Ispa

Ispa (ɪs’pɑ) is Aserra's Goddess of Darkness, and one of the Seven Elemental Gods or Second Generation Gods. She is the daughter of Orran’sulani and Nydoini, twin sister to Idraen, and youngest of the Seven.

Goddess of Darkness

Aserra's metaphysical philosophy of the Elements is represented in seven parts: Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Life (or Mana), and finally, the dichotomy of Light and Dark. Each of Orran’sulani and Nydoini's children were given dominion over these elements and all that they entail, and manifest traits that reflect them.

As the Goddess of Darkness, Ispa was given dominion over aspects that thrive in darkness. Where Idraen was the Day, Ispa was the Night. She was given the plane of Malbolge, a dark plane populated by demons and the elusive dark elementals, Shade. The tending of the souls of the dead were split between Idraen and Ispa; Ispa was to have dominion over Death, while Idraen had dominion over Rebirth. To this end, Ispa was also given command of Reapers, entities charged with collecting the souls of the dead.

Each of the Elemental Gods was also given a companion dragon born of Asharisan and Umossa, and Ispa recieved the black dragon Alaas’th to serve her.

Appearance

Ispa appears as a slight woman, standing at 5'3" (160cm) and weighing around 110lbs (50kg), with long, straight black hair, pale skin and large red eyes. She inherited her father's long, tapered ears and has delicate, refined features. One could say she has a doll-like appearance.

Like her siblings, she was born with four wings, hers plumed in a fathomless deep black and having a narrow, angular shape. After she devoured her father and absorbed his power, she sprouted two additional wings.

Danaij

Nydoini assisted in the creation of a race for each of her children to mold and embody their element in the world, and Ispa's contribution was the Danaij. Much of their appearance was to spite her brother's creation, the Idayn, a radiant, elegant, and fair race that resembled him. Ispa's version took the same form, but gave her people unnaturally pitch-black skin, white hair to contrast, and red eyes like her own. Their souls were bound to shade spirits, giving them a power born of shadows and the absence of light.

Background

Ever the outcast either due to fear of her alignment, or due to the actual nature of her alignment, dissension was bred in Ispa from her youth onward. She and her twin, Idraen were often at odds with each other. Feeling distanced from her family, aside from some close moments with Brecha and Alaezo, Ispa was very much an outsider among her own kin. Nydoini made efforts to include Ispa in family business, but her relationship with her father was tense as well, as he took a stronger interest in Idraen than all his other children.

Ispa gradually withdrew herself into Malbolge and found more agreeable companionship amongst the demons that served her. Her alienation was nearly complete, but her breaking point was when Zelan endeavored to bring four new goddesses into the world to rule over the seasons.

Ispa believed she was ideal choice to birth the Goddess of Winter, but Zelan overlooked her, and when Brecha became pregnant with twins, there was no need to seek Ispa’s assistance. While her three sisters welcomed new godlings into the world, Ispa was left childless. Seeking to remedy this, she turned to Alaezo, the one brother who showed the most affection for her, and seduced him in order to conceive Craeseth, the God of War.

After secretly carrying and birthing Craeseth in Malbolge, Ispa returned to take what she needed from her other two brothers. She subdued Zelan and Idraen in turn, seeing as they would always spurn her advances, and stole their seed without their knowledge to impregnate herself with later. Zelan would father Sai’ras, the Goddess of Chaos, and Idraen fathered Yoma, the Goddess of Death. Aside from these contributions, Ispa sought to further increase her support with two more offspring; Suldra, the Goddess of Lust sired by the Demon Lord of Luxuria, Arael, and Belas, the God of Corruption, fathered by the Demon Lord of Avarita, Asuderon.

She saw to making certain her children matured quickly so that she could strike against her family, thus beginning the War of the Gods when she slew her father Orran’sulani, then laid siege to Zephaer to take the throne for herself. She and her children spurred the Danaij on a crusade against the other races, and as the war raged in the heavens, so it did on Aserra.

After the War

After her defeat by Idraen and her elder siblings, Ispa and her children were imprisoned in Malbolge, allowed to do no more than oversee their duties there, and see to the living arrangements of their peoples that managed to survive on the fragment of Ageond, the Forsaken Land. All except for Yoma, who lapsed into neutrality and gained the trust of her father and aunts and uncles.

Ispa was cursed to bear no more children as punishment for her assaults on her brothers and betrayal of her family. If not for this, should would have continued to grow her pantheon on her own using the Demon Lords--or more powerful demons--as sires for her offspring. Instead, she instructed Craeseth and Sai'ras to complete the task, as their offspring would stand to be more powerful than those born to Suldra and Belas with demon parents. Craeseth fathered two children with the two female Demon Lords, Ohadibael and Harsitiel. Orthin, the God of Fury and Venegence and Avana, the Goddess of Nobility and Beauty. Sai'ras bore three children with the remaining male Demon Lords; Malva, Goddess of Nightmares; Sidye, God of Ambition and Adversity; and Sigurga, God of Feasts and Wine.

Ispa also has a grandchild in Juxus, who was born to Suldra and fathered by a mortal lover.