The Raven Queen
The Raven Queen, also commonly known as the Matron of Ravens, and the Matron of Death, is the goddess of death and fate; she's also considered the goddess of twilight, inevitability and the passage of time, presiding over the transition between life and death. Originally a mortal woman in the Era of Blood and Ruin, she ascended to godhood and destroyed the previous god of death after living milennias as an Idol in The Gods War. Her true name has long been lost already. Her devotees seek her favor to guide them in death and prevent the curse of Undeath from falling on them.
Divine Symbols & Sigils
Clergy, Temples and Worshippers
The Raven Queen urges her clerics to act as stewards of the afterlife and to teach the people of Theras that death is a natural part of life. There is nothing to be feared in the transition, for only the truly wicked, the Faithless, or the False must fear the world beyond the City of Judgement. The Raven Queen views all undead as abominations, ordering his servants to destroy them at every turn. The Raven Queen’s clerics make every attempt to minister to the common people, to demystify the process of death and help the bereaved cope in times of loss. Most folk welcome the appearance of clerics of The Raven Queen, thankful for their light touch and calming demeanors--a welcome change from the days when unsettling clerics of Oaris and later on since the The Gods War, the dead deity Baravor demanded funerary fees that seemed all too close to extortion. Children (particularly those growing up near evil kingdoms) hold militant clerics and paladins of The Raven Queen in awe as undead hunters, and communities beset by the attentions of necromancers or tomb robbers often come to his clergy for aid.Day-to-Day Activities
Clerics of the Raven Queen perform funerals, settle the affairs of the dead, and often are called upon by local lords or magistrates to oversee the execution of last wills and testaments. They preach to the masses the doctrine of a peaceful afterlife journey, and ensure that the bodies of the dead are buried safely and according to religious tradition. They mark sites ravaged by disease with plague warnings, and attempt to cure disease wherever they encounter it. Clerics of the Raven Queen consider all undead abominations, and do whatever they can to put them to eternal rest. They contend that those who create undead are fit only for swift and utter destruction (an important difference between The Black Raven clergy and that of Oaris, who hold that certain undead have their use). The Black Raven clergy sometimes declare crusades against the undead or against creatures deemed to have caused too much untimely death. Occasionally, this leads them to employ adventurers to solve problems with which they cannot contend alone. Members of the clergy tend to be taciturn, even morose at times. Many came to the church after losing loved ones to undead incursions, or even after dying themselves and being so profoundly touched by the experience that they enrolled in the clergy shortly after returning to life. Clerics of the Raven Queen never rebuke or command undead.Temples
Many of the Raven Queen’s temples used to be temples of Oaris and Baravor, and hence have less inviting or soothing architectural than their high clerics might prefer. Bone-and-skull motifs predominate, and some of the larger temples even feature now-sealed chambers once used for revivification or darker rites.The Clergy
The Clergy is compromised of several Roles and Orders: The Roles are as follow:Doomguides, Mortarchs, Necrobanes and Necromancers, who their main duties include guarding and maintaining temples, care taking of burial grounds and occasionnaly act as guards for priests.Rituals
Clerics of The Raven Queen pray for spells at sundown. Most holy ceremonies involve blessing a soul for the transition into the afterlife. If present at the moment of death, a cleric of The Raven Queen performs the Passing, a simple ritual alerting The Raven Queen to the arrival of this new wanderer on the Final Road. When an entire battlefield or plague-ravaged community requires last rites, Believers of the Black Raven devotees perform the Lament for the Fallen. This ceremony, similar to the Passing, features low, droning chants and rhythmic beating of ash staffs upon the open ground. At a private ceremony known as the Daeum, clerics of the Raven Queen celebrate their deity’s soothing doctrine and fund church activities with the goods of those who have died without heirs.Tenets of Faith
- Death is the natural end of life. Grieve the fallen, but do not pity them. Exult in the time that they were granted.
- The path of Fate is sacrosanct. Those who pridefully cast off destiny must be punished.
- Undeath is an atrocity. Death is too good a punishment for those who pervert the rightful transition of the soul.
Holidays
Both New Year and the Feast of the Moon are of special spiritual significance to the Raven Queen’s adherents, when clerics recount the Deeds of the Dead that they never be forgotten. Rarely, powerful clerics use these days to cast “true resurrection”, returning to life heroes of the distant past who are needed in the present day.
Physical Description
Identifying Characteristics
When she was alive, the Raven Queen was described as a beautiful woman with raven hair. After becoming a goddess 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 still described as beautiful, and her eyes have red irises.
Special abilities
It is said that many of her manifestations, are the ravens who act as her emissaries and conduct of power as they are symbolism of death and has thus, gained power over them.
Social
Titles:
Matron of Death;Matron of Ravens;
Ebon Queen of Ravens;
The Black Raven;
Divine Classification
Alignment
Lawful Neutral
Realm
Children
Other Affiliations
Ruled Locations
| LG | NG | CG |
| LN | N | CN |
| LE | NE | CE |
Orders
- Knights of the Eternal Order This order is a knightly order in service of the goddess of death.
- Most Solemn Order of the Silent Shroud The Most Solemn Order of the Silent Shroud is an organization of embalmers, gravediggers, and other cemetery workers in the employ of the Church of The Raven Queen. Its membership are cofidential and their members can only identify each other through a set of secret signs. Their job is to report undead activity and instances of graveyard desecration to the church of The Raven Queen.
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