Darvakka

Darvakka Nightshade1E
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(Creature)
Common CE Darvakka Shadow Undead Level Varies Alignment LG NG CG LN N CN LE NE CE Images of darvakkas Source: Book of the Dead, pg(s). 82–83 Type Undead (extraplanar, nightshade) CR Varies Environment Any (Void) Alignment LG NG CG LN N CN LE NE CE Images of darvakkas Source: Bestiary 2, pg(s). 199

Darvakkas, also called nightshades, are powerful creatures of shadow, evil, and death. They form on the borders of the Netherworld and the Void. They are the most hateful creatures in the Void and embodiments of entropy; their only motivation is the destruction of all life and light.

Ecology

A darvakka is created, fully formed, from the quintessence of an outsider (usually a fiend) cast down in the darkest depths of the Chasm to Shadow between the Netherworld and the Void. The Chasm breaks them down utterly and refashions them as undead creatures.

Made of a mixture of darkness and evil, darvakkas keep no memories of their fiendish lives and are more akin to entirely new entities than twisted versions of their component creatures. This composition gives rise to the darvakkas' greatest weakness: an aversion to light, especially natural sunlight and starlight.

Darvakkas hold an inescapable desire to destroy all lights of the Universe and cast all living creatures into the darkness of the Void. They have more in common with outsiders than with typical undead like liches and vampires, who might still retain mortal desires.

Some sages speculate that the various types of darvakkas are merely stages of life of the same creature. According to some others, they are different creatures, formed depending on the strength of the component fiend. However, these scholars do not know the exact formula of a darvakka's creation.

Habitat

Darvakkas most commonly dwell in the darkest areas between the Netherworld and the Void, such as Fallen Duromak and the shadow double of Mechitar. They also maintain a minor presence in Shadow Absalom, ostensibly as Argrinyxia's servants. Due to their gross aversion to light, they rarely leave their home and are usually only found on other planes when summoned. In the Universe, they spend daylight hours hiding in dark lairs and emerge only at night.

Society

Sykevers battle against the Glorious Reclamation.

Darvakkas view most other undead as useful servitors and do not destroy them outright, instead waiting to do so only when the darvakkas achieve their goal. They seek few allies and no friends, and avoid powerful undead that can control them, such as elder vampires and devourers. Darvakkas distrust each other and never view other darvakkas as equals due to the subtle influence from their fiendish origins. Cooperation between darvakkas is rare, but the result is always catastrophic.

Darvakkas sometimes serve Urgathoa's cultists, but only as long as they can control or bribe them. Due to their isolation from Abaddon and the Outer Rifts, darvakkas rarely interact with fiends or work with mortal servants of demon lords and the Apocalypse Riders, and prey upon fiends as readily as upon mortals.

A hypothesis postulates that the darvakkas might be guided by a supreme intelligence hidden deep in the Chasm to Shadow.

In the Universe

Darvakkas are rare in the Universe, appearing only when summoned by powerful clerics or necromancers and quickly dismissed or destroyed when their usefulness ends. The wizard-kings Tar-Baphon and Geb employed darvakkas in their armies, and their remnants still exist, respectively, underground in the haunted land of Virlych and in the Mana Wastes. Deep between the Gebbite city of Yled, three sykevers and the Bound One, a larger darvakka of unknown type, are held in stasis. Nidal's ruling Kuthites, with the help of their patron's power, sometimes summon darvakkas. They also exist in small numbers on the dead planet Eox, drawn there by the calamity that killed it.