Mestama

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Mestama
The demonic rune of Mestama
(Deity)

Titles
The Mother of Witches,
Lord of Deception,
Demon Lord of Hags and Deception
Realm
Alignment
Areas of Concern
Cruelty
Deception
Hags
Worshipers
Annis hags, banshees, green hags, sea hags, spurned lovers, vengeful widows, witches
Cleric Alignments (1E)
Domains (1E)
Chaos, Charm, Evil, Trickery
Subdomains (1E)
Deception, Demon, Lust, Thievery
Favored Weapon
Symbol
Eye on three sharp stones
Sacred Animal
Sacred Colors
Black, red
Source: Lords of Chaos, pg(s). 20

The demon lord Mestama (pronounced me-STA-mah)1 is the patroness of witches, hags, and vengeful widows.2 Her unholy symbol is a human eye carefully balanced on three sharp stones.3

Home

Mestama's Abyssal realm is known as the Barren Wood, an aptly named, dying, coniferous forest. Distant parts of certain woodlands—particularly in Nidal, Taldor, and Galt—are said to contain direct connections to the Barren Wood.34

Appearance

Mestama appears as a withered, ancient crone with sunken and sometimes monstrous features. Mestama boasts flesh-shearing talons instead off fingers, a pair of jet black, raven-like wings, and a donkey's tail, making sure none would mistake her for just another aged hag.32

Cult and worshipers

Mestama serves as the patroness of various types of hags, witches, and hateful widows, and as such, her cult is a particularly vile one. Her worshipers are either eunuchs or women who specialize in inflicting horrible cruelties via deception, and she is also known to attract antipaladins to her cause.35 Her most powerful cults (often led by actual hags), often claim entire villages where cruelty is rampant, and horrible fates befall those unlucky enough to spend the night in one of these cursed villages. One of Mestama's favourite cruel tricks is murdering a young woman the night before her wedding, then taking her form, marrying the groom, and sleeping with him. Then after the deed is done, the trickster assumes her true and normally terrifying form, before castrating the man and disappearing into the night. The final part of this heinous trick comes years later, when the deformed, bastard offspring of this unlucky union returns to murder their fathers.32

Temples

Worshipers of the demon lord meet most frequently in abandoned buildings (especially churches and schools) and islands in the middle of swamps.3

Relations with other religions

Mestama's cultists are jealous as well as hateful, so any competing faiths (such as Gyronna's) are treated with burning anger.3

References

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.