Morgathis
(a.k.a. The Blood Mother)
Morgathis manifests as a woman of terrible beauty, her form a corruption of maternal imagery. Her skin is the white of bleached bone, with intricate patterns of blood vessels visible beneath like crimson lacework. Her face appears simultaneously youthful and ancient, with features that shift slightly when viewed from different angles, never quite settling into a single appearance. Her eyes are entirely black except for pinpoint red pupils that track movement with predatory focus. Her hair flows like liquid blood, constantly dripping yet never diminishing, forming pools at her feet that crawl back up her body in defiance of natural law. She typically wears ceremonial robes of deep crimson adorned with bone fragments and dried organs preserved as ornaments, designed to resemble both royal regalia and a butcher's apron. In most depictions, she cradles a chalice made from a human skull, eternally filled with fresh blood, while her other hand holds a curved sacrificial dagger of obsidian.
Worship of Morgathis appeals to those obsessed with blood, sacrifice, and the power of death—necromancers, blood mages, cult leaders, and those seeking immortality through dark means. Her followers view sacrifice not as loss but as transformation, believing that power flows from the act of taking life with purpose. Devotional practices include blood-letting rituals, sacrifices on astronomical alignments, and the creation of "blood texts"—forbidden knowledge written in sacrificial blood on human skin parchment. Many adherents maintain personal shrines featuring blood basins and bone relics, using these focused spaces for communion with their dark goddess.
Temples to Morgathis are typically built in isolated locations where screams won't carry—remote mountainsides, deep forests, or abandoned settlements repurposed for dark worship. Their architecture incorporates organic elements, with columns resembling bones or arteries and walls adorned with preserved body parts arranged in patterns that create unsettling optical illusions. The central feature of each temple is the "Womb of Rebirth"—a huge stone basin where blood sacrifices are collected and used for dark rituals, including the creation of undead servants and blood golems. These temples often feature extensive underground components where the more horrific aspects of worship occur, including blood farms where captives are kept alive to provide regular "donations."
Morgathis's followers observe what they call the "Crimson Moon"—a lunar phase occurring several times yearly when the moon Zarethis takes on a reddish hue, either through natural phenomena like lunar eclipses or atmospheric conditions. During these periods, they believe the veil between life and death grows thinner, making it the ideal time for major sacrificial rituals and attempts to create or control undead. Their most elaborate ceremony is the "Feast of Renewal," a perversion of harvest festivals where sacrificial victims are ritually consumed, with followers believing they absorb the life essence and memories of those they devour.
Divine Domains
Comments