Evil God

Biodata

Nature and Divine Status

• Religious enemies: Evil Gods are described as enemies of justice who spread bloodshed, death, and suffering. Holy Knights are expected to oppose them regardless of the cost 4.
• Powerful, but not invincible: Herbert concludes that gods are individuals who command the laws of particular domains, rather than supreme embodiments of the world's laws. They can fall or be sealed and suppressed 9.
• Not uniformly alike: Nenasya's playful, calculating behavior contrasts with Sinful Desire's explicitly deranged corruption of followers 9 40 45.
• Cooperation across alignments: Nenasya states that righteous gods and Evil Gods have worked together under exceptional circumstances. She argues that such cooperation does not automatically change either party's alignment 10.
• Sealing institutions: Monasteries were originally established to contain beings that could not be destroyed or killed. Nenasya's confinement demonstrates that an Evil God can remain restrained while still reaching a mortal outside the seal 4 9.

Known Evil Gods

Abilities & Influence

Blessings and Contracts

• Nenasya places a blessing on Herbert before obtaining his agreement. Its pink, heart-shaped lines briefly appear over his Holy Mark, but Herbert senses that the mark is etched into his soul rather than merely his flesh 5.
• Her gift makes him exceptionally alluring to monsters; it does not immediately increase his combat strength 10.
• The Evil God's Contract strengthens Herbert's will, contributing to his resistance against a covert mental attack 23.
• Nenasya's blessing works alongside the Purity Blessing to prevent the bodily transformation normally caused by Sea Monster Queen's Longing 19.

Mental and Bodily Interference

• Nenasya controls Herbert's left hand, writes through it in several languages, and prevents him from calling for help or freely moving. She subsequently forces him into sleep and subjects him to a disturbing dream 4.
• She can speak directly into his mind, although she initially chooses to communicate through writing 9.
• Herbert's Purity Blessing blocks a legendary siren's charm, but Nenasya has nevertheless influenced him. She rejects his comparison between her power and the siren's 8.

Corruption of Followers

• Sinful Desire grants powerful forbidden abilities, but its followers cannot escape its hold 45.
• It specializes in corrupting mortals into obsessive lunatics, without regard for their partners' number or species 45.
• Svanney destroys a Dark Elf messenger's tainted soul to prevent it from becoming Sinful Desire's plaything 45.

Limits

• Herbert demonstrates that Nenasya does not know everything he experiences and cannot freely read his thoughts. This gives him leverage to negotiate rather than submit 8.
• Her restricted strength prevents her from locating the concealed Svanney, although she can detect the approaching Fallen 41.
• Nenasya cannot openly reveal her name without risking the attention of powerful beings 9.

Religious Treatment

• Herbert conceals Nenasya's blessing because he fears death or indefinite imprisonment if the Penitents discover it 5.
• Nenasya disputes the doctrine that a pact itself constitutes corruption, calling “corruption” and “purification” labels used to control mortals 10.
• Suspected Evil God influence carries enough stigma that Herbert turns accusations against his own purity into accusations that his opponents have been beguiled or fallen 34.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Herbert's Pact

Nenasya first approaches Herbert as an unseen presence and identifies herself as an Evil God. After receiving her unsolicited blessing, he hides the encounter from the monastery. He then exposes her limitations and pressures her into offering a partnership: he will help break her shackles, and she will provide an equal reward 4 5 8 9.

Their pact opens a route to power through monster materials. Nenasya guides Herbert in absorbing Freime's scale and Valentina's hair, leading to Sea Monster Queen's Longing and the Dragon King's blood inheritance 18 19 25 27.

The Blasphemer and Sinful Desire

Herbert initially attributes the monastery's fish-related blasphemy to Nenasya, but later recognizes that this assumption was unsupported. Nenasya reveals that the apparent pursuer is already dead and that another soul took over its body days earlier 41 43.

Svanney identifies the remnant soul as that of a Dark Elf messenger tainted by Sinful Desire. This establishes that the corruption involved another Evil God, rather than confirming Herbert's suspicions about Nenasya 45.