"Izanami" as a mantle for the Immortal Hel
by Marc SaindonSo the name Izanami is just placeholder until I can figure out something better. Immortals of Mystara aren't gods, and in most cases, pantheons are pastiche of real-world culture (e.g. Asterius as Mercury in Thyatis), although the norse pantheon shows up more or less intact in the Northern Reaches. While I don't want to duplicate the Japanese mythological pantheon in Mystara, there would probably still be a death deity, which for the time being I'll Izanami.
In ancient times, Mystara's axis wasn't the same, with the North Pole being further south in Ethengar, and northern Davania probably having a more temperate climate. The Northern Reaches were certainly under a lot of ice. When cataclysm struck and the Known World warmed up, Davanians gradually migrated northward, bringing their civilizations with them. Hel might have been a Davanian Immortal, known under other names.
Somehow, Hel forgot an artefact of importance. Perhaps a Dark Grail ("the Cup of Thirst and Famine"), a Black Cauldron, the Genetic Matrix of Krypton... and that item was an integral part of the magic that originally created the Beastmen (the proto-humanoids, made of recycled evil souls, prone to mutations each generation). The item is left buried somewhere in the Jungle Coast (northern Davania), although the power it radiates triggers dormant mutation genes among the Humanoids: Orcs evolve into Oni, Goblins into Bakemono... Subconsciously, the humanoids of the Jungle Coast are seeking the item, although to what end remains to be known.
Hel/Izanami herself is at times present in the Shadowfell (which is a retcon into Mystara) that Yasukans call "Yomi", although rarely intervenes directly in world events, although her worshippers might by initiative try to please her by finding this lost treasure.
Notes:
Hel (mythological being)
Izanami
Yomi
(Image from: https://www.deviantart.com/noxypia/art/Izanami-125447607)