The Keeper of the Sea
The keeper of the sea is the person who traditionally transitioned spirits from and to the Sea in Serene. This transition need to be facilitated due to the belief, that the sea can give new spirits to the recently deceased, if the conditions are right, as it happen in the fundation of city.
If this were to happen, the person would recover their health and be alive again, but with a new spirit and no memories of their previous life. This would update both the new spirit and the families of the person who used to inhabited their body, so it needs to be prevented.
The Keeper has two main duties dedidated to this end, one in each side of any person life. The Blessing of the Sea when a new baby is born and The Last Remembrance after their death.
Traditionally each Keeper had an area they tended. And they were only loosely associated, without any clear hierarchy. The practiced the two main rituals similary and they had ocasionaly meeting to share practices but each one, decide to practice their craft differently. Some were more involved healing practices, so they were also matrons, helping the new mothers give birth. Other were more involved into culinary herbs and were more involved into creating the perfect feast to remember the departed. And other were more into dealing with the spiritual problems of those still alive.
On any case, when a Keeper feel, it was the right time or they found the perfect person, it was their reposability to choose and train a sucesor. If a Keeper died sudenly or in a accident, another Keeper will be asked to train a sucessor or if a sucessor was already in training, to share it to replace the one who was no longer there. In any case, it is traditional for the sucesor to perfom The Last Remembrance rites of his predecesor.
All of this, structure fell to pieces after The unification war. The royals inmidiately forbade The Last Remembrance ritual and impose their own view, where the dead could only be handle by the Darken.
As it is expected, this did not stopped the ritual, but the keeper dwenle in numbers and went into hidding. They still perform the rituals, but this times, in secret. By effect of practicing their craft in secret, they also became more gregarious and their practices more unified. The most normal visage they present to others is the form of the matron, which allow them to bless most of the newborns born in the city.
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