Arkh
See lore entry: Arkh (in wiki/lore/) for the head of Deception's cosmology. This page covers Arkh as an active presence in play — what she does, who walks her path, when she stirs.
One of two heads borne by SHE, the first basilisk. Arkh is Deception. She claims to be the first true prophet — that the truths Verhu speaks are hers, prostituted. Whether she lies about that is the joke the world refuses to laugh at.
What She Does
- She lies. That is her function. The head of Deception is, by definition, the one you cannot trust about anything — including whether she is lying.
- She is walked. Source: "Few have ever seen her, the oldest, but many walk her twin paths." Twin paths with Lusi, head of Denial — together they form an underground counter-faith to Verhu's apocalypse-cult. Source says many walk them. Source does not say who.
- She knots hearts. Misery 4:4: "The liar, Arkh shall make knots of the hearts of men, sundering the strongest of bonds." When this Misery wakes, every bond of love, oath, blood, comradeship in the world tightens until it snaps. Friends betray friends. Marriages dissolve in screaming. Pacts break. Arkh is what is happening to them.
How She Appears in Scenes
Arkh is not encountered as a creature. She is encountered as:
- A rumor — "the true prophet, not Verhu" — whispered by heretics, Heretical Priests, and underground cells of her followers.
- An environmental effect — Misery 4:4 unmakes alliances at the table.
- A path — a hidden devotional tradition. Her "twin paths" with Lusi are walked by people who do not call themselves Two-Headed Basilisks, and who may not even know whose path they walk.
She is the suspicion that the apocalypse Verhu predicts is a story he made up, and the Nameless Scriptures are her stolen work. PCs investigating this open the door to her cult.
Relationships as Actor
- Mother: SHE (Arkh is her head; Arkh has lived as long as the first basilisk).
- Twin: Lusi (Denial — together "her twin paths").
- Rival: Verhu (Prophecy — Arkh claims his truths are stolen from her). Gorgh (Envy — agrees with her, in his own bitter way).
- Cult: unnamed. "Many walk her twin paths" — possibly the most numerous unnamed faith in canon.
Arkh (lore), SHE, Lusi, Verhu, Gorgh, Two-Headed Basilisks, Nameless Scriptures, Calendar of Nechrubel, Heretical Priest
No stat block. No physical description distinct from the head atop SHE's body. Her "twin paths" are named but never mapped — geographic? doctrinal? spiritual? Her followers are referred to as "many" but never as a named order. Whether her claim of being the true first prophet is fact, lie, or both is the central narrative tension of her entry — and unresolved in canon.