The Great Darkness

Summary
The goddess of darkness, the night, secrets, fate, and death. She was there before time with the great light and is the one that allowed him to bring the dawn, she is the one that leads mortal to their next life and protects those who follow the gods from the horrors in her darkness. She resides in the white shore. She has two artifacts that have been revealed to theologians. The Ashbringer, a great decrepit almost broken scythe with a dull rusted blade that deals death to those who are unlucky to meet the blade of this scythe. The blade of the forgotten hero, a sword of a secret or forgotten hero of the goddess that was broken after their fall but was taken and reforged by the goddess.

Worshipers & Priests

The goddess is not worshiped as directly as other gods she is more respected and feared by the other people and only worshiped during ceremonies that deal with burials and death. The goddess’s lack of worshipper is not seen when it comes to priesthood many of those who deal with death and burials are priests and priestess of her although their practices and beliefs are held in secret and most priests are vowed to secrecy about their religion and knowledge is only shared when authorized by some unknown higher up either the goddess herself or the head of the church. The great darkness’s clerics and paladins are rare, but they do exist they are usually from her priesthood or from those who worshiped her in secrecy.

Churches

There is only one church of the goddess called the twilight grove a church that leads into a cave where most burial rituals are done and where the majority of the priesthood live. There are also shrines in any graveyard or catacombs within the empire.

Tenets

The path of Fate is sacrosanct. Those who pridefully attempt to cast off their destiny must be punished.
Undeath is an atrocity. Those who would pervert the transition of the soul must be brought down.
Fear and respect the shadows for they will hide from your enemies, but they hide your enemies from you as well.
Death is natural, be mournful and saddened for those who fell, but know that they will eventually be carried by my ferry.
Do not relish in secrets fore I am their keeper and will reveal them if I so wish, so be sparing with their use.

Stories

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Description

The Shadow Queen is described as a tall and slender woman, with flowing black hair and pale, porcelain skin. Her face is usually always covered within heavy shadow but when she does show it she is described as a beautiful woman with eyes of pure white.

Artifacts

. The Blade of The Forgotten Hero: A broken blade reforged by the all-father after a request from the great darkness it belonged to a hero whose name was lost to the sands of time.
The Ashbringer: A scythe used by the ferryman a long time ago that was discarded for another weapon.

Prayers

Any prayer done to the great darkness are secret and not known by anyone outside the priesthood.

Titles

The Matron of Death
The Great Darkness
The Shadow Queen
The Maker of The Ferry
The Keeper of Secrets
The Weaver of Fate

Divine Realm

A white shore where people wait for a ferry manned by a silent ferryman hidden within shadow carrying a staff with encased blue fire at the head of it and censures from both sides as he carries the dead from the shore to their deserved afterlives.

Practices

The Shadow Queen is involved in every death ritual, usually the majority are taken into her temple and given the rites but if the person was a known worshiper of a specific god or goddess, then the shadow queen is still involved. Every graveyard and catacomb have at least one priest or priestess of the shadow queen. Her name is forbidden to speak out of fear to bring her attention and is only known and spoken by those within her priesthood and even those outside that hear it seem to forget it right after for some reason.

Holidays

7th of Eleasis: The day of union, where people commemorate the union between the great light and the great darkness as well as the zenith of the sun, usually include a march from the cathedral of dawn to the twilight grove.
29th of nightal: The day of remembrance: where people usually visit the twilight grove in order to mourn and remember their dead.

Technical Stuff

Alignment: Lawful neutral
Domains: Twilight, Grave, Death, Arcana, Knowledge