The totem landmark rose from pieces of the fallen star Ethian on the island of Ulangi. During the month of Sarapin, when the totem and all the other landmarks became volatile, stag's horn fragments could be used to shift the aspect of the totem. Those seeking to shift the totem to its devotional Living Totem aspect would offer the stag's horns to the King Stag, while those who wished it to convert to the necromantic aspect of the Stygian Totem would bring them to Melkhiour, the forest lich. The being that held the most stag's horns at the end of Ethian's Crossing would dictate the dominant aspect of the totem.
The totem became defunct after the failed ritual by the Conclave damaged all the landmarks, and it eventually offered up its remaining energies to create Lady Makali in what became known as the Birth of Destruction.