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Threnody
Goddess of endings, succor, and herald of due death

Purpose


Every story must draw to a close. Every journey has a destination. Every living thing dies in time. All things must end. These are the concern of Threnody.

For mortals there is one ultimate and inescapable end: death. Yet, death does not need to be a sad and dire time, but rather a celebration of a life well lived, of friends, family, and achievements attained as only mortals can. Death, it is said, is an excellent taskmaster, for the knowledge of mortality and the final ending can drive mortals to great heights of achievement.

As such, Threnody is opposed to the forces that seek to escape endings, chief amongst these are the powers of undeath: those that seek to prolong their given time through unnatural means. Threnody is also opposed to those who would enforce death where it is not due, though judgment of anothers rightful time of death is a matter of much controversy.

Threnody is not a force of evil, but rather a neutral entity who understands and respects mortality.

Origins


The defeat of Naresh in 2988 A.A. by the Heralds Of The Dawn split his essence into fragments and scattered them upon the mystical winds. These dark shards sought life and thus found their way into the souls of the unborn. These children of darkness would come of age tainted and with a great rage in their hearts. If ever two of these souls should meet, a great destructive impulse would take them until there was but one standing who would inherit the others power. It was in this way that Naresh began to reshape and reform, born of the destruction of others.

A young orphan girl, Veridean, bore this taint, and as such led a troubled life of rage and melancholy, yet still there was hope in her heart. She would join an adventuring company, one of the few places where her impulses could be put to good use, and in the course of time defeated other tainted souls, and gained an ever increasing weight of evil upon her soul.

It was such that Naresh would be reborn.

Yet, at the last moment her comrades, who had come to be called The Fellowship Of The Dark Shards, with the aid of the goddess of hope, Aesia, enacted a ritual that separated this taint from her soul. This darkness would reform into its own being, a creature that would come to be called Threnody.

Threnody was filled with destructive power, the reshaping of Nareshs divine power in the likeness of a young woman. Her heart void, and yet there was the echo of mortality there: compassion, courage, joy, and even fear. Qualities inherited from her progenitor, and the result of her new state of being: no longer an entity of pure annihilation, but now a thinking, feeling being of consciousness.

These conflicting states turned within her, and she was outcast from all light, and, imbued with suffering at her very nature, sought only her own demise. Yet, she could not die, being a creature whose very power comes from destruction. She sought solace in the words of Aram, the fallen angel of mercy, but these were only poison and promised nothing but further suffering. Aram sought the shards of the Genesis Crystal, broken and hidden by Jerick upon his ascendancy to godhood after the first defeat of Naresh. When whole it would grant him powers over creation to reshape existence as his sadistic and twisted mind saw fit.

Ultimately, Threnodys newfound consciousness and compassion won out over the oblivion in her heart. As a foe turned friend, she joined with the adventurers known as The Fellowship Of The Crystal Tear and defeated Aram, claiming the full Genesis Crystal as her own. The crystal, a force of purest creation, merged with Threnody and counter-balanced the destruction that suffused her. Thus changed, the goddess was at last whole and at peace with her nature. From destruction came Threnody, who understands all too well that everything must end, for the powers of creation must be balanced, just as destruction.

Relations


Allies


As Aesia is the light of renewal and creation, so is Threnody her dark shadow, a force of endings to provide balance. Despite their seeming opposition, they are allies, each understanding the other and working together when appropriate. Indeed, Aesia was instrumental in the creation of Threnody. Despite this alliance, relations between the clerics of Threnody and those of Aesia can be strained at times, as the dominant church of Aesia in Sellador chafes against the introduction of new deities, especially those whose focus is seemingly opposed.

Threnody also counts amongst her allies the druidic deity Jerick, who watches over the journey of mortal life from birth to death and provides aid to the lost. It was Jerick that struck the fatal blow to Naresh with the Genesis Crystal, and as such set in motion the events that gave rise to Threnody. As a being who was mortal only very recently, Jerick shares a unique understanding with Threnody.

Recently Threnody has come to find mutual respect in Nolghrim, the dwarven deity of the dead and master of the record of deeds. Their goals and outlooks are much the same, and as such each understands the others nature. Threnody has joined with Nolghrim in dedication to the eradication of the unholy taint of Nareshs presence in eastern Citadel. The clerics of Threnody, so inclined, have made this their first great crusade.

Enemies


Though only a minor deity, Threnody already has made a great many enemies. Chief amongst these is Naresh, or rather the forces that still resonate with the remnants of his nihilistic power. These include the undead and beings spawned from the emptiness of the eternal oblivion that was his being.

The few clerics of Threnody have already come into conflict with Guédé, one of the deities rising from the reformation of the Selladorian Free Nations. Guédé is a creature of unliving horror served by the tormented soulds of the undead, and his clerics seek nothing short of immortality through undeath. Threnody, as a deity of repose, is directly opposed to Guédé. The clergy of both are still small in number, so the conflicts between them are yet relatively unknown.

Followers


The clergy of Threnody, known as Deathsingers, are few in number, as Threnody herself has been a deity for only a handful of years. Yet they have already begun to make a name for themselves, respectfully presiding over the funerals of the people of the Selladorian Free Nations and providing comfort to the bereaved. Many of the peoples of this land have an ill opinion of the Church of Aesia and welcome the services of the Deathsingers.

Clerics of Threnody are sworn to hunt and destroy the undead whenever possible. As creatures if unnatural life who exist, often in suffering and control, beyond their appointed time, their existence is an affront to the very tenants of Threnodys being.

Alignment: NE
Races who worship Threnody are Human
Threnody is worshipped in Sellador
Threnody is the god of Endings, Death, Release From Suffering
Clerical Domains: Repose, Herald, Destruction, Fate
Threnody is a member of the Keepers Of Mercy, Aeonae Modus

Related Articles: Crossfire, Distillate, V. The Created and the Fallen, Heart Of Threnody, Instability.

Contributor: Mortedamos