The Eternal Arbiter

The Eternal Arbiter, known by many names across different cultures - The Veiled One, The Silent Shepherd, The Voidwalker, The Fateweaver - is a god of immense purpose, guiding souls and guarding the cycle of life and death. Maintaining a strict neutrality, the Arbiter weaves the tapestry of fate, witnessing and influencing the birth and end of all things. The Eternal Arbiter was the last god to ascend and the last god to enter the Guardian Pantheon.
As a mortal, the Arbiter was once a champion of Chronos, the Timekeeper. When Vorrak, the Destroyer, was the last standing Usurper God in the final moments of the Shattered War, the champion stood in defiance, wielding a shard of the shattered Timekeeper. In the climactic battle, they delivered a decisive blow, striking down Vorrak and ending the terror of the Usurpers. This pivotal moment marked their ascension, when the champion was touched by the primordial Nethras, and became the new steward of death and fate.
The Arbiter is unique among gods, capable of traversing the Godveil, a barrier that separates the divine and the material. This singular ability is exercised via the Ephemeral Crossing, a mystical realm between realms, which intersects all planes of the World Tree. Their symbols reflect the gravity of their role and include an open door—sometimes revealing a winding path, other times an hourglass—a scythe encapsulated within an hourglass, a broken hourglass, a tree bearing an open door at its core, and scales hanging from a scythe or poised above an hourglass. These symbols serve as reminders of the Arbiter's role in maintaining the cosmic balance, the impermanence of life, and the inevitability of fate.

The Ephemeral Crossing: The Realm Between Realms
The Ephemeral Crossing is a mysterious and transient plane that exists between the realms of the living and the afterlife within the Astralys Tree. It is a place where the souls of the deceased linger briefly before being guided to their final destination by the Eternal Arbiter, the god of death and fate. The Crossing is an ever-shifting realm, reflecting the transient nature of life and the passage of time. The Crossing is invisible and exists only in the ethereal plane to those not actively traversing it. The only exception to this is the Shadowfell, with glimpses of the Crossing can be seen and accessed.
This ethereal plane appears as a vast, twilight expanse, where the horizon stretches into infinity. The landscape is a tapestry of memories and emotions, shaped by the collective experiences of the souls passing through. Within the Ephemeral Crossing, one can encounter ephemeral echoes of lives once lived, fragments of memories, and visions of both the past and potential futures.
Paths of shimmering light weave through the realm, representing the many possible fates of the souls who traverse it. These paths are guided and tended to by the Eternal Arbiter, who ensures that each soul reaches its rightful place within the World Tree.
The Ephemeral Crossing is unique among the planes, as it is the only place where one can freely traverse the Godveil. The Crossing serves as a conduit between the material planes and the divine realms, allowing the Eternal Arbiter to fulfill their divine purpose as the steward of fate and the shepherd of souls.

Domain: Blood, Death, Grave, Nature, Life
Province: Death, Fate
Alignment: Neutral
Symbols: An open door, sometimes with a winding path beyond it, sometimes with an hourglass; A scythe within an hourglass; A broken hourglass; A tree with an open door at its center, Scales hanging from a scythe; Scales over an hourglass