Halmyra (Hall-my-ruh)

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For more information on all deities, see: Deities

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In the shallows of Cocytus, where the Weeping Waters carry souls to their rest, a tang of salt lingers in the air. Here, on desolate salt flats, the forgotten dead become trapped in eternal stillness, neither moving on nor decaying. This is the domain of Halmyra, the Lady of Salt, born from the fear of death and the desire to defy it. Worshiped by those who see beauty in preservation, Halmyra offers eternity at the cost of stasis. Her chosen—living or undead—bear her mark: glistening salt crusting their skin and bones, a stark reminder of what they have given up for her promise.

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Physical Description

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In mortal cults, Halmyra is depicted as a figure of haunting beauty and unnatural stillness. She is draped in tattered, salt-streaked cloth that trails behind her, leaving a dusting of white. A fragile wreath of jagged salt crowns her head. Glistening like crystals yet crumbling to the touch. Her pale, almost translucent skin is fractured, with salt crystals protruding like festering wounds. Her dry, cracked lips and ghostly white, brittle hair glint faintly with coarse salt. When she speaks, her voice is said to grate like bone scraping on stone, a sound as unsettling as her presence.
Halmyra is almost invariably shown clutching a chalice—an artifact of immense power that has bestowed control over life and death to countless mortals. Typically, her idols and effigies mirror this imagery, their hands cradling the chalice that devotees will often sprinkle a pinch of salt into before prayer.

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Divine Realm

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Halmyra’s realm, known as the Brine, is a lifeless expanse of stasis, where nothing changes or decays. The landscape is a frozen desert of salt, glinting faintly under a muted, colorless light. Dry, metallic air stings the lungs of living intruders, while crystalline salt formations sprawl like petrified forests. The ground crunches beneath every step but holds firm, locking the remains of the lost in unyielding preservation. Rivers of silvery brine creep sluggishly through the flats, thick with salt and faint echoes of forgotten voices. Towering salt mountains streaked with eerie, weeping faces loom in the distance, the “mirrored tears” of those who sought Halmyra’s eternal stasis.
The Brine is inhabited by Halmyra’s undead faithful, their salt-encrusted forms cracking and scraping as they move. These “watchers” guard the domain and ensure its preservation, their conscious stasis a reflection of Halmyra’s promise. Mirage-like entities, faint imprints of souls unable to fully achieve stasis, flicker at the edges of reality, neither alive nor truly dead—a haunting testament to Halmyra’s grim eternity. Halmyra rules her realm through a cabal of former psychopomps who, disillusioned with the endless cycle of life and death, turned away from Cocytus to embrace her defiance of the natural order.
Legends say that when the first fey perished upon Materia, they raged against death so fiercely that Halmyra herself took notice. Whether out of mercy or amusement, she granted them escape, giving rise to the first Queen Slúagh—the only known form of undead fey. For eons, the Slúagh have served Halmyra, their numbers growing as fey seek escape from oblivion. Masters of soul theft, they stalk Cocytus and Materia’s battlefields, claiming souls for the Lady of Salt. Queen Slúaghs, ruthless commanders, are said to house a gateway to the Still Waters in their stomachs, delivering their grim harvest directly to Halmyra for rich rewards.
The most formidable of Halmyra's followers are a devoted sect of brine dragons bound to her service. Driven by a quest for purpose, they shape the salt flats of the Brine according to her designs and act as enforcers of her will.

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Tenets of Faith

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• Nothing should be forgotten or allowed to decay. Keep what is dead preserved for eternity, in body or spirit.


• Life is fleeting, but undeath is eternal. Seek not death, but transcendence through Halmyra’s gift.


• Defy the natural order of Cocytus. The river flows, but Halmyra holds the stagnant in place.

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Worshipers

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Followers of the Lady of Salt are drawn to her defiance of death and her promise of preservation. To many, she is a liberator, offering escape from mortality or the grief of loss. The desperate and mourning often turn to her for solace, seeking a way to transcend the inevitable. Outcasts of Cocytus’ faith also find refuge with her, viewing her as a savior who opposes the River of Sorrow’s order, sharing insights to aid her cause.

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Anti-Paladins of Halmyra

Several necromantic cults serve Halmyra, honoring her as a guardian of the undead and a defiler of Cocytus. Among them are anti-paladins who view life’s cycle as a curse and Halmyra’s undeath as true mercy. Reviled as blasphemers, they see themselves as saviors, offering freedom from mortality’s torment. Paladins of Halmyra often include intelligent undead, many undergoing rituals akin to lichdom to preserve both body and faith.
Those faithful who embrace Halmyra adhere to the following principles:

• End the Cycle: Life is a fleeting torment; I will shield the worthy from the corruption of decay and grant them blessed permanence.


• Halt the Weeping Waters: Cocytus seeks to drain life into nothingness. I shall thwart its flow, oppose its ferrymen, and intercept souls before they face condemnation.


• Champion the Eternal: Undeath is not an end, but another beginning. I will honor those who reject the warmth of life.

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Holy Books & Codes

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The Litany of the Damned

The Litany of the Damned, sacred scripture of Halmyra’s faithful, embodies her defiance of morality. Said to be inspired by whispers of her realm, it serves as both a spiritual guide and a philosophical treatise, exalting preservation and rejecting death’s finality. Unlike other divine texts, the Litany does not promise salvation but venerates eternal stillness. It portrays Halmyra’s mercy in halting time’s advance, offering solace to those who fear Cocytus’ inevitability. Treasured as relics, each copy is painstakingly transcribed on vellum cured with saltwater. The Litany is both a guide and a warning: to accept Halmyra’s embrace is to forgo change forever.

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Relations

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Arael

Though technically related, no sibling kinship exists between the Lady of Salt and the Keeper of the Veil. Halmyra's doctrine of eternal preservation is utterly abhorrent to Arael, while she dismisses his beliefs as feeble and deluded. Arael devotes himself to freeing the souls ensnared by Halmyra's grasp, while she tirelessly seeks to undermine his efforts. Adding to her advantage, mortal perceptions of Arael often paint him as a deceitful god who promotes necromancy—an image likely fueled, in no small part, by the machinations of Halmyra's own followers. They remain forever locked in a war of ideologies: the acceptance of impermanence versus the desperate clinging to life at any cost.

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Cocytus

Halmyra sees herself as the antithesis of Cocytus, claiming to offer mercy where the River delivers finality. While Cocytus carries souls to their destined ends, Halmyra preserves them, defying the inevitability of death. She presents herself as a champion of free will, offering souls the choice to escape their fated journey and remain in eternal stasis, even in undeath.
To Cocytus, Halmyra is a distortion of the natural order. Her preservation traps souls in a limbo of suffering, denying them the release and resolution that death provides. Though Cocytus views her actions as misguided, it does not respond with malice but with cold inevitability. Her defiance may delay the flow of fate, but it cannot stop it. When her influence disrupts the balance, Cocytus intervenes, sending psychopomps or mortal agents to restore order, seeing her as little more than a fleeting disruption in the eternal cycle.

Table of Contents

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General Information

Alternative Name(s)

The Brined Mother
Goddess of Preservation
Goddess of Salt
Goddess of Undeath
Lady of Salt
The Withering Tide

Alignment

CE

Follower Alignment(s)

NE, N, CE, CN

Tier of Divinity

High Gods

Pantheon(s)

The Dead Three

Area(s) of Concern

Liberation, preservation, salt, undeath

Sacred Animal(s)

Crab

Sacred Color(s)

Gray, lavender, white

Symbol

Hourglass filled with salt

Worshipers

Cocyan outcasts, cultists, embalmers, intelligent undead, liches, morticians, the mourning, necromancers, those who fear death

Worshipers' Adjective(s)

Halmite

Divine Realm

The Brine - The Still Waters

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Pathfinder 1e Traits

Domain(s)

Chaos, Death, Earth, Evil, Liberation

Subdomain(s)

Freedom, Petrification, Revolution, Undead

Favored Weapon(s)

Glaive

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Pathfinder 2e Traits

Domain(s)

Dust, Earth, Freedom, Undeath

Alternative Domain(s)

Time

Divine Ability

Dexterity or Charisma

Divine Font

Harm

Sanctification

Must choose unholy

Divine Skill

Religion

Favored Weapon(s)

Glaive

Cleric Spells

1st: Summon Undead
2nd: Brine Dragon Bile
3rd: Cup of Dust
6th: Petrify