#imbrex

“An” Villa, Haoxing, Zhejiang provice, China,

Landscaping: TROP  terrains + open space,

Another entry, and another new type of demigod, this time being one of the mighty fey Eldest!

As their name suggests, the Eldest are very old and very powerful, and many of them may in fact be old enough to remember when the gods first created the First World as a rough draft of what would become reality, and when they abandoned it for the creation they painted over their home with.

Because of this, the Eldest are the ones that feel the general fey estrangement from the gods the most. Most are content to ignore the gods just as they themselves have been ignored, while others treat them with disdain or even hatred, particularly their worshippers. In any case, while they feel distant from the divine, the Eldest are somewhat akin to them, being of demigod status able to grant boons and divine magic to those that devote themselves to them. However, unlike other deities or even demideities, the Eldest treat their relationship with their followers as a more mundane sort of fealty than true divinities, perhaps because comparatively speaking there is less distance between the Eldest and their mortal following, but also because most Eldest have much more in common with mortal rulers and figures than cosmic beings with esoteric moral agendas in the multiverse.

In any case, that brings us to today’s subject, and one of the more alien Eldests, Imbrex, whose mysterious form, origins, and motives make them bizarre even by fey standards.

It is said that Imbrex favors endings, statuary, and twins. The latter two making sense given their immobility and apparent form, but the exact nature of their connection to endings is unclear, as theories range from simply their tendency to make strange telepathic proclamations and prophecies, to rumors that Imbrex will only move when it comes time to destroy the Material Plane and First World alike and start anew

To stop beating around the bush, Imbrex is called “The Twins” because of the form they take, being a pair of massive statues of androgynous, vaguely reptilian humanoids that stand side by side, holding hands. It is not known if Imbrex is one entity with two bodies, or two entities with a linked identity, or even if the statues are their actual true form at all. Either way, they never move, and only communicate with occasional telepathic broadcasts to those below them.

Around the feet of The Twins, a city by the name of Anophaeus has sprung up, the oldest buildings of which are literally built atop their feet or wrapped around their ankles, though drilling into the stone of Imbrex themselves is forbidden for obvious reasons. The architecture of Anophaeus is otherwise fairly mundane, resembling a Material Plane city in most respects. There in Anophaeus, the population enjoy the strange and addictive effects of Imbrex’s dreams, and follow their commands, no matter how strange or nonsensical they may be. Imbrex, for their part, seems as indifferent to their population as they are for all living beings, though sometimes attackers that try to invade the city are blasted by a constant stream of psychic assault.

Imbrex’s worshippers are few due to their indifference and the seeming randomness with which they respond to questions or the actions of their cultists, sometimes punishing them for poorly understood slights, or rewarding them or equally inscruitable reasons. For the most part, such worshippers instead focus on trying to interpret the strange Eldest’s will and what role they may truly have in the end times, if any.

Like all Eldest, Imbrex has no known relationship with the gods, though they do seem to be on good terms with fellow Eldest Magdh and Ragadahn, who also have an interest in prophecy and fate. If they can make more sense of Imbrex than others, however, the two do not deign to explain The Twins’ actions to others.

Imbrex does not seem to have any special servants of their own, but the various fey and mortals living at their feet, and when they do send out devotees to do their bidding, it is for tasks that even their servants do not fully understand.

Imbrex presides over the domains of Community, Earth, Law, and Strength, as well as the subdomains of Family, Home, Metal, and Resolve, reflecting the protection they offer their city domain and sheer earthen size and might, both of which worshippers may try to emulate.

Meanwhile, in 2nd edition, they preside over dreams, earth, family, and might, reflecting much the same as before, but now adding their connection to their strange dreams to the mix. Additionally, their clerics gain access to spells that link minds with telepathy, create duplicate images, and harden the flesh.

Those who show special devotion to Imbrex undergo a ritual in which they sculpt a humanoid figure, break it in half, and then repair it or otherwise bind the two halves. Doing so gives them a small measure of The Twin’s stony durability, their skin turning hard and pale like white stone.

However, as lesser divinities, the other blessings of Obedience are much simpler, being naught but an array of spells. Imbrex in particular grants access to magic that immobilizes foes or leaves them under a curse of misfortune, projects illusionary duplicates, lets the caster take on a statue-like form, and finally, unleash a destructive divine storm.

The Fey Eldest are barely mentioned in Starfinder so far, but they are not absent. Imbrex has not been mentioned so far, but I imagine they are still around. However, given the belief that Imbrex will one day wipe the Material Plane clean to start over, I imagine that some cults and fringe theorists might believe that such a prophecy might have referred to The Gap, and that the fugue that all experienced during that time was a result of them resetting reality, or perhaps attempting to and having been stopped.

Our orc this week in our random rolls gave us some limited choices in classes. Pretty much any caster class was out or she wouldn’t be able to cast any spells. Her eventual turn from the traditional orcish chaotic evil to becoming lawful neutral ment barbarian was out as a class as well. So I decided on her becoming a fighter. Not a traditional role for orcish women but then the joy was in making that work.