Raven Queen

The Raven Queen is the God of Death. She is a mysterious entity from the Shadowfell who was revered by the shadar-kai, her people.
She is described as a tall and slender woman, with flowing black hair and pale, porcelain skin. She almost always wears a blank, porcelain mask. On the rare occasions she removes it, she is described as a beautiful woman with red irises.
The Raven Queen is obsessed with collecting and observing mementos and fragments of memories and essences. Many sages speculate that she is in fact insane, believing her methods and behavior little more than aimless curiosity or a desperate attempt to prevent her fragile existence from fading into oblivion. Others maintain that there was a cosmological function that was performed by the Queen's actions, as she purified souls by forcing mortals to deal with their fears and pains.
Before she became a goddess, she and her elven tribe tried harness divinity to create another plane. Kelemor, the God of Death, and some defectors of her tribe tried to stop them. The ritual ended up failing failed and Kelemor slain. She took his divinity stolen from his corpse and she became the new Goddess of Death. She punished the defectors by cursing them, turning them into hideous creatures. She know resides in her half finish plane, the Shadowfell.
The whole existence of the Raven Queen is focused on collecting memories and strong emotions, typically associated with loss and tragedy. To that end, she dispatchs shadar-kai and other servants to the far confines of the multiverse to wait for such an event to unfold, as scouted by her ravens. Then they collects mementos, such as trinkets, memories from the living and the souls of the dead, and brings them back to her.
One of the Raven Queen's greatest enemies is the demon lord Orcus, who constantly seeks control of the Shadowfell. He hopes to find a weakness in her domain by discovering her true name.
Another devout enemy of the Raven Queen is Vecna, God of Secrets who envies her for her unique abilities to tap into the flow of souls and to harvest knowledge. One of his goals is to overthrow the Queen and rule the entire Shadowfell from her Fortress of Memories. Vecna's servants constantly battle with the Raven Queen's shadar-kai followers.
Other wizards and necromancers craved the Raven Queen's knowledge and domain over souls. Attempts at conquering the Fortress of Memories were constant, but were always thwarted by her more fanatical shadar-kai defenders.

Type

Greater Deity

Title(s)

The Matron of Ravens
The Matron of Death

Alignment

Lawful Neutral

Symbol

raven's head, in profile, facing left

Domains

Grave, Life, Death, Twilight