Although little is known of her, what can be found across scattered documents of ancient sea captains and ocean voyageurs is that Kiva is an ancient goddess of the primordial ocean. It is said that her womanliness was unsurpassed in grace and bearing, and in the days of myth and legend, sailors both loved and feared her. As with all beings of great might, she was both a nurturer and a destroyer. She was as changeable and whimsical as the sea itself, capable of taking many forms and exemplified the deepest charity and brilliance of woman's mercurial nature.

As the goddess of the primordial ocean, Kiva holds domain over the ocean, seas, and the sea creatures that live therein. Sailors tell tales that favor and fury came from Kiva for any who were to sail her seas. For those that held her favor, the seas were a bountiful mistress. For those that caught her fury, it is said that they would find themselves at the depths of her savage mercy. Perhaps, even their souls bound to the sea, destined to be cast away for eternity.

Her symbol is that of a crab, for she is tempting but as fickle and unpredictable much like the seas. It is said that during the great age of magic, the goddess returned to the depths of the Asharah Ocean, summoning power onto the ocean floor and from her flesh and bone brought forth the birth of several underwater volcanoes, creating herself a resting place where her body became the very archipelago named after her. Here, she protects her creations through the use of tropical storms and the "Eye of Kiva", a powerful maelstrom in the vast sea.

The Kivren say that they are Children of Kiva, created by her flesh and that of the volcanic archipelago that remains of her.

• Illustration credit: Roots of myself, Andrey Bobir
• Gild Your Steel, Strop Your Gold
• Through the Red Mist
• Kuroimono - The Black One