Tekteon Fissureflesh

<i>‘His skin is magma, shifting and bubbling with heat. His breath is sulfurous fumes, sickening and deadly. Liquid glass flows through his veins in place of blood, water flashes to steam in his presence. His every footstep brings the sputtering sound of molten rock solidifying. He is the soul of the fire-mountain, savior and destroyer.’ – Tekteon worshipper’s testament</i> * Tekteon is an ancient Demonspawn, who survived the campaign against the Dragonkin but was stranded when the rest of Siroth’s forces withdrew from Teleria following defeat in the First Great War. Siroth’s failure shattered him. The Shadow God’s cause now seemed vainglorious and pointless. And Tekteon had butchered uncountable Telerians, combatants and innocents alike. He moved from place to place to avoid mortal attention, eventually finding refuge on a volcanic isle in the Argolades. Inevitably, Telerians settled there, too: Argonite Humans who named the island Perikras. Seeing the futility of constant relocation, Tekteon stayed but continued his self-imposed isolation. Despite Tekteon’s efforts, stories of a lone, fiery figure amid the fumes and heat shimmer of the fumaroles spread among the Argonites. Because of his reclusive nature and frightening appearance, Tekteon developed an ominous reputation. The Argonites blamed him for diseases, earthquakes, eruptions, and even simple bad luck. Tekteon was satisfied to be reviled but left alone for years. But then, Mount Perikras erupted stronger than ever before, threatening to engulf the entirety of the island in molten rock. The masses came to believe that the volcano had finally ceased to tolerate Tekteon’s presence, and was going to drown the island in lava to ensure Tekteon’s destruction. They hunted Tekteon down, captured him, and brought him to the creeping wall of magma to offer him to the flaming rock. Tekteon had only ever wanted to make restitution to Humanity for his past crimes, even as they vilified him, but now he saw their true nature. Still, he reasoned that to let the villagers be wiped out – for their ritual murder of him would surely do nothing to divert the flow – would yield the same result as the Great War massacres he conducted. Tekteon broke his bonds, but, even as the terrified villagers rallied to attack him again, he began tearing up the ground, digging a ditch and piling the displaced earth up on the bank opposite the magma to form a barrier. The villagers had tried this before, unsuccessfully, but Tekteon’s primeval strength changed everything. With his scorching swords he cleft the rock and dense soil like water, doing the work of ten laborers in one-tenth the time. The Humans helped Tekteon channel two ditches that met at a central point facing the lava flow and ran across the sides of the town. The lava oozed past the village like the flow of water diverting around a rock in a stream. After this, the Humans would not leave him alone, bringing him offerings and spreading word of his amazing presence, claiming he had control over the volcano and powers over the earth. A cult of worship sprung up around him, even reaching nearby islands, bringing pilgrims and worshipers to his mountainside abode. Ever since, for generations, Tekteon has protected his followers and accepted their tribute while still bemused and ambivalent about it. He accepts this status quo not because he revels in his status as a living god, but because he dares not risk upsetting the people – he has seen what happens when the opinion of the fickle Human masses suddenly shifts.