Hel
by Marco Dalmonte(Hala, Nyt, Hiisi)
Patroness of Reincarnation, Keeper of the Netherworld, Queen of Ice and Shadow
Level, Alignment, Sphere: 36 (Hierarch), NE, Entropy
Symbol: a black stone throne carved with human skulls
Portfolio: reincarnation, corruption, death, darkness, cold, increasing entropy and evil, evil shapeshifters, shadow and cold creatures
Worshipped in: Known World (Northern Reaches), Sind, Norwold, Hule, Savage Coast (Robrenn),
Appearance: an extremely pale woman whose half face is featureless, while the other half is breathtakingly beautiful, clad in jet-black simple clothes
History: Hel is as ancient as the eldest immortal and does not remember her past (or at least she pretends not to). Maybe she is a raw force of nature or reached immortality so long ago that she forgot her origins, or maybe her patron (whoever it was) erased her previous memories for some unknown reason. During the centuries she interfered in Mystara's history ever since its prehistory, with the only purpose of increasing disorder and evil to balance the lawful bias of the other spheres. The creation of the beastmen, her nefarious influence over the Antalians and their descendants all over the world, her patronage of the cold giants and the shadow takeover of Sind orchestrated by her evil shapeshifter followers are all steps taken to outweigh Law's influence in the universe and bring about the Ragnarok, the twilight of the Gods which will give way to a new order based on Evil and Entropy (which she embodies).
Personality: Hel has plots going on all over the Multiverse and she's very feared by the mortals who know her. Together with Thanatos, she's the most powerful immortal of the Sphere of Entropy, and they compete fiercely for domination. She's fascinated by the cycle of life and death, by the juxtaposition of Good and Evil. She does not believe that death shall prevail in the end, as Thanatos hopes, but rather she believes in the cosmic order which gives Law and Chaos their place and time in the cycle of things. She knows that Law's predominance over the universe is nearing its end, and it's just a matter of time before she achieves her final goal and brings Ragnarok to the Multiverse. After that, Entropy will rule and she'll be the sole Queen of the universe. For this reason it is of paramount importance for her reincarnating evil beings into newborn creatures, to increase the chaos factor in the cosmos and speed up things for Ragnarok. Hel is particularly obsessed with shadows and cold energies, which she feels closely resemble her own soul. Also for this reason she's got more followers in the areas where cold and darkness abound. Hel's only ally is Loki, even if their cooperation is not constant. She's Odin's sworn enemy, as well as opposing the whole pantheon of the Aesirs. She agrees with Odin's visions about the coming of the Ragnarok, but she does not intend to play along the role that Odin's prophecy assigned her (she will be killed by one of Odin's sons) and instead she's trying to eliminate most of the Aesirs before the Ragnarok comes, in order to gain the upper hand.
Patron: unknown (likely none)
Allies: sometimes Loki
Enemies: Odin and the Aesirs, Thanatos
Classic D&D Stats:
Followers' alignment: Chaotic or Neutral; clerics must be Chaotic
Favoured weapons: none (allowed all bludgeoning weapons)
Clerics' skills & powers: clerics cannot turn undead, but instead they can control them like lieges of 3 levels higher
Each time a cleric of Hel reaches a level which can be divided by 6 (6, 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36) he can choose one of the following powers (each one can be chosen only once):
1. Resistance to energy drain: the cleric can avoid losing a level with a simple ST vs Death Ray (multiple levels drain require 1 ST per level drained)
2. Shadow form: the cleric can become a shadow once a week (as per polymorph self spell)
3. +2 bonus to all rolls to control undead
4. +2 bonus to ST vs Death Ray
5. Permanent Hide Alignment
6. Resist Cold power (as per spell) once a day
7. Fear power (as per spell) once a day
8. Blight power (as per spell) twice a day
9. Speak with the dead (as per spell) once a week
10. Animate dead (as per spell) once a month
Avengers' skills & powers: control undead as liege of same level instead of turn undead, plus one of the powers in the above mentioned list chosen at random (roll 1d10).
D&D 3E stats:
Domains: Entropy, Evil, Death, Corruption, Darkness, Cold
Preferred weapon: heavy mace
Sources: GAZ7, HW, WotI, CoM, SCS