Vesh

Vesh is a dark entity who claimed godhood to Kashaw, though she is not in fact a goddess.

Appearance
Vesh appears to be a human woman with long purple or violet hair, solidly white eyes, and unnaturally long arms and fingers with claw-like nails. Her skin is faintly glowing gray.

Personality
Vesh has a dual nature, sometimes asking for mercy and kindness and sometimes demanding pain and sacrifice; her expression varies dramatically with these moods. She draws potential suitors from among those who delve into forbidden magics, and instructs them to cultivate sects of worshipers. These sects then practice hedonistic, masochistic rites that (unbeknownst to the attendees of the secretive retreat) culminate with Vesh massacring and eating all but one selected survivor and laying with that mate. She demands the true heart of her chosen, and is a jealous patron, but she lends strength to her chosen partners (of which there are many) and watches over them for life.

Symbol
Vesh's symbol is a crimson ring hanging from a chain.

History
As of 836 PD, Vesh has walked Exandria (apparently long focused on Issylra) for centuries, occasionally selecting a mate and then disappearing to her own realm. It is unknown whether she is a demigod or a witch, but gods cannot go past the Divine Gate, which revealed her as something else entirely.

Vesh married a human named Kashaw when he was born. She slaughtered everyone else in the village, and came back to consummate the marriage on his fifteenth name-day. As part of a ritual called "The Sting of the Hundred", Kashaw inflicted fifty cuts upon his own right arm, and Vesh made the next fifty. When Kashaw's blood mixed with Vesh's sweat, he gained all of her memories, which is when he discovered she was evil. In order to balance Vesh's dark powers, Kashaw was raised as a healer, and he tried to kill her when he was fifteen. He hasn't seen her since.

During the ritual to revive Vex'ahlia, Kashaw was uncomfortable with the idea of calling that much attention from Vesh. When asked why he was hesitating, he said, "She could destroy everything" and that she was more dangerous than the Chroma Conclave. In fact, she is a dangerous entity who would have taken an interest in Vox Machina, but Vax'ildan offering himself to the Raven Queen in the tomb of her champion circumvented Vesh's closer involvement.

Trivia

 * The character of Vesh was created by Will Friedle.
 * Vesh is not included in the Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, though she is included in the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount as a Lesser Idol. The Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn reveals that she haunts Issylra and is little-known in Tal'Dorei.