Profile
atargatis, goddess of the moon, of love, fertility... and the mother of all merfolk. atargatis was not always the colossal creature she is today. once she was a humanoid goddess, appearing only sporadically inside temples, or lingering among mortals when they needed her help. one day, she became particularly fond of a human shepherd, who captured her heart after offering to her an entire flock of lovingly hand-raised doves. atargatis for just a lifetime became human, to spend time side by side her new lover. however, the goddess vastly overestimated the lifespan of a human, and her time with her husband was frightfully short. after raising a child together, the shepherd became gravely ill, and left the two of them behind in the mortal life.
atargatis went mad with grief. her fellow gods began to ostracize her, shaming her for lowering herself to the likes of humans, for a measly 20 years with a mortal man. she could no longer stand the deep despair she felt, and tossed herself to the ocean to drown.
however, the life of the ocean took pity on her. filled with love for the grieving goddess, various sea creatures, fish, molluscs, and what have you, began to crowd around her as if to lift her back to the surface. but atargatis’ power did something of the inverse — it dragged the creatures of the sea into her essence, and transformed her into a massive fish.
atargatis’ daughter had began searching for her as well. having rallied countless worshippers in the search party, the crowd was mesmerized to find the goddess swimming miles off the shore, scales glittering in the light of the moon. it was then that atargatis became the mermaid goddess. her most devoted worshippers began to transform with her influence; people became fish, and fish became people. within centuries, the oceans became crowded with merfolk of countless types, all sprawled by the tides, but each and every one of them would return to the goddess in pilgrimage.
in modern days, atargatis resides beneath an island, sleeping all year except one day. when larger seafaring vessels increased their traffic in the mediterranean ocean, merfolk began to worry for their goddess. it was then that they transported their goddess to the haven plane — a massive undertaking, i’ll have you know — and gave her her own island, by the name of atargatis island. nowadays, the island has a bustling community built ontop of it, though the goddess herself is not much aware of it...
Comments