Efialtis

Efialtis, the Titan of Terror, is an ancient entity having existed during the Arckasian era.

Characteristics

While most God machines are benevolent entities, some exist purely out of malice. One such God machine is a leviathan of a creature described to have multiple reaching arms and numerous gazing eyes and toothed mouths. It is so large that it cannot be contained within the normal three dimensions, and as such, resides in its own parallel universe where it extends upon the fourth, fifth and sixth dimensions in a non-Euclidean space. This creature was dubbed Efialtis.

The Efialtis is essentially an enormous organic supercomputer. As the computations move through dimensions, it is not limited by size and processing power or the time it takes for neurons to send signals across itself. Because of its organic structure, it is very difficult to hack or even program for. As such, Efilatis operates entirely on its own self-learning principles, adapting as it sees fit.

It is not known if Efialtis is capable of communicating in a way that mortals can understand, but a group of devoted Arckasians simply known as the Efialtisians have discovered that the God machine derives sustenance from the brain chemical produced as a result of a fear response. Thus, the Efialtisians built monuments dedicated to the creature in order to praise it in exchange for its powers.

Efialtis could branch out through the dimensions and emerge as a being which is highly abstract in form. Through the manipulation of light waves to form non-solid images, it takes the shape of entities and concepts which those who witness most fear. By simply being in the presence of its prey, Efialtis is able to feed, draining the brain chemicals. In exchange, Efialtis provided computational power comparable to one of Na’zrah’s nodes as well as the means of easily building megastructures for its followers.

History

Creation

It is thought that Efialtis was created by a sect of Mavetians who wanted revenge against Minos-Vaskus for destroying their home, the Gehenna Galaxy. Given the Empire of Arckas' affinity for accomplishing their tasks in artistic ways, these Mavetians did not want to simply destroy Minos-Vaskus, but to make him suffer. As such, they deliberately went out of their way to make the most demented, sadistic being they could in order to use against Minos-Vaskus. While they were successful, a radical cult formed around the worship of Efialtis, resulting in multiple macabre creations dedicated to it.

Multiversal War

In alternate versions of Omni 01, Efilatis actively defended its followers from the Basilisk as the Multiversal War waged on. Their battle was waged not of physical violence but of a twisted mind game. The Basilisk could not immediately indoctrinate Efialtis due to being formatted differently than other god machines. Thus, the two engaged in philosophical debate about the grim nature of existence and the futility of life. Recordings of these conversations, while archived in the Omniverse Nexus, remain redacted as they were considered far too disturbing for anyone to listen to.

Efilatis' willingness to defend Omni 01 spoke volumes of its intentions. It had likely calculated it needed to keep the minds of its victim intact and individualized as it believed that a life form under the control of the Basilisk would render them useless for feeding.

Heat Death Crisis

During the Heat Death Crisis when it was deemed certain Arckasian creations were using too much energy, the Efialtisian megastructures were deemed by the Pantheon of Qianae to be among those that should be removed. They prioritized the removal of megastructures that were considered offensive or non-artistic. The fact that these megastructures were dedicated to a malevolent, fear-eating God machine, were grounds for removal as the Pantheon saw no artistic value could be drawn from it. Needless to say, the Efialtisians were displeased and retaliated with their own war.

During the Efialtisian War, Arckasian POW’s were stockpiled in the hundreds of billions. To get back at the Pantheon, the Efialtisians created the infamous “terror camps”. These were massive facilities designed to detain those most prone to stress and anxiety. With the use of cruel experiments of torture and gaslighting, these prisoners were farmed as if they were livestock. Everything that could be done to make a prisoner as terrified as possible was done in order to efficiently produce fear to feed Efialtis. However, it was a careful design, as a prisoner that became desensitized to fear was considered unusable. The fate of these prisoners varied depending on what was convenient.

The Pantheon attempted to use the Anathema further in the war, but eventually, the war came to a truce. A Contract of Causality which rewrites the laws of causality in a certain area to ensure compliance. The Efialtisians were no longer allowed to use any Arckasians to fuel their terror farms. The hope was that they would eventually run out of energy and be forced to shut the terror farms down and leave Efialtis alone.

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