Morrigan
Mael Morha, The Red Raven, Goddess of the Dark Magicks
The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle
Matron of the Dark Tapestry or Duskscape-aspected magicks: necromancy, oneiromancy, illusion, enchantment and shadowmancy. Though Morrigan was not the first Material wizard to discover or even master these techniques, she grew in divine power as a mentor of these arts, liberating them from the possessive clutch of the Lichlords and their Duskscape muses. She is sometimes referred to as The Morrigan or The Red Raven.
Despite the dark magicks being sourced from the other side of the Veil, all signs point to Morrigan being an ascendant, Material demigod: there is a wide scholarly consensus connecting Morrigan to a powerful and ruthless mortal witch named Mael Morha. If that is the case, what is her relationship, if any, with the Duskscape Regents? Why are her activities permitted? Or if not permitted, how does she escape the Cenobites' wrath?
Morrigan has a complex but overall quarrelsome relationship with the god of the Bright Magicks, Merlinkainen. Some schools of history assert she was a student of the old archmage before turning away from him, though this theory is unpopular in the Red Raven's church.
Morrigan's alignment is Lawful Evil.Appearance & Heraldry
See also: Morrigan Image Gallery (External)Though she is many things, Morrigan is not a vain god, and portrayals are mostly of how she would have looked in mortal life, generally with long red hair, pale complexion, dark robes to combat the elements and various fetches and talismans about her body. She is sometimes adorned with two large black or dark-red wings.
Heraldry includes black or red ravens, her kris dagger Widowmaker, glyphs for various schools of black magic (sometimes on the forehead of a human skull) and crossroads, either of earthen trails or rivers. Crossroads are thought to be holy places in Morganite beliefs.Worship
Morrigan's adherents are often called Black Mages or Morganites. They are almost wholly arcane casters as well as divine.
Though she is a liberating figure among Materia's black mages, she is also stern and cunning, teaching her adherents to "play the long game" and balance self-empowerment with restraint and social nicety, lest singular ambition endager the flock. Despite being evil-aligned herself, her mortal swords are closer to the Greyguards of Umbraas than the Blackguards of the Dust King, being enemies of chaos rather than good. They are adept witch hunters, tasked with hunting down fellow black mages whose ambitions go too far and risk disrupting some ancient and essential balances...Domains
Morrigan's primary Domain is Magic. Her secondary domains are Trickery, Darkness, Cold, Knowledge, Glyph and Nightmares.Divine Weapon
Morrigan's divine weapon is the kris dagger. Her Relic dagger is known as Widowmaker.History
Morrigan was born Mael Morha in the mountain-forests of what are now the Islands of Agåntyr in the Broken Empire.
Despite being a Lichlord herself, Morha was not politically aligned with either of the major First Age necrocracies, and indeed would sometimes undermine their major leaders—Nir, Nef and In'aut—when it suited her. Her mastery of the Duskscape magicks was regarded as blasphemy to the superstitious Kelpeater Empire and thievery to the scheming thaumatocracy of New Rozsa. But Morha had long since given up on friends or allies, and indeed regards them as burdens.
Morrigan & Merlinkainen
Though this is vociferously rejected by the Morganites, it is commonly thought a young Mael Morha, who would later become the Lichlord Morha and eventually Morrigan, was one of Merlinkainen's First Age students.
The Red Raven's origin stories are varied and (sometimes intentionally) contradictory. They often tell of her clashes with the "Blue Fox", Merlinkainen, for example a duel they once fought—using only shapeshifting—to win the favour of an ancient Void entity.
It was popular among early historians to believe the Red Raven and Blue Fox were siblings; this is now considered debunked after the discovery of a supposedly authentic book, written by a man who traveled with Merlinkainen for a while. The book reveals the two were not born of the same species, century or even plane.
The Morrigan
Godhood
Ascendant (Middle First Age) Alignment
LE Domains
Magic, Trickery, Darkness, Cold, Knowledge, Nightmares Favoured Weapon
Kris Dagger Relic Weapon
Widowmaker
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