Mestama

Mestama

(Deity)

Titles

The Mother of Witches,
Lord of Deception,
Demon Lord of Hags and Deception

Realm

Barren Wood, Outer Rifts

Alignment

Chaotic evil

Areas of Concern

Cruelty
Deception
Hags

Worshipers

Annis hags, banshees, green hags, sea hags, spurned lovers, vengeful widows, witches

Follower Alignments (1E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Domains (1E)

Chaos, Charm, Evil, Trickery

Subdomains (1E)

Deception, Demon, Lust, Thievery

Favored Weapon

Punching dagger

Symbol

Eye on three sharp stones

Sacred Animal

Black widow

Sacred Colors

Black, red

Images of Mestama

Source: Lords of Chaos, pg(s). 20

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

History

According to Amenopheus, after the death of Gorum in 4724 AR, Nethys and Thoth battled over a source of power in the Inner Sea north of Sothis. Nethys emerged as the victor and cast Thoth away from Golarion. A whirlpool appeared at the site of the battle, and a coven of the hag goddesses Gyronna, Mestama, and Alazhra entered it to begin performing a ritual of unknown purpose. This spurred the Osirian deities Ra, Horus, Anubis, Osiris, Maat, and Isis to rise in opposition of them, but the old gods of Osirion were unable to disrupt the ritual. However, Gyronna briefly stuttered while reciting the ritual, an error that offered enough of a chance for the Osirian deities to intervene. All nine deities vanished in a flash, their fates unknown, and prayers to Osirion's have since gone unanswered.

Home

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

Appearance

Mestama appeared as a withered, ancient crone with sunken and sometimes monstrous features. Mestama boasted 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.

Cult and worshipers

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

Temples

Worshipers of the demon lord met most frequently in abandoned buildings, especially churches and schools, and on islands in the middle of swamps.

Relations with other religions

Mestama's cultists are jealous as well as hateful, and treated those of any competing faiths, such as Gyronna's, with burning anger.

References

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