Sifkesh

This page contains spoilers for the following products: Pathfinder Society Scenario #34: Encounter at the Drowning Stones.
You can disable this banner in your personal preferences.

Sifkesh

(Deity)

Titles

The Whispered Doubt,
Lady of Heresy,
The Sacred Whore,
Demon Lord of Heresy and Suicide

Realm

Vantian, Outer Rifts

Alignment

Chaotic evil

Areas of Concern

Hopeless despair
Heresy
Suicide

Worshipers

Blasphemers, heretics, outcasts from other religions, survivors of botched suicide attempts

Edicts

Spread doubt among the faithful, discredit all religions, provoke the guilty to commit suicide rather than strive for redemption

Anathema

Spread hope, offer forgiveness, sincerely honor or call on aid from another god

Follower Alignments (1E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Domains (1E)

Chaos, Evil, Madness, Trickery

Subdomains (1E)

Deception, Demon, Loss, Nightmare✝

Follower Alignments (2E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Domains (2E)

Nightmares, pain, sorrow, trickery

Favored Weapon

War razor

Sacred Animal

Asp

Sacred Colors

Red, white

Images of Sifkesh

Source: Inner Sea Gods, pg(s). 320 (1E)
Gods & Magic, pg(s). 126–127 (2E)

Ⅰ

Ⅱ

Sifkesh

(Creature)

Type

Outsider
(chaotic, demon, evil, extraplanar)

CR

28

Environment

Vantian, Outer Rifts

Alignment

Chaotic evil

Images of Sifkesh

Source: Demon's Heresy, pg(s). 86f.

Sifkesh's CR is 27 in Descent into Midnight 62.

Ⅰ

The demon lord Sifkesh's (pronounced SIF-kesh) goals differ from those of most other demons, in that she seeks to not only destroy the flesh of mortals but also wholly corrupt their souls. Her symbol is a pair of crossed feminine hands with slashed wrists.

History

Sifkesh was originally a powerful erinyes devil who was seduced by the power of the Outer Rifts and became one of the first of Hell's heretics.

Home

Sifkesh lives in the Abyssal realm of Vantian, the infamous City of Open Windows.

Appearance

Sifkesh resembles an emaciated human woman with deathly white skin, limp black hair that constantly drips blood, and white bird wings. Her eyes and lips are sewn shut with rusty wire, and her body is dismembered at the neck, shoulders, ankles, wrists, hips, and wings. Each body part floats independently, moving slightly out-of-sync with the others.

Beliefs and goals

Sifkesh's highest ambition is the fracturing of a good, devout person's faith through careful seduction, leading them to apostasy. It is said her greatest joy is in witnessing the moment when a corrupted priest realises how far they have sank and seeks suicide as the answer, forever damning their soul to her Abyssal realm of Vantian or consumes it personally.

Because of her corrupting ways, Sifkesh presents somewhat of a conundrum to most demonologists by combining elements of all three types of fiend: she corrupts like devilkind, feeds on souls like a daemon, but is still a demon. She also strives to lure other devils into her service, either openly at her side or secretly in their other roles where they can subvert Hell in her favor.

Emissaries

Seraptis demons are the favoured servants of Sifkesh, though they also act for other demon lords, primarily Nocticula prior to her reformation and Socothbenoth.

Cults

Worshipers of Sifkesh often venerate her in secrecy and isolation. Many are blasphemers or heretics, people outcast from other religions, or survivors of suicide who publicly pantomime worship of another deity. When her followers do form cults, they are often composed of a single worshiper who controls minions unaffiliated with Sifkesh. Many of her followers actively infiltrate other religions and seek to ruin them from within by seeding doubt among the faithful.

Temples and holy sites

Without significant group worship, holy sites of Sifkesh are often abandoned buildings, such as desecrated churches, haunted structures, or towers designed with excessive windows. Many remain empty or are protected by undead creatures or predators, with some worshipers relying on such infestations to keep their holy sites safe.

One exception is Blackearth Cairn, a former Sarkorian royal crypt in the Field of Thrones to which the seraptis demon Jaalika led several cultists of Sifkesh in 4706 AR. She subsequently expanded the site into a cathedral to the Lady of Heresy, though as of 4713 AR her aims were unknown.

The Path of Grace

In 4573 AR, a cult of the demon lord, calling itself the Path of Grace appeared in the Chelaxian then-capital of Westcrown. Their members were chosen from the city's wealthiest citizens, many of them fervent followers of Aroden. They began to ritually murder people and caused widespread panic, a series of crimes soon labeled the White Plague.

The vigilante response to these crimes led to the formation of the rightly feared Hellknights in 4576 AR. The cult was finally defeated in Desnus 4577 AR by the founder of the Hellknights, Daidian Ruel.

The Drowning Stones

As of 4709 AR a cult of Sifkesh-worshiping ulat-kini had recently been discovered by Pathfinders in the Mwangi Expanse at a place called the Drowning Stones. They were led by a herald of the demon lord, a powerful succubus named the Razor of Sifkesh. Not only were the Drowning Stones a site of worship, but it was here that Sifkesh's worshipers created Sifkesh's Bane, magical stones that made people more suggestible to suicidal impulses.

The Way of Transcendent Bliss

The Way of Transcendent Bliss was brought to the small Irriseni town Belila by a charismatic woman named Minesqa Rovoyosh in 4711 AR.

References

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