Atharti
| Titles | Lady of Desire[1b] |
| Status | Active |
| Type | Elf God[1b] Cytharai |
| Domains | Pleasure[1b] Seduction[1b] |
| Relatives | Hekarti (sister)[1b] |
| Affiliation | Dark Elves[1b] |
| Symbols | Two blood red Fen Worms[3a] |
Atharti is the Elven Goddess of Pleasure and Seduction. [1b]
She is regarded as the most covetous of the divine host of the elves. [2a]
She is often depicted as a masked figure entwined with blood-red snakes. She has a profound rivalry with her sister Hekarti, and each has made many attempts to slay the other. The Lady of Desire is a mistress of all forms of seduction, and the very sight of her is said to cause mortals to collapse in complete and unquestioning abasement. For this reason, those Naggarothi who infiltrate High Elf society count Atharti amongst their foremost patrons, for only she can unlock the hearts and minds of those they wish to corrupt.[1b]
Fen Worms
A sect of the goddess, known to be wild and capricious uses two blood red Fen Worms as their symbol. [3a]
History
Hekarti attempted (and failed) to sacrifice her to a older and darker power than herself with a blade, a shard of which flew off into the world of mortals. It was found by the Sorceress Khaeleth the Seeress who used it to assist in her rise to power within the Dark Convent. [1c]
Hekarti and Vaul created eight rings of power for Khaine, each gathering one of the Winds of Magic, but also informed Atharti of the gods new treasure. She attempted to persuade and seduce them away from him but he refused to yield to her temptations and eventually she resorted to violence to try and take them. During the conflict, the rings were lost into the material world. [2a]
Bloodwrack Medusae
Thousands of years ago, a number of sorceresses of the Dark Convent in Ghrond used their arcane powers to make themselves even more beautiful than the gods themselves, drawing the wrath of the goddess. She would suffer no mortal competition to her vanity and transformed them into serpentine forms, constantly wracked by pain, their minds shredded save for a painful awareness of what they had lost. [1b]
On occasion Morathi will take notice of them again and send warriors to capture them, returning them to her with their faces masked and their claws bound. They are then chained to a shrine to Atharti who struck them down and guided by dark magic and her Shrinekeepers to the forefront of the Dark Elf armies. [1b]
Worship
In Naggaroth, one of the four seasons of the year is named in her honour - Decadence. [3a]
Sources
- 1: Warhammer Armies: Dark Elves (8th Edition)
- 2: Warhammer Armies: High Elves (8th Edition)
- 2a: Vaul's Forge, pg. 64
- 3: The Imperial Zoo (book)
- 3a: Fen Worm, pg. 53
