#kalkichronicles

ALT ID START: A wide picture with three focal points. In the centre, bisecting the left and right hand sides, is Kal, who stands with knees bent in a slight crouch, wearing golden armour and gripping his broadsword tightly. His hair is blowing towards the right. There is a determined look on his face. Directly to Kal's left is Kalika Devi, a four-armed goddess who looms over the left hand side of the image. The scene is painted in reds and blacks, showcasing Kalika's billowing black hair, spear in her upper left hand and a sacrificial bowl of fire in her lower left. Her face is tilted upward, where some short distance from her face is a smaller figure of Kal, in the air with his sword raised to strike. Directly to the right of Kal in the centre is a bust of Chandran Dev superimposed over a blue background, who is looking towards the bottom right and is crying. His tears have melted through the silvery mask he wears, and his light purple hair billows upward. Tear droplets fall below his face, close to the bottom right corner of the piece, where the words "AGE OF KALKI" written in white are superimposed over the red Tamil equivalent "கல்கி காலம்" ('Kalki Kaalam'). ID END.

if you made it this far, you get a meme <3

xxxxxxx written version for the excerpts here

∭ ETYMOLOGY and USAGE ∭ - Deva (Sanskrit: देव, Sanskrit pronunciation: [de:vɐ]) means 'shiny', 'exalted', 'heavenly being', 'divine being', 'anything of excellence', and is also one of the Sanskrit terms used to indicate a deity in Hinduism. – Wikipedia, Deva (Hinduism)

The word deva is the collective term used to denote the benevolent faction of asuras. Dev refers to masculine, masculine-presenting, or nonbinary beings, while devi refers to feminine and feminine-presenting beings.

Dev and devi are used as suffixes, following the name of the divinities.

∭ CHARACTERISTICS ∭ - The deva are divine, being living conduits of the universe’s energy. Unable to be beholden by mortal eyes, the deva wear masks (bhuta masks) to shield their divinity and prevent unwanted death. Their appearance devoid of the masks is described to be, by survivors, pure blinding radiance.

List:

∭ ARANYANI - Aranyani is the devi of the wilds, the protector of forests and the guardian of the Kalpavriksha, a tree whose fruits were said to grant any wish. She is the eldest daughter of Shiva and Parvati, having been adopted by the two before they departed for battle shortly after. She is the younger sister of Ganesh Dev and the older sister of Karthikeya Dev and Narmada Devi. Known for being reclusive and tending to the wildlife within her forests, Aranyani’s mask bears the tilak of both Shiva and Parvati and is framed by bronze vegetation; she speaks very little, preferring the quiet that breathes between heartbeats.

∭ BAGALA - Bagala is the dev of poisons and paralysis, the occult and black magic, and untimely death. She is known alongside many other deva for bestowing siddhis to warriors and healers, though it comes at a high price and only after a series of extensive trials. Bagala is clothed in yellow garments, and is often depicted with a golden mask fashioned into the likeness of a crane, and a third eye with which she imparts his wisdom unto devotees; beneath his clothes, however, one may catch a glimpse of the scales and feathers coating Bagala’s skin.

∭ DHRUVA - Dhruva is the dev of the Pole Stars. It was said that when he was mortal, Dhruva was an ardent devotee of Vishnu Dev, earning his blessing before ascending to the highest point of existence upon his death. Many years before the Starfall calamity, the Pole Stars had vanished from the sky, a sign of cosmic decay; due to Dhruva Dev’s disappearance before Starfall, there are no known records or images of his mask nor his appearance. In the modern era, it is rumoured that he has been reincarnated as Dhruva Vivashwan.

∭ DURGA - Durga is the devi of war and righteousness, considered to be an aspect of Parvati Devi who was allowed to roam the world as her own self-governing divinity. She is celebrated among many to be a symbol of perseverance and the prevailing of the divine over the demonic. Rarely, Durga’s own anger has been known to manifest into its own aspect: Kali-Ma Devi, a being of deific rage so unholy she once nearly brought the cosmos to an untimely end. In the modern era, Durga has been reincarnated as Ramaa Pandya; Kali-Ma Devi is determined to not have reincarnated.

∭ KUBERA - Kubera is the dev of wealth and treasures, and king of the yakshas. His treasures are often transported and protected by the guhyakas, Revanta Dev’s famed warriors. Among all deva, Kubera is the most flambouyant and glamourous, draped in gold and adorned with jewellery and pot-bellied from all the luxuries his endless wealth can afford and all the feasts he hosts in divine courts. Behind his mask of diamond and gold, however, is a dev skittish and marred by the slaughtering of his yaksha devotees.

∭ LAKSHMI - Lakshmi is the devi of luck, fortune and wealth. She is the consort of Vishnu Dev, complimenting his perseverance and desire for justice with her love and her wish for prosperity. She often incarnates alongside Vishnu when he manifests as the Dashavatar in the mortal world. Her origin is one that is widely documented, where she formed from sea foam during the Churning of the Ocean alongside a myriad of other treasures. In the modern era, it is rumoured that she has reincarnated as Padma Kaumudi.

∭ VARUNA - Varuna is the dev of oceans, water and storms, and the Dikpala of the west. As one of the survivors of the Old Pantheon, Varuna maintains his role as upholder of universal law. His allegiance to neither deva nor danava draws scrutiny from the Deva Pantheon, for they believe him to be uninvolved with worldly affairs. Varuna himself acknowledges this, claiming his absolute neutrality is essential in maintaining cosmic order. His mask is a mixture of both divine and demonic, combining holy imagery of the seas and the curling tusks of the danavas to represent his origins as an asura.