Mormekar,God of Death and Rebirth

Quiet, Fearful, the Deliverer, the Shadow, the Grim Wanderer, the Last Guide, Death

Worship,The Sacristies of Mormekar

Mormekar (MORE-muh-kar) is the neutral god of death, rebirth, the dead, the dying, those who destroy undead, those seeking rebirth, and the reborn. The god’s symbolic creatures include vultures, worms, coyotes, and others that feed on carrion. He is most strongly associated with the crow. Ignorant people connect him to the undead, but undead are anathema to him. The phoenix is one of his symbolic aspects, for the majestic bird dies, is consumed by fire, and reborn in it.
In the burning flame of the phoenix, one might see Mormekar’s face. Mormekar is shown as the tallest of all the gods, but willow-wand thin. Cloaked in black and bearing a staff of charred wood (the last remnant of Eliwyn before she was reborn), it is never clear what mortal race he most resembles, for his face is rarely shown completely. His skin has the pallid color of the dead, and his eyes are a colorless white. Mormekar symbol is his burnt staff, or another charred piece of wood.
This recalls the pyre upon which the gods were burned, his staff, and the fire of death and rebirth he wields. When a simple, quick symbol of Mormekar is needed, people use a smear of soot. He is worshiped by all people, including some who know nothing about the gods of the tree. The power of death touches all who are mortal. Worship is not gratitude, however, and most are quite wary of the power of Mormekar, avoiding his temples if possible. Yet all who die are, when they can be, brought to a temple of Mormekar for final rites, to ease passage to the land of Mormekar’s son, Maal. In any case, it is not a popular church, and few join its holy orders. No single class is regularly associated with Mormekar, nor is any one class less likely to have his worshipers than any other.

Duty of Death

Mormekar’s chief concerns are claiming the dead, and ushering the reborn back to the Material Plane. His duty rules him, save for his love for Morwyn. He’s fond of his son, and sees him regularly while he bears the dead to Maal’s Kingdom, but Mormekar never joins Maal’s arguments with the other gods. Mormekar cares nothing for the conflicts of Heaven, good, evil, and the rest. They’re all the winking of an eye, here and gone in one slice of infinity. Thus he has no strong feelings about mortals, so long as they respect his authority. All things die, even worlds and planes. One day he will bury the gods, or burn them on celestial pyres. How death comes, and to whom, are not his concerns, so long as the order of dying is not unnaturally interfered with. Until the end of everything comes, the Wanderer attends to his duty, presiding over all the lesser endings of things.
Anyone familiar with the legends knows Mormekar’s love for his wife is the only thing that takes precedence over his duties. Over the years, some have asked Death not to take them because they too know a stronger love, but this has never been known to succeed. Otherwise, the undead are an insult to him: a vile act that violates the sanctity of death. He charges all those who worship him to battle the undead, and the necromancers and other, vile beings who create them.

The Ritual of Rebirth

Mormekar is the god of rebirth as well as death. This rarely has any impact on mortal society, as those who are reborn have no recollection of their previous lives. There are those, however, who believe it is possible to influence one’s rebirth, or even to be reborn in one’s lifetime. Some who have led lives of unspeakable wickedness come to the sacristies of Mormekar pleading to be reborn so they might set their unforgivable acts to rights. These acts are usually crimes that are certain to result in eternal punishment in one of the infernal realms—consorting with demons and devils, murdering family, or worse.
People seeking rebirth pray for days, sometimes weeks, to the other gods of the tree, begging for forgiveness. During this time, the ministers bring food and water but do not speak to the petitioner. At the end of this period, a penitent rises and ministers administer the rite, though she still breaths. The penitent then leaps into one of the massive braziers that sit at the center of each sacristy, showing they are prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for forgiveness, and surrender to the will of the gods. Usually, flames consume the penitent, and none know whether they attain forgiveness, or the afterlife torments they were destined for.
Once in a great while, for reasons known only to the gods, the fires do not consume the penitent. They rise from the flames, and the ministers gather around her. They anoint her with three pure oils—one for birth, one for life, and one for death—and give her a new name. Under this new name, she is sent into the word to right the terrible wrongs she did in her prior life. She is now one of the reborn, the third holy order of the Mormekim. She receives no special address, honorifics, or introduction, but can ask for the aid of any faithful Mormekim by saying, “I am reborn.” For details on playing one of the reborn.

Type

Religious, Organised Religion