The Mistress of the Unseen Paths
Few people outside of the Maressian tribes know about the Mistress, but those who do treat her name and existence with as much reverence and secrecy as any member of the tribes.
The Unseen Paths are where the souls of the dead tread, and the less a living soul has to deal with it, the better it is. Most tribal members try to avoid even thinking about death. They believe that reacting to something, even if it's just thinking about the topic, feeds it energy and establishes a connection. Focus too much on a person, and you may attract its attention. Focus too much on a thing, and it gets drawn to you.
Regardless of whether someone believes in the Mistress or not, she reigns over the Unseen Paths. Some say she plays them like a harp, and the reverberations affect the seen world. As the Unseen Paths are not bound by time, the Mistress' favor can be invoked to affect the future or the past. It is, however, not easy to gain Her favor in the first place. To humans, Her wishes and desires are fickle like a leaf on the wind, though no one would dare and word it like this. She who knows the future and the past has Her own plans of how things should go and requires petitioners to do things that further Her vision, regardless of morality or if it makes sense to feeble human brains.
The Kharoush frequently travel her paths in order to gain visions of other times, as well as knowledge, and to assuage spirits unwilling to leave the Seen World behind. Inevitably, kharoush have the attention of the Mistress, and some say they become part of her realm and their allegiance lies with Her now. Some, mostly males, even go so far as to claim that the kharoush are the Eyes of the Mistress, and that she sees what they see. For this reason, just having a kharoush show up often sobers up the most violent drunk, as they are usually anxious to avoid drawing Her attention.
Her high priestess, though, is the imra. An ancient woman, more powerful and wise than any kharoush or aghra, subtly pulling the strings and tipping the scales of power in the Maressian Sea, no one remembers her as an individual anymore. Very few even know of her existence, besides the Kharoush and aghra only the island chiefs deemed worthy do know of her. The imra is always clad in a mask and an elaborate attire adorned with wooden carvings, and some wonder if there's a real person underneath - or if it's just the attire that has been animated. Or worse, if it's a ghost or lost soul bound to a vestige.
Whatever it is, the imra has proven to be a guide for the tribal federation, and even though sometimes her medicines are hard to swallow, the tribal chiefs know that their godess speaks through her and pay her the same respect as they would pay the Mistress if she was walking among them.
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