The Masked Matron, Scion of the Vigil
The Masked Matriarch is the Scion of the Vigil. Though nearly all traces of the Masked Matron's life her ascension have been lost to ravages of time - what little is known depicts a woman of both great privilege and great mystery.
It is said that she was once a lady of immense wealth who grew bored with the senseless accumulation of things and the vainglorious pursuit of power. In the wake of the War of Souls, the lands of Edras left desolate and filled with anguish and destruction, the Masked Matron left her high tower and undertook a journey to travel across all the war-ravaged kingdoms of the continent.
Violent deaths and horrific battles countless in number weighed heavy on the spiritual atmosphere of the newly freed planet; millions of Soulborn souls were unable to find their final rest, instead forever plagued by the fear and rage of their last moments. Worse even, those despicable creatures capable of pulling at the strings of life and death made great and terrible use of this newly abundant resource - twisting the bodies and souls of the departed Soulborn into mockeries of unlife, that they might be used as weapons and tools in this new age.
As the Matron wandered about this broken world, she never allowed her face, nor form, to be seen. Despite the secrecy, her passage was always known and met with both fear and awe. Tales of an imposing woman impeccably dressed in a garb of black and gold ceremonial regalia spread throughout the land accompanied by hushed whispers of her profound divine might.
Despite never being identified as a servant of Nimriel, much less a divinely empowered priestess, the Masked Matriarch nevertheless wielded the hallowed miracles of the Queen of Graves as if they were second nature. It is written that the number of Soulborn whom she helped to find eternal repose is countless in number, as are those foul creatures whom she utterly destroyed for tampering with their boundaries between life and death. Some legends recant stories of her reducing even the mightiest of undead abominations to ash with but a single tap of her cane.
It is not recorded when she died or how, nor when Nimriel granted her ascension into the ranks of the Scions. Some followers maintain that she never died, instead simply ascending into divinity through power of will and faith. Although much of who she was has been lost (or perhaps was never truly known), she did leave behind a series of exhaustive treatises on last rites, funerary practices, and the philosophy of death. She is a figure of mystery and enigma, but her teachings have protected the living by showing how to treat the dead.
In the Age of Kings, she is most well known as the Mother of Kharagess; her teachings and treatment of the undead shaped much of the kingdom's laws and philosophies.
D&D 5e Rules
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Domains: Death
Favored Weapons: Spear, Glaive
Pathfinder 2e Rules
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Domains: Death, Repose, Sorrow, Vigil
Alternate Domains: Cold
Follower Alignments:
Favored Weapons: LG, LN, LE
Cleric Spells: 1st: soothe, 3rd: ghostly weapon, 5th: cone of cold
Divine Ability: Charisma or Wisdom
Divine Font: Heal
Divine Skill: Diplomacy
Divine Classification
Scion of the Vigil
Alignment
Lawful Neutral
Current Location
Realm
Age
~6,000
Children
Gender
Female
Belief/Deity
Nimriel, Queen of Graves
Aligned Organization
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