It came upon me like a friend and spake of what I would wish for: the want to forgive, or the want for justice.
Qael Vaentiil, High Elf of Quaantil — his surviving journal
Yu Kious, the Will of Zodo, also known as Kious Zodo, is the most patient of Zodo's aspects and, some say, the most dangerous of the three classic powers. Some scholars call him neutral, since he rarely acts openly and seldom destroys anything himself. Others point out that this is exactly what makes him frightening. The Will does not need to act. He changes what others want, and lets them act for him. He does not show himself until he is ready, and by then he has likely already won.
Characteristics
Yu Kious is a strategist on a scale no mortal can match. His plans unfold across generations, even eras, and he is content to wait centuries for a single move to bear fruit. He is calm, deliberate and nearly impossible to provoke. Where Yu Dico demands immediate respect and servitude, the Will asks for nothing. He simply arranges for it to be given.
He is often confused with the Mind of Zodo, but the two work very differently. The Mind whispers, tempts and questions, and a strong-willed person can refuse him. The Will does not ask. Those touched by Yu Kious rarely feel pushed at all. They find that they simply want what he wants, and they believe the desire was their own.
Personification
The Will is a masculine aspect, but no reliable account describes his true appearance. Like the Soul of Zodo before its imprisonment, he is believed to work through people and objects rather than a form of his own. Those who study him suspect he has hidden within many hosts across the eras, each one unaware until it was far too late, if they ever knew at all. Of the possible hosts in times past some have said Killian Xerxes, the emperor driven mad who caused the Great Magic War could have been one, or perhaps his closest advisor High Minister Kalen Marquis. It is also not unusual for leaders to paint their political foes as the avatar of Yu Kious, which makes it even more difficult to track down. After all, the saying goes that Yu Kious never reveals himself until he has already won.
Powers
The power of Yu Kious is the power to change the wills of others. Those under his influence may keep their memories, their skills and their personalities, yet their desires are no longer their own. Those who resist him seldom face the Will directly. Instead, they tend to find themselves destroyed by others whom the Will does control: friends, allies, strangers, or whole armies.
At its most complete, the Will's control leaves nothing behind at all, only bodies that move as he wishes, emptied of any desire of their own.
Followers
Few worship Yu Kious by name. Splinter groups of the Church of the Holy Body, such as the Sacred Order of the Flame, are said to be more aligned with Yu Kious than any other aspect. Yet the phrase "the Will of Zodo" runs through the entire faith of the Church of the Holy Body. The Holy Ministry of Rube Knights is sworn to carry out and enforce it, and its code warns every knight never to confuse their own wants with the Will of Zodo. Most of the faithful take the phrase simply to mean the god's intentions. A few theologians have wondered whether it is meant more literally, and whether those who spend their lives serving the Will of Zodo know which part of Zodo they are truly serving.
Opposition
You will need a weapon to fight Yu Kious. While I doubt that you could wield Kymara's Sword, I have used it for inspiration and crafted you one of my own. Use it to break his will.
Yu'Mara, upon presenting Haen Mara
Few beings have openly opposed the Will. The most notable is his own sister aspect. In 2025 of the First Era, Yu'Mara forged Haen Mara, the Sword of Life, for the express purpose of breaking the control of Yu Kious. It frees anyone it strikes from control, and its wielder cannot be controlled at all. That the Life of Zodo would arm a mortal against the Will of Zodo remains one of the strongest arguments that the aspects are no longer of one mind, if they ever were.
Relics
The Eye of Zodo
The so-called Eye of Zodo is a white pearl about the size of a plum stone, marked with a single red dot that gives it the look of an eye. It is a very rare form of anima stone that either holds, or is connected to, a powerful entity. Those who believe it is tied to Zodo have long argued over which part of him it belongs to. Those who deny any link to Zodo still call it by its older name, the Pearl of Great Power.
The Eye is sentient. It speaks to those who hold it, reads their thoughts and desires, and often acts on them before being asked. Many who have carried it have come to believe that the desires it acted upon were never truly their own.
Haen Ruithael, the Sword of Forsaken
The Eye is best known as the pommel stone of Haen Ruithael, "the Vengeful Angel." Its first known wielder was the high elf Qael Vaentiil of Quaantil. After his wife, daughter and kin were poisoned by dark elf delegates of the Underdark, a voice came to him at their tombs and offered him a choice between forgiveness and justice. He chose justice, and the sword formed before him out of his own spoken desire: a blade the color of fresh-spilt blood, an onyx crossguard, and a black handle shaped like a hand grasping a pearl marked with a single speck of red. Qael led an army into the Underdark and had his vengeance, then died of no apparent injury. His son Achen refused the blade, calling vengeance a thing forsaken, and had it sealed away.
The sword resurfaced in the First Era in the hands of the Sol Anon paladin Maelrik Vectra, and it was long regarded as an instrument of El Anon's judgment. Its most famous wielder, the paladin Amos Va'elin, carried it when he accompanied Ormus Claythorn on the excavation that uncovered the Divine Incantations. According to Ormus's own notes, it was Amos's sword that hummed and pulled them toward the buried book.
As I hath given unto Qael do thou think I not give unto you? Should thine enemies rise up against you, and you call upon me for aide, thine sword shall I grant you. For vengeance is ever the providence of Zodo.
Incantations of Faith, Incantation 5 — The Divine Incantations
The sword earned its darker name from its last known wielder, Lector Clairstory, who, driven mad by the loss of his son, proclaimed it his "Forsaken Blade." It is said to have left him in his final moments. Since then it is believed to lie in six pieces: the Eye of Zodo, the Hand of Power, Xodod's Guard, and three blade fragments. Some say its seventh piece is whoever wields it. The Church of Sol Anon has declared that anyone found with even one piece shall be branded a follower of Zodo, and its radicals take that as permission to kill. The whereabouts of the pieces are unknown. (Full artifact page to come.)
