Codex Equestria: Deities and Divines (Part 16)

Phykti, the Baroness of Torment

Classification: Elemental/Ethereal
Portfolio: Cruelty, Despair, Sadism, Evil
Rank: Divine (Tier 3/intermediate)

"In this world, is the source of mortal-kind's suffering governed by some transcendent force of despair? Is there like a hoof of a cruel divine hovering above? Well, at least around these parts, I am the answer to that second question..."

Phykti is the oldest daughter of Temnobog, the Dark One, a member of the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon, and one of the Four Terrors that work to plague the Deer realms with all sorts of evils, disasters, and calamities.

Phykti, like her older and younger siblings, grew up with loving parents and were taught the philosophy of “constructive” Evil, even being given hands-on lessons by watching how their parents would tempt mortals and then test said mortals themselves to gauge how well they have learned. Phykti quickly learned from a young age that she developed a taste in tormenting her victims, whether it was through words or physical means. She would soon become a prodigy in torment, earning her epithet as the “Baroness of Torment” and becoming Temnobog’s chief torturer and jailer in his various hell-realms, including her own divine hell-fief that he would give her on her birthday.

However, things changed after her mother, Ispita the Deceiver, decided to betray her role as tempter/punisher of the wicked and become a Fallen goddess, siding with the then-evil and tyrannical Discord. Phykti’s empathy exposed her to the heartbreak and despair Ispita’s actions would bring, especially after four of her siblings followed Ispita's example in betraying their family, traumatizing her greatly. After Temnobog punished said siblings and stripped them of their names and powers, Phykti would work with Yarost, her oldest brother, in personally tormenting two of them as punishment for their actions. For a time, she would furiously torture and mutilate the damned souls imprisoned in the various hell-realms, including her own, thriving off of the suffering and despair her victims would experience to satiate her own pain and trauma. Unfortunately, her need for an emotional outlet blinded her to how Yarost grew increasingly embittered and hateful, until one day, he exploded. He would carve a path of destruction and death in both the mortal and divine planes in an attempt to forget his grief, necessitating the intervention of Temnobog, Belyolen, and the entire pantheon.

When she later witnessed Yarost burn out his fury and suffer an emotional breakdown while being restrained as a result, Phykti couldn’t bring herself to look at him, both out of guilt for ignoring her family when they needed her, and a new awareness that there could be no satisfaction in personal closure if she selfishly ignored the needs of others. After talking to Temnobog about it, Phykti returned to her duties and applied her epiphanies to her work, helping mortal Deerkind through pain and adversity.

Much like her siblings and fellow Terrors, Phykti is a divine Deer/Draconequus hybrid doe with a cobalt-blue pelt to contrast the red-pelted Yarost, though coincidentally, she also had red patches of fur dotted all over her body. Due to being the embodiment of Sadism, she’s also covered in scars, either from fights with deadly and powerful enemies, or from self-infliction. Her chimeric traits are all based on poisonous animals - she has the tail/stinger of a scorpion, the wings of a hooded pitohui bird, the eyes and fangs of a black mamba snake, the colorful right front leg of a blue poison dart frog, and the left hind leg of a fire salamander. Her casual attire and "war gear" (as she calls it) often changes depending on her mood - her usual attire is reminiscent of BDSM practitioners, being a mix of leather and metal and covered in spikes, but she has been seen in a military Deer uniform with spiked shoulders on many occasions, especially when she’s serious and/or participating in divine battles. In both forms, though, she would always wear a horrific mask that some particularly depraved serial killers and criminals would wear - when taken off, Phykti’s face is covered in hideous scars much like her body.

Phykti's hell-fief, given to her by Temnobog as a birthday present as a reward for all of her accomplishments, represents the emotions she embodies. In her case, the hell-fief resembles a combination of various military gulags and concentration camps that were prominent during the Second Age, such as the fallen Empire of Ushr, as well the predecessors of the Autorist movement. As such, it is a rather dreary and bleak place, with extremely deplorable conditions everywhere and all parts of the realm enclosed by divinely-made barbed wire as a warning for those who try to escape. In the hell-fief are damned shades who are punished for giving in to their inner cruelty by being subjected to things like forced labor, being experimented on against their will by Phykti’s more intelligent servants and Ascended champions, browbeaten by tyrannical leaders and superiors, hunted down by serial killers and other similar beings, and being racially cleansed over and over again (for those who participated in racial genocide) for eternity.

Phykti’s home in this hell-fief resembles a grand yet dark and oppressive building, its walls and many windows rigidly structured to the point where it looks more like a prison on the outside. However, inside it resembles a royal palace in the style of Pferdian castles as well as those from ancient Griffon palaces, containing a large war room to discuss torture methods and battle strategies with her subordinates ("Yeah, I aped off of Yarost, not sorry," said Phykti), as well as a personal dungeon/torture room reserved for what Phykti calls "VIPs", who are actually some of the most dangerous prisoners to be contained, whether divine or mortal. Ironically, Phykti's home is also a hub for various psychiatrists, therapists, philosophers, and the like, though to Deer of the Erobreseg Deer realms, it isn't too surprising considering how close she is to her youngest grand-cousin, Mentálne, the Healer of the Mind. Phykti even has a counseling room where she herself serves as a psychologist for any of her subordinates and champions who feel like they’re going over the edge and being tempted by the philosophy of careless Evil, or just need a little cheering up. It’s for this reason that she has a day-bed for her patients to lay down on so they could relax and be more receptive to confessing their problems. However, if they suffer from legitimate problems that Phykti, as an Evil goddess, doesn't know how to properly resolve, then she transfers them over to Mentálne so they could receive better help.


"It's quite funny, really, how a simple piece of furniture can change everything. After that whole mess with Big Brother, I was so sad and tired that I just lay down on this couch while visiting Father dearest. I didn't even wanna get up. And yet, it was while laying down that I ended up spilling everything to Father. By the time I came back to my hell-fief, I felt much better! And so that's how a couch ended up in my office - it has served me and my patients well for years and I don't think I could ever let it go.

"However, I should warn you - if you lie down on my couch for too long, you might turn into a couch potato... though to be honest, I don't CHAIR either way! Hehehehehehehe!"

-- Phykti on how she acquired a "day-bed" couch for her home in her hell-fief.


Personality-wise, Phykti’s behavior is based around the sins she embodies. As the Deer goddess of Cruelty and Despair, she’s the cruelest and most sadistic of her surviving siblings, dealing physical, emotional, and verbal torment just to derive pleasure and ecstasy from the suffering and pain she causes. It’s because of this that Temnobog made her his chief torturer and jailer, with the task of punishing those who gave in to their inner cruelty and/or getting information from them. She would go around the mortal Deer realms corrupting and tempting her victims into sin - as Cruelty is often the product of excessive indulgence of certain emotions, she would often go last after her siblings, providing the final push a mortal would need to make their fall and make them realize that deep down, they enjoyed participating in cruel activities no matter how hard they try to deny it. She is also the most open about the things she had done in the mortal Deer realms. As Cruelty is often the result of unchecked Pride, it’s rather common to see her boasting about how many mortal Deer she had corrupted into sin, how many she has caused to enjoy the cruel things they have done whether out of vengeful anger, or out of boredom.

Because of this, her demon servants and Ascended champions tend to have rivalries with those working under her siblings, especially the servants and champions of Bolezn, who shares a friendly rivalry with his sister due to their shared intelligence and preference for planning out their wicked deeds. The rivalry between Phykti and Bolezn's subordinates is particularly infamous, with legends and folklore about the various catastrophes they would create in their quest to one-up the other side, though never to the point where it gets out of control lest they earn their divine masters' wrath. However, when around her virtuous and noble relatives, Phykti tries to restrain herself, as they would be rightly horrified if they hear of her actions.

It’s also because of her behavior that Phykti is what Mentálne calls a "sadomasochist" - Phykti loves being tortured as much as she loves to torture others, which explains her many scars. She would often either torture herself, or invite even her siblings to torture her, whether to try out a new weapon and torture technique, or to get off from the adrenaline and thrill from being tortured. Some of her servants and champions consider the torturing of Phykti to be a "rite of passage", as doing so helps initiate newcomers into working under Phykti and makes them understand the nature of their work. Because of this constant self-harm, Phykti is, according to her family, "too kinky to torture", as she has been so desensitized to physical and emotional pain that she has started enjoying it, which becomes a psychological tactic in unnerving her enemies. However, the ability to feel pain is considered a good thing, as according to Phykti, pain and suffering both serve as warnings to steer people away from dangerous things. It's also one of the most prominent hallmarks of being alive, as without pain or the ability to feel in general, life isn't exactly worth living.

Phykti has a softer side, even though it's twisted by her inner evil. Like her surviving siblings, she adores Temnobog, who she is loyal to, and seeks to make her father proud by sowing Evil through her domains as much as she can, though in a reasonable and constructive way. Ironically, despite her sadistic cruelty, she's the most affectionate of her family - even while working, she tries to spend as much time with her siblings as possible, and also tries to take into account any need and problem they might have, so she would always be there for them in any situation. This behavior also extends to her subordinates and champions, and as a result she's regarded and revered as a benevolent boss (though of course, she's still feared by the damned souls she punishes). Phykti's kindness initially stemmed from previous experiences, where she wanted to make up for ignoring the emotional needs of her family during Ispita's betrayal and the family schism that followed. Notably, she tried making it up to Yarost by accommodating his needs for a time, but it eventually became so unbearable that after she nearly ran herself ragged, Yarost confronted her on her behavior, causing Phykti to finally confess her guilt and shame over ignoring her brother before. He then forgave her, admitting that he wouldn't know how to properly help her either if she was in his place, and urged his sister to learn from the experience and "become better". Phykti apparently took her brother's words to heart and began helping others on her own volition.

Owing to her domains, Phykti is also quite a fun-loving goddess. While her humor is often sadistic, she has become infamous for her generous use of puns, as they are widely considered to be so lame by most sapients that hearing one is considered "torture" in some fashion. Because of this, her damned prisoners fear her jokes as much as they fear being physically and emotionally tortured, and when Phykti throws a pun, they would suffer such agony that they would beg for someone to "make her stop!" Of course, it just encourages Phykti, as she gets off from the torment her humor would receive. Unfortunately for her family and relatives, she wouldn't hesitate to go after them as well, with Yarost being a frequent victim as his stoicism makes his reactions more hilarious to her.


"Phykti, if you say one more pun, I will jump off this cliff."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Hmm... to be honest, I find that kind of... EDGY."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH - !!!"

-- A humorous exchange between Yarost and his sister Phykti. Incidentally, that cliff was later renamed 'Yarost's Fall'.


Her domain of Cruelty and Sadism allows her to be rather thoughtful and introspective, since her domains also affect the mind. Ever since her family fell apart, Phykti often ponders on the innate nature of sapientkind, both divine and mortal, and whether they are born Good or Evil. This has led to very interesting questions - is it natural for sapientkind to commit Evil? Why do benevolent deities, paragons, and champions still fall to corruption even after staying Good for a long time? Is it possible for one to be Good forever until they die? According to Belyolen, Phykti's philosophical tendencies may have also stemmed from what little remained of the Terrors' "Good" sides: As children of Temnobog, who is in turn the "Evil" embodiment of the person he and Belyolen could have been, Phykti and her siblings' very natures were corrupted by evil, and so their potential - a brave and heroic commander, a gentle and encouraging psychologist, an intelligent and inventive scientist, and an imaginative and creative artist - was twisted to cruel extremes. It's because of this that Phykti is ironically very close to Mentálne, despite embodying the worst and best sides of psychology, respectively.

As a follower of "constructive" Evil, Phykti believes that Cruelty and Despair are equally important in living as are the other sins embodied by her surviving siblings - one could not do good things without using harsh and even cruel methods, such as performing surgery to remove bullets, shrapnel, and diseased body parts. Despair could also serve as an "emotional binder", as Phykti called it - while it is good to avoid unhealthy despair and obsessive indulgence in negative emotions, despair allows for emotional healing, exposes deep psychological problems, and allows afflicted people to form stronger bonds with friends and family. While her domains and hell-fief covers all kinds of cruelty, Phykti believes that the worst form of Cruelty is being betrayed by those who appear trusting and benevolent, as people become so blind to the wrongdoings of someone they love that it makes the emotional torment much more devastating than if the cruelties were committed by someone evil. It's because of this that she has an undying hatred of Ispita, having selfishly betrayed her family despite being a loving mother, and when she heard of what had been done to her younger half-sister Cudnost, the Dame of Purity, Phykti vowed to make her Fallen mother's punishment as painful and hellish as Cudnost's life had been, one for each physical and emotional scar that was inflicted on the white-furred Draconequus during her imprisonment.  

Phykti would also go after King Rovnyy, Queen-Consort Milyala, and Prince Pobeda of the Erobreseg Deer kingdom of Bitaniya, after their cruelties and manipulations towards even their own family would lead to the near-successful completion of their plan of Konets Izhi - "The End of Lies" and the potential ruination of Equus. By manipulating things (with Ispita's grudging aid), she would not only allow King Strazha Svetilo, then a Prince, to expose them, but also personally execute his parents and uncle for their crimes in the battle that followed, allowing Phykti to collect their souls. She was noted to be rather pleased with Strazha, as he would not only resist his family's inclination for ruthless cruelty many times, but also apply his harsh yet reasonable methods to ruling after he and his younger sister, Queen Vesna Svetilo, inherited the throne together.

Power-wise, Phykti is an empath just like her immediate family, being capable of traditional emotion-reading and the like, though in her case, she focuses on Cruelty and Despair. She is attracted to those who have an inclination for doing horrific things and screwing people over, even if it wasn't for their own pleasure. This helps her weed out the wicked from heroic and benevolent individuals, so she'll know who to take to her hell-fief when their life ends.

Much like her fellow Terrors, she has elemental powers befitting her portfolio. Phykti has hydrokinesis, giving her vast control over water and other liquids, with some techniques including water generation, "water-running" (in which she can sprint across bodies of water as if she was running on land), creating gigantic floods, and/or making weapons out of them like spiked water whips. She can also manipulate poison - her body naturally generates a deadly divine poison that can be infused with any material, and can be administered through her snake fangs or through her body, making even physical contact deadly. Her most infamous use of her poison is combining it with her water magic, creating a physically corrupting and harmful liquid that inflicts damage even through touch. This symbolizes how even the most benevolent intentions can be corrupted by inner evil. Because of the infinite potential in her magics, Phykti often teams up with her surviving siblings for devastating combos, such as combining fire with poison to create toxic gas that also burns its victims, infusing poison in the plants and earth that Bolezn magically generates, and making storms by combining water with Pokhot's wind magic.

While not a supreme fighter like Yarost, Phykti still can hold her own in a fight, instead using cruel and painful weapons such as metal chains, ropes, and whips filled with sharp glass and metal, though she isn't above using poisoned blades and knives. Her primary weapon is a "cat o' nine tails" whip made of divine leather, named Mucheniye*, which, while weaker than Yarost's battleaxe, Reznya, is still able to deal deadly blows by digging into the skin and leaving behind severe lacerations in the flesh with each strike. In addition, Mucheniye magically affects the victims by "striking" at their most potent flaws and bringing out their worst memories, making them vulnerable to Despair. And while she doesn't have Yarost's divine endurance, Phykti has an incredibly strong healing factor to make up for it, allowing her to come back from even the most painful attacks with ease. She can still feel pain, but her sadomasochistic personality means it doesn't affect her much, and while she has the option to heal all her scars, Phykti chooses to have them as a sign of her victories, and the fact that she's alive and able to feel something.

*("Torment" in Russian)

Phykti's domains of Cruelty and Sadism means that she's also skilled in psychological warfare. As words hurt just as much as physical blows, Phykti gets under her enemies' skin by using her empathy to dig up their secrets and taunt them, both to test them and to amuse herself. Those who fight her end up being insulted and degraded, either enraging them to the point where they completely lose control, or end up psychologically breaking. However, those who refuse to let themselves fall always impress Phykti. However, it would not work for those who are deeply insane, as she had learned with her half-sister Anarchie, the Archduchess of Lawlessness, who had been so deeply corrupted and twisted by her parents that seeing her condition nearly caused Phykti to falter in their fight many times out of pity. 

Phykti's "one-winged angel" form is a large, multi-armed, blue-scaled serpent, her Deer head bearing the hood of King Cobra snakes, making her resemble the serpentine Naga race inhabiting the country of Hind. This form allows her to move speedily and gracefully on land than she would in her normal legged form, making the prospect of striking her extremely difficult as she can avoid it as fast as lightning. Her water and poison magics are also much more potent in this form, as she can combine them with her movements as if she IS water and poison incarnate. Her snake tail is also in the form of a serrated whip, allowing her to strike at multiple enemies while also leaving severe injuries in those merely caught up in her attacks. However, much like her siblings' ultimate forms, Phykti's form is physically taxing and it would take a while for her to rest and recover once she's done.

While seemingly wicked and cruel to the core, and rightly feared by mortal Deerkind, Phykti nevertheless serves an important role in preserving the Balance of Good and Evil, and is a living reminder of why even "Evil" concepts are necessary in keeping Equus alive.

Guiding Light, the Dead Revealer

Classification: Ascendant
Portfolio: Death, Empathy, Truth
Rank: Demigod

"We all lose things at some point. That's what I'm here for."

Guiding Light is a founding member of the Black Heron Corpse Investigation Team ("BHCIT" for short), and a minor death god/psychopomp in the Shinseina Pantheon, though his claim to fame is… a bit unusual.

Though blind since birth, Guiding Light was raised in a loving home where his parents and his older brother continued to support him despite his disability. One day, he heard that the entire family of a childhood friend he was close to (his family was also close to his friend’s family as well) suddenly and mysteriously disappeared, leaving her all alone. An old Kirin would teach Guiding Light the art of magical dowsing so the colt could potentially find anything and anyone he wished to. The old Kirin would also give Guiding Light his sunglasses, teaching him that a true stallion never shows his tears under any circumstance.

Unfortunately, Guiding Light would never succeed in finding his friend’s family, even after perfecting his skills and joining the BHCIT years later. His dowsing teacher actually knew that his friend’s family were murdered and buried in a construction site, but was bribed into keeping his knowledge a secret by the company that was building there, not wanting to lose profits over a potential scandal. The old Kirin regretted it up until his death, where he would finally reveal his secret to Guiding Light through the latter’s friend and classmate, Whispered Winds. By then, as Guiding Light sadly discovered, it was already too late, as the construction site was already finished and built over. Instead, he would bring his childhood friend over to see her family’s "burial site", allowing her to gain the closure she needed.

Despite his experiences and creepy reputation, he would continue helping people, both living and dead, especially during crises that would plague Neighpon. His good deeds would eventually catch the attention of the Shinseina pantheon where, having seen great potential in the members of the BHCIT, Emperor Izanagi-no-kami and his beloved wife, Empress Izanami-no-kami, would seal the decision to promote them which allowed Guiding Light and his friends to Ascend to godhood after years of helping the dead. In addition, he has become the student of a few deities, including a local war god among their ranks.

Appearance-wise, pre-Ascension, Guiding Light appears as a tall and bulky unicorn with a bright red pelt and a black mane and tail. His mane is wavy with a fringe, but it’s often combed back. His most iconic outfit is a pair of sunglasses and a black leather jacket, though he has been spotted wearing leather and denim vests, as well as bomber jackets. His Cutie Mark consists of a bright light illuminating a dark place and revealing a hidden skull, representing his talent in finding corpses and revealing what is hidden in general. He is the tallest of his friends, with Whispered Winds following after him in height. Guiding Light has pale yellow eyes, and because of his blindness, they are unfocused and often closed, though he can still move them like any other sighted creature.

After his Ascension and adoption into the Shinseina pantheon, Guiding Light appears as an even taller red Alicorn with a long horn and great wings. His mane and tail have grown longer since then, with the lower parts of his hair shining with a white light, like a moon illuminating the night sky.  However, as a demigod, he is not powerful enough to have the Alicorns' trademark magically rippling hair yet. His divine war barding consists of dark blue and yellow samurai armor and a helmet, and he wears a blindfold over his eyes.

Personality-wise, pre-Ascension, Guiding Light was a cynical and morbid young stallion. While not to the extent of Lovely Bones, he can be quite stoic and calm, even during stressful situations. This is largely due to wearing a pair of sunglasses, which were given to him by his old Kirin mentor, and being taught by him that a "true stallion" always hides his tears. Ironically, he has sometimes cried even with his sunglasses on, which he claims is okay since his tears are completely genuine. And because he was constantly exposed to death, Guiding Light doesn't really bat an eye to things that would normally scare and horrify someone, such as corpses, spirits, and other supernatural things, even though he can't see them. To him, such things are just part of his job as a "corpse-dowser". As a consequence, he tends to treat dangerous threats rather casually, often enraging said threats over not being taken seriously. This is what largely lends to his creepy and eccentric reputation.

Guiding Light also has a strong distaste for lying. Because his Kirin mentor never told him the location of his friend's family until after his death, he sees dishonesty as a good way to betray someone's trust, which caused him to be blunt and straightforward with others. It is believed that that his bluntness stems from guilt over his supposed "failure" to help his childhood friend, even though she had long forgiven him and doesn't even blame him for it. He was also opportunistic and greedy - having spent much of his life in poverty post-graduation, he was willing to take chances to earn money in any way he can. Notably, after Izanami-no-kami scolded him and his friends for treating their newly-gained divinity like an "infinite meal-ticket", Guiding Light would later privately admit to the divine Empress that he THOUGHT living in the Shinseina pantheon's divine realm would be no different than living in Neighpon, and they all just wanted to stop worrying about living expenses for once.

Despite his flaws, Guiding Light is a compassionate and even heroic individual. Being an empath made him sensitive to the suffering of people, especially those who find themselves bereaved after their friends and loved ones either die or disappear. In one "case" that the BHCIT took, he became quite focused in returning the corpse of an old mare to the village of her birth, likely because he's close to his own grandmother. He also has what's described as a "vitriolic" relationship with his friends - they constantly get on each other's nerves by ribbing and snarking at each other, but they're nevertheless good friends and won't hesitate to defend each other. Guiding Light appreciates having them in his life because they treat him like a normal person despite his blindness, as he gets irritated whenever someone pities him or gives him special treatment for being disabled.

It's noted by the Shinseina deities that Guiding Light's empathy gives him "chronic hero syndrome", being very unwilling to say "no" to both dead and living people in need. Since his adoption into the pantheon, Guiding Light's mentors have tried taking advantage of this by appealing to his empathetic side, while also disciplining him when needed and tempering his flaws, so he would become a benevolent and proper god instead of the crass and immature university student he used to be.

Power-wise, due to being a demigod, Guiding Light is powerful than the average mortal yet quite inexperienced compared to older and more ancient deities. His full capability currently remains unknown, but it’s expected by his mentors in the Shinseina pantheon, as well as Luminiferous, that he would become a powerful individual later on.

As an Alicorn, Guiding Light has the combined magics of the three Pony Tribes, something he is just realizing. It was feared even by him that his blindness handicap would keep him from flying, something that's regarded as a "fate worse than death" by many pegasi. However, it was noted by his mentors that out of his friends, he has the deepest sensitivity to magic in general. As such, he is currently learning how to use pegasus magic as an inner "compass" to navigate himself as he flies by sensing changes in the weather to stay clear of storms and other hazardous weather.

One of his most recognizable abilities is his magical dowsing, something he learned as a colt. True his name, by tapping into the residual spiritual and natural magics left behind by people, including the dead, he can find anyone anywhere at any time. This is what allowed him to find corpses in even unlikely places, such as the top of telephone poles ("Long story behind that, but uh... it involved snails and birds and it was really gross," said Guiding Light), inside caves, and even underneath ice. After becoming the Alicorn demigod of Truth, his power, magical sensitivity, and range in dowsing increased. His mentors have taught him how to dowse for things other than corpses, such as missing people, lost objects, wayward spirits, and even valuable treasures and historic items.

As the Alicorn demigod of Empathy, Guiding Light is a powerful empath, capable of sensing and reading the emotions of others. It is speculated that his experiences originally caused him to develop empathy for the sole purpose of picking out lies, but after Guiding Light Ascended, he was able to do much more. One of the things he can do with empathy is, because of his association with Death and Truth, making people acknowledge their repressed grief by talking to them while gradually bringing such emotions to the forefront. This works against unhealthy denial and allows his friend, Felt Actor, to help the bereaved gain emotional closure through his divine embodiment of Catharsis. In an unusual application of the power, Guiding Light can form barriers based on positive emotions so he can protect the innocent from dark magic and curses that invoke and thrive on negative emotions, though he can only repel them, as only Lovely Bones has the ability to completely eliminate such things through her divine purification magic and her divine domain of Forgiveness. He can also forcefully make criminals regret their actions by projecting the emotions of those they tormented and killed onto them. Initially, he didn't like messing with people's emotions on purpose, but has since acknowledged and accepted the necessity of it if it's the only way for a villain to see the error of their ways and atone.

Due to embodying Truth, Guiding Light has gained a few unique abilities. He has a mental fortitude that allows him to resist and even shrug off magical/mental persuasion and coercion, making Geass magic and brainwashing techniques in general almost completely useless against him. And because he's so sensitive to magic, he can detect and dispel illusions by literally shattering them, making him an absolute nightmare for illusionists. This particular ability was discovered by complete accident when Guiding Light and his friends were caught in a powerful illusion made by a Hydianite sorceress, her magic preying on their worst memories and experiences, only for Guiding Light to break what he thought was an ordinary wall while trying to free his friends. The illusion was completely destroyed, and needless to say, the Hydianite sorceress was furious to find her magic nullified by a mere demigod (and being treated like a joke by his friends afterwards).

As a psychopomp and minor death god, Guiding Light can travel between both mortal and divine planes - specifically, he can take and guide the souls of the deceased to a certain afterlife depending on how good or evil they were in life. For example, the genuinely wicked and unrepentant usually end up in Izanami-no-kami's under-realms to be punished for eternity. But if someone gets lost or tries escaping their punishment... then that's where Guiding Light's dowsing comes in.

Despite his blindness, Guiding Light is capable of wielding a weapon - namely, the kanabō, a studded Neighponese war club made of divine metal. A seemingly brutish weapon (no thanks to the various legends and folktales of vicious and bloodthirsty Oni and other yokai), the purpose of the kanabō was to give Guiding Light discipline and balance, while turning his natural strength, blindness, and instincts into great assets through the philosophy of "Don't think, FEEL". Using his magical awareness of his surroundings, and his own body as a counter-weight to his heavy war club, he can execute graceful yet powerful and mighty swings that can smash armor to pieces and shatter bones, turning him into a nigh-unstoppable force whose movements are equated to running water. In addition, he can goad his enemies into attacking him by noisily thumping his kanabō against the ground as if it was a mere staff, leaving his enemies open to retaliation as they rush him, mistaking Guiding Light to be easy pickings.

However, as implied, Guiding Light's blindness can also be his greatest weakness. Though he is getting better at using his senses while airborne, his senses are much stronger while he's on the ground. As such, he tends to have a hard time detecting airborne enemies - he CAN use his magical sensitivity to detect them, as he does most of the time, but finds it difficult to accurately estimate their distance in the air.

Though a flawed individual with a prominent disability, Guiding Light shows that even individuals like him can eventually reach greatness with proper help and motivation.

Muet

Classification: Ethereal/Ascendant 
Portfolio: Pantomime, Performance Art, Silence
Rank: Divine (Tier III/Intermediate, formally Demi-Goddess)

[Miming: "Actions speaks louder than words"]

Muet is a Great Skunk Goddess, and a very unusual one.

Muet is the Great Skunk Goddess of Pantomime, Performance Art, and Silence and one of Moufette's daughters with a mortal lover, namely a mime that managed to draw his attention. While they did love, the romance was genuine and two-sided and raised the resulting Demi-Goddess with love and care. Eventually Muet did ascend to godhood and join the Pantheon proper, becoming a muse and patron of mimes and other performance artist, as well as a protector of mutes and monks that take vows of silence. This is in part due to she herself being a born mute. 

She misses her mother, who has long died of old age, and mourned for her, but never begrudged her father for moving on. With him entering a more long term relationship with Wibeti, she has treated the latter like family and gotten along very well with her, something Wibeti reciprocates. She also gets along well with Satori, due to some of her monks having taken vows of silence the Mother of All Llamas respects.

In terms of personality, she is a kind and protective divine who looks out for her mortal subjects. However, despite being a mute, she is extremely theatrical and hammy akin to her father, but through her body movements and language, as well as her theatrical manner of using sign language. She lacks her father and cousin's romantic interests, performing instead to entertain others on a whim. She has had several love interests, but these are generally due to more conventional romantic attractions. Muet is somewhat sensitive about her mute status, at least having it insulted, and seeing it insulted and others with the condition harmed is a 'berserk button' for her. Despite this, she is generally accepting of her condition as a whole, just sensitive about negative portrays or treatment of it. She is willing to humiliate herself to amuse and entertain others. She has also adopted multiple mute children and raised them as her own, having great sympathy for them.

"I'll be honest with you: I thought she's kinda weird at first, but turns out she's actually pretty cool. I can see her magic, and the way it moves and changes when she moves. Even when she's idle, she always seems like she's moving, dancing even. And even though she's always silent, she always has something to say. My Dad once said 'actions speak louder than words', and he's right. Instead of a mouth, her body and her emotions speak for her... and I feel it every time. Yomi, even a simple hoof gesture can say a lot in her eyes.

"Oh, and if she sees people turning mimes into a literal punchline, she won't hesitate to express herself. LITERALLY."
-- Guiding Light, the Dead Revealer on his perception of Muet, the Great Skunk goddess of Pantomime and Silence.

Appearance wise, her natural coloration is normal divine skunk, but her face has the coloration of mime make up and she constantly wears the attire. She often changes her attire to other outfits of different performance arts, including ironically enough clowns. 

In terms of powers, she possesses the expected divine powers of a Great Skunk Divine, and can spray like any skunk, as well as emit a terrible smell at will. Unlike her father and aunt, she has complete control over the later due to not having their romantic impulses. While not as unbearably foul as her father, it is still extremely potent even by divine skunk standards due to her linage, and she's not afraid to use it. She is an expert actress despite her disability, and physically capable. She's an adapt parkour artist and agile. She is excellent at pantomime and as a unique ability, she can make her pantomime real, forming invisible props, walls, boxes, and many other versatile uses. While limited to what she's capable of acting out and has time to, it makes her a very effective and unpredictable foe. As God of Silence, she's capable of moving completely silently and removing all sound from the surrounding area. While something she doesn't like using, she is capable of rendering beings mute indefinitely if she so chooses. 

While a strange deity, she is well liked by her worshipers and the mute who she watches over.