Maleria
Maleria (ma-LAYR-ee-ah) is otherwise known as the Dark Goddess. Formerly a member of the High Council of Selenis, she has been banished here as punishment for her past deeds and currently resides in Darkside.
Personality
Intimidating, condescending, proud, arrogant and vindictive are all accurate descriptions of Maleria, and she uses each of her assets to aid her in her goal of overtaking Subeta for her own since her banishment from Selenis. Rather than charming her way into the hearts of Subetans, she believes the road to domination is paved with threats and fear.
While she does offer quests to citizens of Subeta who venture into Darkside, she will quickly make it plain that there is little room for personal choice in the offer, and the only reward for failure is calamity. It may not be today, or tomorrow, or even next year, but those who disrespect the Dark Goddess will see the day when they regret it.
Lore
Never had Maleria enjoyed the droll, doldrums life on the planet Selenis. Where everything was peaceful. Where everything was understood. Where houses were left unlocked at night, for no one feared anyone else.
Maleria never really wanted to be feared, mind you. She just wanted excitement. She wanted a break from the boredom and ennui, and after years of enduring the idiocy of her peers, there had to be something . . .
They said dark magic was forbidden. That it was uncontrollable, and would corrupt and transmute anyone caught in its grip. The Elders had put precautions into place to entrap anyone foolish enough to approach the ancient shrine of Eodue, the patron saint and discoverer--now discredited as a heretic--of the dark arts.
Maleria was far too smart to be outwitted by the simplistic deterrents placed to block the paths of those who sought knowledge in black magic: she could not suppress a grin to herself as she drew nearer to the black marble statue. The fools! Couldn't they see they were holding themselves back by not pursuing every avenue of knowledge? They were afraid of it, and all the stories of its corrupting powers were fairy-tales, conjured to scare them: this she was sure of.
Before the shrine, she knelt, her gorgeous blond hair falling over her shoulders and face. From the pack she carried she withdrew a thick tome, and flipped it open til its dusty pages fell to a stop. Faded ink in a curious language spun in weaves over the paper, and with a faltering tongue Maleria began to read the words that would break the seal on the black magic and destroy the countermeasure that would trap and seal away those seeking its blessing.
"Hanak loth . . . tsago abi atumast, shugin . . . "
When the shrine had shuddered and exploded mere seconds after she had , Maleria had been shocked. When from its shattered pillar a thousand tiny globes of black and purple light swarmed and surrounded her she could not help but shriek.
And when the orbs had withdrawn, and her skin had suddenly taken on a sickening blue tinge, her beautiful blonde hair stained purple, Maleria found the only thing on her mind was domination of those weak fools who would dare lock her magic away.
It was war.
With this hideous new power coursing through her and the dark blobs of magical matter bobbing along behind her, it was so very easy. She had withdrawn from the shattered shrine, empowered and new, and turned the first citizens she'd met to her side. The dark matter had blackened their skin and given them a similar aura to their own, and this pleased the newborn goddess. If all of Selenis' inhabitants were this weak-willed, she would possess control of the planet in a month.
Shinwa!
Shinwa, that inferior little nag. Shinwa, that "heart of the rebel cause." It was Shinwa, her old little schoolgirl friend, who had discovered how to purify her dark matter, who had recruited her minions to her side, who had made this all so difficult. The beautiful planet she had desired had become a hideous warzone, because of Shinwa!
The dark goddess swatted away a stray matter who had floated too close, and took pleasure from hearing it squeal as it careened away and slammed into the ruins of a tree that had been blown apart during one battle or another. Her mind wandered again, the temporary amusement from the incarnate evil's suffering quickly past. Half the planet belonged to Shinwa; half to Maleria. And the entire planet had become worthless to her! Worthless! What would be the point in ruling such an ugly place?
Another dark matter zipped over her head, bouncing frantically. At last she raised her head: and quite suddenly a towering figure had appeared before her.
The planet of Selenis spun still in its orbit--ugly, destroyed--a scar on the solar system.
The war was waged, and lives were lost, and all of it for nothing. Maleria was apprehended by the Great Preservers, the council-race who oversaw the universe, and what few followers she still had were sealed away. Her powers were bound drastically, and she was sentenced to exile, to be carried out on a distant planet by the name of Subeta. And just as Shinwa began to breathe easy again, she was arrested, had her magic bound, and was informed she was to receive the same punishment as Maleria for letting her magic get so obscenely out of hand, white or not--and on top of that, it would be her duty to watch over Maleria and ensure she did not wreak havoc again.
The Preservers, in accordance with their unbendable laws, sent one more of their number to observe both of them: she is known only as the Oracle, and makes her home in the Sacred Lands.
For now, it is a cycle: the Oracle watches Shinwa; Shinwa watches Maleria, much to her chagrin; and Maleria uses the little magic she still has to throw terrible storms against the red mountains of Darkside in fury and frustration, and coaxing stray visitors to do her bidding.