Surnazhul, the Coil Beneath

Domain: Death, Cycles, Memory Titles: The Molting Serpent, Keeper of the Quiet Symbol: A serpent devouring its own shadow
Origin Among Mortals: Surnazhul slithered into being not through fear of death, but through acceptance of it.
In the earliest days of mourning — when the first grave was dug, the first name spoken into silence — mortals needed more than comfort. They needed continuity. From the repetition of seasons, the inevitable decline of empires, and the persistent ache of memory, came the presence of a god who neither punished nor pardoned — only witnessed.
Surnazhul was born from the understanding that death is not an end, but a coiling return. A part of all that was, folding into what will be.
Nature of the Molting Serpent: Surnazhul is calm, vast, and utterly unconcerned with mortal urgency. They are the slow shifting of soil, the breath before forgetting, the decay that feeds the bloom. Their nature is not cruel — it is inevitable.
As the Molting Serpent, they represent renewal through loss: each life shed is another skin, another phase. They are invoked at funerals, remembered in silence, and feared only by those who deny change.
Surnazhul holds no hatred, no favoritism, no reward. Only memory, the coil, and the quiet beyond.
Manifestation & Imagery: Surnazhul appears as a massive, eyeless serpent — scaled in graying hues of ash and bone, always in the process of shedding some part of itself. Their mouth devours shadow, not flesh, and their voice — if ever heard — comes as memories from the dead or dreams beneath still earth.
Their symbol, a serpent devouring its own shadow, reflects the eternal return — the consumption of what was by what must be. It is drawn in funeral ash, carved into gravestones, or woven into bone prayer-knots.
Worship and Followers: Followers of Surnazhul, called the Bound Quiet, serve as undertakers, archivists, and death-scribes. They collect names and lives before they vanish, ensuring memories persist even as flesh falls away. Their temples are mausoleums carved into the earth, each chamber lined with the written echoes of the departed.
To serve Surnazhul is to understand that all things pass — and that their passing matters. Mercy, vengeance, joy — all of it coils back into the great spiral of being.
The Bound Quiet do not seek immortality. They seek to remember well, and to be remembered true.
In the Age After the Dark Awakening: When the land broke and death came in waves, many turned away from gods of glory or hope — and turned instead to Surnazhul. He did not promise salvation, only place. He did not weep — only recorded.
It is whispered that some Weavers now carry Surnazhul’s blessing — not to preserve life, but to shepherd it into death cleanly, without corruption. They are called Cyclebinders, and even monsters sometimes fall silent in their presence.
Notable Sayings & Myths:
"To die is not to vanish — only to fold inward."
The Third Shedding: A myth where a dying king asks Surnazhul to forget his name, so his sins will not coil back into the next age. Surnazhul refuses — not out of cruelty, but to complete the cycle.
The Hollow Bell: A relic said to ring only when a soul resists passing on. The Bound Quiet use it to sing the dead into stillness.