K'aresh (worldsoul)

This article is about K'aresh, the world-soul. For the planet, see K'aresh.

K'aresh
Gender	Male
Race	Worldsoul
Location	Great Dark Beyond, inside K'aresh
Status	Alive

K'aresh is a worldsoul that grew within the world bearing his name. The K'areshi Oracles held communing with him to be their sacred duty, and swore oaths to protect and serve him. He was thought killed when the planet was destroyed during the Devouring War, but a fragment of him was ultimately recovered from Dimensius and used to restore him within the planet's shattered remnants.

History

According to the K'areshi people, after the planet took shape as a world of sand and wind, the worldsoul grew tired of its isolation and created life: plants, animals, and even people. He then gifted his people the Exchange: death, to give their lives meaning; transformation, that they might be reborn, and oaths, to define their purpose. In time, the K'areshi Oracles would become his primary priesthood, regularly communing with him through their rituals.

Eventually, the K'areshi began experiencing the Radiant Song: visions filled with a benevolent light, and the feeling of something calling out for help. These visions, originating from K'aresh himself, preceded the arrival of the void lord Dimensius, the All-Devouring, who began to consume the planet. The K'areshi Locus-Walker and Nari, along with Dimensius's harbinger, Xal'atath, understanding K'aresh to be doomed, made the decision to destroy the planet in an attempt to destroy Dimensius along with it. Their actions succeeded only in fragmenting Dimensius across the Great Dark Beyond, but the worldsoul K'aresh was presumed to have perished along with his world.

Many thousands of years later, the Shadowguard attempted to revive Dimensius within the broken remnants of K'aresh. Their attempts were opposed by Locus-Walker and Xal'atath, who sought to gather Reshii Ribbons as part of a plan to stop the void lord. When Soul-Scribe, the former leader of the Oracles, stood against them, Xal'atath encouraged her to once again perform the Tabiqa ritual to commune with K'aresh. Though she believed him to be dead, Soul-Scribe was convinced to make the attempt, and after an infusion of power from Xal'atath exclaimed that she could hear K'aresh's voice, proving that he still lived.

After defeating Dimensius and sealing the void lord within the Dark Heart, an adventurer discovered a darkened crystal from which a faint song could be heard. When they brought it to Ve'nari, the broker realized that the crystal was what remained of the essence of K'aresh. She sent them to bring the crystal to Eco-Dome Al'dani, built atop the remains of the High Temple of K'aresh, now under assault by Soul-Scribe and her Wastelanders. After defeating Soul-Scribe, Ve'nari presented her with the worldsoul's essence, and reminding her of her oaths to K'aresh. Soul-Scribe willingly gave her soul to strengthen the worldsoul, which infused the land beneath the Eco-Dome, restoring it to life.