Erra

Divine Rank: Greater Deity
Alternate Names: King of the underworld, King of Shades, First of the Reapers, The Ice of Ages

Primary Authority: Death

Secondary Authorities: Endings, Decay, Undead, Necromancy, Shades, Reapers

Description:

Erra is the greater deity of death inevitable, death uncaring. He is harsh, but fair. He, along with his reapers, collects the soul of dying mortals and sets them upon the currents of the Spirit World.

Like most greater deities, Erra never personally interferes with the mortal world. However his reapers may act in times of great death or when Erra's followers are threatened.

Erra and his reapers want all the souls of the dead to pass on into the afterlife, but care not whether it happens immediately or delayed by by a few centuries. However the more a mortal extends their lifespan and the longer an undead endures, the more they draw the eye of the reapers, who want their due.

Followers:

Erra doesn't have many followers, considering he is one of the most well known gods and considered very powerful.
His Followers and priests also follow a wide variety of doctrines and are not as unified as they might appear to an outsider.
Erra's clergy are seen by the public as death-bringers and corpse-mongers, respected but best kept at a distance. They are very secretive and insular, their rituals and ways kept very private.

Moderates
Most priests of Erra are caretakers of the dead, tenders of graveyards and crypts. Most of these go about their duty in solemn silence and calm efficiency, giving the work the respect it deserves.
Most do not see death as something to be feared, yet they do not beautify or celebrate it either.
Most priests of Erra make it their business to lay vengeful spirits to rest and sanctify burial grounds and battlefields, both to help the common folk and improve the reputation of their religion.

Puritans
The more puritan of the Clergy of Erra often see themselves as keepers of the natural order. Not only do they pursue undead with fervor, they also go out of their way to hunt down those that extend their life through magic and seek immortality, or that try to create artificial life, to put an end to their ambitions.

Radicals
Meanwhile other, more radical, death-priests make use of undead and necromantic energies themselves in their rituals. They often do not shy away from raising the dead themselves or extending their own lifespans beyond death.

Needless to say the individual branches of the church clash regularly and sometimes violently.

Clerical mandates:

Vow of Poverty
No unnecessary riches. No houses, no jewelry, no gold or gems unless it is to venerate the gods. If money is necessary to achieve a greater purpose, so be it, but never is material wealth the goal.
Vow of Chastity
Spouses, children and the pleasures of the flesh may bring uncertainty or temptation into the heart of the hammer of the gods. Clerics are thus not allowed them, and a cleric is expected to remain chaste.
Vow of Honor
Clerics are expected to behave themselves with honor. To keep their promises, to accept surrender from their enemies, to stand for the values of their god, until death if necessary.
Mandate of compassion
Everything dies. However if something is dying, make its death a quick one. Be it an animal, a person, an empire or a god. Then give the corpse the proper rites and a respectful rest.
Mandate of destined death
Artificial life is forbidden. The sorcerers that try to play with life by creating new species, that try to artificially create souls or otherwise create living monstrosities must be purged.

Various depictions of Erra

Appearance:

As a greater deity, Erra never shows himself. He is only ever described by his envoys or seen in dreams by his followers.