The Amaranth

Darkonian Kargatane Record

• Known Name: The Amaranth / The Divine Child
  
• Race: Unknown - believed to be some form of Outsider taking a human form
  
• Apparent Age: Early teens
  
• Birthday: Unknown
  
• Height: 5'1"
  
• Alignment: Evil (unknown ethical alignment)
  
• Affiliations: Nevuchar Springs sect of the Church of Ezra (hypothesized)
  
• Religion: Unknown
  
• Character Class: Unknown
  
• Place of Origin: Unknown
  
• Player/Type: NPC

Appearance

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The Amaranth in her usual guise as "the divine child"

The Amaranth is a deceptively innocent-looking entity, typically appearing as a young girl of around 13 years of age. She has long, dirty blonde hair that falls in soft waves, and her grey eyes carry a glimmer of curiosity and mischief. Her attire is simple yet striking: a simple white dress common for Barovian children, faintly weathered as though well-worn but not tattered. She is most often found wandering through reddish fields of amaranth flowers, playing with childish glee with a small black silk bag filled with vibrant red rubies. Her presence exudes an almost ethereal serenity, her delicate movements and youthful visage putting those around her at ease—though an air of unease lingers for those more highly attuned to the supernatural.

When the Amaranth sheds her carefully constructed façade, however, her otherworldly nature is laid bare. Her once soft and curious grey eyes glow with a sinister crimson light, her expression twisting into a predatory, almost feral grin that betrays her true malevolence. Blood stains frequently smears her once-pristine dress and pale skin, the blood of some poor mortal who earned her wrath, and she takes delight in the feel of their warm blood on her skin and clothing, further enhancing the horror of her transformation. Her slender hands become clawed and blackened, as if dipped in ash, clutching the same black silk bag—now pulsating and spilling with unnatural energy as the ruby-like orbs that seem to glimmer with their own inner malice as the souls of the condemned in them scream in anguish. In this form, her presence shifts from eerily peaceful to palpably terrifying, the surrounding field of flowers and the very skies seeming to darken and wither as though consumed by her otherworldly power. A swarm of predatory carnivorous locusts or other insects frequently appears out of nowhere and surrounds her when she begins to flex her power and anger.

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Personality

Little is known about the Amaranth's true personality, only some of her goals - claiming souls. She is evidently extremely patient and plays "the long game" in everything she does. She is immortal, so the span of a human lifetime is little to her. She has displayed arrogant self-confidence - which may be her weakness if it weren't for the fact she seems to be almost deity-level in power. But her true personality is otherwise a mystery, other than her desire to collect souls for her own purpose, of which no-one alive seems to know much of.

When she takes a form, however, her personality is a perfect facsimile of what people expect. As "the Amaranth" divine child, she was always sweet and innocent, playful, spoke like a young child would. She would say or do anything to make people believe the lie. And that is the only truth that heroes can really say about the her personality - the Amaranth lies.

Other Notes

In the aftermath, many of the newcomers and/or survivors in Leiksburg wonder how the Amaranth managed to pull off what she did - especially in a place as notoriously paranoid, superstitious, and unfriendly as Barovia. The answer is a combination of patience, and using human desire, greed, faith, and desperation in her favour.

Barovia is a dark country. It's always cold even in summer. You can barely see the stars through the clouds. Vampires, zombies, and werewolves (and allegedly worse things) roam the night and the shadows, rumoured monsters in the lakes, rivers, forests, and other places. People marry and start having children at 14 years old and typically have 6 children, of which 2-3 may survive to adulthood due to disease, famine, and other threats. With luck, one child may survive to old age. Barovians are used to high child rates to support the high death tolls. It's simply the way of things.

And this girl comes along with such an innocent face. Her touch cures all diseases and curses, letting the blind see, the deaf hear, the crippled walk, and those with terminal illness recover to perfect permanent health. Her very presence also makes the monsters stay away from the village. This made Leiksburg the most prosperous and safe place in Barovia since her arrival. The only thing she asks of those who seek her blessing is "that you believe in me and give me everything you are in dedication". Everyone who received her blessing appeared to live normal lives and suffer natural deaths. No negative effect of receiving her blessing has been witnessed in generations… leading over time, to a reputation of being a miraculous "divine child".

The reason that it all remained so quiet is that the Amaranth is immortal. With the agreement made and blessing given, she owns the soul - and she will automatically take it when the human dies. And humans live so little... and there are many threats in the Land of Mists, so what is the rush? Most of the desperate never ask about "the small print" of what exactly it means "to give her everything you are"

And a cult that helps her, promised power and that when they die, their souls will be esteemed members of The Amaranth's infernal forces, not tortured as emotional fuel and twisted into basic otherworldly beasts like the others. The members of the cult have political power, money, fame, and can do whatever they want (no matter how bad it is) and either the cult or the Amaranth protects them. Who would doubt the word of the mayor, the politicians and financiers and popular people, when they support the divine girl who performs miracles "without consequences". Those few who learnt the truth invariably either went mad, like Cleric Grigori of the Morninglord, or were silenced by either the cult or the Amaranth herself. Once her blessing was granted and she had fulfilled her end of the bargain, she could claim her due (the promised soul) at any time - she did not do so as a matter of lack of urgency and better to protect the secret. But those who learnt the truth of the deal and tried to warn others had their souls claimed in a horrible and painful way, typically out of plain sight to preserve the secret.

Combat Style

No-one has witnessed the Amaranth in combat, but a few witnesses have testified to seeing the Amaranth tear apart with her bear hands a human who threatened to betray her secret. As some form of demonic/infernal entity, she appears strong and is likely also capable of growing claws, horns, or other form of natural weaponry, and will almost certainly have resilient or scaled skin to grant her natural armour. But this is all hypothesizing.

The Amaranth is highly intelligent, cunning, manipulative, and entirely self-serving. Whilst she is undoubtedly physically powerful, she prefers to avoid combat - relying on her servitors or hirelings rather than "getting her own hands dirty" though most suspect this is simply to prevent any suspicion that may affect her disguise and illusion of innocence, than concern about getting physical.

Signature Equipment

• Ruby bag: a large bag made out of black silk containing many small red rubies that glow faintly - each ruby is created when the Amaranth grants a "wish" and a soul is claimed. When the wish-receiver dies, their soul is automatically transferred into its ruby as property of the Amaranth for eternal damnation and servitude under the Amaranth.

Signature Quotes

• "You are beneath me. You could not ever dream of defeating me in combat. But you have exposed my ruse to the world, and so this place has little worth to me any more. So I shall leave. Congratulations... you win! Enjoy your victory... until the next time." *fades away, and half the village population screams in agony and drops dead as she takes their souls with her*

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