Kiaransalee (kee-uh-ran-sa-lee)
The deceased are more reliable than the living.Kiaransalee, a drow lesser deity, is also known as the Lady of the Dead, The Revenancer, or The Vengeful Banshee. Her domain encompasses vengeance and the undead. Kiaransalee embodies cruelty, distortion, and vengefulness. She succumbed to madness eons ago, yet retained her sharp wit, preserving every perceived offense against her, real or imagined, with clarity. Swift to wrath and formidable in power, she harbors dark schemes of retribution against those who wronged her. The Lady of the Dead finds solace in the company of mindless undead, whom she can easily manipulate, preferring them over sentient beings capable of independent thought. Reluctant to entrust others with her vendettas, she takes matters into her own hands, ensuring her vision of justice is carried out. Even though Kiaranasalee originated as a deity of the Dark Seldarine, following the aid of Falazure and her alliance with Zinzerena, she had become quite popular with necromancers and undead-affiliated worshipers.
Divine Symbols & Sigils
Clergy, Temples and Worshippers
Drowseuessiri Culture
Kiaransalee's clergy operates through structured and disciplined cells, although the religion lacks central coordination. The Revenancer's clerics primarily dwell in secluded drow settlements or discreet enclaves, perpetually working in clandestine manner. Serving as agents of vengeance, they conspire against those who have affronted the faith, often orchestrating missions to obtain corpses for reanimation and actively participating in the persecution of slaves. Senior priestesses hold the title of Yathrinshee. Among the worshipers of Kiaransalee are the Crones, female drow priestesses adorned in flowing black robes and adorned with multiple silver rings on each hand. Some of these individuals adorn their skin with a mixture of ash and fat.Non-Drowseuessiri Culture
Following Falazure's Aid, Kiaransalee is almost ever present thorn in The Raven Queen's side, often battling her straight on in graveyards, where necromancers and undeads venerate her openly. Sometimes referred to as Mot in Menedynnish. People revere her out of a profound fear of death, attributing natural hardships of aging to her dread influence. Her worshipers, often associated with funerary practices, maintain a somber and secretive disposition, hesitant to divulge their beliefs beyond their modest and loosely structured congregation. Moreover, she garners worship predominantly from sinister necromancers, the undead, and individuals aspiring for undeath. Occasionally, those indulging in hedonistic excess or afflicted with severe ailments also offer supplication to her. The church operates under a matriarchal structure, where a formidable cleric, typically female, leads each temple. If the priestess happens to be a daughter of Kiaransalee, the entire temple is deemed exceptionally favored. Priests possessing the ability to raise undead, whether through arcane means or inheriting their undead essence, bear the title of Necro-Lords/Ladies and enjoy additional privileges. Followers are categorized into two classes. The superior class, known as the ghula, comprises privileged members who may or may not hold positions within the clergy. They are attended to by the famished, initiates striving to demonstrate their worthiness for acknowledgment by the church. Social standing within the congregation may sometimes contrast with that outside it, and if a famished member holds a higher status in society beyond the church than a ghula, the ghula treats them with respect in public to safeguard the church's secrecy. Similar to many malevolent cults, the clandestine church operates in a decentralized, cell-based manner, with limited interaction between congregations.Day-to-Day Activities
Priests devoted to Kiaransalee are seldom encountered, maintaining an air of secrecy within small drow settlements or secluded enclaves of non-Drowseuessiri culture. They serve as instruments of retribution, meticulously planning retaliation against those who have inflicted harm or affronted the clergy. Engaging in regular expeditions, they seek out targets to procure corpses for reanimation or to pilfer from recently interred graves. Additionally, they actively participate in the persecution of slaves. Kiaransalee's Blackguards embody creatures of darkness, spreading disease and death to emulate their matron. They revere undead, aiming to hasten all to their graves and eradicate any opposition.Priestly Vestments
All priests don loose black robes adorned with hooded cowls embellished with bone and ivory. Adorning their shaven heads with gray skullcaps, they don thin silver rings on each finger except the thumb. Some opt to apply a grayish paste, composed of ashes from cremated corpses, across exposed skin. Some Priests that are devoted to Kiaransalee eschew the use of conventional armor, entrusting their safety to their own magical barriers and the prowess of their undead sentinels. Many priests opt to replace one of their ceremonial rings with a silver ring of protection to bolster their defenses. Trained in diverse weaponry, members of the Revenancer's clergy typically favor slender poisoned blades, garrotes, and maces to minimize damage to potential animated bodies. However, since The Brokering of Peace in The Drow Pantheon, many priests do in fact don armor, aslong as it contains a bone or somekind of important organ from beasts, monsters or humanoids.Hierarchy
Kiaransalee's clergy collectively bear the title of the Crones, with high-ranking priestesses revered as Yathrinshee and novices addressed as the Commanded. Other members of the clergy are referred to as Nighthags. Titles within the hierarchy of Kiaransaleen priests vary significantly, with designations such as Bones of the Dead, Flesh of the Zombie, Terror Touch of the Ghoul, Chill Touch of the Shadow, Raking Claws of the Wight, Life Leech of the Wraith, Rot of the Mummy, and Spirit Harvest of the Spectre. As anticipated, many devotees of Kiaransalee undergo transformation into undead servants, either through personal actions, the ministrations of fellow priests, or, on rare occasions, through the direct intervention of the goddess herself. High-ranking priests have the potential to ascend to the ranks of banshees, liches, vampires, or, if particularly favored, Kiaranshee—banshees retaining their spellcasting abilities, whether as necromancers or priests.Temples
The sanctuaries of Kiaransalee mimic grand feast-halls, featuring a substantial table serving as the focal altar, flanked by numerous seats. Typically situated in proximity to graveyards or crypts, these temples are often inhabited by ghouls. The most eminent among her temples are frequently guarded by Mezzofiend minions.Rituals
Clerics devoted to Kiaransalee invoke their spells during the midnight hour, a time when spirits are believed to be most active and receptive. Additionally, each cleric conducts a series of minor devotions to honor Kiaransalee several times each month.Reaping
Occasionally, elder clergy members of Kiaransalee engage in a ceremonial act referred to as the Harvesting. Donning a somber grey robe and wielding a vorpal scythe, the priest ventures into the realm to sow death and chaos until compelled to retreat to safety. It is believed that should Kiaransalee find favor in the results of the Harvesting, she will bestow a blessing upon the priest.Tenets of Faith
Dogma
Death comes to all and cruel vengeance will be exacted on those who waste their lives on the petty concerns of this existence. True power comes only from the unquestioning servitude of the once-dead, mastery over death, and the eventual earned stature of one of the ever-living in death. Hunt, slay and animate those who scorn the Revenancer's power, and answer any slight a thousandfold, so that all may know the coming power of Kiaransalee. Kiaransalee prohibits her followers from pardoning debts or offenses of any nature. Every interaction demands recompense in some form. According to Kiaransalee's teachings, life itself constitutes the ultimate transgression, with eternal servitude in Undeath deemed the most appropriate retribution. Subjugating the living is also considered a sacred endeavor. Adherents of Kiaransalee strive to carry their riches and captives into the afterlife.Holidays
The Eternal Retribution
The sole yearly sacred observance of the faith is termed the Eternal Retribution and is commemorated on every Midwinter Eve. The Eternal Retribution constitutes an individualized rite, during which each priestess animates as many undead as she can manage. These undead, known as the Vengeance Hunters, harbor an insatiable thirst for vengeance against those responsible for their demise. They relentlessly pursue their designated target within a span of 24 hours. Once a Vengeance Hunter is vanquished, it remains permanently inert. These undead return to their resting places either after the elapsed 24-hour period or upon the completion of their vengeance, if feasible.Physical Description
Identifying Characteristics
Kiaransalee manifests as a lithe Drow female adorned solely in Silver ornaments and dark veils. Her conspicuous armaments include elongated, razor-sharp nails and a curved dagger.
Other Manifestations
Kiaransalee seldom materializes in the mortal realm, opting instead to conserve her personal power and influence events indirectly through her followers. However, on rare occasions when she does appear, the Lady of the Dead assumes one of three forms. Her preferred manifestation involves summoning a skull that ascends several feet above the ground, swiftly spinning for a brief duration. Once the rotation ceases, the skull transforms into the likeness of an attractive female Dark Elf. In this form, the goddess typically delivers enigmatic messages, issues threats of retribution for perceived offenses, or emits a chilling laugh. Following this interaction, the skull either dissipates or, at Kiaransalee's discretion, emits a banshee's wail before disappearing. At times, Kiaransalee's presence is marked by a dry, maddening laughter, evoking the unsettling feeling that every listener's grave has been disturbed by her chilling chuckle. The Revenancer's most horrifying apparition strikes suddenly and unexpectedly. It unfolds solely when the subject stands upon soil, at least six feet deep, reminiscent of a potential grave. Without warning, colossal skeletal hands erupt from the earth's surface, snatching the hapless individual and swiftly pulling them into the ground. Kiaransalee frequently operates through a multitude of spectral entities and undead beings, including apparitions, banshees, coffer corpses, crawling claws, crimson deaths, ghasts, ghosts, ghouls, haunts, heucuva, kiaranshee, larvae, lhiannanshee, various liches (including fallen baelnorns), maurezhi, nightmares, penangglans, phantoms, quasits, revenants, shadow fiends, shadows, shee, sheet ghouls, sheet phantoms, simpathetics, skeletons, skuz, slow shadows, spectres, wights, wraiths, vampires of diverse kinds, vargouilles, yeth hounds, and zombies, as well as other exceedingly rare forms of undead. The Lady of the Dead indicates her favor through the discovery of specific gemstones and materials like chalcedony, chrysoberyl, chrysocolla, epidote, irtios, ivory, king's tears, meerschaum, moonbars, samarskite, silkstone, and tomb jade. Conversely, her displeasure is signified by the appearance of skulls that cleanly split into two pieces and bones that crumble into dust upon contact.Mental characteristics
Personal history
Kiaransalee was once mortal, a powerful dark elven necromancer-queen on a world known as Threnody. The Revenancer was named drow and banished by her husband, the king of Threnody, for her unholy experiments on the once-living. Kiaransalee fled with a small group of followers who she then transformed into undead servitors to ensure their loyalty. The Lady of the Dead continued her unholy experiments in secret for centuries before raising an army of undead to exact her vengeance. In the wake of the Revenancer's army, Threnody was a dead world, and the architect of its destruction fled with her unthinking servants into the Abyss-where she eventually assumed a measure of divine power herself-to escape the wrath of The Seldarine.
Following Falazure's help and the demise of Vecna, Kiaransalee reached Intermediate Power.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Kiaransalee embodies cruelty and spite, prone to swift anger and harboring vindictive schemes that span ages. Preferring the companionship of mindless undead to sentient beings, she entrusts few others to fulfill her vision, opting to address her challenges personally.
Social
Contacts & Relations
Kiaransalee counts numerous adversaries but few steadfast allies. She aligns with deities like Velsharoon, Menas, Falazure and Vhaeraun. However, her principal foes include Deep Duerra, Dumathoin, Eilistraee, The Raven Queen, Laduguer, and the Demon Lord Orcus (or whatever entity is assuming to be him).
Titles:
Lady of the Dead;The Revenancer;
Mot;
Lady of the Underworld;
The Vengeful Banshee;
Queen of the Restless Dead;
Divine Classification
Intermediate Power
Religions
Alignment
Neutral Evil
Realm
Children
Aligned Organization
Other Affiliations
Ruled Locations
| LG | NG | CG |
| LN | N | CN |
| LE | NE | CE |
Orders
Legion of Vengeful BansheesThese banshee knights' sole purpose is to battle the undead tanar'ri servants of Orcus.
Comments