Loki the Deceiver

One of the last Fae created in the Dance of Darkness, Loki emerged as innumerable monsters and malign forces were brought into the world. Far from horrifying him, however, their sheer variety fired his imagination. Possessed of a deep sense of mischief and a thrill-seeking nature, he taunted the seemingly endless stream of new hideous creations at leisure until the Dance of Darkness suddenly stopped. Disappointed, Loki set out to see the world. He found peoples, lands, nations, flora, and fauna. When Loki was not entertained by them, he entertained himself. He transformed into different people and creatures to fool those he encountered, leading them on wild chases into the middle of nowhere, or tricking them into believing he was a friend or family member. Loki was content only with his own company for many years. He had no desire to belong to any society he saw their laws, guidelines, and codes, and sneered in disgust. Many people he saw claimed to be free, but he knew that with all their obligations to lords, land, and families their chains were merely invisible. For Loki, Teleria was to be enjoyed without moderation. During the Great Divorce, Loki watched the torturous meatgrinder that was the Firstborn-on-Firstborn battle. Not even the Great Trickster could find delight in what he beheld — for the first time, he realized that the creators of Teleria had just as much power to destroy as to make. After, as centuries wound on, Loki witnessed unimaginable slaughter dealt in the gods’ names. Meddlers. Rule-setters. That’s what they were. They couldn’t leave well enough alone and seemed content with destroying the world Loki loved to experience. The gods had to be removed. Should either win, he believed, they would assert their will over Teleria without challenge. Until he found a way to ensure the gods could no longer influence Teleria, Loki fought to maintain their stalemate. In conflicts such as the First Great War, he shapeshifted into commanders and gave false orders. In battles, he changed sides multiple times, slipping between the ranks to kill powerful warriors or sabotage war machines to tip the balance. With a nigh peerless charm and charisma, he won nobles, chieftains, and warlords over easily only to give them ruinous advice and turn them against their most loyal followers and associates. Loki tried to find the gods’ weaknesses all the while. He shrugged off ideas about opening closed portals to Anathraad, for they helped Siroth too much and, given they had been closed before, could be closed again. He considered freeing Hellrazor the dragon, but knew such an act was too small to draw the attention of the gods. Frustrated, Loki journeyed to the Redspike Mountains to rest his mind. There, quite unexpectedly, he discovered an entire Fae civilization, based at a great hall-keep called Asgard. All the Fae there were older than him, with different knowledge and perspectives. Loki listened to them all closely. As much as he could talk with Freyja Fateweaver about the beauty of the world, the two never bonded. Part of the fun of life was its unpredictability, and her future-scrying was incompatible with that. Loki however enjoyed the company of Thor, a stern, chest-thumping hulk of a Fae, though he didn’t quite know why. A being so different to him, with an overwhelming sense of duty, shouldn’t have been a friend, but he was. Loki should have found the humourless Fae quite insufferable, but they had a shared love of adventure. There was something amusing in how unalike they were, the Trickster decided. Loki had almost forgotten about his desire to unseat the gods until a chance moment in a conversation with Odin, leader of the Redspikes Fae. Loki learned about the Fire Knight, the Waters of Life, and the Painsmiths during his travels and conversations with other Fae. But then Odin pondered what might happen if the Waters of Life, frozen by the Arbiter in the Age of Hellfire to prevent Siroth tapping into the Darkness at Teleria’s core, thawed. Such an act, Loki realized, would be the first in a chain that would guarantee the gods’ intervention and, if he made the right moves, their defeat. With the Painsmiths, he could free the Fire Knight and together, they might have the brute strength, technical ingenuity, and magical power to melt the frozen Waters. His mind racing at what he saw as the ultimate mischief, he left Asgard without a word of warning, barely containing his glee. Little did he know it would take centuries for his plans to come to fruition. Even then, he had a feeling his deeds would not escape the notice of Freyja once they were put in motion, who would waste little time in alerting Odin and Thor. He would need to prepare.