go to the Golden Gates, so they can pick up the remains/soul/power of Tansul to put into the Deva Vindicta when they are reincarnated into it.