Thanatos the Mother
(a.k.a. Druidic Name: Uddea)
Thanatos is beloved by her followers and feared by those who do not fully understand her. She is the Goddess of Death, but also of the two moons Zelarus and Autania which are believed to be her first children with the god Temp, God of Life and the Sun who also birthed the Sun.
To the average person on Ifiron, she is the god you pray to ward off death, asking for her kindness. She is also the god prayed to when someone is dying and they wish for them to pass on peacefully. Those lost at night also pray that she will guide the way to safety by the light of the moons. Her name has also been invoked when someone wishes to purge their souls of dark thoughts and feelings. Those closer to Thanatos know her disdain of the undead and seek out to punish those responsible and also put down the undead. This is the role of the Order of the Black Skull, even though it is largely an unknown organization.
The cost to raise something from the dead is measured by Thanatos herself. If a person wishes to raise someone from the dead as if they had never died, Thanatos expects a soul in return if you have not already retrieved her blessing. Those brought back without her blessing are given the Black Mark of the Dead, which appears on the resurrected individual. To bring back the body of the dead, inhabited by a soul without a personality from the Deep Ethereal requires the payment of a piece of your own soul. The Order of the Black Skull regulates Necromancers, allowing some to operate within the bounds of society but with strict rules. An unlicensed Necromancer can have drastic measures taken against them.
Thanatos is respected, as she is the god to take the souls of those who have died to the Afterlife. Two coins are placed on the eyes of the fallen so that when they make it to the The River Styx their souls can be judged by the Three Kings. The dead who are not cared for in this way have a number of ways of returning from the dead, but never as their previous selves. The most common is that of a Ghost.
While some seek to preserve the balance of Life and Death, some use Thanatos' name to expedite the process of death. The Brotherhood of the Red Knife is one such organization. They have been known to take payment for assassinations and have even been employed by the Order of the Black Skull to either assassinate or capture some targets. The Brotherhood is always respectful of the dead, leaving behind two coins marked with Red Widow on the corpse. They specialize in illusion magic and the cover of night to get close to their targets.
Of the gods, Thanatos is the most patient. She has no temples to her name, but her shrines can be found in plain sight. Many walk past them every day without notice. One such example is the Statue of the Sapphire Lily in the Southern Spear. Many of her shrines are statues of maidens.
Thanatos is depicted as a woman with a face divided into two. On one half is the face of a beautiful woman while the other half is a rotting corpse. This depicts her dual nature of both a natural beautiful event or of a gruesome fate. She is depicted as wearing a great black robe and hood. These can be seen in the Shrines to the Nine, the only public place that Thanatos is worshipped.
Ethereal Plane and the Shadowveil
While Thanatos is the Goddess of Death and the Moons, she is incapable of stepping onto the The Material Plane. She resides in both the Ethereal Planes and the Shadowveil. It is rumored that the bright and dark sides of the moons are portals to these two planes. The Shadowveil is home to her Palace of Memories. The depiction of Thanatos in the Shrines to the Nine is a representation of her Avatar. In reality, Thanatos' body is divided among her Reapers, Ethereal creatures that harvest the souls of the dead. It is from the touch of a Reaper that leaves the Black Mark upon an unblessed resurrection. However, her Avatar can walk in the planes. It is said that if she runs into a creature's shadow on the Ethereal Plane that they will experience a near-death experience. This is what common people refer to as a "brush with death". People naturally avoid her avatar as she is passing through the Ethereal Plane. Her avatar also has the ability to destroy a soul on contact, though she rarely uses this ability. She prefers to send them to the afterlife into one of the Outer Planes where their soul will be tormented. Because she resides in the Shadowveil, she has direct contact with its residents. With her ability to destroy souls on contact, she can obliterate the soul of someone's darker reflection. This is where praying to her to banish darker thoughts originates from. However, it does not destroy the creature but only severs its connection to the individual allowing the darker reflection to grow on its own and often into a more dangerous creature.Divine Domains
Death and the Moons
Holy Books & Codes
The Book of the Dead - A sacred book that contains the name of every soul in the cosmos and the plane they reside on and if they are still alive.
Divine Symbols & Sigils
A black skull with a red hourglass on the forehead, usually woven into silks.
Symbolic Animal: Black Widow
Tenets of Faith
Death is inevitable and must not be feared but respected. It is not merely an ending, but the beginning of a new journey and to fight it only ensures the danger of the journey.
Holidays
All Souls Day is the celebration of the dead. Families gather to remember their loved ones and to ensure that those that have passed since the last All Souls Day are safely harbored to the Afterlife.
Divine Goals & Aspirations
It is widely accepted that Thanatos wishes for the cycle of Life and Death to flow unimpeded in the grand scale of time. Death can only be delayed and any subversion of that is seen as an affront to her divine goal.
Relationships
Divine Classification
Diety
Realm
Spouses
Siblings
Children
Ruled Locations
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