Mortavis

(a.k.a. Mistress of Ravens, The Reaper, Archangel of Death, Korrpi)

Mortavis is a complicated goddess and known by many names. The elves know her as Mortavis the goddess of death and carrier of souls. To the orcs she is Korrpi goddess of crows, death, and fate. To the faithful of Alberon and Hansola she is known as the Archangel of Death. Many invoke her simply by personifying death in their minds. With many names come many faces and she is known to take many forms and be able to travel to and from the material plane freely, but her favorite forms are those of crows, ravens, or other black birds. Those who claim to have seen her in humanoid from describe a beautiful woman with black hair and pale skin, dressed in a black feather dress and wielding a scythe. There is some dispute among holy scholars on if Mortavis is even her name or simply a moniker because in celestial is translates to death-bird.

Mortavis is known to the elves to be the sister of both Mother Magic and Fate. With Mother Magic imprisoned in the weave Mortavis and Fate are believed to be very close, changing each other. The elves believe that while Fate may set your destiny the length of your life thread is determined by Mortavis. This is similar to the Orcish belief that Korrpi has set the day of every creatures death in advance.

Unlike many of the old elven deities Mortavis did not have her temples destroyed by the deliverer's followers. The elves tell a tale of all the priests and priestesses calmly walking out of their temple and submitting themselves for execution once the deliverer took the city, saying that they had forseen this and were ready for the next great adventure. And not even the righteous deliverer and his followers would piss off the goddess of death by defiling her temples. Many had stone walls built around them and were sealed off but none were destroyed.

For the human faithful Mortavis was classified by the Alberonian Church as an Archangel during the Brickertonian Empire. The Archangel tasked by God to make sure that the good souls get to heaven and the bad ones get to hell or the abyss. When depicted by humans she often appears as a teenage girl with black wings and her famous scythe. While this meant that she never had her own churches or temples in the empire it did make it so her followers could join the church and tend the graveyards which is what they were already doing anyway. The Alberonian see this as macabe and gruesome work, very few pray to her or even know her name, death is a far off thing best no thought about. For the Hansolans death was always closeby, whether by soldiers, leonin, wild beasts, or ship wrecks. Hansolans see her as the most powerful of all God's angels and while they don't exactly worship her most know her name and she is revered.

Divine Domains

death, souls, ressurection

Divine Symbols & Sigils

With many names come many symbols. The Kotland Orcs favor a black wing as her symbol. The Elves use the head of a raven. Humans usually symbolize her with her scythe. Halfling and gnomes usually ascosiate her with a black bag marked with a skull, her bag of souls.

Holidays

Jour des Morts/Day of The Dead. On November 4th, halfway between the Fall Equinox and the Winter Solstice it is believed that Mortavis will fly your loved ones back to the material plane so they may experience the pleasures of life once more. Many elves partake in a sunset ritual that allows the spirits of the deceased to show themselves and speak to the living until midnight. They make offerings to Mortavis in thanks often in the form of small sacrifices and feeding the ravens and crows that are common on that day. The Orcs of Kotland worship Mortavis under the name Korrpi and on this day they feed the crows and tell tall tales of their heroic ancestors. In Hansola they believe Mortavis to be the archangel of death they build a small shrine with pictures of their ancestors or objects that they owned, then pile their dead loved ones favorite foods on the shrine, then when the clock strikes midnight they burn the food in a bonfire so the smoke rises with their loved ones back to heaven.
Divine Classification
goddess or archangel
Religions
Church/Cult
Children