Content Warning: The following contains discussions of sexual abuse.
With Orario being the center of many gods and goddesses, the city has witnessed the rise and fall of many familia over time, and while it may be common for new familia to form, the contrary is certainly quite rare. Despite being such a rare occurrence, a few familia have been unfortunate enough to face such a disgraceful fate over Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls In a Dungeon?’s run, with their gods being sent back to heaven permanently, never to set foot in the lower world again.
The Ishtar Familia, one of Orario’s most influential yet controversial familia, met a similar fate. Being the goddess of love, Ishtar had complete control over the sentiments of those around her, forcefully charming them with her irresistible looks and divine magic. Being a prideful goddess, she was extremely jealous of Freya, a goddess revered as the most beautiful in all of Orario, with constant scheming and plotting to dethrone her rival’s familia. However, the very same jealousy is what led to her familia’s untimely yet duly deserved demise.
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Goddess Ishtar and Her Familia
Based on the Mesopotamian goddess of sexual love and war, Ishtar’s character accurately reflected her mythological roots, as she put great emphasis on sexual activities and deemed them as a sacred act. Her familia controlled Orario’s entire red-light district, known as the Pleasure Zone, run by prostitutes bought by Ishtar as sex-slaves. The pleasure zone may seem like a regular red-light district on the surface, yet the reality is far from it, with Ishtar turning the entire area into a hub of sexual abuse and slavery.
Considering her influence, no other god or goddess dared to go up against Ishtar, especially with her prevailing reputation of using any means possible to achieve her goal. The extent of her ruthlessness knows no bounds as she has even abused her own familia members to subdue them, further charming their body and mind into forceful servitude. Even the gods are not safe from her sexual exploits as Ishtar raped Hermes to get information out of him regarding Freya. The same attitude is reflected in her children, who often rape their victims and leave them mentally debilitated.
Ishtar’s Attempt at Dethroning Freya
Fueled by her jealousy, Ishtar plotted against Freya to wage war on her familia, dethroning her status as the most beautiful and most powerful goddess in all of Orario. Her plan was to empower her own children to match the ranks of those in the Freya Familia, since the power disparity between their strongest members was quite significant. To give the members a level boost, Ishtar’s aim was to use a Killing Stone with a Renard's soul, and crush the stone into hundreds of pieces.
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Since even a tiny piece of the crushed stone was enough to grant the power of sorcery, the Killing Stone would empower every single member of Ishtar’s familia, granting each one a level boost. However, this involved killing a Renard to use its soul for the Killing Stone, as crushing the stone would result in the soul also shattering to thousands of pieces, never to be whole again. Ironically, such a malevolent attempt at destroying Freya was not the cause of the Ishtar Familia’s disbandment, and while it may have played a major role in the events that followed, the actual reason can be attributed entirely to a separate matter.
Kidnapping Bell Cranel
Ishtar’s plan to utilize the Killing Stone was already enough to take on Freya, yet her jealousy got the best of her, prompting her to go after something Freya already had her eyes set on – Bell Cranel. Ishtar ordered her children to capture Bell and bring him to her, as her next move was to charm him and take his innocence. However, before she could lay her hands on Bell, word had already gotten out about her heinous plans, resulting in the Freya Familia taking action.
Since Bell’s skill ‘Liaris Freese’ negates all charms, even from the gods, Ishtar could not taint Bell’s innocence, despite her incessant attempts at raping him. However, it was too late for Ishtar as Freya had already ordered her familia to wage war on the Ishtar Familia, along with razing the entertainment district to the ground. Surrounded from all sides, Ishtar tried to escape, an attempt which was foiled by Freya as she blocked off her exit. Freya had even charmed all of Ishtar’s children, and with nowhere to run, Ishtar began to plead, stating that she had no idea how much Bell meant to Freya.
Ishtar, out of frustration, asked Freya why she was deemed as the most beautiful, to which she replied ‘character’, as she slapped Ishtar, throwing her down several floors before a radiant beam lit up the sky – signaling Ishtar’s soul departing to heaven. As Ishtar could never set foot in the lower world again, her familia consequently disbanded, leaving behind a legacy of abuse and malediction. Freya might have turned a blind eye to Ishtar’s attempts at waging war, yet what truly forced her to take action was the threat to Bell’s innocent ‘white’ soul – a loss that she could never bear.
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